Super Systems: Snyder

The System

	This system gets a ‘FAIL’

Arnold Snyder’s Basic Position Strategy for fast no-limit Hold’em tournaments

The Game

$100 worth of tournaments with between 18 and 180 runners 2 x $5, 2 x $10, 1 x $20, 1 x $50

How we got on

Arnold Snyder’s book The Poker Tournament Formula has been written to embrace the online revolution of poker tournaments and the many casinos and cardrooms that are catering for a new influx of tournament players. Snyder claims that many of the classic strategy books – written by the likes of David Sklansky and Mike Caro – aren’t relevant for the average multi-table tournament or sit-and-go. The blindto- starting stack ratio, he argues, is so fast in small stakes tournaments both online and live, that new strategies have to be implemented.

One of Snyder’s core principles is the Basic Position Strategy. As these small stakes tourneys have a significantly faster structure than larger buy-in events, Snyder argues there isn’t time to wait for playable hands. Instead you have to use the power of position to maximum effect. Snyder says you should fold anything but premium hands in early positions but if the action folds round to the raising seat (two to the right of the button) and no one has entered the pot then make a raise of three-to-four times the big blind with any two cards. The theory is that with only a few players left the chance of one of them having a calling hand is relatively slim. If anyone does raise you can toss your rags away or call/re-raise if you do have the goods.

The late position raise will see you either take the blinds or buy yourself position if you get called by the blinds. You can also grab the best seat in the house by flat-calling a raise on the button if there has been one standard bet or one or more limpers. This means that in the vast majority of flops you’re involved in you’ll be last to act. You’ve paid for the privilege so now’s the time to take advantage of it. Snyder suggests the following maxim: if they check, you bet; if they bet, you fold. If the pot is checked to you bet two-thirds of the pot. If they call, bet two-thirds of the pot again on the turn and again on the river. If you’ve caught the flop in a large way and someone bets into you then obviously don’t fold. But if they raise at any stage after you’ve bet out with rags, it’s time to muck.

This basic strategy did pick up a lot of pots but also meant we threw away a lot of money once other players noticed our pattern. Adopting the aggressive position play as part of a wider strategy (as discussed elsewhere in Snyder’s book) could definitely pay dividends though.

Result

$100 stake, $0 return
Position is vital but so is having cards to back it up occasionally. We had some near misses with a couple of just-outside-the-money finishes but the $0 return says it all. Check out p49 for a tighter sit-and-go strategy.

Lessons Learnt

Position, position, position. Much like the importance of location in the property market, position is everything. Use it to pick up a lot of small pots when no one else seems to have caught much. If you meet resistance then it might be time to walk away, but the amount you steal should more than compensate for the ones that you lose.

We wouldn’t advise being quite so over-the-top raising in late position every single time you get the chance as you’ll soon get clocked as a maniac and it’ll be easy for cunning players to trap you. Of course, getting to act after someone does give you a lot of information, so take some aspects of the basic position strategy into your next tourney and it will help your game immeasurably. You can’t rely on getting cards or hitting a flop but you can rely on being in late position or on the button a couple of times every rotation.