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Sit’n Go is Holdem as it would be played at the final table of a large tournament. In single table SNG, you begin with a full table of 9 or 10 people. Once a player is eliminated, their spot stays empty. As the number of players dwindle, the blinds are increased. This unusual set of conditions requires unique approaches for three different stages of the game.

Skills acquired by becoming proficient at these three phases is instrumental for multi table tournaments. Plus, SNG’s can be fun, free or low cost, and don’t require a big time commitment. There is a new game starting up frequently at sites like PokerStars and they usually last less than an hour.

As players get eliminated from the game and the number of player become less and less, the remaining players must place their blinds more frequently. This makes your cost per hand increase, even if the blinds haven’t increased, yet. You must take more chances now, before you run out of chips. This is why the size of the blinds relative to your remaining bankroll directly influences your starting hand selections.

Another element of SNG that determines your hand choices and playing strategy is how the prize money is rewarded. Most SNG’s pay out 50% to first place, 30% to second place, and 20% to 3rd place. Your first priority is to play for third place, by playing tight early and plan looser later on. Here are the three phases and how to change your strategy:

1. In the early states when the blinds are still and don’t have to be paid very frequently due to a full table, play tight. Play only the best of hands and avoid all in confrontations unless your pot odds are good. This will help create your table image as a conservative player which will come in handy when the next phase kicks in and become more aggressive by raising the players who are in the blinds.
2. When the blinds are moderate, begin raising and re-raising the blinds when you have better than average hands in late position. During this phase, you want to avoid losing your chips to the blinds and still enough chips to give you fold equity in phase three. Fold equity or leverage is when you have enough chips relative to pot size where you can make your opponent fold.
3. Once you make it to third place, you get 20% of the prize money, a guaranteed profit. Now you can loosen up and get aggressive. This is where it pays to gamble for first place. Once the blind become this big, you must raise big to win them. You may have to play weaker hands that you would have folded earlier.

With practice, it shouldn’t take long to learn how to Play Texas Hold’em Online. Start with Holdem fundamentals and starting hand combinations. For more information, read How to Play Texas Holdem.

Tags: learn holem, texas holdem

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