Online poker sites have SnGs running continuously. They can run with just one table or
multiple tables. But a new🛡 SnG starts as soon as it has the designated amount of
players seated and registered. There's hardly ever a wait🛡 time for play to begin. And
given the escalating blinds, there's never any shortage of action. With a minimal time
🛡 commitment they're the perfect poker format for casual poker players.
But make no
mistake - sit-and-go play is a completely different🛡 monster than cash-game play. It's
more similar to multi-table tournaments in as much as the chips you have are finite.
🛡 There are no re-buys and once your chips are gone, you are gone. So to win at poker
SnGs you🛡 need to protect the chips you're given. Here's how to do it at every stage of
a Sit & Go.
How🛡 to Win at Poker Sit & Gos
Avoid Confrontation Early
When the blinds are
low you should employ a very conservative strategy.🛡 There's no need to get
over-involved and risk tons of chips early on. There's no need to run up large🛡 bluffs
or overplay marginal hands. There will be plenty of time for being ultra-aggressive
later. What we're trying to do🛡 is stay out of the action early. But while you should
play very tight, you should still play your strong🛡 hands aggressively.
If you have a
premium hand by all means bring it in for a raise. I would never advocate🛡 anything
different. What I am saying is there's no reason to try to exploit small edges
early.
Related Reading:
An Example:
Effective stacks🛡 1,500. You have 9♠ 9♣ in the big
blind. The blinds are 20/40. There are four limpers to you. In🛡 a cash game, this is a
very easy raise. In a sit-and-go I would argue this is a check. If🛡 you want to raise
this hand, you'll have to make it at least 5 or 6x the big blind. You'll🛡 be out of
position for the rest of the hand and there are four limpers in front of you.
For the
🛡 sake of the example, you raise the pot to 240. The first two limpers fold and both the
cut-off and🛡 the button call. The flop comes Q♥ 4♠ 2♣. This flop is fairly decent for
your hand. Only one over-card🛡 and you took the lead pre-flop so you'll have to
continuation-bet this flop. You bet 2/3 the pot or about🛡 500. The cut-off folds and the
button calls.
Now what?
Now What?
Now look at the spot you're in. You've just put half
🛡 of your stack into the pot. What are you going to do on the turn? The pot is now 1,800.
🛡 If you fire again on the turn it will be for all your chips.
How much can you like your
hand?🛡 The answer is probably not that much. Checking and folding is also a pretty bad
move, as you have half🛡 of your stack in the pot. This is why I advocate the check
pre-flop while the blinds are low. It🛡 allows you to avoid a sticky situation like this
one. There are lots of situations like this.
With speculative hands that🛡 are most
likely to be good now but are not a huge favorite, there's no need to balloon a pot🛡 to
exploit some small edge you may or may not have.
The amount of chips you'll have to put
into play🛡 to find out if you do have that edge is far too many to risk when your stack
is finite.🛡 Rather than trying to push your small edges now it's better to conserve your
chips for the higher blind levels.
Related🛡 Reading:
Essential Sit & Go Tip: Play Your
Position
Just like in cash games, you should play tight from early position. By🛡 playing
tight pre-flop you simplify your decisions after the flop. What you want to avoid early
on in sit-and-gos is🛡 tough situations.
Avoid weak hands OOP.
As you know, tough
situations lead to you losing chips, so avoid those tough spots as🛡 best you can.
One
way to do that is to play even tighter from early position. You have to preserve those
🛡 chips you have because when they're gone, you're gone.
So avoid playing weak hands out
of position - you'll just be🛡 burning money.
Fold Dominated Hands in Early Position
If
you're in early position you should fold all dominated hands. Hands like A-T,🛡 A-J, K-Q
and worse should hit the muck.
They may look like decent hands but they're a trap for
most players.🛡 As I've said above you want to protect your chips early so err on the
side of caution.
You should still🛡 bring in your premium hands for raises. This is ABC
TAG (tight-aggressive) play. You want to be playing tight, but🛡 if you get a big hand,
get aggressive. Don't be afraid to raise AA-JJ, A-K, A-Q etc.
If the table has🛡 been
playing passive, you can also try to limp decent pocket pairs (TT-66).
Related
Reading:
Add Hands to Your Raising List in🛡 Middle Position
From middle position you
should play a similar tight game. You still don't want to get locked up in🛡 any battles
out of position with marginal hands. Of course you'll still be raising your premium
hands for value.
You can🛡 also add hands like AJo, AJs and KQs to your raising list. You
can start opening up your game a🛡 little bit more by limping pocket pairs and good
suited connectors, but you don't want to to put yourself in🛡 situations where you're
playing large pots with marginal hands.
Add Hands to Your Limping List in Late
Position
From late position and🛡 the button you don't need to open your game much more
than you already have in middle position.
Don't forget Gap🛡 Theory.
You have a little
more freedom but you shouldn't be raising up your ace-rag hands or J-Ts just yet. You
🛡 can however start adding some hands to your limping range.
If you can get in cheap to a
multi-way pot with🛡 a good suited connector or a pocket pair, that is a fantastic move.
You should be looking for spots where🛡 you can see a cheap flop and maybe hit a monster
and double up.
If you can do that early, it🛡 will make the later stages of a sit-and-go
much easier for you.
Related Reading:
Be Aware of the Gap Theory
Throughout all of🛡 this
you must always be aware of the gap theory. The gap theory is, in summary, this:
If the
hand is🛡 raised when it gets to you, you need a better hand to call than you would need
if you were🛡 the one making the raise.
So if you're in middle position you can raise
with A-J, but you should not call🛡 a raise with it. Simplified, you should be playing
even tighter when the pot is opened in front of you.
Mid-blind🛡 play starts at around
the 50/100 level and continues until around 100/200. The table has most likely seen a
few🛡 eliminations but is not yet short-handed.
Related Reading:
How to Beat SnGs: The
Mid-Levels
Once the blinds start escalating it's time to make🛡 some adjustments. For
one, limping should almost completely be eliminated. Open limping is pointless at this
stage of the game.
The🛡 average stack is just over 20 BBs. Limping for 5% of your stack
is giving away money. If you're going🛡 to enter a pot, enter it raising or don't enter
it at all. The time for limping is over.
Your goal🛡 now is supplementing your stack
either with cards or without.
Playing from Early Position
Limping for 5% of stack is
giving away🛡 money.
Playing from early position doesn't change that much between low-
and mid-blind play. You'll still be playing very tightly.
There are🛡 still going to be
pots contested on the flop and playing out of position makes this very difficult since
you🛡 are almost always playing for your stack on the flop.
You want to continue to play
your strong hands hard and🛡 fold your weak ones. Don't try and get creative from early
position.
Playing from Middle Position
In middle position your strategy is🛡 similar to
early position. You want to protect your chips when you're weak and you want to come in
raising🛡 when you're strong.
From middle position there's no reason to get maniacal;
however, you can open up your raising requirements the🛡 closer you get to the
button.
Late position is always where you want to be in poker. However, in sit-and-go
play🛡 it is even more important - it's where you build your stack.
Playing from Late
Position
From late position it's time to🛡 get creative. Your goal is to steal blinds -
you need to add to your stack with or without premium🛡 hands. In a sit-and-go you can't
just wait around for aces.
The blinds are escalating all the time and if you🛡 decide
that you're only gonna play monsters, then by the time you actually get one it won't
matter if you🛡 double up.
Late position is the bread and butter of a sit-and-go player.
Now that the blinds are getting up there,🛡 it's time to switch gears. Your goal now
becomes accumulating chips.
Related Reading:
How to Steal the Blinds in SnGs
The best
way🛡 to accumulate chips is by stealing blinds. Does that mean we can just start raising
any two cards all willy-nilly🛡 because we have position? No.
Don't hesitate to
steal.
Then what types of hands make suitable steal hands? The best candidates for
🛡 steal hands are ones with a reasonable chance of making something on the flop in case
you're called.
Random trash hands🛡 are still exactly that: trash. Though position is an
incredible advantage, it doesn't mean you can all of a sudden🛡 start opening up 7-2
profitably.
Think of it this way: Which hands would you play from early position in an
extremely🛡 passive cash game? This is roughly the range of hands you can now start
raising from late position. A hand🛡 like 7-8s is an excellent candidate for a
steal-raise.
A hand like J-2s, not so much. Your goal, of course, is🛡 to take the pot
down without a fight. However, you are going to get called sometimes. This is why your
🛡 hands must have at least some value on the flop.
When called, you should play your
hands on the flop similarly🛡 to how you would any other time. If you are called in one
spot then you should likely follow your🛡 pre-flop raise with a continuation bet on the
flop.
If you're called there, then you have to take a look at🛡 the strength of your hand
as a whole to decide whether to fire a second barrel.
Related Reading:
Example 1
You
have a🛡 stack of 2,100 and are on the button. The small blind has a stack of 1,800 and
the big blind🛡 has a stack of 2,000. The blinds are 50/100. It's folded around to you in
the button with 6♠ 7♠.
You🛡 raise to 300; the small and the big blind both fold. This is
what we hope for. Ideally we want🛡 to just take the pot down with no contest. The goal
is to get a fold so pat yourself on🛡 the back. Free 150 chips.
Example 2
You have a
stack of 2,100 and you're on the button. The small blind has🛡 a stack of 1,800 and the
big blind has a stack of 2,000.
The blinds are 50/100. All fold to you🛡 with J♠ T♣. You
raise to 300; the small blind folds and the big blind calls. The flop comes 7♠🛡 8♦
2♠.
The big blind checks, you bet 400 and the big blind folds. In this example we get
called pre-flop🛡 but now a nice continuation bet takes down the pot for us. Which leads
me to another point: pay attention🛡 to how the table is playing.
If people are folding
for 2.5x the BB or one-third pot-sized c-bets, then just bet🛡 that. You want to win the
pot while putting the least amount of your chips at risk as possible.
Example 3
You
🛡 have a stack of 1,400 and you're on the button. The small blind has a stack of 1,800
and the🛡 big blind has a stack of 2,000.
Be aware of table image.
Blinds are 75/150 and
all fold to you on the🛡 button with 3♠ 3♣. You raise all-in for 1,400; the blinds
fold.
This hand is different than the previous two. In🛡 this example we have only 1,400
chips and the blinds are 75/150, meaning we have less than 10 BBs.
The rule🛡 of thumb is
if you have 10 BBs or less it's better to just shove all-in than make a small🛡 raise. By
making a small raise, you're raising 30% of your stack. If you get pushed on then it
almost🛡 makes a fold mathematically impossible.
As we know one of the fundamental
theorems of poker is if you're going to call🛡 a bet, you're better off making the bet
yourself. So don't mess around with a small raise... just shove it🛡 all-in.
Related
Reading:
Be Aware of Table Image!
While playing in the mid-blind region you must always
be aware of your table image.🛡 Be aware of how others around the table perceive
you.
You'll be raising quite a lot and your opponents will change🛡 how they play against
you. Some will try and re-steal against you since they know you are raising a lot.
If
🛡 you sense your opponents have picked up you are stealing too much, slow down for a
rotation or two. You🛡 can't just constantly push people around with nothing. They'll
eventually catch on.
So be aggressive, but always keep yourself in check.
Related
🛡 Reading:
How to Beat SnGs: Post-Flop Play
This is where it gets fun. By now the game
will be short-handed with four🛡 or five players left.
Push or perish
Everyone at the
table will probably be short-stacked in the classic sense of the word.🛡 The average
stack will only be around 12 BBs. This is approaching push-or-fold time for
everybody.
Here's where you'll make your🛡 profit. Your average sit-and-go player plays
this late stage so badly it's laughable. If you play this stage better than🛡 they do you
will show a long-term positive expectation.
At this stage of the game, post-flop play
is out the window🛡 - flops are rarely seen. You have two options: push or fold. And, by
god, should you be pushing.
Related Reading:
Your🛡 Goal is to Win, Not Limp Into
Money
Your goal is to win sit-and-gos. You don't want to "limp" into the🛡 money. When
you just try and limp into the money you are throwing +EV away.
You have to have the
killer🛡 instinct to attack and destroy players who are happy just limping into the money
or moving up the pay scale.
In🛡 poker, if a player is playing scared, he's exploitable.
Everyone wants to finish in the money; nobody is playing to🛡 get eliminated. You're no
different.
But your goal is to win. Therefore, you have to look at the long term and
🛡 put the short term out of your mind. Concentrate on making good plays at the correct
time and forget about🛡 the results. If you make the correct plays, success will
eventually follow.
Related Reading:
Get More Aggressive, Not Less
The top three players
🛡 in a sit-and-go typically get paid. So when you get down to four- and five-handed play,
you've reached the bubble.
Don't🛡 get blinded out
There will almost certainly be some
short stacks thinking if they play ultra-tight they may sneak into the🛡 money. They're
wrong. You want to get more aggressive, not less.
When play is short-handed the blinds
will already be very🛡 high. Your average stack will be just 12 BBs, meaning you'll be
losing 10% of your stack to the blinds🛡 every rotation.
When the game is short-handed,
those rotations come fast and furious, decimating your stack. You're better off pushing
all-in🛡 without looking at your cards than letting yourself get blinded out.
Don't Let
Yourself Get Blinded Out!
The action is frenetic now🛡 and you should be trying to steal
as often as you can get away with it. If you get a🛡 feel players are hoping to limp into
the money, punish their blinds - they won't defend them.
If you notice someone🛡 is
calling pushes liberally, then ease up your aggression against that player. I won't
discuss in detail the hands you🛡 should be willing to push with. I will, however,
discuss the situations you should look for to get your hands🛡 all-in.
My advice would be
this: Never call off your stack hoping for a coin flip. If you think you're flipping,
🛡 you're better off folding and pushing the next hand blind. Rely on fold equity to
supplement your stack.
Your hand value🛡 is just something you can fall back on in case
you are called! I'll say it again: fold equity is🛡 more important than hand
value!
Related Reading:
A Couple of Examples:
The game is four-handed and blinds are
150/300. You have a stack🛡 of 2,900. The UTG player shoves all-in for 3,200. The button
folds. You hold 6♠ 6♣ in the SB.
You? Fold.🛡 You're hoping for a flip, best-case
scenario. Worst-case scenario, you're crushed. There's no need to call off your chips
hoping🛡 for a flip. If you just wait and shove a hand of your own accord, you'll be
better off.
Another example:
The🛡 game is four-handed and blinds are 150/300. You have a
stack of 2,900. You're UTG and shove A♦ 8♣. The🛡 button calls and the blinds fold. The
Button shows 5♠ 5♣.
OK. You got yourself in a flip. You must have🛡 screwed up,
right?
Wrong.
In this situation we shoved a good ace with less than 10 BBs. Obviously
we were hoping for🛡 a fold. However, the button decided to race with us. This result is
fine.
Look at big picture.
The small blind and🛡 the big blind folded, adding 450 in
overlay to the pot. That means the pot is laying us better than🛡 the 1-1 odds we're
getting on our hand.
But wouldn't that then make the pocket fives call correct too?
Yes, in🛡 a way it does, but that's looking at this hand in a vacuum and not seeing the
big picture.
You're not🛡 always going to show up with A-7 here. A lot of the time you'll
have a pocket pair that crushes🛡 your opponent.
Most importantly, he has no fold equity.
He can only win the hand one way: having the best hand🛡 hold up. When we shove the A-7,
we can win the pot by having everyone fold or we can win🛡 at showdown!
One Last
Example:
The game is four-handed. The blinds are 150/300. You have a stack of 1,800 and
everyone has🛡 you covered. You shove 8♥ 9♥ UTG.
The button snap-calls with A♣ K♣. The
blinds fold. Oh noez - you got🛡 called by a monster. This is terrible,
right?
Wrong.
You're only approximately a 40-60 underdog versus A-K. And guess what?
That difference🛡 in expected value is made up by the blind overlay.
So in reality you're
not in bad shape at all. No🛡 two unpaired cards are that much of a favorite against two
other non-paired hands. So don't fret if you get🛡 in "bad" - you'll know you made the
right play based on your fold equity in the hand!
This is the🛡 key to late-stage
sit-and-go play. Be the aggressor. The aggressor has two ways to win while the caller
only has🛡 one. Never allow yourself to get blinded out. Being blinded out means you gave
up on your sit-and-go.
Stop trying to🛡 limp your way to the small money and start
shoving your way to that first-place prize.
Sometimes You Have to Call🛡 in SnGs!
While
being the aggressor is the key to a quality end game, you can't just fold everything if
you🛡 aren't the initial raiser. Sometimes you're going to have to make calls.
Sometimes
you have to call.
But there are a few🛡 things to take into account before you decide to
get all passive and just call. Obviously if you have a🛡 monster, no debate: just get
your chips in the middle and hope for the best.
The times I'm talking about are🛡 those
marginal, borderline situations. You have to look at your stack. If you're the chip
leader with 20+ BBs, obviously🛡 you're going to have a lot more freedom than the guy who
has seven BBs.
If you have no money invested🛡 in the pot, then you should be less likely
to want to call off your chips. In fact you should🛡 never cold-call your chips off
unless you think you are a favorite and are getting odds on your money.
Related
Reading:
Another🛡 Example:
The game is three-handed. The blinds are 200/400. You're in
the big blind with 6,500 (after posting your blind). The🛡 button folds and the small
blind shoves for 1,200 total.
You have 8♣ 9♣. What do you do? Call.
You have 400
🛡 invested already. He shoves for 1,200 total. This means 1,600 in the pot and you only
have to call 800🛡 more. You're getting 2-1 on your call.
The player in the small blind
should be shoving almost any two cards here.🛡 Your hand stacks up very well against his
range and you're getting 2-1 on your money. You're only worse than🛡 2-1 against pocket
pairs bigger than both your cards, which is highly unlikely.
Chances are you'll get
your money in in🛡 a 60-40 situation. With no danger of getting knocked out, if you make
60-40 bets all day getting 2-1 you'll🛡 end up rich.
Related Reading:
Another
Example:
The game is three-handed. The blinds are 200/400. You're in the big blind and
have 2,400.🛡 The button folds and the small blind shoves for 3,000.
Even nits shove most
aces here.
You have A♥ T♣. What should🛡 you do? Call.
This one you have to call off your
chips. Your hand absolutely crushes the small blind's range. Even🛡 tight players are
going to be shoving most aces in this spot and your hand is far better than average.
I
🛡 would recommend you fold a smaller ace in this spot but with a big ace like A-T you
have to🛡 make the call. While I recommend against just calling in my overall strategy, I
did have to put this in🛡 here.
I'm amazed at the players I see folding hands with
incredible odds. As a rule of thumb, if you're getting🛡 better than 2-1 you should have
a pretty good reason for not calling.
Related Reading:
How to Win a Sit & Go:🛡 Heads-Up
Strategy
Once you get to the end game, you still need to seal the deal. You've learned
all the tools;🛡 now you just have to apply them one-on-one. So our focus now is heads-up
play.
Unfortunately, the way most sit-and-gos are🛡 designed online, by the time you get
to heads-up play the blinds are so big the game doesn't allow for🛡 much play.
I hope
you've accumulated some chips because if the chips are even it will be a very tight
match.🛡 Neither player will hold much of an edge over the other because of the
structure.
The match usually comes down to🛡 whomever gets the best cards in the shortest
period of time. That's not to say it's completely out of your🛡 hands though; there's
still room for you to exploit your edge.
Get Up toR$500 for Your partypoker SnG
Bankroll Now!
Watch Your🛡 Hand Values
When you're heads-up, hand values change from what
they were pre-flop in the earlier stages. Depending on how aggressive🛡 your opponent is
playing, it may be +EV to get any ace in pre-flop.
If your hand is decent shorthanded,
it's🛡 a monster heads-up.
Think of it this way: If your hand is decent short-handed it's
a monster heads-up.
Pocket pairs are very🛡 robust. Hands are usually won with just one
pair at showdown, so if you are dealt one before the flop🛡 then you're already ahead of
the game.
Hands that also increase in value are big broadway hands, like K-Q, K-J, Q-J,
🛡 K-T, etc. - ones that when they hit the flop make top pair with a good kicker.
Top pair
is a🛡 massive hand heads-up and it's almost always worthy of getting all-in. Hands that
decrease in value are weak speculative hands,🛡 like low suited connectors.
While they
may be decent hands to raise with as a steal, they should not be played🛡 against a
raise. These hands dramatically drop in value when the stacks are short.
Even if you
flop a draw, there's🛡 little money to get paid off with. When they do hit the flop, they
usually make weak second-pair type hands🛡 or gut-shot draws. Nothing you'd want to risk
your tournament life on.
Related Reading:
An Example:
You have 6,250 and so does your
🛡 opponent. Blinds are 250/500. You're in the small blind/button with J♠ T♣ and raise to
1,800.
Flop comes J♣ 6♣ 3♦.🛡 Your opponent bets 3,200. What should you do? Shove. That's
it, that's all.
This is the crux of heads-up poker in🛡 a sit-and-go. The blinds are too
big and there's so little play that if you flop top pair you're destined🛡 to get it
all-in.
Another Example:
You have 6,250 and so does your opponent. Blinds are 250/500.
You have Q♣ J♣ in🛡 the small blind/button and raise to 1,800. Your opponent calls.
Go
for the win.
The flop comes down T♠ 2♣ 9♦. Your🛡 opponent checks and you bet 3,000. Your
opponent shoves. You? Call.
You have two over-cards and an open-ended straight draw.
You🛡 only have 1,450 in your stack and there's 11,050 in the pot. To put it bluntly,
you're pot-committed.
Luckily you have🛡 a massive draw and are getting great odds. It's
hands like these your tournament will come down to. You should🛡 of course, as always in
poker, be exploiting your position to the max. Continue pushing hard when in
position.
Don't stop🛡 stealing or slow your aggression just because you're heads-up -
the game is not over until it's won. So stay🛡 on your toes and keep up the
fight.
Remember if you always make decisions as best you can you'll make money🛡 in the
long run no matter what happens in the short term. Just look long-term and always try
and make🛡 the most +EV play you can.
Related Reading:
* * * * * * * * * *
Well, that
brings our Beginners🛡 Guide to becoming a sit-and-go champion to a close. It's by no
means comprehensive - I wrote it for the🛡 average player who understands poker but wants
to take his or her sit-and-go game to the next level.
I hope it's🛡 given you enough
information to go from merely playing sit-and-go's to understanding what it takes to be
a serious winner.
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