Single Table Tournaments Strategy

Often called sit-n-go or sit&go tournaments, single table tournaments are very popular in today’s online poker world. Played with 5, 6, 9 or 10 players, they are completed in less than an hour in most cases. At the lower buy in sit-n-go tournaments, the best strategy is to be very patient the first two or three rounds. Many players will try to quickly double up and many will be eliminated early. By only playing your very best hands early, you move closer to the money every time one of your opponents is eliminated. Once you start playing at higher buy in levels, $50 and up in most cases, solid play will be required to be successful, even in the early rounds. Most sit-n-go structures have a blind system that elevates quickly. For this reason it is very important to maximize any advantage or edge, no matter how small. You must be willing to gamble a little on hands that are toss up hands like AK vs. JJ. While it is still true that over the long run the best players will win more often than they lose playing single table tournaments, there is much higher variance, or luck, involved in the short term. On the other end of the spectrum, don’t make the mistake of letting the blinds eat into your stack too far. If you haven’t had any strong hands before you get to about half the stack you started with, you will need to find a hand you will be willing to gamble on. If you have less than half your starting chips, you will need to move all in with most hands that you decide to play. Remember that when you move all in there are at least two good things that can happen and only one bad one. You can win the pot and blinds immediately if everyone folds or an opponent can call and you can win a large pot. The only negative thing that can happen is if an opponent calls and you lose.

So to summarize, play only your very best hands early in the sit-n-go, push every advantage, no matter how small and if your stack becomes short, play very aggressively. Luck will create havoc with your short-term sit-n-go results, but over the long-term if you are a better player than your opponents you will win more than they do.

Many online poker rooms are now offering two and three table sit-n-go tournaments. These take a little longer than the single table tournaments and allow good strategy and play to be rewarded on a more consistent basis. Always check to see how many places pay before you start so you know what position you are shooting for.

One last bit of advice. In large multi table tournaments it is necessary to amass a large amount of chips in order to win. Often if you play to sneak into the money then that is all you can hope to accomplish. In sit-n-go play, this is not the case. Your first goal should always be to get into the money first. Because of the quick increasing of the blind structure, by the time you are in the money, every player left will be forced to gamble on sub par hands. I have won many sit-n-go tournaments when I was the small stack when we reached the money.