Sit & go tournaments
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Playing sit and go tournaments are a lot of fun. If you want them to be also profitable you need to set your goals straight. There are two goals you should have when playing sit and go tournaments.
The first is to aim to be in the money (ITM) and the second is to win the tournament. Actually you can accept to get ITM somewhat less frequently if you manage to win more often.
Strategy
In poker, and sit and go is no exception, your strength and weaknesses are the main factors to decide what strategy to use. The history has showed that one strategy is better than others in Sit and Go tournaments.
We advocate a rather tight play until a lot of players got eliminated. The reason is that the chips are not really worth anything in real money (and one chip lost is more worth than one chip won). It is to finish in the top 3 at a 10 handed sit and go tournament that wins you the money.
Your starting hand requirement from early position is only the top hands. AA, KK, QQ and AKs are playable from early and middle position. From late position you can play more hands if no one has raised the pot.
Your main concern is to stay alive and get into the money. Your best way to achieve that is simply to stay out of trouble as much as possible. That means not waste chips by chasing long shot straights or flushes. Instead play premium hands and try to win some chips. Play the top hands fast and aggressive. Do not let chasers get the odds to call you when you raised.
After a while you should try to loosen up. This could be when it comes down to maybe 4 or 5 players, but to say for sure is very hard. You need to try to figure out what kind of opponents you are up against. If they loosen up to much, you can still wait and let the others eliminate each other.
If people are playing tight you could put in some action and try to accumulate some chips when you are in the middle rounds. But be aware if there are other good sit and go players at your table. They will then try to do the same thing.
Remember that in a tournament you do not need to eliminate a single player except the player finishing second to win. Remember that high cards go up in value when you are up against few opponents, and hands like small suited connectors go down in value.
If you get very short stacked you should not wait too long to take a shot at a pot. If the blinds are increasing and your chip count is low you should gamble with some decent card. If you wait too long you will not get helped by doubling up. You probably know your math: 0 times 2 is equal with 0.
If you get eliminated (which even the best sit and go players will in maybe 50% of the tournaments they play) that is ok. You have done what you could and can buy in to a new one. If you succeed to win one or a few pots you will soon be back in the game for real and can slow down somewhat and again stay away from trouble and aim for the money.
When you reached the money you have secured some money. Then you should then focus on first place since the price structure often pays a significant amount more to the winner than to the player finishing second. That means that when you get ITM you can lose up your starting hand requirements a lot and take chances.
You can learn more about sit & go strategy here.
