Sit and Go Tournament Strategy
Sit and go tournaments (SNGs from now on) are somewhat easy to learn compared to other forms of poker and are extremely profitable for skilled players. Once the proper strategy is learned, it can be applied to dozens of tournaments per day for a nice win rate. Low stakes SNGs are the easiest to beat and if you use this basic strategy guide to get started, you can become a steady SNG winner.
This introductory strategy guide will be broken up into three parts of tournament play: The Early Stage, Middle Stage and Late Stage. The dynamics of the game change as players are eliminated and the blinds grow bigger so your strategy needs to change as well. No two SNGs are identical but most of them follow a recognizable pattern of early, middle and late stage play.
The Early Stage
For the purposes of this article, we'll consider the early stages of a tournament when there are still 7 or more players in the tournament and the blinds are less than 50/100. Many players mistakenly play the early stage of a SNG loosely in an attempt to hit strong hands while the blinds are small. In reality, good SNG strategy dictates that the early stage of a SNG be played tighter than any other stage of the tournament.
The thing about sit and go's is that it doesn't take strong hands to win chips. As you'll see in the later stages of the tournament, most of the chips that trade hands occur because players feel the pressure of the blinds squeezing them and they make desperate all-in moves.
You don't have an unlimited supply of chips so you'll want to save your chips in the early stages for use later in the tournament. The majority of your chips will come from stealing pots rather than hitting big hands. In order to steal, you need to have enough chips to make your opponents think twice before calling.
So in the early stages, what you want to do is play tight, smart poker. You should stick with the premium hands such as AA, KK, QQ, JJ and AK when playing in early and middle position. You can also play small pocket pairs from late position if there hasn't been a raise in front of you. If you can catch a set with a small pocket pair, you'll be in a good position to take home a large pot.
The early stages will be pretty boring for the most part. All you want to do is play tight, solid poker and let your opponents knock each other out or pay off your strong hands. Things will get a little more exciting in the middle and late stages of the tournament.
The Middle Stage
There's no exact definition for the "middle stage" of a SNG but generally the middle stage features blinds that are anywhere from 50/100 to 150/300 and have about 7 or fewer players remaining.
By now, a few people should have been eliminated and some of the remaining players will already be feeling pressured by the blinds. Stack sizes are still somewhat healthy but it doesn't take much more than a preflop raise and a bet on the flop to put someone all-in.
At this point you'll want to start making the occasional play to grab chips without seeing a showdown. If you paid attention to the players during the early stages, you'll know who is more likely to call and who is more likely to fold.
Wait until you are in middle or late position, have a decent hand (in case someone calls) and then make a raise of about 2.5 to 3 times the size of the big blind. If you get the rest of the players to fold, you'll win the blinds which are now becoming pretty substantial.
Occasionally you can wait until there are a couple of limpers and then push all-in to take the pot down. With two limpers, a big blind and a small blind in the middle, this makes a pretty nice pot to take down. You always run the risk of getting called but it requires well-timed risky plays to win SNGs.
If you catch a premium hand during the middle stage, there are two options for playing it. My favorite option is to play it by coming in with a raise like I would with any other hand. If anyone thinks you're stealing again, they will push all-in and you'll probably win a big pot with your premium hand.
Sometimes you can slowplay premium hands before the flop but I recommend you only do this from early position and if there has been a lot of action at the table. All you have to do is limp in, wait for someone to raise and then you can re-raise that person all-in.
You'll want to keep your table image in mind at all times. If you've been raising a lot and taking down pots without showing anything down, you might want to slow down for a while or else you'll run the risk of getting caught.
The Late Stage
The late stage of a sit and go tournament is marked by blinds that are 200/400 or higher with about 5 or fewer players remaining. By now everyone is feeling the pressure and you'll start to see lots of all-in action.
You have to pick your spots very carefully in the late stages but you absolutely must not play the late stage timidly. This is the most important part of the tournament because the blinds are so big that you have to steal them constantly to stay afloat.
There are many opportunities to become the chip leader in the late stage because many of your opponents will now be tightening up in an attempt to make it to the money. Instead of tightening up like them, you should become even more aggressive. Take advantage of their fear and start raising! You'll win a ton of chips during the late stage if you play aggressively.
Yes, it's risky to play aggressively when the blinds are so large but it's better to go out fighting than it is to roll over and let the blinds eat your stack alive. It feels dangerous making big plays for chips but it doesn't take very long at all for the blinds to take half your stack.
With about half the players already having been knocked out, the blinds will be coming around even faster. Your cards shouldn't matter to you at this point. What you want to do is look for opportunities to push all-in when the most timid players are in the blinds.
Eventually the bubble will break and there will only be three players remaining. You'll have to fight each other for the blinds and you'll see a lot of see-sawing of stack sizes as the three of you fight for the blinds.
By the time it gets down to heads-up play, the blinds will be huge compared to your stacks. All you can do here is push all-in with as many hands as you can and fold when your opponent pushes. It's generally better to be pushing all-in as opposed to trying to make calls.
When you push all-in, you have two ways to win the pot: your opponent will fold or you can win the showdown. When you make an all-in call, you will only win the pot if your hand wins the showdown.