Sit & Go's: My Strategy, Part 2 - The Early Stages
The early stages of a sit and go are a wait and see game. You want to make sure that if you are involved in a hand that you win it. This is how in general I will play the following pocket hands before the flop, note this strategy varies dramatically depending on the type of game and type of players, but this is a GENERAL guide for the first 2 levels 9 handed.
Early Position:
Raise 3 units with= AA,KK,QQ,JJ,AK
Limp with= 99,1010,AJ,AQ
Middle Position:
Raise 3 units with= AA,KK,QQ,JJ,1010,AK,AQ
Limp/Call with= 55,66,77,88,99,AJ
Late Position:
Raise 3 Units with= AA,KK,QQ,JJ,1010,99,AK,AQ,88,AJ
Limp/Call with= 22,33,44,55,66,77,any suited connectors
Reraise with= AA,KK
I'm sure many people will debate with my hand selection, this isn't 100% how I play or the correct way to play, poker is so situational that you shouldn't follow this guide and do exactly what it says because it won't help your game. But if your totally unsure of the general hands to play early on then this might be a good guide to start off with. Remember the above guide is for early stages of the tournament meaning a full table still small blinds. Some people will debate that playing small pocket pairs or certain suited connectors is not tight play, but it is when your only goal is to flop a set or 2pair or flush or big hand. You want to see flops with these types of hands for cheap, like 20-30chips. If you don't hit with these hands you lay them down without hesitation.
The blinds are so small in the early stages there's no stealing involved and your only goal is to see some cheap flops with solid hands in hopes of hitting 2 pair, or a set. Even if you end up getting an open end straight draw or flush draw unless the situation is rite and your in good position, your getting the rite price to call then don't even bother risking chips to hit a draw. You want to hit a solid flop with the best hand and win as many chips as you can. Don't do anything fancy or get greedy for chips. Put your opponent on a hand and play it accordingly and try and extract as many chips as possible. Even if you got AK and flop comes KQ9 2 suits and action is heavy with 2-3 opponents your hand MIGHT be the best on the flop, but you have to dodge so many cards that's it not worth it, make sure your in a locked position and that your atleast a 3:1 favorite. Play your cards, but more importantly your opponent and situation.
Your goal early on is to not risk any substantial amount of chips unless your a big favorite odds wise and you are very confident in the situation and that your going to win the pot. The last thing you want to be doing is risking a large portion of your hands on draws or speculative best hands.
Establishing your image
Even though your analyzing your opponents, people will be analyzing you as well. Remember most of these players your playing with will be for the first time, so first impressions are EVERYTHING, just like in real life. Usually the way you play early will make your opponents think that's what kind of player you are. That's excellent, you want them to establish in there heads what kind of player you are, this way you can play your hands against them accordingly. If you play a tight solid game and fold pretty much all your hands early on, don't defend your blinds etc.. (No need to early on). You'll pretty much go unnoticed at the table, you won't be given a loose image. They're will probably be 2-3 jokers on the table playing a lot of pots, raising lots that will be established as the loose wild players because these are the players that stick out.
By playing a tight solid game & not playing any hands, people will have you pegged as a tight player that only plays premium hands & plays straight up poker. Now you OWN your opponents because in the later stages of the sit and go tournament you can play to them, you can understand there raises, there bets and what they have, because there mindset is that this is a tight player, so they will push you around raise your blinds with weaker hands later on. Because they are thinking ok this is a tight player there's a 90% chance he will fold and if he reraises me then he must have picked up a hand.
If you happen to get a lot of good hands early on and your rasing a lot and not much action mostly folds and not many showdowns to see what you have. You then need to understand that your earning a loose reputation and even though you might be a tight player people will still think your a loose player that raises with crap sometimes. That's not a problem if your able to recognize the image your giving off. With this image in the later stages of a tournament you can play your strong hands really strong and people will be less likely to believe you, so you don't need to respect as much people that move over the top of you in later stages cause you know they are thinking there's a good chance that you have crap because you established a loose image early by playing a lot of hands.
To sum it up, recognize and understand the image your giving to the other players by the amount of hands that your playing early on and play accordingly to that in the later stages of the tournament. This is a huge edge that no amateurs or weak players pick up on or realize.
What style should I play?
I recommend playing a rock solid tight game without ever risking a lot of chips unless you have the best hand and your a dominate favorite in the hand. I also recommend playing a passive game, this way your not risking a lot of chips and you can sit back and analyze the betting and then be able to make a decision based on your analysis of your opponents betting. Often early on a lot of players make the mistake of getting a big hand and keep on betting raising the whole way, I think that's weak poker and you should play a real tight solid game and no matter what your 2 cards are, your playing the situation looking for the best spot to get your money in.
What happens if I'm short stacked early on?
You play a tight game and wait for a top4 premium hand AA,kk,QQ,AK and try and get it all in before the flop, more then not your going to be called by a dog and this is a good opportunity to double up and get back in the running. Just because your short stacked you don't want to be playing more hands to double up, or think your dead and call with some weak cards. The blinds are so small still that it doesn't hurt you and you can't give up. If the blinds are 15/30, and you got 500 in early position it doesn't mean pushing it all in with pocket aces, I don't even like a regular raise in this position as it screams strength cause if you had a half descent hand (aq)(10s) you know you'd push it all in. If your playing with strong opponents they would pick up on that, so early position I like a limp and hopefully someone opens the action enough that your then able to push it all in.
What if If I'm on the button and someone pushes all in and I have AKSuited?
Lay it down, you don't want to risk your whole stack and tournament early on a coin toss. The only time I may take a coin toss early on is if I have enough chips that If I lose the coin toss or hand then I have at least around the starting chips left. If you leave your result on a coin toss you might as well go play baccarat or roulette.
I'm sure your saying, well what if he has AQ?. "What If" is the key, unless this player has pushed all in numerous times and you are Confident that he doesn't have some sort of hand. But even then he has pocket 2's your gambling or if he has 72 off suit your not a big enough favorite.
Sometimes you got to have no emotions with your cards, who cares if it's AK or who cares if it's 72 you can't have any emotional attachment to your hands. You say to yourself this isn't the rite situation I don't have anything invested I'm going to wait for a better spot.
The problem with weak and amateur players is they fall in love with their hand and when they see the 2 cards, they tell to them subconsciously in there head. "YAY, I'm going to win this pot". You can't think like that. You have to be emotionless with the cards, tell yourself "Ok I got a hand I can play with let's go see If I'm able to win this hand if I get a good situation". The best players in the world can lay down big hands without even hesitating if the situation isn't correct.
What if no one is knocked out in the early stages?
You don't want this happening, this makes it a lot tougher to make the money. Don't panic though sit back, wait, relax and continue playing your style. People will eventually start being knocked out. Ideally you want at least 2-4 people knocked out in the first 2 levels.
Keys to early play in a sit and go:
- Play tight & wait for the best situations.
- Don't get emotionally attached to your cards.
- See flops with pocket pairs and suited connectors if your getting the rite price and it's cheap and not risking many chips.
- Don't leave your tournament up to a coin toss.
- Analyze your opponents and have each one figured out by the time the 2 early levels are complete.
- Make sure you know what your image is on the table and make sure you play accordingly to it, knowing what your opponents think of you.
- Your goal is get at least 3-500 extra chips by the end of the 2 levels. You can usually do this by winning 1 good hand.
In my next article I will discuss the middle stages of a sit and go.
If you want to discuss this series on sit and go's post in the official discussion forum here:
Official Discussion Forum On Sit & Go Series
Email to a friend | Print this article
Rating
012345
Articles : STT Tourney Strategy : Sit & Go's: My Strategy, Part 2 - The Early Stages. | Configure | 1 Comment
Threshold -1 0 1 2 3 4 5Display No comments Nested Flat Thread Order Oldest first Newest first Highest scores first
Comments are statements made by the person that posted them.
They do not necessarily represent the opinions of the site editor.
Re: Sit & Go's: My Strategy, Part 2 - The Early Stages. (Score: 1)
by jedmitchell on Aug 02, 2006 - 05:23 AM
(User information | Send a message)
great general STT strategy for begginers - keep 'em coming
[ Reply to this ]
