Hi, the first question is how much do you normally raise when trying to steal the blinds an sng...I realize that it is probably situation dependent, but is there an amount you normally start with, without any other reads, say 5x BB?

The second question is whether or not pokertracker works well for sng's as well, and also whether it is easy to learn how to use, and interpret the results?

thanks,

I never liked PokerTracker for SNGs. There are just too mnay different situations where you play a certain hands different ways, especially as it gets short handed. For example: You might raise with A9 when its short handed but fold it most other times.

I think 5BBs is a bit much for a blind steal. 3 or 4 should be plenty.

For blind stealing, remember your pot odds concepts. If you raise 3xBB, it only has to work 1/2 as often as raising 6xBB for it to be just as profitable.

I would suggest, for now, having a standard raise amount for preflop raises, and almost always raising that same amount whether you have a hand or whether you are stealing. Get plenty of experience under your belt before you start making things more complicated than that.

I still almost always raise 3 or 4 BB (3 from UTG, UTG+1, and LP and 4 from MP) as a standard raise, and only rarely vary from that.

Remember that if you are short stacked enough that a 3xBB raise would effectively committ you to the pot, you might as well go ahead and raise all-in.