Sit And Go Poker Tips

Sit-and-go tournaments are to this day one of the most popular formats of tournament poker. Thousands of such games are played at online poker sites every day all around the world thanks in part to how often they run and the fact it is possible to adopt an optimal sit-and-go strategy.

Sit N Go

Turbo Sit & Go tournaments are great fun, but instead of playing patiently, you need to move fast. Overpairs, top pair/top kicker and even flush draws (when you're a big stack) are a chance to jam the pot (bet aggressively or go all-in). George Lind is one of the most successful online poker players ever and in this video he explains the most common sit and go mistakes that might be costing y.

What is Sit-and-Go Poker?

Those of you new to poker may be wondering what a sit-and-go (or SNG) is, so we’ll fill you in with all of the details. SNGs are tournaments that unlike multi-table tournaments do not have a specific start time. Instead the action begins whenever enough players register and there are no more seats in the tournament to fill.

The most common sit-and-go tournaments are either played heads-up (action begins when two players register), six-max (kicking off once six players buy-in), or nine- or ten-handed or “full ring” (these start when nine or ten players have entered). These SNGs are often called single-table tournament sit-and-go (or STT SNGs).

Another popular variant of SNG is a multi-table tournament sit-and-go (MTT SNG). Like their single-table cousins, MTT SNGs begin when all of the seats in the tournament are full, and they pay the same number of players each time they run.

Blind levels are either standard speed, turbo, or hyper-turbo, with each format requiring a slightly different SNG strategy. Here CardRunners instructor Collin Moshman talks through various strategy issues while playing several SNGs at once:

Why are Sit-and-Go Tournaments Popular?

As touched upon earlier, one of the reasons for the popularity of sit-and-go tournaments is the fact they run so frequently. Mathematical variance has a major influence over poker players’ bottom lines, and one way to negate it is to play more poker. As sit-and-go poker tournaments run all day and they are relatively simple to play several at once — especially once you’ve learned basic sit-and-go strategy — it is possible to play dozens of SNGs in a single session.

Online Poker Sit And Go Tips

Another reason for players liking SNGs is how they make it easy to plan how long a session will last, as well as to manage how much they could win or lose during that session. Sit-and-go tournaments that are similar in size and have the same blind structure usually take the same amount of time to complete, give or take a few minutes, which allows for a more structured session than is usually possible with regular multi-table tournaments.

What is a Winning Sit-and-Go Tournament Strategy?

Although one of the great features of poker is that a player can choose almost any playing style and still win, there is a very structured sit-and-go strategy to adhere to if you want to win consistently. With the number of payout places and amounts being the same for every SNG of the same size, it is possible to make a mathematically correct play based on what is known as Independent Chip Modeling, or ICM, when the tournament reaches the bubble stage.

The most common sit-and-go strategy is to play tight during the early stages when the blinds are small, then increasing the aggression as the blinds increase and the stack sizes become shallower, often with an all-in bet once the effective stack is down to around 10 big blinds. The act of folding most hands and then moving all in — leaving little room for postflop play — is known as “push-botting.”

While this sit-and-go strategy is employed by many SNG regulars, there are some players who prefer to play a loose-aggressive style in the early stages in an attempt to build a large stack in time for when the bubble approaches. This SNG strategy can lead to more outright victories, but comes with its own risks and pitfalls.

Sit-and-Go Strategy: ICM on the Bubble

Independent Chip Modeling (ICM) is one area you need to learn in order to perfect your sit-and-go poker strategy. ICM allows a player to assess the risk-versus-reward in certain spots of a SNG, namely on the bubble and once everyone is in the money, by calculating a player’s overall equity in a tournament.

By performing ICM calculations, it is possible to conclude whether or not it is correct to make an all-in bet or to call an all-in bet. If the stack sizes are set in a certain way, it can be correct — in terms of equity --- to fold a hand as strong as to an opponent’s shove even if calling would usually see you add more chips to you stack.

By the same token, there are some situations where the correct sit-and-go strategy is to move all in with any two cards, regardless of how weak they are.

ICM calculations can be quite complex, so it is best to do some research and study before or after you play poker. The good news is that similar situations arise all of the time in SNGs, so it is worth committing some of the more common scenarios to memory. Here Tony Dunst explains a little further the importance of ICM considerations in tournament poker:

Practice Makes Perfect

When learning any skill, be it playing the violin or sit-and-go strategy, it is important to practice, practice, and practice some more. If you drive a car, cast your mind back to when you first started to learn how to drive and how you struggled to remember everything that you needed to do in order to drive down the road safely.

Now consider the last time you drove — I am willing to bet you didn’t consciously think about changing gears, checking your mirrors, and other nuances associated with driving. That’s because those things have all become second nature to you.

Practice enough at the poker tables and you’ll soon have a winning sit-and-go strategy similarly committed to memory, and will be able to draw upon it without really thinking about it.

Want to stay atop all the latest in the poker world? If so, make sure to get PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!

• Tags

  tournament strategysit-and-go strategyonline pokerICMIndependent Chip Modelstarting hand selectionaggressionCollin MoshmanTony Dunst

• Related Players

  Tony DunstCollin Moshman

Sit And Go Poker Strategy Video

Sit and Go poker tournaments, commonly called SNGs, have become amazingly popular thanks to the growth of online poker.

Their shorter format allow you to play tournament style poker without having to play for hours like in a full multi table tournament giving them the same time convenience of cash games.

During this free course we will teach you how to dominate SNG tournaments and profit from the fish who play in them.

What Will I Learn? Course Outline

Sit and Go poker tournaments are a format that was basically unheard of in casino poker rooms (outside of single-table satellites) but are now very much in demand.

Many online professionals play strictly sit and go tournaments and make an outrageous income from it.

During this Course we’ll teach you a strategy of how to play Sit n Go poker tournaments and consistently finish in the money with all the tools and information you need, including:

• The Five Sit and Go Strategy Stages
• How to Find the Sit and Go’s full of Fish
• Advanced SNG Strategy Techniques
• How close out a Sit and Go with Heads Up Strategy
• How to Improve your long term ROI
• Poker Professor’s famous $1,000 SNG Poker Challenge

What is Sit and Go Poker?

Sit and go tournaments are named as such because there is no scheduled start time. Instead of registering in advance for a tournament that starts at a fixed time regardless of how many entries there are, the SNG starts when all of the seats have been filled. The field size is fixed, and the start time is flexible. At some poker sites, the wait for a low limit single table SNG can be less than a minute during peak times. Higher buy in tournaments do take slightly longer to fill in most cases.

Types of Sit n Go Tournaments

The single-table tournament (STT) is the most basic form of SNG. Created as a way for tournament players to play without the long time commitments necessary to play multi table tournaments, the STT has really found a niche in online poker. Since then, the single table SNG has evolved into multi table versions, seating as many as 180 players, but the basic single table SNG still remains the most popular.

• Single table SNG (STT) – will typically seat nine or ten players. The cost of entry consists of a buy in plus an entry fee. This is usually expressed as $10+1. The $10 buy in goes to the prize pool, and the $1 entry fee goes to the poker site as a fee for operating the game. Most single table tournament formats pay the top three players, and a common payout structure is 50% to first place, 30% to second, and 20% to third place.
• Multi table SNG (MTT) – will range in size and common MTT sizes will be 18 players (2 tables), 45 players (5 tables), 90 players (10 tables) and 180 players (20 tables). They work in exactly the same way as the single table SNG with the only difference being that as players are eliminated, tables are closed and the number of tables slowly reduces until you are just left with the final single table who fight it out for the money. The bigger the field size the bigger the prize pool however your odds of cashing in the tournament also get longer.

Structures of SNG Tournaments

There are two main types of structure to a Sit n Go tournament. Both of these are commonly found at online poker sites and you can really choose your preferred structure.

• Standard Structure – The first is the standard structure where the blinds increase every 10 minutes or so.
• Turbo Structure – The second is the Turbo structure where the blinds increase faster, every 5 minutes or so. This leads to a faster tournament but it also means you have less hands to play with early on in the tournament before the blinds become very big compared to your total stack size. You gain the benefit of quicker times, but lose some of the skill element with a slightly larger element of luck in turbo SNGs.

How to Follow this Course

The strategy revealed in this course is aimed at No Limit Texas Holdem Sit and Go tournaments with the standard structure and although it can also be applied to turbo SNG tournaments there is some variation you would have to apply to it to take into account the speed at which the ratio of blind size to your total stack changes.

Due to the top heavy payout structure, the top 3 finishers take the majority of the prize pool and our aim throughout this guide is going to be to finish in the top 3. The most optimum strategy to achieve this is to play tight early, cautiously on the bubble, and aggressively when in the money and this is the strategy that we will outline in more detail in this guide.

The guide will talk you through the 5 stages of a Sit and Go Tournament and the strategy that should be applied in each stage. It will also look at some advance SNG strategy situations to give you everything you need to be a successful SNG player.

We will also guide you through how to manage your bankroll and turn a starting bankroll of $50 into a bankroll of $1,000 by the end of the course with a strategy that will enable you to consistently earn a regular income from playing online Sit and Go tournaments.

So if your ready to learn how to dominate Sit and Go Poker Tournaments then lets get started with the first lesson…