SNG Strategy Vs. Tournament Strategy

I just realized part of my problem with going into varience through loses, I cash fairly consistently in SNG's but I don't get first place as much as I would like. I get a lot of third places and a few second places which isn't enough to sustain the loses and come out significantly ahead. The problem is I have been playing my SNG's and my tournaments almost the same exact way, when they both require very different approaches.

Single Table SNG's

These games require a bit more patience and tighter play (remember all these comments are my opinion and I am not saying I am 100% correct, but this strategy seems to work best). What I mean by patience and tighter play is the simple fact that you have to pick and choose your spots carefully in SNG's, the reason is because the blinds move up quickly and you won't have a chance to accumulate enough chips to keep the blinds insignificant no matter what you do. People feel pressed in SNG's, for some reason they take more chances in SNG's (I am guilty of this myself sometimes). People are more likely to call raises with junk, and hope to get lucky, and the raise pre-flop, all-in on the flop play is used quite often. Continuation bets work well, but most of the time the pot won't be huge in these situations. I would say it is of more value to watch all your opponents in SNG's because you won't be moving tables, and you will be spending time with these players for the duration of the tournament. I usually don't even play the first few hands because I like to see what type of table I am dealing with. If the table is very tight then get ready for a long game, you won't get big pots often at these tight tables, so guarding your chips and waiting for a monster hand or draw is the best thing to do.

MTT

I am still perfecting my MTT strategy, but for the most part you can be really aggressive and steal pots along the way very easily because you will be moving tables, and people won't know what your play style is. Also, you can get away from a bluff because in the early parts of a MTT you will have a better blind structure, and a little more time between levels. If you attempted this in a Single Table SNG you will get called, or re-raised sooner rather than later. The worst part about it is, you will be getting called and raised with hands like J 10 (os), K 9 (std), A 8 (std), and your attempts to bluff while they will work sometimes will more than likely no work most of the time. That's the beauty of the MTT Tournament, you can steal almost at will, and the approach to tourneys is much different than approaching a single table SNG.

That's what I noticed for the most part, if you play tight early in a single table SNG you will give yourself a great chance of cashing in the end. After a few people have gone out then open your game up, raise pre-flop when the blinds are around the 50/100 - 75/150 level because a lot of the players will tighten up trying to not get knocked out on the bubble. We will see how my strategys play out, but that has been the best strategy I have used so far in single table SNG's.