Beginner’s 3-Minute Guide To Sit N Go Strategy
Sit & Go tournaments are fast becoming one of the most popular forms of online poker. That’s why major poker rooms like Full Tilt organize huge promotions like their upcoming $75,000 Sit & Go Madness.
* Visit FullTiltPoker.com and use bonus code “kickasspoker”
Even so, we know a lot of you still haven’t gotten involved. So today, we’ll give you a quick 3-minute guide to basic Sit N Go strategy to get you started.
Sit N Go: Stage By Stage
First, let’s review the payouts. 10-player Sit & Go’s pay out with the following structure:
- 1st place: 50% of the prize pool
- 2nd place: 30%
- 3rd place: 20%
Obviously, your goal is to be one of the last 3 players standing. That means you need to get to the final stage.
There are 4 stages (some folks say 3, but it’s more helpful to break it into 4):
- Early Game
- Middle Game
- Bubble
- In The Money
Each stage reflects the size of your chip stack in relation to the blinds. During the “Early Game,” your chip stack is large and the blinds are small. By the time you reach the “Bubble,” there are 4 players left (or 3 if you’re at a 6-player SNG) and the blinds are high.
Getting Past The Bubble
As we mentioned recently, if you don’t make it past the Bubble, you lose. Play tight into the Bubble, steal blinds where you can, and control your flop percentage. But, once you’re on the Bubble, your strategy should change dramatically.
Oddly, some SNG players tighten down the hatches on the Bubble. They start thinking “I just need to be in 3rd place to cash in.” So, they play conservatively.
Bad move. Your goal is 1st place, not 3rd. Remember, the winner takes 150% MORE than 3rd place (50% of the prize pool versus 20%). You need to be aggressive. That means raising more often, even with cards you wouldn’t have pushed during the Early Game.
Pocket pairs? Raise. Suited connectors? Raise. If you have the chip stack, push against the blinds. You’d be surprised how easily you can take advantage of passive players this way. As you’re opening your game up, they’re playing more tightly, folding at the first sign of aggression.
So, what happens when you’re going up against another aggressive player on the bubble? We’ll get into that soon.
As we mentioned above, Full Tilt has brought back their popular Sit & Go Madness tournament. It’s going from March 27th through March 29th, and there’s $75,000 in cash and prizes up for grabs. Visit Full Tilt Poker (use bonus code “kickasspoker“) today to learn more and get involved.
In the near future, we’ll give you some advanced SNG strategies (including what to do during the last stage) that you can use to crush the table and build your bankroll.
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