Sng Poker

SNGs are poker tournaments which don’t have a pre-assigned start time and begin when all the available seats have been filled, hence the name ‘sit-n-go’. There are many different types of SNGs, ranging in size from heads-up games to large multi-table events spanning hundreds of tables. The most popular format is a nine or ten player ‘single-table’ poker game, which normally pays the top three finishers.

The speed by which the blinds increase can also vary; 15 minutes in a regular SNG, every 5-7 minutes in a ‘turbo’ SNG, and levels as short as two minutes in a ‘super turbo’ SNG. While stack sizes can also vary, most start with 1500 chips, though a number of the super-turbo formats can start with as little as 100 in chips.

The purpose of this lesson is to provide an overview of the basic strategy that’s required to become a successful low-stakes no-limit hold’em SNG player. We’ll look at basic strategies for the different stages of a typical single-table SNG, with particular attention to the bubble phase of the game. We’ll also throw in a few hints and tips along the way.

Someone who plays less than twelve tables simultaneously on buy-ins up to $22 should therefore prefer to play SNG’s at Doyles Room rather than at PokerStars or Full Tilt Poker: The shark ratio. Which is the Best US Poker Network for 2021? Chico, Winning Poker Network, Bovada / Bodog, Equity and Horizon – Which Online US Poker Network is the Best in 2021? Basic SNG Strategy Sit N Goes are a great way for players new to online poker.

Key Concept: The Value of Your Chips

Before we jump in and begin discussing various SNG strategies, the most important concept to know is that the value of your chips in a SNG is non-linear. What does this mean? Well, in a cash game you might buy in for $100 and your chips will retain that value throughout the time you are at the table. If you were to win every chip on the table you’d be able to cash in all your chips at their face value. But this does not happen in a SNG. The winner of the SNG will have all the chips at the end, but unless the structure is winner-take-all he will not win all of the money.

Let’s assume you are playing a single-table SNG with a typical payout structure of 50% for first, 30% for second, and 20% for third. In this case, the winner will have all of the chips and the end of the game, but only receive half the money. Two other players will take home a slice of the prize pool despite not having any chips at the end.

In a SNG your last chip is always going to be the most valuable chip. The more chips you have, the less valuable that first chip is going to be when compared to your last chip. In other words, the ratio of the dollar value of your chips in a SNG is non-linear. Does this sound overly complicated? Well, don’t worry about the math involved right now. Just being aware of this concept is the most valuable knowledge a SNG player can possess.

The Stages of a SNG Tournament

Let’s break down a typical single-table SNG into several key stages and discuss some of the ways you might approach them for improved results.

The Early Stage

A typical low-stakes SNG will feature mostly weak and passive play during the early blind levels. Just like in a cash game, the most preferable style of play is the one that is the opposite of the table. With that in mind the most common course of action is to play a tight-aggressive (TAG) style of poker. This means you should mostly be entering the pot with raises, and only limping with the occasional small pocket pair or speculative hand once a few players have already limped in too. You should play your big hands strongly and get value for them against opponents that are willing to pay you off. Even a hand as weak as top pair can reap a nice pot against the weak and passive players that are often found playing these games.

The Middle Stage

Once the first few players are eliminated and the blinds have increased a few times you will typically see the table tighten up. This is especially true if you’re playing in a turbo tournament. While some of the players with large stacks might continue to limp in with their weak aces and suited holdings, you should stick with a TAG style of play.

The first few levels of a SNG leave room for a bit of post-flop manoeuvring, but the middle stage doesn’t offer such freedom of expression. Paying attention to how your opponents have been playing now becomes more important. You should be able to detect which players are willing to gamble a little and which are going to be scared to bust out. Watch for situations that you might be able to take advantage of this, however be sure that you have a hand that is capable of standing up to resistance. Play your strongest hands for maximum value and you will be surprised how often you’ll be paid off.

The Late Stage

This is the time when stack sizes become shallow in relation to the blinds and aggressive play becomes the order of the day. All-in shoves pre-flop are frequently the only move available and the chips can often move around the table as players fold to aggression. With a nice chip lead you should be able to control the table, especially when a couple of players are struggling with shorter stacks and are more concerned about outlasting each other – which is sometimes the correct play! At other times you will need to be selective with your spots and use the fold equity and any leverage that your stack might still possess.

The Independent Chip Model

The bubble phase of a SNG is when the concept of ICM (Independent Chip Model) comes into play. ICM helps you to determine what kind of hand ranges you can push or call with. Remember, the chip values in a SNG are non-linear and ICM is the method that is used to mathematically determine the value of our chips in relation to the prize pool. You don’t need to be good at math. Just knowing the basics of how the math works in certain situations is the key to manipulating players on the bubble of a SNG.

The following is a brief overview of what a generic strategy might be for the bubble stage of a single-table SNG that pays the top three positions. This is all based on the concept of ICM:

Chip Leader

Your chips and the leverage they provide is your biggest weapon. Generally you will want to take advantage of the existence of the short stack by attacking the players in second and third, especially if the short stack is getting desperate in chips.When the short stack has folded you can usually raise with impunity on the others.The fear of busting out before the short stack is what they fear most, so use this knowledge wisely.

Second Place

When you’re in second place you’ll be able to bully and attack the player that is third in chips, particularly if you’re seated to his right.Although you will need to be very wary anytime the chip leader has acted or is still in the hand. You should also pay close attention to the position and potential play of the short stack. While you can still take on the other players remaining in the game, you will need solid holdings to cross paths with them.

Sng Pokerrrr 2

Third Place

Most beginning SNG players are going to be too scared to play when in third and will elect to try and outlast the short stack and “fold to the money”. By accident, these players find themselves to be using the correct strategy. If you and the short stack are close in chips you will need to be more aggressive since there is no guarantee that the other player will lose a hand anytime soon.However, in most cases it is unwise to play too loosely, especially when calling raises.

Fourth Place

Depending on your exact situation, you are going to have to make a move on some pots or risk losing any fold equity you still possess. The best player to attack is the player that’s currently in third-place. However, do not be too shy about potentially facing anyone. Time is running out and the shorter your stack becomes when compared to the blinds, the more desperate you may need to become. Do not have the fear of not cashing, since being in fourth place means you wouldn’t be cashing right now anyway!

A Few SNG Strategy Tips

There are many weak and passive players to be found at the low stakes SNGs and you should be taking advantage of their tendencies. For every poor play you encounter there is a good counter play.

Here are a few tips and tricks that you might be able to use during the course of a typical SNG:

• If your opponent calls too much, bet more for value.
• If they call too much, don’t bluff very much, if at all.
• If they fold too much, bet and bluff more frequently.
• If they chase draws incorrectly, charge them more.
• If they call all-in raises too lightly, shove all-in more.

Not all of these SNG plays are based on math – quite a few are geared more toward taking advantage of how a random player would generally behave. It’s important that you always pay attention to the tendencies of your opponents, including their hand ranges and the level of aggression they exhibit in their play. If you find an opponent who plays two-pair like it’s the nuts then use this information by shoving all-in with your sets, straights and flushes on the river. In the long run you’ll get paid off more this way then by making a value bet – unless the board makes a straight or flush too obvious. Likewise, if you find an opponent who plays top pair like it’s the nuts then be sure to play your two-pair hands very strongly.

Conclusion

The key points to take away from this lesson is that in general you should play a tight-aggressive style during the early and middle stages of a SNG and be taking advantage of ICM-friendly situations later on in a SNG. Remember to always be aware of not only your chip stack but also those of the other players and their positions at the table – and where appropriate, use your chips as weapons.

Simply knowing that chips stacks are always changing in value as players bust out of the game will give you a huge advantage over your opponents, particularly during the bubble stage of a SNG. Depending on ICM, position and what you have learned about your opponents will often dictate your decisions much more often that your cards might. Understanding such concepts in addition to paying attention to the tendencies of your opponents will help you become a successful low-stakes SNG player.

By Rick 'RyckyRych' Perlini

Rick has been playing poker since 2007 and is a low-stakes online SNG specialist. He has been a highly active and well-respected member of the Pokerology community for several years.

Sit and go’s, or SNG’s as they are also called, is a one table poker tournament structure with usually nine, six or two players. I started playing them when building my bankroll as early as 2005 just before the poker boom, and I quickly become one of the absolute top players in the world at that format.

At that time I had an average profit per game that used to range from 20$-40$ per game at 215$ buy in SNG’s. Back then I was playing about 8-10 games per hour which gave a pretty decent hourly rate (about 300$/h) for a 19 year old boy just finishing school.

Many of the guys that I was competing with in these games later became some of the most famous players in the world, like Elky, DaroiMinieri and RhainKhan. My nick in the chart below is HOMERos (on PokerStars.com).

In this guide, I’ll teach you the tips and tricks that took me to the top. This basic sit and go poker strategy explained below can also be applied as a starting point to how to develop a strategy for multi table tournaments. But more on that in another post.

So let’s get started!

The early levels

During the early levels of a sit and go tournament the blinds (and sometimes ante’s) are very low compared to the stacks. A usual setup is 10-20 blinds, with 1500 chips in each stack. One big difference between tournament poker and cash games are that you can’t buy new chips and add to your stack whenever needed. The value of each chip is therefore were high and you should persevere as many as possible to maximize your potential double up, once you do get the hand and spot you are waiting for.

One of my favorite book’s for tournament strategy is Dan Harringtons books “Harrington on Holdem” (Both volume 1 and 2). Dan Harrington, or “Action Dan” as he is called, literary never gave any action

That was how my journey started as well, adding a really aggressive twist during the later levels to really exploit the fact that my opponents had the perception that I was only playing the nuts.

Starting hands

At the first levels at a nine handed table without ante, which is the standard format at many poker sites, I used a starting hand selection during the early levels that looked something like this:

UTG: Raise – AQs+, TT+. Yes I was so tight that I folded AQ off at tables were I could not locate any super fishes that would call my preflop raise with a very wide range of hands. The thoughts around this is that it is so little in the pot and you have one of the worsts positions at the table, acting last on all streets against all players but the small and big blind.

Middle position: Raise: AJ+,99+. A bit “looser” than above. For earch spot you get closer to the button you can of course loosen up your opening range. It is also very important to mention that adjusting to the opponents at the specific table is very important. At some tables a wider range is preferable, and at some a tighter ranger is better. If you have calling stations and loose limpers acting before you, there is more reason to raise and isolate. But since the stack sizes are much more shallow you should not raise as often as you would in the same spot at a cash game table when acting after the same type of players.

HJ: Raise A7s+, 55+. At a cash game table much looser ranges here are advised. It is just because the blinds are very small and not much to win in the pot you could as well keep a tighter approach here at the earlier rounds – something that you can exploit when it really matters and the blinds are high. Table image is very important when “stealing” and bluffing later on.

B: Obviously the best spot at the table. Here you can, and should, raise very liberally. Any Ax, any pair and lots of suited connectors and “one gappers” is fine to raise with here. If the blinds are tight, or just loose passive, even more hands can be added to the raising range here.

Medium levels

At the medium levels at a sit and go tournament the ante often kicks in, that makes it much more lucrative to widen the opening range and start stealing those blinds and antes. It is impossible to really provide any valuable opening hand chart here because it is so dependent on your opponents at the table. I’ll talk more about that, and different spots, in the poker video below.

But as a general rule of thumb, play really tight when you are out of position. Understanding the importance of table position is one of the most important concepts to become a winning poker player, also when acting last it is so much easier not doing any big mistakes.

During each round of betting in poker you receive more information about the strength of your opponents hand. When playing in position you have more information and can thus make better decisions.

The bubble

When you approach the bubble (close to money paying positons) new parameters must be taking into account. How big is your stack? Whats the blinds and antes? How is the player that is closest to going busto? When you have a good stack in a SNG and it’s time to “play the bubble” it is a great opportunity to accumulate alot of chips and put tons of pressure on those guys that are waiting for the small stack/stacks to go broke.

Identify the weak players and their patterns and exploit them to maximum. It’s almost impossible to go through all the different spots in a blog post, so I’ll guide you further about this in the video as well.

Tips and tricks

There is one type of play that has worked really well in during the later levels of an sit and go and steal smaller pot without risking much. Since I’m playing such a conservative style during the earlier levels I can get away with lot’s of stuff when the blinds are high and it really matters.

One of my favourite moves is to limp from sb when everyone folded to me, and then bet half pot on the flop almost no matter what (of course you should occasionally check as well). That bet on the flop only need to work 1/3 to be profitable, and since the opponents give me ton of credit at that stage it works way more often than that.

Sit N Go Poker Training

Of course, sometimes you will face an opponent that will read the preflop limp from sb as weakness, and instantly raise, but then you now that until next time. So when I get the chance to limp in I almost always do that from sb to if I don’t already know that my opponent is really aggressive. I’ve made tons of extra chips (=money) with these types of steals.

One other grinder that I was competing with at the tables actually said to me at the table once that he picked up that specific play from me six months earlier and that he made a smaller fortune at those types of SNGs (this was 5 max at Betsafe/Microgaming) when he started to exploit his opponents tendencies to fold to much against that half pot size bet.

GTO or exploitative play?

GTO, game theory optimal play, is a really popular concept nowadays. And when facing really good players with statistical tools in deep cash games today I understand that it is important to not play exploititative. Though when facing weaker opponents I always advocate to play and exploitative style. It doesn’t matter if some players at the table know that you would only do a certain play or raise size with a certain hand. It is better to exploit the fish at the table to maximum.

For example, if you are sitting at a only SNG and know that one player at the table will call to see the flop almost no matter how much you raise, you should of course try to find the sweet spot and maximise it when you wake up with a great hand. If you know a player is willing to call a 500 raise pre even though the antes are only 10-20, then you should go for the 500 raise right from the start with your pocket aces, kings etc. In that way you are maximizing the value even though some better players at the table will know that you will only make this type of play with certain hands. It doesn’t matter. You’ll burn the fish in this way.

Playing the short stack

There is tons of literature of how play a short stack in poker tournaments and sit and gos. I always found myself a bit tighter than the general tips, however I have really been a master in picking my spots. Don’t only look at your hands and position when you decide what to push. This is almost just as important, who is the big blind and small blind? Do they have really shallow stacks themselves so they are almost forced to call? Or do they have super big stacks so a call doesn’t matter to them? Pick your spots to push against the players that would be hurt by calling with a hand that don’t hold up.

This concept i very often looked over. But it is really important in maximizing your fold equity when you push your small stack.

Playing the big stack

When you have a big stack in a sit and go and you are are getting closer to money paying position you can really exploit the fact that several players are just sitting and waiting for a money paying position. You can always start off with an aggressive approach and see how that works out, if your opponents don’t bite back – be relentless and put pressure on them, especially on those “medium stacks” that are waiting for the short stacks to go busto.

Payout structure

Another important thing to take into consideration is the payout structure for the tournament. In some SNGs the winner receives a large chunk of the pool and that changes the dynamics even further. An illustrating example was the turbo 6 max tournaments I played on Cryptologic (Ladbrokes) back in the days. The structure was super fast with blind increases every ten hands. And the payout structure was 75% to the winner, and 25 % to the runner up.

That means the winner got 4,5x their initial buy in, compared to 1,5 for the second place. When playing the bubble in that case it was super lucrative to play really aggressive before the bubble to maximize the times you won the tournament. Going busto as third some more times than if I had chosen a passive approach was no problem since the times I won I took almost the whole pot. My winnings on that network skyrocketed when I adjusted my SNG strategy to the payout structure. So it is a very important factor to take into consideration, both in SNG’s and MTT’s.

Best online poker sites for Sit and gos

Then, what is the best online poker sites if you want to play sit and go’s today? Well, here is my favourites considering action in the games running and competition.

Unibet Poker – Softest competition

PartyPoker – Great software and lot’s of different in games running

Pokerstars – Biggest poker site in the world

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