Sit And Go
Sit And Go Characteristics
All sit and go tournaments have 4 things in common:
1: They are unscheduled and start when the table is full.
2: No re-buy option.
3: Rising blinds.
4: A prize pool based on the buy-ins of the players.
In the online poker rooms the sit and go buy-in and entry fee are presented on the following format:
| Buy-in & entry fee: $X + Y |
X denotes the buy-in that goes to the prize pool and Y denotes the entry fee that the poker room charges for hosting the tournament. The entry fee is typically 5-10% of the buy-in. The total amount of money that each player must pay to enter the tournament is X+Y.
Buy-in & Entry Fee Example
In a $1+0.1 SitNGo, $1 goes to the prize pool and $0.1 goes to the poker room. The total amount that must be paid to enter the tournament is $1.1.
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In a sit and go each player normally starts out with 1500 chips and the blinds typically begin at 10/20 where 10 denotes the SB and 20 the BB. This means that each player normally starts with 75 BB.
Typical Initial Blind Size: 10/20
Typical Starting Stack: 1500 chips (75 BB) |
The sit and go is the simplest tournament you can encounter in the poker rooms and yet we have only just begun presenting it.
Sit And Go Variations
There are several parameters that can differ between sit and go tournaments such as size of buy-in, number of seats at the table, number of tables, the speed at which the blinds are rising and payout structure. Furthermore, some poker rooms feature sit and go tournaments with alternative betting structures. No limit is standard, however, and consequently we only teach no limit sit and go in this poker school.
| Sit and go standard betting structure: No Limit |
The strategy you are about to learn is very basic and it can therefore be applied to most sit and go variations but it will nevertheless work best within the confines of the standard format. We will define all the relevant parameters to help you identify the various sit and go tournaments in the poker rooms.
The sit and go tournament can be divided into two main types:
• Single table (standard)
• Multi table
The single table sit and go has quite a few parameters to consider:
Single Table Sit And Go Parameters
Table seats:
• Standard: 9 or 10 seats
• Short-handed: 6 seats
• Heads-up: 2 seats
Speed at which the blinds are rising:
• Standard: Once every 10 minutes (may differ between poker rooms).
• Turbo: Once every 5 minutes (may differ between poker rooms).
• Super Turbo: Once every 3 minutes (may differ between poker rooms).
Payout structure:
• Standard: The top 3 finishers get paid with 50% going to the 1st, 30% to the 2nd and 20% to the 3rd. This payout structure is normally only used on tables with 9 or 10 seats.
• DoN: The top 50% of the players get paid twice the amount of their buy-in. The bottom 50% get nothing. This pay-structure is normally only used on tables with 6 seats.
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The multi table sit and go has fewer parameters:
Multi Table Sit And Go Parameters
Number of tables and seats:
• Two table: 18 or 20 seats
• Three table: 27 or 30 seats
Speed at which the blinds are rising:
• Standard: Once every 10 minutes (may differ between poker rooms).
• Turbo: Once every 5 minutes (may differ between poker rooms).
Payout structure:
• Standard: Top 4 finishers get paid with 40% going to the 1st, 30% to the 2nd, 20% to the 3rd and 10% to 4th.
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All these parameters can be combined into different tournaments and you can encounter most of them in pretty much any online poker room you happen to enter.
Sit And Go Examples
You consider entering a $1+$0.1 DoN Turbo SitNGo with 6 seats. This is a single table Sit and Go for 6 players with a $6 prize pool and blinds rising at standard speed. The top three players will win $2 each while the other three get nothing.
You consider entering a $5+0.25 Super Turbo Heads-Up SitNGo. This is a single table Sit and Go for two players with a $10 prize pool and blinds rising at turbo speed. It goes without saying that the whole prize pool goes to the winner.
You consider entering a $1+$0.1 SitNGo with 10 seats. This is a standard single table Sit And Go for ten players with a prize pool of $10 and blinds rising at standard speed. 1st place gets $5, 2nd place gets 3$ and 3rd place gets $2. The other players get nothing.
You consider entering a $5+0.5 Two Table SitNGo with 20 seats. This is a two table Sit and Go for 20 players with a $100 prize pool and blinds rising at standard speed. 1st place gets $40, 2nd place gets $30, 3rd place gets $20 and 4th place gets $10. The other players get nothing.
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This is only a taste of all the tournaments you can choose between and it might be hard to know beforehand which one of them that will give you the best value for your time and money. This brings us to the standard format.
The Standard Sit And Go
With all the parameters defined we can piece together the standard sit and go tournament:
Standard Sit And Go
No Limit
Single table with 9 or 10 seats
Blinds rising at standard speed (normally once every 10 minutes)
Payout structure where 50% of prize pool goes to 1st place, 30% to 2nd place and 20% to 3rd place.
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The standard sit and go gives the best return on investment for beginners because tight play will take you relatively close to a payout that is relatively big compared to your buy-in. The standard sit and go is by no means easy to play for a beginner but it is still the best alternative among all the variations:
• A multi table tournament has bigger prize pool and payouts but you must make it deep into the loose play phase, as dictated by size of blinds and number of remaining opponents, to finish anywhere near the money and it takes much more time to play the tournament.
• A short-handed tournament is faster but requires a loose style of play from the very beginning and it has a smaller prize pool.
• A turbo tournament is faster but requires a loose style of play from relatively early on.
Like we have established earlier in this school, a loose style of play is difficult to handle even for professionals and is therefore something beginners should avoid. Furthermore, when familiarizing yourself with tournaments you should pick one that gives a taste of everything that a big tournament has to offer: the careful beginning, the thrilling middle and the prestigious end. By picking a Super Turbo Heads-Up SitNGo you miss out on much of the diversity and entertainment that tournaments have to offer.
| We conclude that a beginner should play the standard sit and go tournament and it is standard sit and go strategy that we teach here. |
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