Sit and Go tournaments (S&G)
are mini-poker tournaments.
They can be multi-table
events, but the most common
and popular are the
single-table S&G with nine or
10 players. These are the ones
I will be discussing here.
They are called Sit and Go
because when you sign up you
are assigned a seat and as
soon as the table fills up,
the tournament begins. These
tournaments became very
popular online and many brick
and mortar card rooms are now
offering them as well. There
are several advantages that a
S&G has over the bigger
multi-table tournaments both
for the player and the card
rooms.
Advantages to a S&G are that
they are much faster and can
be played in a couple of hours
rather than several hours or
even days. Players who don’t
have a lot of time but are
eager to play in a tournament
can get into a S&G when they
don’t have the time for a
bigger tournament. Since they
are single-table events, a
card room can run multiple S&G
tournaments at the same time
or one right after another.
This makes it easier for a
player to get into a
tournament regardless of the
time they arrive.
The tournament director does
not have to worry about moving
players or breaking down
tables as the event
progresses. This is also an
advantage for a good player
who has analyzed the opponents
at his table. He doesn’t have
to worry about new players
sitting down or getting moved
to a table full of strangers.
A
S&G is like being at the final
table of a regular tournament
where everyone starts with the
same amount of chips. The best
part is that you only have to
beat six or seven players to
get into the money. The
skilled player who knows how
to play these tournaments can
consistently place in the
money. You don’t necessarily
win all your S&Gs to be a
winner. If you can place in
the money on a regular basis
you will be ahead.
The buy-in for the S&G
tournaments are usually a lot
less than the bigger
tournaments. Sometimes the
S&Gs are used as single-table
satellites for lager
tournaments but for the sake
of this article I am talking
about a single event.
Analyzing the Sit & Go
Most of these S&G
tournaments pay the top three
players and these are the ones
I am going to discuss here.
The payout for the top three
is usually: 50% for first
place, 30% for second place
and 20% for third place.
The buy-in for the tournament
goes into the prize pool.
There is also an entry fee
that is collected by the card
room. You should look at the
percentage of the entry fee to
make sure it is not too high.
Some card rooms are offering
S&G tournaments but charging
very high entry fees. At one
casino I visited, the buy-in
was $45 but they were charging
a $15 entry fee for a total of
$60, which meant it was
costing me 33% to play. This
is very high percentage.
Online poker sites (yes,
people still play online)
offer some very low limit S&G
tournaments. On one online
site where I play a majority
of the time, they charge one
dollar entry for both the $5
and $10 tournaments. Because
of this you are better off
playing the $10 tournament on
this site. The entry fee will
cost you 10% for the $10
tournament but 20% for the $5
tournament. Since the skill
level of players is about the
same it will be better to play
the $10 tournament. Some of
the other sites charge 50¢
entry for the $5 tournament.
Limit vs. No Limit
I play both the Limit and
No Limit S&Gs, but I have
found that the No Limit one is
faster and easier to beat
because the players are so
loose and aggressive. Most
brick and mortar card rooms
only offer No Limit as it is
the most popular. In a No
Limit tournament you can
quickly double up with a
single hand and then pretty
much coast into the money by
playing the strategy I will
discuss here.
Getting Started
The first thing I do when
I enter a S&G is to figure out
approximately how much money I
will need to get into the top
three places. For example if I
am in a S&G that has 10
players and each starts with
800 in chips, then there are a
total of 8,000 chips in play.
I divide that number by three
and I know I will need about
2,666 to make it into the
money. This is only an average
figure because many times the
chip leader will have more
than the average and the third
place will have less. Once you
know the figure to get you
into the money you can gauge
your play accordingly. Your
next objective is to start to
analyze your opponents.
Observe
It is critical that you
are able to size up your
opponents as quickly as
possible. When you are not
involved in a hand, make sure
you are still paying attention
to the action. You want to
know who is playing tight and
who is playing loose. This
knowledge will aid you in the
tournament especially as
players are eliminated.
If
someone is extremely tight you
can take advantage of them by
being the aggressor. Many
times if two players see the
flop the one who comes out
betting is usually the winner.
Putting the tight player to
the test by forcing him to
call a big bet will usually
win you the pot unless he has
a strong hand. On the reverse
side, if a tight player enters
the pot with a big raise you
can be sure that most of the
time he has a hand.
The Strategy
The secret to winning
money in a S&G tournament can
be put into a single word:
PATIENCE. Many of the players
in the S&G tournaments are
very loose and play too many
hands. If you play this way
you will lose. You do not want
to play many hands in the
early stages of the
tournament. You want to sit
back and let all the loose
players knock themselves out.
Before you know it the table
will be down to four or five
players and you will only have
to beat two or three of them
to get in the money.
The secret to winning S&G
tournaments is NOT to play
many hands during the early
stages of the tournament.
Tight aggressive play is the
way to make it into the money
in a S&G. You also want to
stay away from marginal hands
early on and also to avoid a
confrontation that can cost
you all of your chips. Many
players enter the S&G with the
all in, double up or go broke
trying, mentality. This is
their strategy and they will
try to suck you into their
game plan. You want to be an
overwhelming favorite whenever
you get into an “all in”
situation. You want to avoid
calling all in bets with
marginal hands and the way to
do this is to be very aware of
your position in the hand.
Position
Position is probably the
most overlooked concept
involved in playing winning
Texas Hold’em. In a S&G it is
even more critical than in a
regular cash game, but still
many players will ignore it.
If you play weak hands in
early position during the
start of the tournament you
run the risk of someone moving
in on you with a big raise
forcing you to either get into
the early confrontation you
were trying to avoid or
folding and burning off chips.
As the tournament progresses
and players are knocked out,
you can use your position and
your stack size to your
advantage in the later rounds.
Here is a basic strategy for
playing a S&G tournament
broken down by the number of
players left in the game.
Nothing in poker is written in
stone, but if you follow these
guidelines you will have a
good chance of beating your
competition.
7-10 Players
At the start you only want
to play big hands against a
small number of players. You
don’t want to get involved in
many multi-way pots where you
may suffer a bad beat. Be very
selective, but be very
aggressive with the hands you
play. In the beginning I will
only play: A-A, K-K, Q-Q or AK
in early position and I will
go all in with them in an
attempt to double up. In
middle position I will play
A-J, A-10, (suited) K-Q, Q-J
or J-10 along with pocket
99s-88s-77s.
If
I am in late position and the
pot has not been raised I will
limp in with small pocket
pairs and a suited ace or
suited connectors. If I don’t
get a set on the flop I will
dump my pocket pair. You want
to flop a big hand or get out
for a single bet. Chasing a
draw will burn chips and if
there is a raise you should
avoid this. I have seen
numerous players get knocked
out of the tournaments when
they go all in with a flush or
straight draw on the flop.
Remember at this stage of the
tournament you want to avoid
confrontations that can knock
you out. If someone acting
after you goes all in you may
be forced to dump some of
these hands.
5-7 Players
Keep playing the same
tight strategy. If you happen
to double up during the early
rounds you can afford to be
very selective but also be
aggressive attacking the small
stack and the blinds. The one
thing you want to avoid is a
confrontation with another big
stack unless you have a
monster hand. It usually
doesn’t take too long to lose
two or three players. If you
have been playing correctly
and not suffered any bad beats
your stack size will be down
about a couple of blinds, but
probably not too much more.
Play big hands with a raise or
fold and wait for a strong
hand.
4-5 Players
When the tournament gets
down to four or five players,
the action gets really tight.
Players are hoping to coast
into the money. This is where
you can steal the blinds and
pick up money from the short
stacks who will fold in hopes
of making it into the money.
If you have a big stack you
should make sure that the
players with the small stacks
don’t get to see a cheap flop.
Enter the pot with a raise or
fold. One word of caution is
that if the blinds are too
short stacked they will be pot
committed and will usually
call in desperation. You don’t
want to double them up by
playing garbage.
If
you have a medium stack at
this point you still have
enough chips where you can do
a little stealing and build
your stack. Play any pocket
pairs aggressively if you are
the first one to enter the
hand. If you are short stacked
when you get to this point
your goal should be to try and
double up or go broke trying.
Any pocket pair or ace with a
big card is worth an all in
bet if you are heads up.
3 Players
When you make it into the
money you have accomplished
your main goal. Now is the
time to go for the next goal,
you should play for first
place or go broke trying. If
you are the chip leader you
should be raising with every
hand you play. Don’t let the
other two players see the flop
cheaply. If you are on the
button and have nothing let
the blinds fight it out with
each other.
At
this stage you want to try and
trap the other players into
making a mistake. If you flop
a big hand and are first to
act you can check if the other
players have been aggressive.
If they have been playing
passively, try making a small
bet into the pot that looks
like you are trying to steal
it. If you are raised you can
come over the top with a
bigger raise and trap the
other player.
If
you have the middle stack you
don’t want to wait and hope
that the small stack is
knocked out by the large
stack. Many times when the S&G
gets down to three, the play
will still be tight. With the
mid-size stack you can still
put some fear into the big
stack who might be afraid to
confront your raises.
If
you find that you are the
short stack then you have
nothing to lose. This is not
to say that you should just
bluff off your chips but you
also can’t wait to be blinded
off. Chances are if the player
with the big stack is
knowledgeable he will be
attacking you. You will have
to make a stand.
2 Players
When you are playing heads
up you can’t afford to wait.
Many times it comes down to
who can steal the most blinds.
You should raise a lot from
the small blind. If the big
blind folds half the time you
will show a profit.
If
you are the big blind and find
yourself against a player
using this strategy you will
need to counter it by calling
more or raising him. You must
loosen up or you will go
broke.
Queen/seven is called the
computer hand because computer
simulations show this hand
will win 51.77 percent heads
up against a random hand. So
with this hand or any hand
higher than this one you are
almost forced to play. Don’t
be afraid to raise back. A
small pair or even a single
ace or king can be a big
favorite in heads up play.
With a big hand you can often
trap the small blind by
limping in with it.
Try a Sit & Go
Some players are a little
hesitant about entering a
single table S&G because they
think all the players are
seasoned pros. Nothing could
be further from the truth,
especially in the lower limit
tournaments. If you try this
strategy you may just find
that they are more profitable
than you possibly imagined. It
might take you a few
tournaments to fine tune your
strategy, but don’t give up.
We all have bad cards and bad
days but a good S&G player can
usually get into the money on
a consistent basis. Just
remember to BE PATIENT!
Until next time, remember:
Luck comes and goes. Knowledge
stays forever.
—
Bill Burton is the Casino
Gambling Guide for About.com.
(www.casinogambling.about.com).
He is the author of 1000 Best
Casino Gambling Secrets and
Get the Edge at Low Limit
Texas Hold’em (www.billburton.com).
He is also an instructor for
Golden Touch Craps (www.goldentouchcraps.com).
