Low Stakes Sit N Go Tournament Strategy

 

Introduction
A sit n' go (SNG) tournament is typically a single-table tournament with an unscheduled start time. When a predetermined number of people register, the tournament begins. The number of participants is determined by the site and the game. Several sites use 9-person tables, while others use 10-person tables. Stakes range from $1 to several hundred dollars, but the focus of this article is the lower-limit, No Limit Hold 'Em SNGs, the $5 and $10 buy-in levels. These tournaments provide the player with several things: the ability to play in a tournament setting without committing several hours of time; the ability to hone short-handed and late-tournament tactics; and the thrill of winning a tournament with very little risk due to the low stakes involved. Typically, SNGs pay out the top three places. First place receives 50% of the prize pool, with second 30% and third 20% - finishing lower than third rewards you with experience, but no money. So our goal, first and foremost, is to finish no lower than third. With a third-place finish, we are guaranteed a profit on our tournament buy-in, and we are then free to take more risks while playing for the win.

 

Early Rounds (7-10 players)
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. It's often wise just to fold most other hands outright. One of the most overvalued hands in these early rounds is A-X, suited or unsuited. Don't commit too many chips to hands like A-7, A-5, A-J or any other speculative hand.

 

Middle rounds (4-6 players)
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, any pocket pair of tens or higher or Ace-King and Ace-Queen at this stage of the game would be enough to move in with. 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. Once you're one player out of the money, the big stack will typically begin to bully people around, so be very careful about timing your moves. Don't commit too many chips with medium hands, just wait for your opportunity to steal and force the short stack into a mistake. Usually it only takes a few orbits of four handed play to burst the bubble and send the remaining three players into the money. Your goal is to be one of them.

 

Late Stages (3 players - in the money)
Now the blinds are getting very high in relation to the average stack size. You will show down very few hands for the first ten hands after the bubble bursts, because if you have junk, you fold pre-flop, but suited connectors; any two face cards, any Ace with a medium kicker (7 or better), or Ace-suited, are 4xBB raising hands. 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. 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. It's ok to move in with and reasonable ace or pocket pair pre-flop, because the blinds are so big.

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.