There’s been some hate lately towards SNG tournaments, for reasons that we can’t understand. Even the vague “too many fish” is something that we don’t get. If you’re a fish, then wouldn’t you want to play with other fishes and eventually overcome them? Even if you’re not a fish, chances are good that you have some playing skill under your belt — wouldn’t you want to knock the fishes out and get their chips. Remember that scoring high is the name of the game in SNG, but that doesn’t mean that you have to be first. Of course, first place gets most of the chips and pretty much all of the glory. Still, finishing in the money is definitely better than ending up being empty handed.

There’s one strong reason to really love SNG tournaments, and we think that most players are overlooking it: practice. You get to go against tons of players that all have different playing styles. From a psychological standpoint, endurance is going to be the name of the game here. You don’t want to find yourself being unable to get things done, because you get overwhelmed. Yes, it’s easy to give up. Yes, it’s easy to admit defeat and figure that you just can’t play because there are too many people. If you really think that, then you might want to start small. There’s nothing that says that you have to be in some huge tournament right off the bat. If you ask us, that would make us feel a little afraid too. It’s a lot smarter to know your limits, but also make sure that you challenge yourself when the opportunity arises.

We recommend the smaller events because you can take notes a lot easier. Look for games that have a “slow” timer so you can write out your hands on paper. Sometimes tracking can be a lot less perfect than we would like, which means that you’ll have to really make sure that you start looking at the time of hands you’re playing, and the actions that you’re taking.

We don’t know about you, but when it comes to some of the mistakes that we make a lot, it boils down to the biggest one: getting too automatic with the way we play. We assume that poker is something that should be instinctual, but what if it isn’t? Is it the end of the world because you’re not someone that’s naturally good at poker? No! Poker is something that you learn to be good at by growing into it slowly. There’s nothing that says that you have to be good at everything in life automatically or you’re worthless. If there is, you have our permission to go ahead and ignore it.

Good poker theory is the key to everything, but you’re going to also have to adapt. One of the mistakes we see a lot in tournaments is people really get into bluffing. They want to be the best of the bluffers and always bluff. Bluff the bluff out if that’s really your cup of tea. However, for us we’re really not huge fans of bluffing. We’re not huge fans of constantly bluffing — everyone is different, and if you’re a big fan of bluffing you can ignore us if you want. However what we really find happens is that once your image is that of a super bluffer, people are going to seriously call you out a lot. Or they’ll try to flip it on your and that can lead to disaster too. You don’t want to be one of those people that end up not being able to push forward because you have already wrecked your image. Please don’t wreck your image — mix things up and focus on the fun.

Speaking of fun, we have to stress that too. Don’t get so worked up on winning. Remember that poker is a lot o like investing. You’re going to end up losing some, and you’re going to end up winning some. The last thing that you want to do is find yourself getting so stressed out that you would rather avoid everything related to poker, right? It’s quite possible to get burned out on something, even when you love it as much as we do!

Tap into the social element of SNG tournaments as well. If someone truly plays a nice hand — let them know! Bring some positive energy into it. That can shape your reputation more than anything else. If you play like a sore loser, people are going to get pretty tired of playing with you.

Keep these tips in mind, and you’ll have a much better feeling when you really do go play in SNG tournaments. Because you are, you know. Trust us — if you really want to make your poker skills explode, you won’t pass up a chance to play an SNG or two.