Winning Sit n Go Tournament Strategy

By K-REX

Poker can be both fun and profitable. A surprisingly large number of people focus on having fun and let others enjoy the profits. Today I am going to share some tips and strategies that will help you become one of the players getting paid to have fun.

There are two basic strategies that work in Sit n Go tournaments. Tight aggressive (TAG) and loose aggressive (LAG) are strategies you must be familiar with and able to play if you want to be successful.

TAG
Your objective is to only enter pots with better than average starting hands. As a result, you will not be playing very many hands. Most of the time, when you do play, you will be raising and betting aggressively. When you do get played with, you are looking to bust your opponent. Understanding how they are playing and how they perceive you are playing will be critical if you are to make the correct decisions preflop, on the flop and beyond.

LAG
Your objective is to see many flops. You will raise any unraised pot you enter and will be willing to call raises. On the flop you continue to bet and raise aggressively. Understanding where you are in the hand is crucial! Your aggression will get you lots of little pots and your chip stack should grow. The downside is that people will get tired of your constant aggression and start playing back at you. They will frequently do this with lesser quality hands than they would normally play. To be successful, you will need to recognize when someone is just trying to shut you down and when they actually have a quality hand. This style is not easy but it is very effective when played correctly.

Game selection
I am focusing on single table Sit n Go tournaments here.

Who gets paid and how much will have a big impact on your strategy. Double or nothing tournaments pay five of the starting 10 players double their buy-in (less entry fees). The other five receive nothing. A typical online Sit n Go pays only the top 3 players. The winner usually gets 50% of the prize pool, second place receives 30% and the remaining 20% goes to the third place finisher.

Sit n Go tournaments also come in two different speeds, turbo and regular. This refers to how fast the blinds increase. Turbo tournaments will increase the blinds much more quickly than regular tournaments. I prefer turbo tournaments because they finish so much faster than regular tournaments. This means I can play more tournaments and make more money in a given period of time.

Double or Nothing Sit n Go Tournament
When 5 players double their buy in and 5 get nothing, your only goal is to outlast 5 other players. Surviving is the key to making money and you will make the money an above average amount of time playing TAG. There may even be times when you make the money without ever playing a hand. Sounds odd but I have done this many times. This is a simple way to play this kind of tournament and it works. I will go into this kind of Sit n Go tournament in more detail in a future article.

Standard 1 table Sit n Go Tournament with 3 players paid

Early Play
Your goal in the early stages of a Sit n Go tournament is to understand your opponents. Pay attention to how everyone is playing and make notes. The sooner you can identify their strategy, the sooner you can adjust correctly. One good tool to help identify good and bad players is SharkScope. You should play very TAG in the early stages. Do not risk your chips until the blinds escalate and have more value relative to your stack. Play only premium hands for the first 3 levels however, you should play any pair for the price of one big blind. Your goal here is to flop a set and win a big pot. By now you should have a good idea about how your opponents are playing. If the majority are playing LAG, you want to continue playing TAG. If the majority are playing TAG, you play LAG and steal from them. Playing the opposite style will give you a big advantage early in the tournament. Watch for people to shift gears or go on tilt. Tilting players are good targets to try and double through or bust if you find yourself in a hand with them.

Bubble Play
The bubble is the last person eliminated without winning money. In a stardard 1 table Sit n Go tournament, the person eliminated in 4th place is the bubble player.

Many people play TAG at the bubble. You should play LAG! People are more likely to fold hands they would otherwise play because they are afraid of being eliminated without getting paid. Picking up chips now will help you later. Once you are in the money, your objective will be to take first place and the more chips you have, the easier it will be. Understanding how your opponents are playing is still a critical part of your strategy. You need to be careful with Calling Stations and Big Stacks. They are likely to give you action when you may not want it. By now you should know who is trying to squeak into the money. Take advantage of them and steal everything you can.

In the Money Play
Now it is time to mix it up. Shifting gears is how you climb to the top. Your better opponents will be doing the same so, you need to be paying attention to them. When they know you are playing LAG, it is time to switch to TAG. If they think you are playing one style and you have switched, you will be able to capitalize on their mistakes. That, my friend, is what poker is all about.

In this 3 payed structure, the real money is in 1st place. Your focus must always be on winning. Your play throughout the tournament should be designed to give you the best shot at finishing in 1st. Playing correctly, you will find yourself eliminated on the bubble or often enough winning it all. Of course, you will finish in 2nd or 3rd but, not that often if you follow my advice.

One last bit of advice, if you ever find your chip stack is 5 times the big blind or less, you will have to gamble. Pick a hand and go with it before it is too late. If you get much lower you will have little chance of recovering.

Good luck to you 🙂