Strategy: Mini tournaments (SitnGo)

[Jmahoney]

(search for strategy)

Introduction
One of the most popular games for new online poker players is Sit and Go Tournaments. The buy-ins can range from $5 to $5,000, and they typically last less than an hour. If you have the attention span, you can also play more than one table at once. Since a lot of people have watched no limit tournaments on TV, they want to play similar tournaments when the begin playing out. The Sit and Go Tournaments are great because they give you a chance to have fun while building your bankroll. Conversely, playing multi-table tournaments is not a good way to build a bankroll because there is too much variance.

Early Rounds
The blind are usually a small portion of your starting stack in the first two rounds. Many novice players in these tournaments make the mistake of not protecting their monsters hands like AA and KK pre-flop by making small raises. When the blinds are low, you should be playing suited connectors and suited gap connectors because it costs you a very small percentage of your stack. You are looking to hit a flop hard with 2 pair or to flop a strong draw. Often people under-bet the pot with top pair to keep people in the hand, so you often get a great price to draw to your straight or flush. Now when you have big hands like AA, KK, QQ, AK, AQ, and so forth, it’s key to play them correctly. With big pairs, you want to raise 3-4 times the big blind. Your ideal situation is to get 2-3 callers and isolate yourself with someone who flops top pair and is a 7 to 10 underdog against your overpair. The level of play in these tournaments is such that people will often commit themselves with top pair, even if they have a poor kicker. But remember, you want to narrow the field on the flop, don’t make bets so small that people with weak hands get the odds to call and chase you down. With big drawing hands like AK-AJ, KQ, etc… you still want to raise 3-4 times the big blind. If you don’t hit the flop, it’s ok to let these hands go, because you haven’t invested too much in the pot. When you hit top pair with any of the aforementioned hands, you will almost always have the best hand and should feel comfortable playing it for all your chips. Someone people will disagree with me here, but the level of play in these tournaments is quite poor and you want to take advantage of this.

Middle rounds
As the blinds go up, you starting hand selection should change a bit. Suited connectors are no longer profitable because not enough people are in the hand and the stakes are too large relative to people’s stacks to be playing these hands. Now you should tighten your standards up and playing the premium drawing hands and pairs 77 and bigger for a raise. The blinds become bigger, and there is nothing wrong with taking down an uncontested pot at this stage in the game. If you have a well above average stack, you can afford to wait for premium holdings. However if you are about average in terms of chip count, you will need to play some hands to build your stack. Remember that you don’t need pocket aces to go all in pre-flop against a raise. I would advocate moving in with any pocket pair of tens or higher or Ace-King and Ace-Queen at this stage of the game. These are strong hands and will often be a favorite if your opponent calls. Additionally, your opponent will often fold and you build your stack without having to show down the hand. Let’s take a look at why this approach is good. Let’s say you are on the button with pocket tens. The blinds are 100-200, and you have 900 chips. There are six players left. A player in middle position with 1400 chips makes a minimum raise to 400. If you just call, it’s difficult to navigate the flop because there might be overcards. However you are committing a large portion of your stack by calling in the first place, so you really can’t fold the hand. Now let’s say you move all in. Your opponent must think about folding hands like Ax, KQ, and lower pocket pairs, which leaves you in great shape. Sometimes he will call with these hands because of the pot odds and you are in great shape to double up. You are slightly ahead of hands like AK and AQ, and the dead money from the blinds makes this even more profitable for you. The only hands that you really don’t want to be up against are JJ-AA. This is why it’s better sometimes to just move in with a reasonably strong holding then to see a flop.

Late Stages
Now the blinds are getting very high in relation to the average stack size. You should not enter pots with marginal hands. Be VERY weary on confronting other big stacks without strong holdings, because they can bust you. You don’t want to go out on the bubble when there is another player with ½ as many chips as you. As soon as you are in the money, you should play to win. Since first place typically pays 2 and a half times as much as third, it’s ok to take some risks to try and win. Trust your instincts and make some bluffs, you can’t win without doing that. Now that you are shorthanded, I sometimes like tot trap aggressive opponents by check-raising all in with top pair or even middle pair I think have the best hand. It’s ok to move in with and reasonable ace or pocket pair pre-flop, because the blinds are so big. This is the stage of the game where you want to take down as many pots uncontested as possible by going all in before the flop with strong holding. A hand like A-8 is usually the best hand when you are 3 handed, but it hard to play because you only flop an Ace 18% of the time. By playing aggressively, you build your stack and often get called on all ins by weaker hands like KQ , KJ, and other weak holdings. People really like to gamble once they know they are making money anyway!

If you use these guidelines to adjust your play throughout the Sit and Go Tournaments, you should be able to build you bankroll and enjoy yourself. Remember to adapt as the blinds go up, and don’t worry about losing a few tournaments in a row, everyone has. I once went 8 straight tournaments without even cashing! Then I won 3 of the next four. Best of luck!



http://www.cardschat.com/low-stakes-...t-strategy.php

[Jmahoney]

(search for strategy)


Sit N Go Strategy

Sit N Go Tournaments or games are becoming increasingly popular on the net and a big favorite of mine. If you don’t know what a SnG tournament is I will briefly explain. In a SnG game you purchase a set amount of chips for a set amount of money, say 1000 chips for £30 (plus £3 for the house). The game is played until one player has won everyone else’s chips, players are knocked out along the way as they lose their chips.

A table usually consist of 10 players, although can be less, and the game begins when the table is full.

The game is played using an increasing blinds structure to ensure the game moves along. When the blinds increase it means if you are short stacked you are forced to make a play rather than just let the blinds bleed you of all your chips. Some sites increase the blinds after a set amount of hands while others increase them after a set amount of time.

SnG games are great for two main reasons, one is to gain tournament experience style play and another is you know when you sit down how much you are risking in terms of money.

The prize money is distributed usually 50% to the winner, 30% for second and 20% for third place if it is a 9 or 10 player table. If it is a 6 player table then the winnings are distributed as 75% to winner and 25% to second place.

Obviously your initial aim is to make it to the money which requires tight play, once you are in the money you can afford to gamble and go for first place.

The standard guidelines with regard to bankroll when playing SnG tournaments is to have 20 to 30 times the buy in of the level of game you play. So if you like to play £20 + £2 tables then you require somewhere between £440 and £660.

STRATEGY FOR EARLY ROUNDS

Pre- Flop

In the early rounds the blinds are fairly small, say rounds 1 to 4, and it is best to play tight. It is tempting to play more hands than you should in the early rounds because the blinds are small but you will get dragged into to many hands and lose too much money.

In the early rounds you should only be looking to play premium hands such as QQ and better. In the early rounds though you have to bet bigger than the standard 3 or 4 times the blind or risk being called. If the blinds are only 15 you will get lots of callers for 60 and will have to lay down your QQ when the flop brings an Ace.

You should limp in with 77 to JJ if you can so long as it does not cost you much more than about 5% or 6% of your stack and see what the flop brings. If you are holding a pair, you will flop trips(three of a kind), about 1 in 8 times. If you hit trips on the flop then obviously you now have a great hand which will usually be good enough to win the pot. Of course you must be prepared to lay it down if the community cards give someone the chance of a straight or flush and there are some big bets going in. But played right, these types of hand can be used to great effectiveness.

You may also want to consider limping in with suited connecters of 10 and higher from late positions if a few players have folded and no one has risen and see if you can hit a flush or straight, flush draw, straight draw or both.

On the Flop

After the flop you have to decide whether to play or fold. If the flop has been kind to you then play it aggressively, if not then fold. The hands to play aggressively are top pairs, over pairs, trips, flush or straight draws if hole cards are big. If you have the nuts then you want to trap players and not play aggressively to get maximum chips from the rest of the table.

When you raise you want to at least raise the size of the pot, you don’t want to give people the chance to stay in the pot cheap and end up out drawing you on the turn or river. If they want to stay in make it cost them.

You will not play many hands early on but when you do you should be winning and hopefully increased your stack by a decent amount for the middle rounds, 4 or 5 onwards.

STRATEGY FOR MIDDLE ROUNDS

If you have played tight so far then you should have a decent amount in your stack and one or two players will have either been busted out or not far from it. The blinds will be starting to increase substantially and come round more often as players bust out. You cannot afford to only play premium hands as the blinds will bleed you dry while you wait for them. You need to start to play a little looser and more aggressively at this point. Look for tight or timid players to steal the blinds from or players with a small stack who will not want to risk busting out.

If you find yourself in a late position and no one has raised and you have a half way decent hand such as an ace, two face cards or a pocket pair then raise 3 or 4 times the blind. If you get called then see what the flop brings and then decide accordingly what to do depending on if you make or improve your hand. If you get re-raised consider whether the re-raiser is a tight or loose player, if loose consider calling if it wont hurt your stack much. If a tight player re-raises you then be very cautious and only call with a great hand as it is likely they have one. Don’t be afraid to fold, you have only raised it 3 or 4 blinds after all and it wont hurt much to let it go.

If you get Short Stacked in Middle rounds

If you find yourself short stacked in the middle rounds you want to look at getting all your chips in pre-flop with any half decent hand such as any pair, any two face cards or an ace and hope for the best. It is risky to call other peoples raises with a short stack unless you have a strong hand so it’s always best to be the first one to push in all your chips. Everyone might fold and you win the blinds, which is good in itself as the blinds are getting bigger now. You might get called and win and of course you might get called and lose but that’s poker.

Don’t panic though if you get short stacked as it only takes a couple of double through’s to get back in the game. I have come back from only having 4.5 chips out of the 1000 chips I started with and got back up to 960 after 4 all in’s on the trot. I then went on to win the game and take 1st place prize money. Of course there was a lot of luck involved in winning those four all in’s but it just proves the point it’s not hopeless if you get short stacked.

STRATEGY FOR ON THE BUBBLE OR LATER ROUNDS

The “Bubble” in a SNG tournament is the point where you are almost in the money. If prize money is paid for first, second and third, then it would be when there are four players left. As soon as that forth player busts then the other three players are guaranteed money.

There are a couple of ways to play at this point. You can play really tight and hope to make it to the final three and the money. Once you make it to the money then you can gamble and hope to get first spot and win the most money.

Or you can play aggressively and hope the other players are playing tight because they want to make it to the money and you can steal the blinds. This works well against players in second or third position stack wise because they will not want to get into a scrap with you and maybe bust out. It does not work well with anyone who has a short stack as they very well might decide they have to have a go. Don’t forget the blinds are getting much bigger by now and they really will not have any choice but to go all in soon.

How you play it will depend on how you think the other players are going to play. You should have a good idea by this point what their style of play is and it really just comes down to trying to guess how they are going to play.

STRATEGY FOR HEADS UP

If you have made it to this stage then you are in the money which is great and exactly where you want to be. However it is not over yet, first place prize money is substantially better than second place prize money. That said how do you get first?

The small blind gets to make the first move so if you have any kind of a hand at all you want to be raising and try to steal the big blind. Don’t forget the blinds will be getting very big by this point and your opponent may be frightened of getting involved unless they have a hand. If your opponent is weak then raise them often, if aggressive then be a bit more cautious.

If you have any pair, a king, an ace or suited connecters of 10 or higher, then do not be afraid to go all in. In a heads up situation these hands are often good enough to win, so if you are called you stand a good chance and if not called you have picked up the blinds. If you get called and beat then you have still won money for 2nd place.

BIG HANDS IN HEADS UP

If you have a premium hand such as AA, KK, QQ, AK then it is worth limping in with it and hope your opponent takes it as a sign of weakness and raises you. If it is a big raise from them then go all in or at least make a big re-raise. If they only raise you a small amount then call them and hope for another raise from them after the flop and then go all in.

CONCLUSION

If you follow the above strategy and advice you will not go far wrong in Sit n Go tournaments.

Remember to play tight early on and as you reach the middle stages start to play more hands from late positions and steal the blinds. In a heads up situation be aggressive and don’t be afraid to go all in.

Sit n Go’s are becoming more and more popular all the time and a healthy profit can be made from playing them. You minimise risk playing these games as if you go all in and get beat you have only lost your entry fee. They are good for gaining experience for multi table tournaments and generally a good alternative to cash games.


http://www.astrologyofpoker.com/inde...id=9&Itemid=45

[AceDevil]

10x for the help jmahoney it really helps m8.

Still cant figure it out why you are sharing youre skill to all players?

but thankzz man

[azza15]

Thanks for this JM i havent played sit an go yet so i might give 1 a shot.always good readin m8 keep em comin

[rusty30]

Some nice stuff in there Jm for the newbies and intermediate players. Hope to see u on the higher tables again soon!!!!

[putemup]

wow thanks jm

[Zorx]

good strategy thanks