Sit And Go Texas Holdem Strategy

8/1/2022by admin

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Carlos Welch

Three strategies for Texas Hold'em Poker are most important and more influential than all others. Combining discipline, patience and anticipation is the greatest Texas Hold'em Strategy, capable of launching you beyond the opponents at your table and giving you a real chance of winning. The rules for Cash Games and Sit and Go’s are the same basic Texas Hold’em poker rules. Nonetheless, Cash Games and SNG are two completely different games. You will learn in this poker strategy article the essential differences between Texas Hold’em Cash Cames (Limit and No Limit) vs. Sit and Go’s (SNG, STT).

Last week, we discussed beginner strategy for the bubble of a standard, nine-handed, single-table sit & go in which the top three spots pay (50/30/20 percent). This week, we will discuss strategy for three-handed play. We are in the money and our main goal now is to take the lion's share of the prize pool and all the glory.

Play for the win

First, let's take a look at the math of a hypothetical scenario to see why playing for the win is the correct strategy in these kinds of SNGs such as are popular when you play poker online.

Let's imagine you can choose to play so conservatively in a SNG that you completely eliminate the possibility of taking third or first — a low variance strategy that would guarantee you 30 percent of the prize pool.

Then let's assume you could instead play so aggressively that you would never take second, and half the time you take third and win 20 percent of the prize pool and the other half of the time you take first and win 50 percent of the money.

This second strategy guarantees you 35 percent of the prize pool on average (i.e., better than the 30 percent for second). Even if you ran badly and only got first twice every five times, you would still win 32 percent on average and outdo your nitty, second-place finishing opponent. Embrace the variance my friends.

As the short stack, gamboool!!!

When you are the shortest stack, you don't have anything to lose. You've already locked up a cash and it will be difficult to ladder given how cautious the middle stack should be playing. With only three players left, the blinds will be coming around fast and furiously, so you are forced to gamble to keep yourself from blinding out.

Make standard Nash shoves and calls against the medium stack, but open up your range a bit against the big stack. He may he less inclined to call your shoves because the longer the bubble lasts, the more chips he will make. Also, you can call his shoves slightly wider if he had to go through the middle stack to get to you. Oftentimes this shove will be wider than normal because of how tight the middle stack has to call with you sitting behind him.

The flipside of this is also true. You should call tighter if the big stack shoves and you have to act before the middle stack. If you call, the middle stack will be incentivized to call as well because you have to win the pot outright to survive whereas he only has to beat you to get second place.

As the middle stack, attack the short stack and trap the big stack

When you are the middle stack, you really don't want the short stack to hang around. As long as he's there, the big stack can have a field day. You shouldn't pass on any +EV spots against the short stack, but you also don't want to get too out of line and double him up unnecessarily.

Against the big stack, you have to be cautious with your marginal hands, but you can widen your value range a bit. If he is playing well, he will be coming after you with a wide range of hands. This opens up an opportunity for you to get an easy double-up if you happen to pick up a strong hand and induce him to bluff shove on you.

As the big stack, attack the middle stack and consider protecting the short stack

When you are the biggest stack, you want to steal as many pots as possible before someone wakes up with a hand. The middle stack will be the easiest to steal from, especially when the short stack has folded. When this is the case, you can go crazy against him. Force him to pick up a real hand.

If the shortest stack is close in chips to the medium stack, neither player will be overly tight. This means that you should just stick closer to the Nash ranges. On the other hand, if the short stack has a lot less than the middle stack, then you can crank up the aggression on the middle stack who will be insanely tight.

For this reason, you may even consider keeping the short stack around by giving him walks when he starts to get pot committed (i.e., down to around 2-3 big blinds). As stated earlier, the longer the bubble last in this scenario, the more pots you will win without a fight.

Conclusion

We play poker for money, so if you get to three-handed, getting second is a nice consolation prize — but that should rarely be the goal. The vast majority of the money is up top, so you should give yourself a fighting chance to get to heads-up play with a competitive stack. Next week, we will examine the best way to approach the end game.

Also in this series...

Ready to start giving sit & gos a try? Put these tips into practice at 888poker.

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tournament strategyno-limit hold’emstack sizesstarting hand selectionpreflop strategysit & go strategyonline pokershort-handed strategysatellite strategy
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Reaching The Tournament Final Table Is Only Half The Battle!
This Article Shows You How To Adjust Your Final Table Strategy To Maximize Your Returns.

Let us set the scene… after several hours of play you have just reached the final table of a poker tournament at your chosen online poker room. 700 players are already out - just you and 9 others now remain. The prizes now climb steeply for each place – in fact you are looking at your biggest cash to date, one that could transform your poker bankroll overnight...

While getting to a tournament final table is the dream of many online poker players how many have actually thought through their strategy for when they arrive there? After all, one mistake could now cost $100s if not $1000s!

This article looks to address final table strategy for beginning and developing players by looking at 5 tips that will help any player improve their final table play - after all, you can not control the cards or other players, but can make sure you do many things to ensure you maximize your potential payout..

Poker Tournament Final Table Strategy: Tip #1 - Watch The Last 3 Tables!

Having ‘reads’ on your final table opponents before reaching the very last table will give you an immediate edge. When the game gets down to the last 3 tables make sure you are watching each one closely and are taking notes on the style of your potential opponents. Things to watch out for include aggression, bluffs and strange bet sizes. Any information that gives you a read on an opponent is an important aspect of NL Holdem Final Table Strategy.

Poker Tournament Final Table Strategy: Tip #2 - Who Is Playing to Win?

Sure, everyone would like to take first prize - but there are many players whose first priority will instead be to move up the payment scale. A valuable part of your final table strategy is to identify who is ‘playing to win’ and who is playing to move up the payment ladder. If you do identify timid opponents who are less likely to take risks then you should ensure you play many hands with them. Conversely, those players willing to 'gamble' in order to take the first prize are candidates for big bets only when you have premium holdings.

Poker Tournament Final Table Strategy: Tip #3 - Learn Basic ICM

ICM is an acronym for the 'Independent Chip Model', this formula works by taking into account that tournament chips change value as the game progresses - and that jumps in the prize pool at the final table mean that chips lost are worth more than the chips won in individual hands. I have explained this concept using examples in a dedciated article here. While you will not be able to do the complex calculations required in-play, simply having an idea of this model and the changes in strategy associated with it will give you a mathematical edge over new opponents. Even if you choose not to use it yourself, experienced opponents will know about it - so having a basic understanding will give you a better understanding of their play.

Poker Tournament Table Strategy Tip #4: - Awareness Of Stack Sizes.

By the time you reach the online final table players will have a wide range of stack sizes. Awareness of each persons stack size will help your final table strategy in many ways. Some examples include:

Small Stacks might be desperate enough to go all in with medium strength holdings, and may shove 'any two' when folded to in later positions. Note that some small stacks will desperately try to survive, hoping to move up the payouts.
Big Stacks may raise without strong hands to 'bully the table', this is a great strategy when there is a short stack around, since people are often reluctant to bust before the short stack does.
A medium stack who raises after a small stack has already entered the pot usually has a stronger hand than when that same person is first to raise. This is because players who expect to be called do not usually raise without good hands.
Stacks of 12 to 17 times the big blind are ideal for re-stealing (re-raising over an opponent's raise to steal the pot). If an aggressive opponent has a 'resteal stack' you can often 'induce' them to go all-in over the top of you when you have a premium hand.

Texas Hold'em Sit And Go Strategy

Your own stack size, especially in relation to the blinds and antes, is also a significant factor in your final table strategy. Calculate how many times you can go through the blinds before your stack disappears and use this to decide how tight or loose to play... Dan Harrington's 'M' gives a great framework for judging the flexibility you have in your play with various stack sizes.

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Poker Tournament Table Strategy Tip #5:- Practice Heads-Up Play!

To win an online NL Holdem tournament you have to beat your last opponent heads-up. For players who are used to full tables adjusting to this can be a big challenge. Practice heads-up poker play in advance, either with a friend or at an online poker room. Experience in the relative strength of hands in heads-up situations will greatly assist your NL holdem final table strategy… remember that the jump from 2nd to 1st prize can be several thousand dollars!!

Final Table Tournament Strategy - Bonus Tip #1 - Deal Making

Especially when you get short handed, the jumps in payments mean it can be beneficial to make a deal to share the prize money. This is especially welcome when the chip stacks are shallow compared to the blinds and antes - meaning the chance fall of the cards will make a big difference to who gets the money. If the money makes a big difference to your bankroll (it often will!) then you should go ahead and negotiate a deal. 'Chopping' is automated at some sites including Party Poker and Full Tilt. PokerStars allow this, though you will need to write to support to get a moderator to assist you, other sites are more tricky - leaving it to the players to transfer the money. The simplest chops are based on chip-counts, though the prize money can also be divided using ICM or you can haggle over a custom deal to take skill differences into account. My advice for newer is to make a deal when the jump in prize money is big enough to affect your play. Depending on the skill of your opponents, it might be more profitable in the long-term to play the game to the end - but when the money will make a big difference, I would go right ahead and deal.

Final Table Tournament Strategy - Bonus Tip #2 - Look Up Your Opponents Stats

Some of your opponents may be experienced small-stakes pros, for whom this is just another day in the office. Others will be brand new to the game and at their first final table, or long-term losers who have just got lucky. You can find out by looking up your opponent's win / loss statistics at services like Sharkscope or the excellent Poker Pro Labs. Knowing which type of players you are up against will help you decide how to play against them. Is that pro making a move to put pressure on you, since he knows it is your first final table? What hands will a losing novice player call with that a more experienced player could fold (suited cards and aces with bad kickers come to mind). Player stats might even give you information on who is playing above their normal buy-in level.

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