Sit and Go Basics

Well currently there is a whole faction of poker players that specifically play sit and go tournaments, just as rounders would regular ring games of decades past. Only now, the internet has provided such a wide array of choices in terms of buy ins, payout structure, opponent variety, satellite opportunities, blind speed that it has become a very worthwhile venture to not only learn, but excel in sit and go tournaments. Of course the reason for this is because there is money to be made.

Sit and go tournaments have a defined risk level as pre-determined by the cost of the buy-in. This is attractive for many reasons, partly of which is building your bankroll and also getting a lot of experience and playing time with a cost associated with it.

Most sit and go tournaments are single tables. They are actually unscheduled and only start, when all seats have filled up with players. Each player starts with the same amount of chips and is kicked out of the tournament. When all of those chips are gone. It's as simple as that. Given that, you must always strike a balance between taking risks and conserving your chip stack during the tournament. Most of those tournaments have nine players, some tables like at ultimate bet and party poker have 10 players. In the nine or 10 seated poker tournaments, the top three players win the prize pool divided usually by 50% of the prize pool going for first place, 30% of the prize pool going to second place and 20% of the prize pool going to third-place.

The poker sites themselves make money from sit and go tournaments by adding on an entry fee, usually between five and 10%. For example, a $10 sit and go tournament is actually normally referred to ain as a 10 plus one tournament, where 10 of your dollars goes to the prize pool and one dollar goes the poker site. That's normal and that's how they make their money.

As with any poker game, there is a forced pot created by players putting in antes or blinds depending on the game. In the very popular no limit hold them games sit and go tournaments have a small blind and the big blind, and in later stages also have antes. The blinds and antes increase in stages so as to put pressure on everyone playing in the tournament to either increase their chip stack or become eliminated.

Those rising blinds is where a lot of the action usually begins in sit and go tournaments and most of your strict edict decisions happen in the middle and later stages, when the blinds start rising, and players feel pressure to win. The blinds can rise as quick as five minutes, or as long as 15 minutes. In most normal sit and go tournaments. The faster the blinds rise, the faster the pots will become big and confrontations in numerous.

In saying that there is a skill that is to be learned by knowing certain things about sit and go tournaments. For example, your hole card strength, your opponents' profile, the prize structure, ICM equity, and an honest assessment of your own skill level, will help you go further and become more profitable in sit and go tournaments.

Online Sit and Go Basic Strategy

One of the main benefits of sit and go tournaments, especially online, is that you get to plaay a whole lot of hands for a fixed price. So if you are just learning the ropes about online poker and sit and go tournaments.

These types of games are probably your best bet and your most efficient value for getting the training you need to exceed in online poker.

Sit and go tournaments and multi-table tournaments have one thing in common and that is rising blinds and rising pressure to take risks in order to increase your chip stack. In other words, you just can't sit there waiting for the perfect opportunity indefinitely, because your stack will eventually get eaten away by rising blinds. Hence, just like a multi-table tournament, you need to develop skills for timing, aggression, and opponent profiling, mixed with a little bit of math skill.

The truth be told, though in online poker, no matter how much valuable information is freely distributed, many of your opponents will still not be playing optimally - and that can very well lead you to profits. If you can master your own self, understand the structure of the game, and simply comprehend the strength of your hole cards, your table position and a few other key points, it's really not that difficult to make the money on a regular basis in sit and go tournaments.

Now because of the rising blinds structure in sit and go tournaments, you can basically divide sit and go tournaments, specifically the single table style, into three distinct stages. That being the early-stage with low blinds, the middle stage with rising blinds, and late stages which includes high blinds and bubble play.

It's been well documented that early stages of the tournament should be played in a tight aggressive style, whereby you are avoiding burning chips. Given that the blinds are so low at this stage, winning them is still so inconsequential to your stack that you are generally risking more to win an amount that really won't matter in the anyway. I mean, you have a green mzoned stack ended in the early stages, your job is to keep it green, and willonly come out fighting when you have a very good chance of winning the pot with strong hole cards. If you happen to be in a hand, and you're not sure if you have the winning hand, then you really have to practice keeping the pot so small that it's not going to effect how you play the rest of the tournament.

In the middle stage with rising blinds, you will see a lot of your opponents taking more risks as their stacks decrease and increase based on earlier action. Some of them will be taking foolish risks, others will be taking calculated risks. This stage is often highlighted by all-in confrontations. If you happen to be in one of these all in confrontations, then you better make darn sure your opponent is the underdog. Don't get involved in hands where you are relying on help from the flop. It is much better to be involved with big pot hands where your opponent needs help from the flop.

It is true, though that if your stack has depleted to orange or red end zone by the middle stages. You really do have to open up your risk window and take some chances heads up even if you think that you might be behind or a marginal favorite.

Because of the rising structure, and your depleted stack size, you won't have a lot of choice here. However, given that you are probably going to be playing these on a regular basis, you will win and double out in these situations enough times, so that even when you are behind, it might make a lot of sense to get heads up, especially with a loose-aggressive opponent.

Now when you get to the late stages that features high blinds plays, aggression becomes quite a bit more important, especially first in pot aggression. The reason for this is because with high blinds, every pot can have a significant difference on anyone's chip stack. So not only could the pot be lucrative for you, but since it could be equally important for your opponents keeping it away from them is just as critical. Up to this point in the tournament, I hope you've been profiling your sit and go opponents because many of them will have the unprofitable habit of limping into the pot at a relatively high cost. These types of players generally like to see the flop bought art to gun shy to raise before the flop and will very often full to a re-raise, even though it makes pot odds sense for them to call after their first mistake.

The frequency of high blinds limpers require bold play on your part, and if you have been profiling, the way you should be in the early stages, then those same players can actually get you into the money more often.