Sit N Go Strategy

Tournament Strategy

Tournament Strategy Rule 1: Protecting your chips is the basic building block of a sound poker tournament strategy seeing as you lose more by losing a chip than you gain by winning a chip.

Tournament Strategy Rule 2: Winning the tournament should be your primary goal and that is also the aim of a sound tournament strategy. Merely finishing in the money is not good enough.

Tournament Strategy Rule 3: The early and middle phase of a tournament only serve the purpose of preparing you for the late phase where the real game begins and a sound tournament strategy aims to get you to the late phase in a competitive shape.

Sit And Go Characteristics

Buy-in & entry fee: $X + Y

Typical Initial Blind Size: 10/20

Typical Starting Stack: 1500 chips (75 BB)

The Standard Sit And Go

The strategy we will teach you is for the standard sitngo tournament which has the following specs:

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.

Bankroll Management

Minimum bet: BB.
Minimum raise: The minimum you can raise with is equal to the bet or amount raised with before you.
Maximum bet & raise: Equal to your stack of chips.
Raise to: The amount you raise to is your complete bet; i.e. the amount you raise with + the cost of calling. In online poker rooms you only specify the amount you raise to. This is also standard practise in casinos.
Raise with: The amount you raise with is only the part of your bet that exceeds the bet before you. In casinos and other live poker rooms you CAN specify the amount you raise with but the amount you raise to is standard.

Recommended sit n go bankroll: 50 buy-ins.
Suitable buy-ins for a beginner: $1
Corresponding bankroll for $1 buy-ins: $50
Move up to a higher buy-in: As soon as your bankroll exceeds 50 times the higher buy-in.
Move down to a lower buy-in: As soon as your bankroll goes below 50 times the lower buy-in.

Buy-in	Bankroll
$1	$50
$2	$100
$5	$250
$10	$500
$20	$1000
$25	$1250
$50	$2500

Pre-flop: Early Phase

Players	Early	Middle	Late	Blinds
10	3	3	2	2
9	2	3	2	2
8	1	3	2	2
7	1	2	2	2
6	1	1	2	2
5	0	1	2	2
4	0	0	2	2
3	0	0	1	2

Your Hand	Raises Before You	Early Pos.	Middle Pos.	Late Pos.	Blinds
AA, KK	None	Raise
	Exactly one	Raise
	More than one	All-In
QQ	None	Raise
	Exactly one	Raise
	More than one	Fold
AK	None	Raise
	Exactly one	Call
	More than one	Fold
JJ, TT	None	Call	Raise
	One or more	Fold
99 to 22	None	Call
	One or more	Fold
AQ, AJ, KQ	None	Fold		Raise
	One or more	Fold

Raises before you	Size of your raise
None	4BB + 1 BB per caller
Exactly one	Triple the raise + an amount that equals all calls made after that raise.

Finally there are some special rules to consider:

Special rule	Your Hand	Your action
There is one or more raises after you	AA, KK, QQ, AK	All-In
There is one or more raises after you	Any other hand	Fold
Somebody raises to more than 6 BB.	AA, KK, QQ, AK	All-In
Somebody raises to more than 6 BB.	Any other hand	Fold
The size of your raise exceeds 50% of your stack	-	All-In

The do-or-die rule: If your correct bet or raise costs you more than 50% of your stack you must always go all-in. You can not hope to achieve anything with less than 50% of your stack remaining, not in the current hand and nor in any future hands. Therefore, you must take the opportunity to apply maximum pressure. Your opponents might very well fold to that pressure and if they remain in the hand you will at least have produced a huge enough pot to be worth your while. It is a win/win situation to go all-in and a lose/lose situation to do anything less in the context at hand.

Pre-flop: Middle Phase

Basic Chart

Your hand	Raises before you	EP	MP	LP	Blinds
AA, KK	None	Raise
	One or more	All-In
QQ, AK, JJ	None	Raise
	Exactly one	All-In
	More than one	Fold
AQ, TT	None	Fold	Raise
	One or more	Fold

Size of your raise: You raise to 4BB + 1BB per caller. Should this raise exceed more than 50% of your stack you go all-in.

Special rule	Your Hand	Your action
There is one or more raises after you	AA, KK, QQ, AK	All-In
There is one or more raises after you	Any other hand	Fold

Blind Steal

Requirements for a blind steal
You must be in one of the three following three positions:
LP1 (CO)
LP2 (BU)
SB

Everyone must have folded before you.

Your position	You raise to 4 BB with:
LP1 (CO)	Aces	AJ
	Kings	KQ
	Pairs	99, 88, 77, 66
LP2 (BU)	Aces	AJ, AT
	Kings	KQ, KJ, KT
	Queens	QJ
	Pairs	99, 88, 77, 66, 55, 44, 33, 22
SB	Aces	AJ, AT, A9, A8
	Kings	KQ, KJ, KT, K9
	Queens	QJ, QT
	Pairs	99, 88, 77, 66, 55, 44, 33, 22

Special rule	Your Hand	Your action
There is one or more raises after you	AA, KK, QQ, AK	All-In
There is one or more raises after you	Any other hand (including all blind steal hands)	Fold

Steal Re-raise

Requirements for a steal re-raise: Exactly one player has raised before you and nobody has called before or after him.

Position of your opponent	You go all-in with:
Early	Aces	AK, AQ
Early	Pairs	AA, KK, QQ, JJ
Middle	Aces	AK, AQ
Middle	Pairs	AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT
Late	Aces	AK, AQ, AJ
Late	Pairs	AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, 99, 88
Small Blind	Aces	AK, AQ, AJ
	Kings	KQ
	Pairs	AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, 99, 88, 77

Flop, Turn & River

Continuation bet: You make a continuation bet when you continue your aggressive pre-flop action on the flop. Aggressive pre-flop action means that you raised pre-flop. A continuation bet (or raise) must be relatively big to qualify as a continuation bet. It must be aggressive. As a rule, you should bet 2/3 of the current pot size or alternatively raise to three times the bet before you. This gives your opponents bad odds for calling.

Two pairs or higher: Always playable.

Top Pair / Over Pair: Playable only if you raised pre-flop.

Trash Hand: Playable only if you raised pre-flop and there is only opponent remaining in the hand who has not yet bet anything. If this single remaining opponent bets or raises you must always fold.

When you have a playable hand you play it aggressively;i.e. by betting and raising.

Size of your bet: 2/3 of the current pot size.
Size of your raise: Triple the bet/raise before you + an amount that equals all calls made after the bet/raise in question.

Full Table Multi-way Pot Scenario

You will need a top pair to win at the very least. Whether a top pair is enough to win or not depends on the community cards and the current betting behaviour of your opponents. When you have top pair or over pair you need to pay careful attention to the community cards and your opponent's betting behaviour because these are two frequently beaten hands.

Unfavourable community cards:

2 community cards of the same rank. Your opponent could have a trips.

3 community cards of the same rank. Your opponent could have a full house. Even if you have full house you will need a high pocket pair to ascertain that you have the winning hand. Preferably an over pair.

2 pairs among the community cards. Your opponent could have a full house. Even if you have a full house you will need the higher trips to ascertain that you have the winning hand.

3 coordinated community cards that can form a straight with 2 connected pocket cards of medium or high rank. Your opponent could have a straight. Even if you have a straight you need it to be the nut straight to ascertain that you have the winning hand.

4 coordinated community cards that can form a straight with a medium or high pocket card. Your opponent could have a straight. Even if you have a straight you need it to be the nut straight to ascertain that you have the winning hand.

3-4 suited community cards. Your opponent could have a flush. Even if you have a flush you will need a high pocket card of that suit to ascertain that you have the winning hand.

Unfavourable betting behaviour exhibited by your opponent:

Betting & raising.

Short-handed Table Heads-up Pot Scenario

Here you must weigh your actions carefully against the community cards, your opponent's pre-flop actions, current actions and general playing style. Your hand is secondary. Should you have a top pair or higher you have little to worry about but a hand below a top pair is not necessarily in need of improvement. It depends on what your opponent is up to.

Unfavourable community cards:

3 or more community cards that rank higher than your pocket cards. Your opponent could have a top pair.

4 connected community cards that you are not forming a straight with. Your opponent could have a straight.

4 suited community cards that you are not forming a flush with. Your opponent could have a flush.