Basic Texas Holdem Sit and Go Guidelines
SNG is Holdem as it is played during the final rounds of a large tournament. In single table SNG, you begin with one full table of 9 or 10 players. Once a player gets knocked out, their place remains empty. As the number of players dwindle, the blinds are increased. This unique combination of circumstances requires unique approaches for early, middle, and late stages of the game.
Skills acquired by mastering these three phases is a prerequisite for multi-table tournaments. As a bonus, SNG’s can be a fun way to socialize, free or low cost, and convenient. New games start up frequently at sites like PokerStars and they usually last less than an hour.
As players get eliminated from the game and the the players dwindle, the remaining players must pay the blinds more frequently. The cost per hand goes up, even if the blinds haven’t increased, yet. You must take more chances now, or risk getting blinded out. The size of the blinds in relationship to your stack size directly influences your starting hand selections.
Another element of SNG that affects your starting hand selections as well as playing strategy is the payout structure. Many SNG’s pay out 50% to first, 30% to second, and 20% to 3rd place. Your first priority is to play for third place, by playing tight early and gamble more in the later stages. Here are some tips:
1. When the blinds are still and don’t have to be paid very frequently because the table is full, play fewer hands. Play only the best of hands and avoid big pots unless your pot odds are good. This wil help create your table image as a tight player and will become instrumental when the next phase begins and you must strategically raise.
2. When the blinds are moderate, begin raising and re-raising the blinds when you have better than average starting hands in late position. During this phase, you must avoid being blinded out and have enough chips to give you more leverage in the final phase. Fold equity or leverage is when you have enough chips relative to the pot so you are able to force opponents with marginal hands to fold.
3. Once you make it to third place, you will receive 20% of the prize pool, a guaranteed profit. Now you can loosen up and get aggressive. This is where it pays to gamble for first place. When the blinds are high, you must raise big to win them. You may have to play marginal hands that you normally would muck.
With practice and study, it won’t take you long to Learn Hold em. You will also need to Learn Hold em Money Management.
Filed under: Gaming, Online Games, Poker
Comments Off
