No Limit Texas Holdem SnG (Sit and Go) Strategy
Bankroll Requirements
Steve Badger is fond of saying that if you're a losing player, you need an infinite bankroll. If you follow the no limit Texas holdem SnG strategy in this article, it's unlikely you'll be a losing player. But you still need enough of a bankroll to avoid what they call risk of ruin, which is the chance that you'll catch a losing streak that will wipe out your bankroll before you can win enough to catch back up to your positive expectation.
Even if you're playing strictly for recreation, you may still want to look over my Bankroll Management Tips.
Jackpot Sit and Go tournaments
If you intend on playing the Sit and Go's, probably the best bet out there are the Jackpot tourneys from Titan. In these games, if you string together a winning streak, you can win a jackpot bonus. Bonuses range from $2,000 for four wins at the $2.40 buy-in level, to $100,000 for six wins at the $58 buy-in level.
Use Bonus Code RULES500 for the deposit bonus
Strategy for Early in the Tournaments
There are two schools of thought for playing cards at this point in the tournament. One school says that the blinds are small compared to your stack, making seeing a flop very cheap. So, see lots of flops with speculative hands (suited connectors, for example).
The other school says "Tight is Right". If you spend $250 from your starting stack of $1,500 by speculating early, when you do find those Cowboys in the hole and double up, you'll have a stack of $2,500. If you play tight, you'll be doubling up a stack of $1,500 for a total of $3,000. That's quite a difference.
Especially in the lower buy-in tournaments, I subscribe to the "Tight is Right" theory. Starting out tight also makes it more effective when you change gears later in the tournament.
Early Position - Preflop
There are only 2 positions at this stage of the tournament - early position and late. If you're in what many would consider middle position, consider yourself in early position. My recommendation in early position is that you don't play anything but AK or a pair of 99's or better. Raise 3 or 4 big blinds with QQ's or better, and limp in with JJ's or lower. Reraise all-in with QQ's or better if you're reraised preflop, and fold if you're raised with JJ's or lower.
Late Position - Preflop
If you're in position and no one has raised, then raise 3 or 4 big blinds with any pair of 77's or better. You can also limp in from this position with any suited connectors that are 10 or higher.
A Quick Comment About Middle Pairs
Middle pairs are 77's and 88's and 99's (maybe even 66's too, although to me, 66's are a LOT weaker.) Chris Moneymaker suggests that it's okay to call preflop with middle pair if it's going to cost you less than 1/15 of your chips. So if you have 800 chips in front of you, it's okay to call with a middle pair if it's only 50 chips or so. If it's more than that, stay away from it. What you're hoping to do is flop a set - it's easy to get away from the hand if you don't it hit it in this case.
On the Flop
This is fit or fold time. If the flop fits your hand, play it aggressively. If it doesn't, then get away from the hand. Hands that fit the flop include top pairs or overpairs, two pairs, trips, four to a flush when your hole cards are big, four to a straight when your hole cards are big and there's not a potential flush out there. You should be raising or folding here, unless you've got a huge monster that just couldn't possibly get cracked, in which case you can try to trap your opponents and get some chips from them. You want to avoid getting drawn out on here.
When you raise on the flop, you should be betting at least the size of the pot. You don't want to give opponents with drawing hands odds to draw out on you. If they draw out on you, then let it be a mistake on their part.
You won't be playing many hands early in the tournament, but you'll be picking up blinds when you do, and you should have a decent stack by the middle of the tournament, about level 4 or 5.
SnG Strategy for the Middle of the Tournament
Around level 4 or 5, you have to start playing a little looser and a more aggressively. The blinds are too large now to just be giving them up, and you'll wind up weak and short-stacked if you don't seize some initiative at this point.
Raise preflop with any pair of 77's or better, and raise with any suited connectors higher than 10. Add AQ to your playable hands too, even if they're not suited. Don't cold-call a raise with these hands necessarily, unless they're monsters (QQ's or better). Think about your opponent and make a decision about reraising them or folding them based on how strong or weak you suspect they are. If you have no idea, you're probably better off folding.
If you're in late position, consider limping in with suited connectors that are 78suited or better, but only if the pot didn't get raised before you.
On the flop at this point, you're going to do one of two things depending on what kind of chip stack you have.
If you're short-stacked, you're going all-in, or you're folding. Fit or fold, just like the strategy in the early stage of the tournament. You're short-stacked when you have so few chips that betting the pot will take up about half your stack or a little less.
If you have a strong stack, then play it like you played it early in the tournament - bet the pot if you have a strong hand, or fold if your hand stinks.
On the Bubble in a Sit and Go No Limit Tournament
"The bubble" in a tournament is when you're right on the edge of landing in the money. In a SnG, that's the final four players.
There are two approaches to playing when you're in the bubble (down to the final four players).
The first approach says that you should play EXTREMELY tight, so that you increase your chances of landing in the money. You can then gamble after you're in 3rd place and hope to get lucky.
The other approach is to play very aggressively and steal as many blinds as you can, because the other players on the bubble are probably also playing very tight at this point.
Strategy on the Turn and on the River
The big decisions in no limit Texas holdem SnG's are almost all made preflop and on the flop. Just concentrate on playing smart on the turn and the river, and you'll be fine. I don't offer any advice for river and turn play because all your decisions have been more or less made at that point because of the limited number of chips you have.
A Couple More Notes and Thoughts
Top pair with a good kicker is not the strongest hand in the world, but you don't have a lot of chips to play around with in those Party Poker tournaments with 800 chips. If you're playing at another cardroom where you have more chips to start, play that hand with a little more caution on the flop.
Middle pairs should be played aggressively on the turn if you detect weakness from your opponents on the flop. You should be able to pick up a pot or two with these.
Don't get discouraged if you get short-stacked. Wait for a playable hand and go all-in preflop with it. I've won many a SnG tournament after coming back from 15 or 30 chips.
Finally, don't buy into all the smack talk at the table, especially if you're multi-tabling. It wouldn't hurt you to turn the chat off in fact. A SnG takes about an hour to complete, and you could make a pretty profitable day of it playing 3 or 4 tables at a time at the $30 + $3 buy-in level. If you see a 15% ROI on that level, which is reasonable if you're patient and play smart, then you could theoretically make $15 or so per hour playing the $30 + $3 SnG's 3 tabling at a time, and $20 per hour if you're playing 4 SnG's at a time.
The ROI will go down a little bit as you increase in buy-in though, because play improves, but since you're playing higher stakes, the actual dollar amount won could actually be higher. I think at the $100 + $9 buy-in, you should be able to anticipate about a 10% ROI, so if you can 3 table at that level, you can earn $30 per hour. These are all estimates though, and risk of ruin and streaks can be discouraging and nerve-wracking.
Take it slow, master sit and go strategy, deviate from the above recommendations when you think it's appropriate. You're not a robot, and poker isn't a one-size-fits-all game anyway. But consider the strategy above to be training wheels of a sort that should be pretty handy.
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