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Basic strategy for No Limit Texas Hold'em Sit-And-Go (SNG) tournaments

Introduction

Tournaments in which the maximum number of participants is ten and in which they are all together at one table, are named sit-and-go (SNG). These tournaments are very popular. Particularly the No Limit Hold'em tournaments with a buy-in of 1 till 100 USD. At PartyPoker, for example, it is possible to participate in a SNG within a couple of minutes at every moment of the day. There are sites which offer SNG's with five or six players max, for example PacificPoker and NoblePoker. For more information about the different sites and the quality of the SNG's, we refer to the poker site reviews.

Strategy

Before you start at a SNG tournament it is wise to first take the structure of the tournament into consideration. You should know how many players will win a price, what the prices are and how long the levels per blind will last. These characteristics of the SNG in question have influence on how to play best.
For the continuation of this Article we will assume that the first three places will win prices (as is usual on PartyPoker). The winner gets 50% of the pot and the number two and three respectively 30% and 20%.
The basic rule with SNG tournaments is: The fewer players will win a price the more aggressively you should play!

The low levels (blinds up to $0.25/$0.50)

In the first levels you can play several types of hands. In case it is not too expensive (in case there's no re-raise), you can even play low hands like 55 and 76s. In case re-raising or all-ins are constantly happening, this will not make much sense. Strong hands should always be raised, approximately till four times the blind on low levels. In general slow playing is not recommended in these levels.
Furthermore there are in general always a couple of bad players at every table who will play too recklessly. Therefore, in case you get a strong hand, the chances are likely that you will be paid out. Frequently you can even get people as far as to go all-in with you and that way collect all their chips.

The average levels (blinds $0.25/$0.50 up to $1/$2)

The moment the blinds are becoming higher it will be interesting to try to steal the blinds. It is almost always a good idea to raise in case nobody has yet raised, re-raised or called before you. The only reason to reconsider doing this is when there are still many players after you to make their decision or in case there are players who call almost everything. On the average levels it will be sufficient to raise the blind three times. This is effective because the relative hand value which is required to raise is lower than the hand value which is required to call. Especially when other players have few chips left. They will then not be tempted to rapidly call with average hands.
Because there are at this stage generally less players at the table, it can sometimes also be a good idea to slow play top hands such as AA, KK and QQ in the early position, in the hope that another player after you will raise. You can then go all-in at your turn. If someone before you goes all-in, it is justified to fold a QQ, except if the opponent is a very aggressive player or in case the player has very few chips. But if someone goes all-in before you and one or more other players call before you as well, you should consider to also fold an AA or KK. This is because when that happens, the chance of winning the round is considerably smaller. Of course it is obvious that this also depends on the quantity of chips that the other players have. In case someone has re-raised, you can take into account that the person has an average or strong hand. For this reason it is (at this stage) the best to only call or raise in case you have a good hand too.

The high levels (blinds $1/$2 and higher)

The game will change completely when playing at high levels. At this stage everything happens before the flop. Someone will raise and the rest will fold, or two players will go all-in befor the flop...
Below we give you an overview of what we suggest you should do in certain situations:

- In case you have only a few chips left (less than five times the blind), the blinds will become expensive. When you're in that situation you'll have to try to steal the blinds, otherwise you will be defeated in the end by the blinds. Just raising will not make any sense anymore so in case you want to raise you will have to go all-in. Each hand with an A or a pair is sufficient to go all-in, except in case someone else has re-raised before you. In late position you can go all-in with every average hand (for example K9 or Q10) when everyone else has folded before you. At this stage it is a matter of eat or be eaten! You really need more chips to reach the third place minimum...

- The situation is different in case you have an average quantity of chips in the last stage (5-10 times the blind). In this case you have to try to avoid large confrontations, with the exception of when you obviously have the best hand. Now the aim is to not finish at the top three but to actually win the SNG. Keep in mind that becoming first once is more profitable then becoming third two times.

- In case you have many chips (more than ten times the blind) and there is no other player with such a large stack, you can use your supremacy to put the other players under pressure. It is almost always the bests to play super-aggressive when you are in this position. It is stupid to not do this because you should not give your opponents the chance to steal the blinds and therefore increase their chance to win the SNG. This is especially a good strategy when there are more then three players left, because they will then all be frightened to finish as fourth. In case you have, for example, 5000 chips and there are still five other players who all have around 1000 chips and the blinds are $1/$2, you should try very aggressively to steal the blinds. That will be the best way to protect your position and to try to win the SNG already!

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