Sit N Go Tournament Strategy (SNG) Sit N Go Tournaments (SNG) are a great way to
learn
how to play at a final table. It is a single table
9-10 player tournament with the top 3 places paid. No
more fighting your way through Multi-Table Tournaments
(MTT) hoping to reach the end. It would be very
costly and time consuming to adapt your final table
skills thru MTT’s. The advantages to a SNG are that
the game begins once the table is full, and a game
typically does not last longer than an hour. If you
truly want to improve on your final table skills, then
SNG’s are your best bet.
A big difference in a SNG is that when someone gets
eliminated, the play becomes faster paced. Even
though the blind changes are always the same, whenever
a player gets knocked out the blinds theoretically go
up. Example: You are playing 6 handed with blinds of
100/200. So you are putting up 300 every 6 hands.
One person is eliminated and now you are putting up
300 every 5 hands. With that increase you are forced
to gamble more, or risk getting blinded out.
The best strategy is to start off with a conservative
tight image. The blinds are small and you will not
lose too much ground waiting around for better hands.
Also, it might give you a tight table image early
which could help when you need to do some blind
stealing when the table size starts shrinking. But
once the table is down to 4 players, this is your best
chance to start loosening up.
Most players figure they have nothing to lose early,
so they go for the quick double-up. They take wild
chances and play out of control when in their mind
nothing is on line because they are so far from the
money. Then, once they're in the money or on the
bubble, they tighten up. They then start thinking
about that payout for moving up a place. This is when
you can start doing your damage. You will already
have a tight table image and people will only play
strong hands trying to improve their money standings.
You should continue this strategy even when you are in
the money, because people will still try to move up in
money. But if you look at it as, all 3 of you have
already doubled your buy in. So why wait for strong
hands and risk getting blinded out for an additional
10% payout? (This is typically the payout difference
between 2nd and 3rd)
Go out and try this tight early and loose late
strategy and I think you will start seeing an
improvement in your results.