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Sit&Go Holdem Strategy
SIT & GO STRATEGYSit & Go’s are one of the great things that
online poker has introduced to all us poker
players. They are, in fact, one table tournaments
(there are also Sit & Go’s which consist of two
or even three tables) where every player starts
with an equal amount of chips and the blinds
increase after a specific amount of time (usually
ten minutes or so) until one player has all the
chips. There is a great variety of Sit & Go’s in
every poker site, like PokerStars.com, PokerRoom.
com and PartyPoker.com, and they can really
become a very good way for a skilled player to
win a lot of money using a specific strategy.
Early stages (first 2-3 levels)
Now, I am a strong supporter of the idea that
says that no specific strategy or style of play
is the way to win in poker because I believe that
every strategy has its pros and cons and there is
no hard-and-fast rule on how to play poker
correctly. However, throughout my years of
experience in online poker I have never seen
anyone playing very loose during the early stages
of a Sit & Go and actually be a consistent winner.
This is one of these few occasions where tight
play is necessary, especially in low or medium
limit tournaments. That’s because everybody else
at your table will already be playing loose
because the blinds are so small in relation to
the stacks.
The problem with this, though, is that this way,
they jeopardize a big percentage, if not all, of
their arsenal during a stage in which they don’t
have any reason to do so. Small blinds usually
mean small pots and while it might be useful to
win some early pots it certainly is nowhere near
as helpful as doubling your stack up during the
later stages of the tournament. So in this stage,
I will only play quality hands like AA, KK, QQ
and AK and usually raise quite strongly with them
before the flop because I don’t want many people
in the pot. I will avoid playing AJ or A-10,
especially in early position and hands like AQ,
10-10 and JJ should be played very cautiously. I
don’t want to go broke early because the later
stages, when the blinds will have been raised
significantly and several players will definitely
have been eliminated, are much more important.
Middle stages (levels 4-6)
By the time you reach the middle stages of the
tournament, usually 2-3 players will have been
eliminated. At this moment the most important
thing is your stack size. If your stack size is
bigger than 10 times the amount of the big blind
your strategy should not be altered much,
although with less players at the table hands
like AQ, 10-10 and JJ should now be played more
aggressively.
If your stack is less than 8-10 times the big
blind then you are in all-in mode. Your goal at
this moment should be to find a good spot to push
your stack in and try to double up. You want be
able to steal the blinds with pot-sized raises
and you will certainly not be able to preserve
any significant amount of chips by folding to a
reraise. What you must realise is that moving all-
in while you still have fold equity – and you won’
t have much of that if your stack drops down to 3-
4 times the amount of the big blind – is very
important because winning those blinds without a
fight will add a very healthy percentage to your
stack size (usually almost 20%).
So, with a stack like that, you should be willing
to move all-in with a great variety of hands,
especially if you are first to act in middle to
late position in an attempt to double up and get
back in contention for the win.
Late stages
When you get down to four players and three of
them get paid, many people would think that this
is the time to slow down and wait until one more
player gets eliminated and safely get into the
money. However, if your goal is to win every
single Sit & Go you play, you won’t follow this
principle but instead you will realize that this
is actually the time to play super-aggressive
poker.
If you are lucky enough to possess the most chips
on the table, you can start raising or moving all-
in every time against the average stacks that are
waiting for the smallest stack to get eliminated
because they will provide no resistance and you
will be able to get a humongous chip lead which
will help you win the tournament. This is the
reason for which you should also refrain from
attacking the small stack - you actually want him
in the game because when everybody gets into the
money, they will loosen up feeling more
comfortable than before and removing that
important edge from you. If, on the other hand,
you are the small stack and everybody is trying
to get rid of you then go after them! You won’t
win anything by being patient and being the first
raiser in the pot is of huge importance because
you still have fold equity. Play to win. Even
though this will result in a lot of 4th place
finishes, it will also get you many first places
as well and you should be able to win more money
this way.
Good luck at the tables! For more info and
articles visit http://www.pokernostra.com