Raising the Minimum - 4 Reasons Why You Should Min-Raise In SNGs

One way to make more money in SNGs is by thinking outside the box.

Cliché, I know. But it’s true.

Most players approach SNGs the same way. They push. They fold. They repeat.

These guys make money, but it’s like trying to squeeze money from a stone.

Thinking outside the box gives you the ability to disrupt the norm. To throw your opponents off. To force them to make mistakes.

The more mistakes your opponents make, the more money you make.

One ‘outside the box’ tactic I like to use is the min-raise. I want to take a couple minutes now to show you how you can use the min-raise to make more money playing tournaments.

But First, What Is The Min-Raise?

A min-raise is the smallest amount you can raise. The minimum.

For example, at 100/200 a min-raise would be to 400 chips.

Most players raise between 3-5x the big blind. At 100/200 a typical raise would be to 500 or 600 chips.

These players scoff at the idea of raising to only 400 chips. They don’t think min-raises work because the players to act after you will have decent odds to call – especially the big blind.

The theory is sound – but here’s why it’s wrong.

Stack sizes are finite. You can’t re-buy or add-on to your stack. So even though you might have good odds to call, you’re still going to pass on playing garbage or dominated hands.

Your opponents aren’t as bad (or stupid) as you think.

For everyone else min-raises are often perceived to be strong. You’re going to have more fold equity because a min-raise looks like you want action – even if you don’t.

So you’re not going to get as much action as you think. Quite the opposite, actually.

4 Reasons Why You Should Be Min-Raising

Still not convinced? Here are 4 reasons why the min-raise trumps larger raises.

1) Min-raising saves chips.

This sounds dumb. Obvious. Too simple.

And it is. When you min-raise to 400 instead of 600 you save 200 chips.

But there’s more to it.

Not only do you save 200 chips each time you raise, you earn more opportunities to raise/steal in the future.

In other words, every 2 times you min-raise you essentially buy yourself another opportunity to steal the blinds later. You buy yourself another 2 orbits of action.

What’s more is that these opportunities can compound. That extra orbit or blind-stealing opportunity you bought yourself could lead to a double up, which could lead you to winning the tournament.

Make sense?

So you don’t want to overlook or underestimate the importance of saving chips – wherever and however you can.

2) You put less money in the pot.

Okay – another obvious one.

But, again, you got to read between the lines.

When you put less money in the pot you don’t have to continuation bet as much.

For example, say your standard raise is to 600 at 100/200. With one caller the pot is 1,500. Your continuation should be 1,000 chips.

But say you raise to 400 chips instead, and get one caller. Now the pot is 1100. You can get away with c-betting 700 chips here.

Do you see the difference?

There’s a compounding effect here, too.

  • You’re saving money – 300 chips each time.
  • You create less dead money (less likely someone will shove to take the pot).
  • You keep the pot small for all streets.

3) You create less dead money.

This is really important at the later stages when the pot to stack ratios get so big that players start to (re) shove to get the dead money.

Let’s look at an example.

An opponent on your left has 4,000 chips. You decide you’re going to bet 600 at 100/200. The pot has 900 chips.

The pot will make up 22.5% of your opponent’s stack. Your opponent only has to win 4.5/5 times to breakeven. Definitely doable (between their fold equity and winning in a race).

But say you raise to 400 chips instead. The pot makes up 17.5% of your opponent’s stack now. That means your opponent needs to win 5.8 out of 6 times to breakeven.

A huge difference? No, not in that particular situation.

But it DOES add up. And some situations will be better than others.

The point is that the less money you put in the pot, the less incentive you give someone else to try to win the entire pot.

4) You give yourself better odds.

This is more noticeable when there are antes.

But say you’re at 100/200/25. Just the blinds and antes alone (at a 9-player table) come out to 525.

If you raise to 3x you’re risking 600 to win 525. You have to do slightly better than a coin-flip to breakeven.

But what if you min-raise to 400? You’re risking less than what you stand to win.

The benefit to this is that you don’t have to win all that often to breakeven, let alone turn a profit. You only have to win 43% of the time.

That’s a huge difference – and one that adds up and compounds over time.