Basic Sit And Go Tournament Strategy

You Sit and Go (SNG) tournaments, also known as “sit and go” are a quick and often relatively easy way to make some money in online poker. In the cheaper tournaments the players are often weak and there is a good opportunity to learn and make a profit. Mid-priced sit and gos are also beatable, but the level of players at a $50 table is different from that at $5 to $10 tables.

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Secure your prize

The idea of a sit and go It's simple. In most cases, nine or ten players pay an entry fee, and the prize money goes to the top three. Some experts suggest that the entire strategy should be geared towards finishing in first place, which guarantees a significant prize. Other authors say that the player's goal should be to finish in the top three.

We recommend combining these two strategies. Our suggestion is to initially play to finish in the top three. After that, be aggressive to gain positions.

That said, it’s vital to take an aggressive approach from the start of the tournament to increase your chances of finishing in the money. If all goes well, you’ll build up your stack and be protected as you head into the later stages of the tournament. Here are some quick tips for getting off to a good start:

• Playing with the superior hands (monsters) is the best, but waiting forever for them in a sit and go is suicide. In general, the blinds grow quickly, since the SNG is a short tournament.
• Be careful with bluffs. Cheap SNG opponents tend to call more often, sometimes with a mediocre hand, but better than your bluff.
• Use the early stages to play hands such as suited Ax, suited or unsuited connectors, preferably with small investments. Remember that these hands are more profitable against more opponents.
• Take a good look at your opponents to see if they are often betting with minimal bets or in bad positions (signs of inexperience). If you are ahead, use your stack to take advantage of worse players and/or players with smaller stacks.
• Protect your superior hands with significant raises. Low-cost sit and gos often have players who call bets with anything, and you should punish them for this mistake.

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The final sprint

As the game progresses and the number of players decreases, your strategy needs to change. When there are only four or five opponents left, the blinds will probably be quite large relative to the chip stacks, and playing with weak hands can be a disaster. At this stage, it becomes important to select your starting hands carefully, playing only with quality hands in early position. In late position, you can try to steal the blinds with medium hands. Players with fewer chips generally play very conservatively at this point, so take advantage of this. On the other hand, raises made before you should be respected most of the time, especially from players in a bad situation.

Once you're in the top three, the intention becomes to win. At this stage, players tend to play more loosely, but liberally in their hand selection. This is the time to make good use of your position, raise when you decide to play, and don't be afraid to go ALL-IN. If you come in third, you've at least made a profit, but playing this way, you'll see that coming in first is quite possible in online SNGs.

Note: To perfect other important sit-and-go techniques, check out the other articles on strategy in online poker.