Sit 'n Go Strategy and Tips
written by BeatTheFish.com
 ...Fishy
says, "Play tight, then open it up and don't be afraid to bare
your gills."
Sit
and Go tourneys
are fast-paced and fun to play in. It’s like playing in a microcosm
of a big multi-table tournament. The structure of SnG’s is usually
that of a one-table freezeout and the top 2 or 3 places pay out.
Since you’re going to be starting out with at least 9 or 10 players
at your table, it makes sense to play pretty tight in the early
stages of these tournaments. The logic is simple: many of your
opponents will be wild and tend to gamble early on. For whatever
reason, these folks just don’t feel comfortable unless they get a
quick double-up under their belt. This puts you in a great situation
if you’re holding a monster hand preflop like pocket Aces or Kings,
but you generally want to stay out of the action early on. You get
rewarded for just surviving, so let others get knocked out before
you take your shots. If there’s enough gamble in your opponents
early on, you might not even need to win many pots to get into the
money.
Early Rounds
Look at the
risk/reward ratio for another reason to play more conservative early
on. The blinds start off pretty low in these tourneys, so what do
you have to gain by bluffing, or even playing a mediocre hand at
all? You’re not going to be picking up much if you win the pot, and
you might get raised to the point where you’re paying much more than
you’d like to. Especially in early position, I wouldn’t play
anything worse than A-Q suited or a pair of Queens. Wait until your
table is a few opponents short and the blinds are higher, as you’ll
have more to gain by your aggressive play.
Especially at
tighter sites, an SnG is a great place for the continuation bet. A
continuation bet is making a bet after the flop after you’ve raised
the hand preflop. You’ve taken control of the hand, preferably with
position, by raising before the flop, so your opponents will usually
check to you. At this point, you make a bet anywhere between half
the size of the pot and the full size of the pot. Since you raised
preflop, your opponents will tend to put you on a big hand, possibly
a big pocket pair. When the board comes out with 3 rags, or your
opponents only got a piece of the flop, and they’re facing another
bet from the preflop raiser, they’ll usually throw their hand away.
For example, let’s
you raised 4x the big blind from late position with A-K and 3
callers stay in. When the flop comes out 9-2-5, regardless of the
suits, you’re going to bet at least half the pot when your opponents
check to you. If one of your opponent calls your bet on the flop, he
obviously has something to stay in the hand, even if it’s only a
draw. If he checks to you again on the turn and you don’t hit your
Ace or King, you’ll have to check behind him. Also, be aware that
many opponents like to slowplay or check-raise the preflop raiser.
They know that you’re likely to bet or raise again on the flop, so
they’ll often wait until you bet and raise you. If you get raised
and you didn’t hit the flop in some way, you should just release
your hand.
Middle Rounds
As the blinds begin
to increase further into the tournament, you’ll need to open up your
play a bit. Firstly, you’ll want to start looking for tighter
players to steal the blinds from. As the tournament progresses and
the blinds become a larger percentage of everyone’s stack, play at
the table will generally tighten up. You’ll often find yourself in
late position without any players yet to enter the pot. If you have
a decent holding (two face cards, an Ace, or any pocket pair), you
should consider raising to gain control of the hand and possibly win
the blinds preflop. This play works best against tight or timid
opponents, who will usually fold unless they have a premium hand. If
this type of player calls your raise or reraises you, you should
proceed with caution. They’re inherently tight players, so a call or
raise means that they’re holding a strong hand. Facing a reraise, I
will often throw my hand away. You can still attempt to steal the
blinds from aggressive opponents, but tend to have a stronger hand
to raise with than you would against tighter opponents in case you
get called or reraised. Unless you’re holding an overpair to the
board, I don’t recommend a continuation bet against an aggressive.
This type of online player will often call you down with middle or
bottom pair, and if you can’t beat that you shouldn’t bet.
You’ll also want to
loosen up your starting hand requirements. Usually by the time the
blinds reach levels of 100-200 or 150-300 or greater, at least a
couple or more of your opponents have been knocked out. Since there
are less players at the table, the sizeable blinds will hit you more
often. While I recommend a tight-aggressive style of play early in
the tournament, you simply won’t be able to wait for premium cards
with the blinds so large. Even if you’ve managed to increase your
chip stack significantly by this point in the tournament, the blinds
will still affect you. As I mentioned earlier, your opponents will
generally play tighter at this point in the tournament, so playing
an aggressive game can be advantageous. Look for opportunities to
raise hands like suited connectors or any two face cards from late
position. Even if you get called by one or both of the blinds,
you’ll be able to analyze the texture of the flop and act last on
every future betting round. Position is extremely important in hold
‘em, and anytime you have position in a hand, you have a major
advantage.
Heads-Up
So, you’ve followed
my advice, played a great tournament, and you’ve managed to make it
down to the final two. Good job! What’s next? When you get down to
head-up play, you’re either going to be acting or reacting on every
hand. There won’t be a pot that you won’t be involved in, and you’ll
have to be prepared for fast action. You opened up your play as the
blinds increased, and you’ll need to open up your play even further
when you’re playing heads-up. Most often, the action will take place
before the flop. The small blind gets to make the first move
preflop, so if you have any semblance of a hand you should raise and
try to take the big blind. If your opponent is timid, you should
definitely run over him as often as possible.
The odds are that
your opponent doesn’t have a hand, so it will be difficult for him
to call without the cards to warrant it, especially being out of
position on future betting rounds. Of course, your opponent probably
deduces the same logic about your hand, so you can’t allow him to
run over you, either. Don’t be afraid to go all-in with any pocket
pair, any Ace or King, or even suited connectors. You’ll be putting
a lot of pressure on your opponent, and you’ll often pick up the pot
with this move. If you do get called, hopefully you have your
opponent beaten. If you were aggressive and made a move but got
beaten, don’t beat yourself up. Finishing in second is very
respectable, you’ll win some money, and it means that you played a
great tournament.
Sit ‘n Gos allow
for fast action and good practice for multi-tournament play without
the investment of hours of your time. Remember to start off playing
a tight game, as many opponents will play recklessly early on, and
you aren’t highly rewarded for taking chances on borderline calls
early on. Try to play a solid game early on, and as the blinds
increase you should begin to open up your game by occasionally
stealing blinds and raising with more hands from late position. If
you make it to the final table, be the aggressor as much as possible
and don’t hesitate to go all-in often with pairs and at least one
face card. Sit ‘n Gos are becoming more and more popular for their
fast tournament style, and many online players profit from playing
these games exclusively. By following our advice and, most
importantly, putting it in practice, you can reach the point where
you are making money in 7 or 8 out of 10 tournaments – a very
healthy alternative to consistent cash game wins.
Back to Online Poker Strategy
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