Sit and Go poker tournaments are a fun and exciting way to get your poker fix in a hurry. Since you don’t usually have to pre-apply or find an open date to play, the Sit and Go (“SNG”) is a favorite amongst poker enthusiasts who want to play cards in their spare time.

Say you get home from work at 5:30 PM (I wish!) and, amazingly, have a night with nothing on the horizon. With the SNG, you can find a table with an open spot, wait for the pre-selected amounts to be filled and try to win yourself a nice dinner for tomorrow. Imagine covering the cost of that Porterhouse steak before eating it!

These SNG online poker tournaments are fast-paced, usually consisting of 10 players, and they’re the best way to build a bankroll with a minimal deposit. It’s important to note that they normally pay the top three finishers out of 10 players and are the only tournaments where you will find 30 percent of the field getting paid (in multi-table tournaments, generally only about 10 percent of the field is paid). SNGs definitely are the best “risk/reward” ratio in online poker.

A good way to play in these SNGs is to employ a “tight aggressive” mentality. While you do face the possibility of seeing some bad beats doing so, those losses can be mitigated if you stay the course. The blinds usually start quite low, so the conservative player will be rewarded down the road. Generally speaking, you can start out tight and then slowly become aggressive with premium hands. Chances are you’re sitting at a table with some causal players who want to make big splashes as well, so bide your time and wrangle them in. One of the staples of a SNG is that people will often pay any price to see a flop, regardless of what cards they’re holding.

Table position will play a big role in how you pull off this strategy, however. In early position, you should only play these strong hands. Later on, however, is your chance to occasionally loosen the reins. Middle-to-late positions are great because you can see what others players might be doing – maybe take a flyer on that low pocket pair or those suited connectors. Really, the middle-to-late positions are great for one thing: getting to see the action. You will get to see what kind of action your opponents take before you have to make a decision, and more importantly, what kind of pot odds you’ll be getting to see a flop.

All strategy aside, though, the real fun of a SNG is the spontaneity. If you’re into tournament-style poker but can’t handle a fixed schedule of events, the SNG is definitely the way to go. Blind structures encourage casual players and novices to get their feet wet in the world of online poker, which means anybody and everybody is truly welcome.

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Against very weak opponents, it’s usually not necessary to randomize your decisions. You don’t need to be very deceptive, because a straightforward strategy will usually earn the most money. But against more experienced players it’s a good idea to mix it up, as long as you don’t sacrifice too much in the process.

But how do you randomize? There are many ways to do this, some simple, some elaborate. One very easy way is to decide to choose the standard play for close decisions (such as mostly calling, but sometimes raising) three-quarters (75 percent) of the time and the exception one-quarter (25 percent) of the time. For situations in which a three-to-one ratio of standard play to exception seems reasonable to you, you can simply consider the suit of the FIRST card dealt to you. If it’s a spade, choose the exception and raise (for the sake of this example). If it’s any other suit, go with the standard play and just call.

As an extra precaution against the unlikely event that an opponent will catch on, you might change the exception suit from time to time. You could change it each session or even each hour.

Mike Caro

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Many players’ first exposure to poker comes from watching WSOP and WPT tournaments on TV, and I think that’s great. It’s entertaining and you’ll see some interesting plays, but viewers have to understand that they shouldn’t model their games based on the action they see on TV.

Why? The answer is simple – what you’re seeing is unrealistic and edited for television. Players in these televised tournaments often start with very deep stacks (sometimes 10,000 chips or more) and, most of the time, all you’ll see on the broadcast is action from the final table where the blinds are high and play is fast. In contrast, the majority of the low buy-in ($1 to $20) tournaments you’ll encounter online usually start with stacks of 1,500 and blinds of 10/20.

Because your approach to the early stages of these tournaments is key to whether you’ll make the final table, the question is, what should your strategy be?

I suggest adopting a simple approach, especially if you’re not a very experienced tournament player. Try not to play too many hands and aim to see a few cheap flops with small/medium pairs if possible because these can provide some the best chances for you to double or even triple up during the first couple of levels. There are many times when you may be able to put in 5% of your stack or less to see a flop and try and hit your set. You’re 7-to-1 to flop a set, but you may be getting 20-to-1 implied odds early on since a flopped set will often be the best hand, and you’ll have a good chance to double up against weaker players who may overplay top pair.

If you are expecting a few callers, you might want to limp with these hands pre-flop. You may also just want to flat call with these hands if there are already a couple of people in for a small raise when the action gets to you. But, if the action is folded to you in late position, you definitely want to raise and take down the blinds. If you want to play conservatively, you can safely throw away small pairs in early position. As I said previously, you don’t want to commit more than about 5% of your stack pre-flop with small and medium pairs (maybe 6% or 7% max), and when you play from early position there’s no guarantee that’s going to happen.

Of course you also want to be playing your monsters like AA and KK, and other hands like QQ, JJ, AK and AQ. Remember early on when stacks are deep, you’re not going to get a lot of action for all of your chips unless you’re up against a pretty strong hand.

There are no concrete rules as to how fast you should try to build your stack in the early going, but the main thing you don’t want to do is go broke by playing too loose. In smaller online tourneys you will either be in the money or close to the money without having to win too many pots if you can just play tight and hang around for a couple of hours. If you speculate too much or take too many coin-flips when you don’t need to early on, chances are that you’ll end up on the rail and miss that opportunity.

Even if you make it to the fourth or fifth level with just a little above starting stack, you’ll usually be in good enough shape to take a run at the money. Remember, getting into the money and beyond is what counts – so learn how to start your tournaments the right way and give yourself the best chance to be the last player standing at the end.

Allen Cunningham

ABOUT ALLEN CUNNINGHAM
Allen has 5 WSOP Bracelets and over $10.2 Million in Career Tournament Earnings. He was 2005 WSOP Player of the Year.

TOP POKER ROOMS FOR USA RESIDENTS – Safe, reputable poker rooms that welcome Amercian players

The middle stages of a poker tournament can be a tortuous and tedious experience for even the most seasoned pro. The long trek toward the money, combined with a variety of potentially tricky scenarios you may face along the way, make it difficult to come up with one sure-fire strategy to help you through. That said, one aspect of mid-tourney play that’s extremely important is picking up pots pre-flop.

If you’ve been card dead in the first few levels you may only have as many chips as what you started with, or you may have been lucky enough to double or triple up early on. You may be minutes or hours away from making the money, depending on the number of entrants, and the average chip stack may be 20, 30 or even 40BB, based on the structure.

No matter what the situation is, however, it’s important to remember that once the blinds start to represent a decent percentage of your stack, you want to steal as much as possible. Raising the blinds a fair amount also balances your play and gets your big hands paid off more often. You’ll lose a few of your raises with speculative hands when people come over the top of you or call, but you’ll win a few as well, and raising will convince people to play back at you on those times when you happen to have big hands.

Bear in mind it’s still important to pick your spots. Continue to play tight from early position – stick to big pairs and AK – but from late position, start to attack the blinds with a variety of playable hands. At this stage of the tournament, if you’re going to play a hand, you should be coming into the pot with a raise every single time.

From the cutoff or hijack, for example, I’m going to open with hands like 9Ts, any Ax suited, all pairs, two picture cards, and even looser hands than that from the button. If I’m in late position and facing a raise, I’m either going to want to smooth-call with a really good hand or re-raise bluff them to pick up the pot pre-flop.

If somebody makes a pre-flop raise that’s more than 10% of my stack and I have a hand I want to play, I’ll consider moving all-in over the top of them. Any smaller re-raise commits me to the hand and flat-calling gives me no idea of where I’m at. If I smooth-call, my opponent is likely to bet first after the flop and without top pair or an over-pair, I’m going to be forced to either fold the best hand or, possibly, move all-in with the worst hand.

For example, let’s say somebody opens in mid-to-late position for 300 and you’re on the button with T-T and 2,000 in chips. In this situation, I would assume the raiser is opening with any two picture cards, any pair or suited Aces, so a hand like T-T is definitely strong enough to play against their range.

I think the best play here is to move all-in. This will put some pressure on your opponent if they don’t have a very good hand and they’ll be likely to fold. This move also helps you avoid the trouble you might face if you just smooth-call the raise and over-cards come on the flop. If you’re holding T-T and the flop comes Jack or King high, you really have no idea what your opponent has if they lead out, which means you will probably have to fold.

I’d recommend moving all-in with 8-8 or 9-9 in this situation too because you’ll get more action pre-flop and maximize the value from your coin flips. If someone raises pre-flop with A-Q and you elect to just call with a mid-pocket pair, they’re likely to miss the flop and check-fold. However, if you go all-in over the top and they call, you have a good chance to take their whole stack and set yourself up for the rest of the tournament.

By moving all-in with hands like A-K, A-Q, 9-9 and T-T in these situations, you’re giving yourself more opportunities to win pots by either getting your opponents to lay down marginal hands, or to make calls that put them in coin-flip situations. By mixing up your game a little and making these moves with monsters every once in awhile, you can also get your opponents to make some calls where they’re huge dogs.

Remember, the first goal of tournament poker is to make it into the money. By aggressively attacking blinds and antes when you think you’re likely to be a favorite in the hand, you can build a stack that will help carry you through the tough patches you may face in the middle stages, and put you in position to play for the win once the bubble bursts.

Nicknamed “Clever Piggy”, Allen has won 5 WSOP Bracelets. He finished fourth at the 2006 WSOP Main Event and was named 2005 WSOP Player of the Year.

Having played at bet365 Poker for years we really enjoy and recommend them highly. bet365 is the lead member of the Playtech iPoker Network.

Elite Poker Professional Gus Hansen shares an amazing hand from his Aussie Millions play.  How would you have played this one? An interesting read.

Hand 133 – Crucial hand 7 – Biggest Hand So Far – Busting the Defending Champ

Blinds: 4000/8000/1000, My position: SB, My hand: Ac Qs, My Chip Stack: 389,000

Defending champ Lee Nelson has been moved to the table. He opens in middle position for 24,000 and I decide to just call with my Ac Qs in the SB. The BB folds. The flop comes:

Qh Qc 4c

I think it is fair to call it an above average flop!

I check and as expected Lee bets 44,000 into a 64,000 pot. Having flopped three Queens with top kicker, or as some would say “a Monster”, I have a couple of different options:

Calling, trying to trap Mr. Nelson would be more tempting with no flush draw on the board. Another draw-back is that calling simply fails to put more money in the pot. For it to be a real trap, I would have to check the turn as well and could thereby easily give Mr. Nelson two free cards. I don’t like it!
The mini-raise – doubling his 44,000 bet to about 100,000. Trying to keep Lee in the loop but forcing him to put a little more money in the pot. It might also be interpreted as a cheap steal-attempt thereby inducing Mr. Nelson to make a move. I like it!
Standard raise – to about 150,000. Put even more money in the pot but might force Lee out of some marginal hands. Has some merit!
As you can see I prefer the mini-raise.

After some deliberation I make it 100k. Now it is Lee’s turn to think. Surprisingly fast he goes all-in putting a total of 326,000 towards the middle. Pretty happy about the development I don’t hesitate to call. After all – I am holding the third nuts – or more likely “the nuts” since Lee would have played it a little slower if he was holding either Q4 or 44.

There is now 716,000 in the pot, so the next two cards are very crucial for the outcome of this tournament. The defending champ is all-in and I am left with less than 50,000 in front of me. Whoever wins this pot will be well on the way to the final table and the other guy headed – or more or less headed – to the sideline.

Showtime:
Lee: Kc 9c
Me: Ac Qs

Winning percentage before the turn:
Lee: 23.1 %
Me: 76.9 %

Turn: Jh

No club but now he has a gut-shot as well. His winning percentage stays the same.

River: 3h

Nice – I win the 700,000+ pot.

So what really happened here? How did we get 700k in the middle at this stage at the tournament?
Let us take it from the top:
Lee’s opening raise from middle position with Kc 9c – a play that has my utmost sympathy.
My call in the blind with AQo is definitely not mandatory and I would generally lean towards the re-raise. Being out of position, facing a tough opponent with a big chip-stack, I opted for the more conservative call.
Checking the flop – Very straight forward as Lee will most likely take a stab with any two cards.
Flop bet by Lee – Good solid play! Continuation bets is a big part of winning tournament strategy and should be performed a very high percentage of the time – especially this time where he actually has a flush draw to back it up!
My mini-raise – described earlier in the hand.
Lee’s all-in move – OOPS. I do not agree with this play.

A much better option would be to just call and see what develops. Lee is in position and has the luxury of awaiting my next move. If I had an air ball there is a very good chance that I would give up and he would be able to take it away with a medium-sized bet on the turn. On the other hand if I had a Queen I would probably move all in on the turn and Lee would be able to get away from the hand without losing all his money. Not to forget, if a club comes on the turn we would get all the money in with me having the drawing hand.

As you can see Lee would have gained a lot of information by flat-calling. Not only would he have a better idea about the strength of my hand but he would also get to see whether a club showed up or not!

Furthermore, contrary to what people think I am actually a very tight player :-). At least in some situations… Very rarely do I check-raise a big stack on the flop with absolutely nothing. I was in a comfortable position and not especially looking for a spot to pull off a big bluff. Analyzing the hand again and again I have come to the conclusion that my most likely holding is a random Queen, with the Ace high flush draw next in line. None of which the Kc 9c fare well against.

I am not quite sure why Lee opted to move all-in but I have a strong feeling that my reputation played a big part in his decision-making.

Here’s a link to the latest Online Poker Room Review Directory from the crew down the road at Gooners Guide to Gambling. (PS: A Gooner is an Arsenal Football Club supporter… derived from “Gunner”, but these guys are really just online gambling fans with a minor bias towards the red and white).

It doesn’t get much better in poker than to reach the final table play as the big stack. However, there’s a big difference between coming to the final table with the chip lead and knowing how to use your stack to take control of the final stages of a tournament.

There are many players who don’t slow down once they reach the final table with a big stack – I’m not one of them. By the time I reach the final table I’ll have already played a number of hands against about half of the other remaining players. I’ll have developed reads on their games and they’ll have done the same with me, which makes this a good time to switch gears. If I’ve been hammering away aggressively before the final table, I’ll often slow things down and be much more selective as the final table begins. This way, players might bust themselves against me by over-committing their chips in a spot where they think I’m being a bully although I’ve really got a hand.

Even more important to my success here, however, is that I begin paying very close attention to the size of my opponents’ stacks. I want to know who’s likely to be playing conservatively in order to try and move up a few spots, and who is short stacked and looking to get chips in the middle with any two cards. I’m more likely to play against the conservative players and avoid the gamblers.

Let’s say the majority of the players are sitting on somewhere between 40 and 50 big blinds each, but the short stack only has about 15 big blinds in front of him. He’s going to be looking for any chance he can to double up, which means I’m not going to raise his blinds unless I’m holding a hand that allows me to comfortably call his all-in re-raise. While doubling up the short stack probably doesn’t hurt me in the long run, it’s simply not worth risking chips that I can put to better use against other opponents.

When there’s a logjam of players who all have about equal size stacks, I’m willing to play a fairly wide range of hands against them, so long as I’m in position. For example, say I’m chip leader with about 100 blinds, and a smaller stack with about 40 blinds open-raises for 3 times the big blind. I’ll call this raise from the button or from late position with hands like 4-5 suited, 7-9 suited or J-10 suited if I think I can pick up the pot after the flop.

I know that I’m not often going to flop anything better than a single pair – if I connect at all – when I call with these kinds of hands. Yet I’m still comfortable making this play because I know my opponent will miss often enough that I can steal the pot with a post-flop bet. This is especially true against players who completely shut down their games if they miss the flop, because I can use my big stack to force them to commit a sizeable portion of their stack if they want to contest the pot.

When I do decide to play against the short stacks on the final table, I’m looking to do so from position and with hands that aren’t going to be easily dominated. If I don’t have to worry about someone entering the pot behind me, I’ll play coin flips against the short stack all day long because I know I’ll win enough of these hands over the long run to be profitable.

The times I won’t make this play with my big stack are when I think someone else may try to squeeze me out of the pot by raising all-in behind me, or when doubling up the short stack could drop me from being the chip leader back down to an average sized chip stack. In these cases, I’ll look for better spots and let the shorter stacks fight it out among themselves.

While having a large chip stack is a weapon in itself, you’ll get better results if you know how and when to use your stack to your best advantage. Put your stack to good use and apply pressure in the correct situations, and you’ll turn your chips into something much more valuable when the tournament is over.

A US-based Professional Poker player, Jordan has over $1 million in career earnings including 2 WSOP Final Tables and 8 WSOP cash finishes. (So don’t get suckered in with the “lucky” bit in his online moniker!)

If you’re USA-based, play and chat with top professionals (or just hang out at the tables with the rest of us) online at Bookmaker Poker or BetOnline Poker.

Knowing what to do and when to do it is what separates those who just play in tournaments from those who make final tables. This is especially true in No-Limit Hold ‘em, where the first decisions you’re faced with are what hands you should play and when you should play them. As the blinds get bigger and antes come in to play, these decisions become even more crucial. In these situations, one of the most critical errors that people make is not varying their pre-flop strategy enough.

While many pros advocate playing a tight, aggressive game and the importance of choosing “premium” starting hands, I find that there are many newer players who take this advice too far and simply don’t play enough hands. I recently talked with a newer pro who told me he was playing less than 10 percent of his hands pre-flop. This just isn’t enough – I don’t even play this tight under the gun. If you’re playing this tight, you’ve got to loosen up considerably, especially in late position and in the later stages of a tournament.

Let me give you an idea of what I’m talking about. As a general strategy, I want to play about 40 percent to 45 percent of my hands from the button before antes come into play. Under the gun with eight players left to act behind me, I’ll play about 14% of my hands. This percentage goes up gradually as my position advances around the table until I’m playing about 31 percent of my hands from the cut-off.

When antes come into play, I’ll raise about 59% of the time I’m on the button. On the other hand, I’m only going to raise about 18% of the time when I’m under the gun. With or without antes, it’s important to note that I’m raising about three times as often from the button as I do from under the gun. That may seem like a lot, but that’s how much you need to vary your play before the flop.

To give a specific example, let’s say you’re at the 100/200 level, and you raise three big blinds from the button. You’re risking 600 to win 300, which isn’t ideal. But if you’re making the same raise when there’s a 25 ante per person, then the same pot’s up to 500, which means you stand to pickup another 200. Those extra chips make it worthwhile for you to loosen up and raise more often with a wider range of hands, especially when you’re in the cut-off or on the button. If you’re successful with this play even a little over half the time, you’ve got an edge raising with almost anything.

You may have noticed that I’m giving some very specific percentages in this article. These are based on thousands of hands that I’ve played and tracked over the years, and a ranking system that I’ve been able to create that helps me determine which hands I should play and raise from different positions. You can create a similar chart for yourself or find a copy of mine in the Full Tilt Poker Tournament Strategy Guide. Use this information to help fine-tune your pre-flop hand selection and see how loosening up your game can help you thrive in the later stages of a tournament.

Nicknamed “The Rock” Andy Bloch has been playing poker since 1992. He is a former member of the infamous MIT Blackjack team.

For more poker tips from Andy and other professional poker players check out our poker tips and strategy directory at PokerLabRat.com.

Knockout Bounty tournaments available at a few top Poker rooms (such as BetVictor Poker and Paddy Power Poker) – can add a fun and exciting new wrinkle to tournament poker. While it’s important to go after the bounties at the right times, you have to keep an eye on your overall goal: winning.

A lot of players will forget this and risk way too much as they try go after bounties. You have to be wary of these players and adjust your game accordingly. You will often have to tighten up as your opponents are willing to play a wider range of hands in pursuit of Knockout Bounties. While everyone else is pushing with a wider variety of hands, you need to play smart and remember not to stray too far from your normal game plan.

Of course, there are times when you should be more aggressive in trying to take down a bounty. If another player at your table is short stacked, by all means go after him, especially in the early stages of the tournament. If you’re in the small blind and a short stack is in the big blind, you should force his hand with pretty much any two cards. In this case, the small risk in doubling him up is outweighed by the reward of taking down the bounty.

Inversely, if you find yourself short stacked in a Knockout Bounty tournament, you should be willing to push all-in with a narrower range of hands than you might otherwise play in a non-bounty tournament. Remember, everyone at the table is going to be gunning for you and your bounty, so you want to give yourself the best possible chance of having your hand stand up so that you can rebuild your chip stack. To that end, you should also be more wary of bluffing and of trying to steal blinds with a marginal hand, because you’re probably going to get called by at least one player, regardless of what cards they’re holding.

In the later stages of these tournaments when you’re getting close to the money, my advice is very simple – forget about the bounties and just play your normal game. If you’ve made it this far, you don’t want to make any unconventional or risky moves just for the chance to take down an additional bounty. The risk simply doesn’t justify the reward and your chips are just too precious to throw around when first-place could be within your grasp.

So go ahead and gun for a bounty when the opportunity presents itself, but don’t go out of your way trying to take another player out just for the fun of delivering a knockout punch. Remember, even in a Knockout Bounty tournament, there’s no sweeter reward than to be the last man standing after the final hand is dealt.

A former Wall Street Trader, Erik Seidel holds 7 WSOP Bracelets

Read more poker tips from professional players  or check out the latest poker room reviews on what’s hot and not about the top rating online poker sites.

In major tournaments, people are surprised by the amount of ‘big name’ professionals busting out early, but it’s really not as strange as you might think. Good tournament players don’t simply try to make it through the first day, their overall aim is to get to the money and the final table with a lot of chips. So it’s an all or nothing situation. They’re not going to avoid risk in an attempt to simply make it through the first day. That’s what amateurs do,

Poker is always a minefield, whether because of unpredictable players or unpredictable cards.

The skills are the same, whether you’re playing in a big tournament or a small tournament: you’re trying to figure out who you can bluff and who you can value bet against. You can pick up a lot of information before a hand of poker has even been played – such as who will play weak and who will play aggressive – and from the early stages of the game, you should have a good idea of who you can bluff, who you can value bet, and by how much. However, just because you can value bet someone doesn’t mean you’re not going to get sucked out. You can’t avoid getting all-in as a 3:1 favorite; you have to – and you’ll probably win a lot of chips, but there’s also a 1:3 chance you’ll end up with nothing. It happens.

Given the choice of ending the day with 10,000, or having a 50% chance of ending the day with 50,000 or nothing, all pros, with the exception, perhaps of Phil Hellmuth, would take the 50:50 shot. If you double up once, that makes you a favorite to double up again, because you have all that extra equity. You have to take those calculated risks if you want to stand a chance of getting ahead of the field. Sometimes you’re just not going to hit them, but that’s poker!

You can play 24 hours of poker and not make the money. I’d much rather get it all in early, which gives me a good chance of doubling up or going broke, rather than spend long, fruitless hours chasing the middle of the pack.

If you’re USA-based, like Phil, you can play some great online at Bookmaker Poker or BetOnline Poker.

Jerry Yang had been chip leader since early in the day, when it got to heads up play he had a 5-1 chip lead over his opponent Tuan Lam.

Jerry had looked to bully Tuan into submission, doubling Tuan up once didn’t even slow him down.

Once again from the button Jerry kept the heat on and raised to 2.3 million, this time however Tuan had a hand and reraised all in, Jerry went into the tank and decided he liked his chances.

The cards were flipped and it was a race, Jerry had a slight lead with pocket 8’s, but Tuan had two over cards and flush possibilities with A-Q all diamonds.

The flop comes down Q-5-9 and suddenly its Tuan in the lead, and it will take a miracle 8 or runner cards for a straight for Jerry to eliminate Tuan on this hand.

The turn is a 7, and while it opens up the chances of a back door straight for Jerry, Tuan is still in the lead, and it looks like he is about to double up again.

The river card however ended that dream, the river brought a miracle 6, completing Jerry’s backdoor straight, and handed Jerry the 2007 WSOP Main Event Championship.

Having played at bet365 Poker for years we really enjoy and recommend them highly. bet365 is the lead member of the Playtech iPoker Network.