Some years ago in around 2007 I switched briefly to playing single table SNG’s full time. This was a deliberate switch because the limit hold’em games were becoming very tough at that time. So the switch was designed to find poker games with value in them. I did well for a while but soon started to struggle as SNG’s were also becoming tougher. Had I availed myself of SNG Wizard then I am confident that I not only would have been far more profitable at the levels that I played but that I also could have remained an SNG regular for a lot longer.
SNG Wizard is a hugely effective piece of software and probably does far more for the game of a SNG player than PokerTracker and Holdem Manager does for a cash game player. The ICM Calculator in SNG Wizard is perhaps one of the most important money making tools in existence and a thorough grasp of ICM (Independent Chip Model) can lead to near perfect play towards the end of SNG’s.
The Features
What is so special about SNG Wizard is that it imports your hand histories and stores them on your hard drive just like other poker programs and then analyses your decisions automatically. The next process is to see the hand history replayed back to you with any mistakes highlighted. A quick trial in the test feature can improve your shoving and calling a shove technique within a very short space of time.
Another fantastic feature of SNG Wizard is that the software is now integrated with HEM (Holdem Manager) and so you can convert your hand histories that are in your HEM database and let SNG Wizard analyse them for you. One of the key dynamics of successful SNG play is that you must learn how to play a short stack and how to play that short stack very well. In big live events then your objective isn’t to get a short stack at all but in the rapid fire online SNG’s then you don’t have that luxury because you can never acquire chips fast enough to prevent the blinds from escalating and reducing the number of big blinds in your stack.
In fact there are even faster structures in online SNG’s these days and Turbo’s are becoming increasingly popular. So playing a very good endgame is key to doing well in SNG’s and this is where SNG Wizard comes into its own. Poker is a long term game and to make money at it involves making correct long term decisions that show long term profits. This poker software also has an excellent quiz feature where you can answer as many quiz questions as you like and doing this really allows you to become proficient with your shoving and calling a shove ranges based on stack sizes and tournament position.
In fact the first time that I used SNG Wizard which strangely enough was after I stopped playing SNG’s then I became very proficient at my ICM decisions within a very short space of time and in no more than around a hundred quiz questions. These days most players have got the early stages of SNG’s figured out and any player can play the early stages of SNG’s very well simply by using a tight strategy.
But what really separates the men from the boys so to speak is in how you play the last 25-30 hands. This is where the value and the equity is and a proper use of SNG Wizard can help a player to play almost flawlessly in the crucial endgame period at this form of poker. Poker in any form is all about maximising value in the form of equity and SNG Wizard really is the best in the business. You can avail yourself of this software on various poker sites but it imperative that you get it. There are also ways to get this piece of poker software for free and they need to be explored also.
Conclusions
There is no doubt that if you desire to play SNG’s seriously or even semi-seriously then you absolutely need to get this piece of software. There are very good cash game players who make a good living in online poker without using poker software like PokerTracker and Holdem Manager and I have been one of them in the past. However SNG’s are a completely different animal and they lend themselves far more to rigid mathematical formula than no limit hold’em played in a ring game capacity. Without poker software like SNG Wizard then you simply have no chance of beating even moderate stakes in online SNG’s. You need to get this wonderful piece of kit and within a short space of time then you will be one of the best players at your level.