There are many different types of SNGs available for players to choose from these days, and each of them requires a slightly different approach. Fortunately they all have similar elements. This is what makes them sit-n-gos in the first place. If you can learn to think about how to change your play based on the different situations that you encounter at the table and what stage of the sit-n-go you are in, you can easily construct a winning strategy on the fly. This article will teach you to take advantage of the different elements of sit-n-go play including the early game, the bubble, the heads-up match, how to interpret stack sizes, position, and more. Each of these elements will be discussed in terms of a classical approach for beating SNGs with a few minor adjustments for small stakes SNGs.

(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.