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This is the 2nd video in my SNG video series. During this series I am playing each of the different types of SNGs offered by the poker sites and describing winning strategies for each. I played okay but not great during this video. Headsup poker is not my specialty so I typically play a pretty straightforward game. Check it out and leave comments.

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This video came out well. I played well and I go over a solid strategy for anyone who wants to play Super Turbos at the lower and middle stakes successfully. I cash in one sit n go and bubble the other, but I played well in both. There was one or two close decisions at the end that I could have played differently but I don’t regret my play either. Check the video out to see what happens!

(Note: While this article tackles generic low stakes SNG strategy. In the future you will be able to find articles on specific strategies for each type of sit-n-go.)

The most popular and well recognized form of sit-n-go is the single table tournament or STT for short. For the sake of simplicity I’ll be describing a strategy for beating STTs, but I will also be breaking an STT down into its specific elements so that you can easily translate this strategy for different types of SNGs.

The Early Game

In the beginning of a sit-n-go all players at the table have equal stack sizes. You will likely be up against a mix of tight players and bad (loose) players with the occasional aggressive or strong player tossed into the mix. Your best strategy is a tight one. A standard classic approach to STTs would suggest you play very tight early and try to maintain a hold on your original stack size. This strategy gives you the advantage of more fold equity for later on when the blinds are worth stealing. BUT, This strategy needs modification for the low stakes SNGs where limping is as common as corn. With lots of limpers ahead of you, you will want to take shots by limping in with suited connectors and hoping to hit 2 pair type hands and even top pair type hands if you are a decent post flop player and know when to fold. You will also want to be making good sized raises with medium strong pairs and AQ and AK. These hands play better against 1 or 2 opponents and you will likely end up with at least one caller who is just as likely to be holding a very speculative hand as he is a strong hand. (To clarify, by good sized raises I mean that if your standard raise is 3x the big blind, then you should add 1 more big blind to your raise amount for each limper in the pot)

Your goal in the early part of the SNG should be to observe your opponents, try to pick up weak spots in their games, and make profitable plays. If you are fortunate enough to pick up a hand and bust someone who is playing poorly then you are ahead of the game. If not, you will still have a large enough stack that you will be able to effectively steal blinds, raise limpers, and reraise blind stealers later on when the blinds get large.

The Bubble

This is a critical part of the tournament. If you are the big stack then you should do what you can to exploit the bubble, if you are one of the medium stacks then you must respect the bubble, and if you are the short stack then you have to do what you can to both survive and also get enough chips so that you are no longer the short stack. The last one is obvious, everyone knows that you should try to get chips if you are the short stack; however many players fail to respect the bubble when they have a medium stack, and many players also fail to take advantage of the bubble when they have the big stack.

The bubble should be played a little differently at the lower stakes for this very reason however. In low stakes SNGs many players fail to recognize the importance of the bubble and will make calls they shouldn’t make on the short stack. So even though I do think applying more pressure on the bubble is a good strategy at the lower levels, I think you need to keep in mind that players may be willing to call with weak aces and other marginal hands in spots they should be folding. Go ahead and up the pressure but be careful when selecting hands with which to apply pressure on your medium stacked opponents. Below is a mathematical breakdown of why medium stacked players should avoid 50/50 coin flip situations on the bubble of SNGs.

(Assuming equal stacks in a $10 SNG with 4 remaining; $10 stake chosen to make the math simpler; These SNGs pay out in a 50/30/20 distribution to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd) If I take a coin flip, I have a 50% chance of busting and a 50% chance of being the big stack with three left.

So I have a 50% chance of $0 and a 50% chance of getting into the final 3 with a 4000 to 2000 to 2000 chip advantage. This should result in the following outcomes (on average).

1st 50% of the time I survive the initial coin flip - $25 equity ($10+1 sit-n-go)
2nd 25% of the time - $7.5 equity
3rd 25% of the time - $5 equity

so all together this means .5(0)+.25(50)+.125(30)+.125(20) or, $18.75 equity (the 50/30/20 in the above example represents percent of the prize pool, so the 50 for example would be $50 dollars in a $10+1 SNG which has a total pool of $100)

BUT…

If I avoid confrontation when I know it’s going to mean a showdown I will have more equity than if I were to take a 50/50 coin flip. This should result in the following outcomes (on average).

1st 25% of the time - $12.5 equity
2nd 25% of the time - $7.5 equity
3rd 25% of the time - $5 equity
4th 25% of the time - $0

so all together this means .25(0)+.25(50)+.25(30)+.25(20) or, $25 equity

The Heads-Up Match

Typically when you are 1 on 1 in an SNG you will be in a high blind situation where each player will have 7500 chips and the blinds are 800/400 or 1000/500. In this situation both players are basically in push fold mode. You can play an automatic strategy here that makes it very difficult for your opponent to play against you. If you shove your top 58% from the button and call the top 65% versus your opponents raises, you are unexploitable. This is because you will be stealing enough in blinds and antes that your opponent can’t wait for good hands to outplay you.

That being said, this strategy can be modified slightly versus different types of opponents. If you are up against a maniac type of player who is shoving all-in every hand, then you can afford to be a little more selective with your calling range. Conversely, if you are up against a very tight passive player, you will want to steal every time when you are in the small blind, and you can afford to fold more than 35% of your hands from the big blind since he won’t be stealing often (nor will he be defending his blind often). This is because he is playing passive enough that it is best to just keep picking up his blinds uncontested.

Stack Size Considerations

When you are deciding whether or not to make a blind steal, whether or not to make a steal when you are on the bubble, or whether or not to call all-in at some stage during the sit-n-go, one of the key factors in your decision making process should be your stack size and your opponent’s stack size.

When making a steal you should ask yourself:
Does my opponent have enough that they can fold but not so much that they can easily call?

When making a call early on:
Do I have large enough implied odds to make this call (factors in opponent’s stack size)?

When making a call late:
Is my stack size small enough that I am forced to call?
Or large enough that I can afford to call?
If I call and lose, will I still have fold equity for my next raise?
If I call and win, how much does my situation improve?

You should factor in the answers to these questions greatly when making your decisions at the poker table. Stack size considerations are very important in all forms of tournament poker but especially in SNGs and turbo SNGs. I would also strongly recommend asking yourself a standard set of questions called a poker script whenever you are making difficult decisions at the poker table. Check out my article on using a poker script for more information.

The fact remains however if you don’t adhere to good bankroll management strategies, you run the risk of going broke every single time you play. If you are putting all your eggs in one basket, you are making a mistake! Keep reading to get an idea of some simple bankroll management techniques that will keep you in the money (the following applies to no limit hold’em).

1st rule of Bankroll Management is:

You do NOT talk about Bankroll Management!

Seriously though, the first rule is don’t bet more than you can afford to lose! If you have bills to pay and you are relying on poker, then you better have a big ol’ buffer zone to work with. More specifically you are going to need an even bigger bankroll and more adhere strictly to your rules than someone with a traditional job. For most of you though (the non-poker-professionals), you just need to make sure you aren’t betting your rent and bill money away.

2nd rule of Bankroll Management:

Cash games:
Play within your bankroll. If you have $200 and you want to play cash games, you can afford to play $10 (max buyin) NLHE. If you have $400 you can afford to play $10 or $20 NLHE but not the $25 max buyin games. In cash games you should have 20 max buyins at a level before you move up to that level. If you lose 5 buyins after moving up in stakes, move back down.

Sit-N-Go Tournaments:
If you want to play sit-n-gos (SNGs) then you will need 20 buyins for single table SNGs (maybe 25 buyins if they are turbos). You need to move down in stakes if you lose 5 or 6 buyins.

Multi-table Tournaments:
For multi-table tournaments (MTTs) you need between 50 and 100 buyins. There is a bit of flexibility for how you want to manage your bankroll if you are an MTT player. This depends on the number of players in the tournaments you typically play in, your consistency and style, do you play any SNGs or cash games on the side, etc. The more variable a style you play, the more buyins you need, if your tournaments are very large you will need more buyins also. However if you pad your bankroll by playing in cash games or SNGs then you can afford to play in slightly higher buyin MTTs. A good rule of thumb is do not risk more than 2% or 3% of your bankroll in any single MTT tournament.

Multi-table SNGs:
If you play a lot of multi-table SNGs then you should use your best judgment in splitting the difference between the 20 buyins needed to play single table SNGs and the 50-100 buyins needed to play MTT tournaments.

3rd rule of Bankroll Management:

Play with your head not your pe… uh, Pride! It is important to always play a logical game and never get caught up in a shoving match with another player at the table. Keep your head in the game.

Conclusion:

Poker is a skill game for sure, but the skill is in managing risk. The risk is still there no matter how good you play. It is possible to play poker like Phil Ivey or Men “The Master” Nguyen and still lose ten buyins at the cash games, or lose 8 straight SNGs. For better or worse every player goes on downswings. The sooner a player accepts this inevitability and incorporates good bankroll management skills into their game, the sooner that player will find themselves fighting through the rough patches and once again killing it! Check here for more on moving up and down in limits.

These are the types of players that you are likely to encounter in most small stakes no limit hold’em games. They are more or less organized according to how common they are. At many sites there will be more tight players in the small stakes games than donkeys. And at some sites there may be more donkeys than any other type of player. Regardless of the type of player(s) you are up against, you can use the above attributes to recognize their play and correctly identify, and categorize your opposition. Once you have identified your opponent’s play style, you can pick a winning strategy. Below I have outlined some basic and successful strategies for beating different types of players in the low stakes games.

Beating a Vanilla

The vanilla Player is probably the second easiest type of opponent to beat. Some Vanillas are better than others so it is important to treat each of your opponents at the poker table as a unique player and adjust to his or her individual playing style. Since Vanillas are fairly straightforward players, raises and bets typically mean strength, and calls can mean either strength or weakness (although if it means strength you are likely to find out about it no later than the turn). The best way to beat a Vanilla is to try to extract maximum value in the hand. Vanillas are likely to look you up with top pair no kicker, and second pair type hands. Value bets are very good against this type of player. Vanillas chase lots of draws also, so be wary of scare cards and try to use pot control tactics if the board turns sour. Don’t be afraid to bet all three streets for value with top pair top kicker (TPTK) or stronger. Typically you should beware a raise from this type of player!

Beating a Donkey

Donkeys are the easiest type of player to beat. Donkeys are typically huge calling stations although there are certainly a good many super aggressive donkeys (a.k.a. donks) that will raise all their chips off with over cards or a small pair (or weaker). First lets address the calling station donkeys. Super calling station donkeys should be treated as if they were Vanillas, but worse. These players are bad enough that you can value bet them with weak top pairs, maybe even second pair (although I would recommend playing a couple hundred hands with someone before making lots of value bets with worse than top pair). They will also be chasing a lot of draws, but fortunately when a donkey makes his draw he will let you know with a raise or bet. Calling stations do NOT bluff! If a calling station donkey makes a raise, you can safely muck marginal and even strong holdings (especially if a scare card comes). Super aggressive donkeys are a little bit different. Usually you will need to see some evidence that they are not simply holding a strong hand before you can identify a player as an agro-donkey. This evidence will come in the form of a showdown vs. an opponent in which the agro-donkey turns over a marginal or bad holding, or it will come in the form of many many aggressive raises and all-in bets. In either case, once you have determined you are up against an agro-donkey, find a place to call him or her down with a top pair or better type of hand (modify the range with which you are willing to call the donkey all-in based on how bad the donkey is). It is very important to try to get one on one vs. the agro-donkey however. Raise or reraise preflop to isolate if necessary.

Beating a Tight Player

Beating a tight player is marginally more difficult than beating a vanilla. The difference is that tight players don’t chase weak draws, and they don’t call you down with weak holdings. That being said, when a tight player is still in the hand with you after the flop (assuming he called your continuation bet), he is either calling because his hand is too weak to raise but he still believes it is the best hand, OR he is calling because his hand is strong enough that he doesn’t want to scare away action. If you have played a lot of hands with your tight opponent, you may be able to put him on a hand based only on him calling (some tight players always raise with strong hands). If your tight opponent is raising you, he is very likely to be holding the best hand and it is time for you to fold. An effective way to beat tight players is to put them to the test when they aren’t raising you, and to extract lots of value when you are holding the nuts. Remember that tight players don’t bluff. So take advantage when they are checking by either making free draws, or by taking pots away from them that they aren’t interested in. Stay observant and use your best judgment.

Beating a Strong Player

Beating strong players requires some second level thinking and fine tuning your game. Since it is very easy to beat low stakes cash games without engaging the strong players, it is best to avoid strong players unless you are already very capable of beating the low limit games and you are looking for a challenge. If this is the case check out one of my advanced holdem articles. However, if you can’t avoid confrontation, try your best to have position in any hands being played versus a savvy opponent. Observe all of their plays and try to pick up on their strengths and weaknesses and take advantage accordingly.

Beating SSNL Cash Games - Conclusion

Cash game poker requires a different mindset than SNGs or tournament poker. In cash games you are always 100 big blinds deep (I recommend that you buy in for the maximum unless you think you are worse than the other players at the table, in which case you should find a new table). Since you are always deep stacked, you should be willing to fold hands like JJ preflop with ease. Especially in the micro stakes cash games. These games are so full of bad players who are eager to find creative ways to give their chips away that you do not need to take unnecessary risks like getting all of your chips in the pot preflop with marginal holdings (unless you’ve seen your opponent moving all-in preflop a lot). The mindset you should be taking into these games is patience and confidence. If you know you can find good spots to take money from your weak opponents, you will have no trouble folding hands in marginal spots (even if these spots would be easy all-ins in a tournament). Stay patient and let the money come to you; in low stakes cash games there is no need to force the action.

Why do I play poker?

1. I play for money
2. I play for fun
3. I love competition
4. I play to relax after a tough day
5. I gotta get my gambling fix!
6. Other:________________

If you play for any other reason than for money or the love of competition then it will be difficult for you to take improving your game seriously. If you just play for fun, then why not call and see what your opponent check-raised the river with? If you just play to relax, then there is no reason to agonize over a tough decision on the flop. You can just go ahead and call and satisfy your curiosity. However, if you play for money or to compete and win, then you cannot allow yourself to satisfy your curiosity by calling (unless the information is worth more than the price of the call).

Getting rid of the voice that says “Screw it, why not call?”

We’ve all been involved in a hand where we’ve got a decent piece of the board and our opponent makes a big bet that, given the situation, can only mean strength. We think for a second about whether or not we want to fold and then that voice in our head says “screw it…” and next thing you know, the dealer is pushing the chips towards the other guy. The question is how do you get rid of that voice, or get rid of the impulse to satisfy your curiosity?

There are a few ways to do that. One important way is that you have to find satisfaction in making good folds (or laydowns). Whenever you see the big pros like Phil Hellmuth standing up and shouting to the whole room about their humongous laydown, “I can dodge bullets baby,” they are reinforcing the decision they just made to fold. In the same situation the average home-game player would have called every time to satisfy their curiosity (Phil folded AK on an ace high flop at the world series of poker and then famously shouted “I can dodge bullets baby” when the guy showed a flopped set).

How do you find satisfaction in folding? There a few things that can work. The Phil Hellmuth method is similar to a Tony Robbins motivational speech. Tony pounds his chest a lot and encourages attendees to pound their chests and get energized by hooting and hollering. This can work at the poker table also (just as the Tony Robbins method is effective, at least in the short term). It works even better at the poker table as a method of reinforcing a positive behavior like folding. The Hellmuth / Tony Robbins method is a good method to use for immediate reinforcement or when you are multitabling and can’t spend a lot of time thinking about your laydown. Another method you can try is rewarding yourself for making good folds after the tournament is over. If you review your poker sessions after they are over using software like Poker Office or Poker Tracker, then you have more options for rewarding a fold since you aren’t in the middle of playing your next hand, for example enjoy a snack, a half hour with your favorite TV show or video game etc.

After a while it won’t be necessary to use these kinds of tactics. Eventually money will be reward enough, and thinking critically about your decisions (rather than emotionally) will become second nature.

Curiosity is just one among several emotions that can change the way you play. Other emotions that can impact your play include greed, pride, anger, frustration etc. Good players are able to separate their feelings from their decisions. This isn’t to say that they don’t experience these emotions to some degree, but they don’t allow these feelings to corrupt the decision making process. They are also able to ignore the pressure that money places on them. Most players feel added pressure when the stakes are higher. Good players often feel pressure the same as anyone else but they try not to let it interfere with their thoughts. In fact many professionals play better under pressure.

If you actively dissect the hands that you’re involved in and review your sessions after you are finished playing, you will eventually find yourself playing better. You can also try behavior reinforcement or other strategies to improve your short term results. Another good strategy to use is running through a script in your head whenever you are involved in a hand. It’s also important to ask other players what they would do (or would have done) in hands that give you trouble. I have listed some valuable resources that can make a difference in your play and help you improve your game.

Poker office
2+2 forums

This is the script that I use:

• How is my opponent(s) playing? Aggressive / passive, tight / loose?
• What is my table image? Have I been playing lots of pots or just a few?
• What range of hands is my opponent(s) is likely to hold?
• Based upon my answers thus far, should I bet or raise?
• Should I check or fold?

It is important to answer the first three questions to the best of your ability and consider the answers carefully when deciding whether you are going to bet, raise, check, or fold. If I have the best hand or even if I might have the worst hand but I think that my opponent is either weak or very very tight, I will bet or raise. If I am beat and I think it will be difficult to get my opponent out of the pot, then I check or fold. Semi-bluffing opportunities are a tough one, and they often come down to preference and style of play. Generally it is a good idea to think about your image and your opponents tendencies when making a decision about whether or not to make a semi-bluff.

By using this script you will slow down the decision making process at the table and make fewer mistakes. Many amateurs have a habit of acting quickly at the poker table. This can lead to many missed opportunities and careless mistakes. Try pasting the script into notepad and leaving it next to your poker table the next time you play.

Before you even get started, you should be sure that you download your preferred poker room through a Rakeback provider (if that room offers Rakeback). Rakeback is free money in your pocket! For more information on Rakeback, visit our Rakeback Information page. If your favorite poker room doesn’t offer Rakeback, make sure that you download the poker room through a Bonus Provider.

Now that you have signed up for your favorite poker room it’s time to start playing poker. As you begin to play you will soon learn that there is a lot going on at the poker table. Everyone is playing the same game but some players are able to be consistent winners, and others are regular losers. Players who are better at observing their opponents patterns, picking up timing tells, playing position, knowing when to defend their blinds, understanding pot odds & implied odds (the list goes on and on), fare better at the table.

PokeRehab has compiled many resources including Free Poker Videos and Free Poker Strategy Articles for you to study from and become a better poker player. Below are several important articles and videos that will help poker beginners get started in the various forms of NL Hold’em. But if you would prefer to begin your poker education by reading a poker book (as I myself did), then check out these poker book reviews.

Beginner Poker Resources:
Learn to play poker… Screw it why not?
Poker Strategy Books
NL Holdem Hand Chart
Poker Glossary

Your preflop play should be tight from early position, a little looser late, and loose-aggressive first in from the button and cutoff.  However a chart that is too specific will prevent you from mixing your game up based on the table conditions.  For instance if your table is very loose you’re going to want to modify your strategy to play tighter preflop and value bet alot, if the table is very tight then you should get aggressive and put them to the test, if the table is very aggressive then look to trap, if there is a maniac who is trying to give his money away, you might want to take some flops in position on him (he’ll be more likely to give it away postflop).

Fortunately, it doesn’t take too much experience before you will develop your own style and get a feel for what starting hands are appropriate.  You will also develop a sense for when the table is loose and when it is not, when to take advantage of tight play and run your opponents over, and when to wait on a hand to bust the maniac.  I still think a few specifics about how to play different types of hands are in order.

So, I have put together a hand chart, but I think you should use this chart only as a starting point when you first enter a game. Once you have had a few rounds at the table to watch the other players and form a strategy, you can begin to adopt whatever style you are most comfortable with. This should NOT be used as a hard and fast preflop system. If you find yourself using it as such, then you should work on adapting to your opponent’s game.

You can find the hand chart here. I still have the excel sheet, so let me know if you guys want it.

(This portion of the article refers to NLHE 6-max cash game play, SNGS/ Tourneys are further down)

Generally you will be opening with only the very strong hands from UTG and early position, adding in the medium to high strength hands from mid-position, and then you can open some of the marginal and weak marginal hands from the button.

However you should think about the different groupings of hands in different ways.  The suited connectors are in the same category with AQ, however these hands play very differently.  AQ is a hand that hits the flop very obviously whereas 67s is a sneaky hand with the potential for lots of implied odds.  This means that your suited connectors and your small pairs play alot better versus a raise up front than an AQ does (assuming the player is raising only very strong hands up front), even though AQ is a better starting hand than 67s.  With a small pair and a 67s you want your opponent to be strong preflop so that you can get his whole stack after the flop, whereas with AQ you would rather your opponent have a marginal starting hand like JT or even better QT so that you can outflop him and extract value.

Your two big card hands can be very tricky to play and are usually considered to be trouble hands.  Hands like AT, KJ, and QJ can get you into tricky spots.  These hands are better when used to play small to medium size pots in position.  Ask yourself if you would put all of your money in on a queen high flop with a hand that is worse than QJ and you will see why these types of hands are better in small pots.  Typically these hands are best played versus loose calling station types, and then you are just looking to extract value from a worse hand (if a calling station raises you, run and hide).

Most of the marginal and weak marginal hands are trash except for on the button and in blind versus blind play.  And at a low limit NLHE cash game you shouldn’t expect players to get very creative in late position or in the blinds.  For this reason I prefer to avoid most of the weak marginal hands except from the button.  As always be willing to adjust to the play you see at your table.

(The rest of this article deals with SNGs and Tournaments)

In SNGs and Tournaments, excluding the first couple levels where the blinds are still small, your small pocket pairs and suited connectors will go down in value, and your two big card hands and medium aces will go up in value.  This is because the blinds are much larger relative to the average stack.  In cash games, players buying for the maximum will have 100 big blinds.  In the late stages of a tournament, the average stack will be more like 20 big blinds, and in SNGs and even moreso turbos, the average stacks are much shorter relative to the blinds.  This makes your top pair hands much much stronger, and therefore your big cards go up in value.  SNG and tournament poker is mostly played preflop and on the flop, if you watch the last two tables of a big online tournament, you will rarely see hands taken to the river unless the two biggest stacks are clashing.

This also means that your semibluffs will be often be allin bets.  Your value bets will also often be allin bets.  In the late stages of STT (Single Table Turbo) SNGs you will be forced to make allin blind steals in order to stay alive.  These games become much more about preflop selection, stack size, and strategy.  Whos stack is small enough that they can’t take unnecessary risks, but still big enough that they can afford to fold.  A stack fitting this description is a stack that should be targetted for steals (provided he’s not a crazy person).  Sometimes it will be the right play to give up a slightly +EV (expected value) situation in favor of holding on to those extra chips for the fold equity that they give you.  Other times it will be the right play to shove allin with 62s given your stacksize, position, and who is in the big blind.