Sit And Go Vs Tournament

• Sit N Go
• Sit And Go Tournament Pokerstars
• Sit And Go Tournaments Las Vegas

Texas holdem sit and go tournaments are one table poker
tournaments that can usually be completed in less than an hour.
The most popular variation is no limit Texas holdem, but you can
also play limit and pot limit at some rooms.

Most Sit-N-Go Tournaments will start as soon as a pre-determined number of players register. Most sit-n-go's have a specified jackpot and buy-in. When you are the winner of a match in a Sit And Go, you will advance to the next table to play an opponent that won a previous match with a different opponent. Sit and go (SNG) Poker tournaments are well beloved within the poker community, especially beginners love them. There are plenty of reasons why Sit and Gos are so popular: You can’t lose more than your buy-in, They are fast paced, Weak competition, They leave glory for the winner! The smallest sit and go tournaments for real money are heads up between two players, winner take all. There’s also 6-handed and 9-handed SNG games that you can play. For the 6 player tournaments, the top two players win money. In the 9 player online poker tournaments, the top three usually win money. In a sit and go tournament where the buy in is $100 plus $10, the first place finisher wins $500, second wins $300, and third wins $200. In a tournament with 9 players instead of 10 a common payout for first is $450, second place gets $270, and third place wins $180.

While a few land based casinos have started offering sit and
go tournaments, the majority of them are played online. Some
poker rooms offer two or three table tournaments, but the
traditional sit and go is a one table event with 9 or 10
players.

A common payout structure for a 10 seat game is 5 times the
buy in for first, 3 times the buy in for second, and 2 times the
buy in for third.

Here’s an example:

In a sit and go tournament where the buy in is $100 plus $10,
the first place finisher wins $500, second wins $300, and third
wins $200.

In a tournament with 9 players instead of 10 a common payout
for first is $450, second place gets $270, and third place wins
$180.

Break Even

If you’re going to be a long term profitable sit and go Texas
holdem player you need to know your break-even point.

It’s helpful to understand exactly how many times you have to
finish in the money and how many times you need to finish at
certain positions in order to break even in the long run.

In the long run you should finish in each of the first three
positions roughly the same amount of times. While this isn’t
100% true for every player, it’s close enough to get an idea for
calculating how often you need to get in the money to break
even.

Example

We find it easier to visualize and understand if we base all
of my long term projections and calculations on 100 events. So
in this example we’re using a buy in of $100 plus $10 over 100
sit and go tournaments.

Our total cost of entry is $110 times 100 for a total of
$11,000.

For a 10 person table the average win spread over the three
top spots is $333.33 when you get into the money. So you have to
get in the money 33 out of 100 time in order to break even. You
get this number by dividing $11,000 by $333.33.

If you’re playing at a 9 seat table the average win is $300,
so you need to finish in the money 37 times to finish slightly
better than break even. 36.67 times is the actual break-even
point.

A good goal is to finish in the money 40% of the time.

• When you finish in the money 40% of the time, your
  profit in the first example is $2,333 per 100 tournaments.
  This works out to $23.33 per tournament.
• In the second example 40% works out to $1,000 per
  tournament, or $10 per tournament.

Realize that with one fewer entrant in the second example it
reduces your average win rate if you finish in the money the
same percentage of the time, but it also makes it easier to
reach the same percentage.

To make the same amount per tournament on average at a 9 seat
table as a 10 seat table you need to finish in the money 44.44%
of the time instead of 40%.

In the Money

Of course the goal is to finish in the money in every Texas
holdem tournament you enter, but figuring out what it takes at
each stage of the tournament can involve a few more
calculations.

It helps to understand how many chips you need to finish in
the top three spots in a sit and go. Many tournaments start with
stacks of $1,000 so it’s easy to determine the average stack
size for the final three.

Of course you only need a single chip to get into the top
three, but by using the average you can quickly determine where
you stand at any point in the tournament.

• In a 10 seat sit and go each player will have an average
  of $3,333 when the field is reduced to three players.
• In a 9 person tournament each player will have an
  average of $3,000 chips.

When you find yourself in a position with over $2,000 in
chips with four players remaining you’re in decent shape, but
you can’t afford to let down or make any big mistakes. If you’re
in the same position with $4,000 or more in chips you can
usually slow down and only play your best hands.

This information also gives you a good idea of how many times
you need to double up to get where you need to be. You might
start feeling pressed when you get down to $500 chips, but you
only need to double up twice to get to $2,000.

Even if you’re down to $200 in chips you only have to double
up three times to get to $1,600.

Blinds

The blinds force action in sit and go tournaments just like
in ring games and multi table tournaments, but they force action
faster in sit and go’s.

The blinds go up quickly so you have to play aggressively
early in order to build a large enough stack to survive until
you get into the money.

We’ve seen many players complain that sit and go tournaments
are reduced to luck because of this, but it’s simply not true.
The best poker players win more often than poor players in the
long run, so it can’t all be about luck.

Skill is what determines sit and go winners, not luck.

What you have to do is adjust your game so you take the
rising blinds into account.

Reducing Players and Hand Strength

Another interesting thing that happens while you play sit and
go tournaments is the number of players goes down as the
tournament progresses so the relative hand strength changes.

Few poker players are able to play their best game at both a
10 person table and a 6 person table, but a sit and go combines
both of these as well as short hand play that ends with heads up
combat.

Hand strengths change depending on how many players remain.
Here are some examples:

If you get a pair of kings at the table with 9 other players,
they have 18 of the 50 remaining unseen cards. 4 of those cards
are aces. This means that the odds are that at least one of them
has an ace in their hand.

When you get a pair of kings and only have 3 opponents they
only have 6 of the remaining 50 cards so it’s much less likely
one of them holds an ace.

Of course a pair of kings is a strong starting hand in any
situation, but if an ace lands on the flop you can judge how
likely an opponent is to have one in both situations.

With a full table a pair of nines from early position should
usually be folded, but when the table is three or four handed it
becomes a strong starting hand from any position.

Any hand that contains an ace also greatly improves in value
as the tournament goes on. You don’t want to play aces with poor
kickers at a full table but with three players they’re usually
strong hands.

Two Distinct Strategies Plus a Bonus

Most successful players use one of two different strategies.

Strategy 1

The first strategy is folding all but your best hands until
you’re forced to play because the blinds are getting too high.
When you do enter a hand you play aggressively, usually over
betting, in an attempt to get all in every time you play. This
gives you a chance to double up with your best hands until you
get a large enough chip stack that you can adjust your play
until you get into the money.

If you play in sit and go tournaments with many of the same
players over and over a few of them may get wise to this
strategy and stop giving you action early in the tournament. But
most players don’t pay attention and will give you action on
most hands.

This strategy works well for many players, but the key is
learning how to value starting hands while you have an average
stack and when you get low and are forced to play because of the
blinds.

The mistake many players make is losing patience and playing
hands that aren’t as good as they need to be or jump into a pot
before they have to.

If you have enough chips to pay the blinds for three more
rounds you have plenty of time to pick up a good hand to make a
move with.

We’ve seen players push with middle suited connectors and
small pairs at this point, and it isn’t a good play. If you’re
down to your final round of blinds you can play these hands, but
you don’t need to before.

When we’re looking for a hand to push with when we get short
stacked in addition to the top normal hands here’s a list of the
types of hands, somewhat in order from best to worst, that we
want.

• Any hand with an ace, but suited is better
• Medium pairs, 7 and above
• Any two face cards
• Any king with a suited second card
• Suited queen

Strategy 2

The other winning strategy is playing a wider range of hands
with high aggression from the beginning of the tournament. The
idea is to bully the table and steal many blinds and small bets.

If the table lets you play this style you may be able to
build enough of a stack that when one of your opponents lands a
strong hand you’ll have enough to take the loss and continue
playing.

One main problem with this style is you rely on too much luck
early to stay in the game and not run up against a big hand.

More players are successful playing the first style than the
second, but some players are good enough to make money with the
second style.

Successful players who use the second strategy are really
good at using their position, stack size, and knowledge of the
other players and situations at every point in the tournament.

Alternative Strategy

A third strategy is an all-in system. The basic concept is
every time you play a hand you move all in until you reach the
money. Once you reach the money you usually adjust your play to
maximize your chances of winning.

The reason we list the third strategy as a bonus instead of
three different strategies is because the first and third
strategy are similar. This strategy stems from a multi table
Texas holdem tournament strategy that can be used to give an
inexperienced player a chance.

An inexperienced player is given a list of starting hands and
they fold everything not on the list and move all in with
anything on the list. It’s not a long term profitable play in
multi table tournaments, but with some thought and practice it
can work at some levels of sit and go play.

Notice that all of the strategies discussed here are
based on aggressive play. The blinds go up too fast for passive
play to be profitable in the long run. You have to play in an
aggressive manner if you hope to turn a long term profit at the
Texas holdem sit and go tables.

Competition

Just like Texas holdem ring games, the competition gets
better as the buy ins go up in sit and go tournaments. This
isn’t always true in multi table tournaments.

At the lower buy in levels you can usually turn a profit by
playing solid poker, remaining tight and aggressive, and
focusing on not doing anything stupid. As you start playing for
higher stakes the competition gets better, but most tables will
still have a few poor players. At the top buy in levels the
overall competition is much better, but you’ll still see a few
players who don’t seem to know what they’re doing.

During the online poker boom when Party Poker was the biggest
poker room in the world you could play in many low limit sit and
go tournaments, with buy in levels of $10 plus $1 or so, and
simply fold everything except high pocket pairs and get into the
money enough times to break even or turn a small profit.

The games were filled with poor players and all you had to do
was be patient. We distinctly remember playing in a few games
where we didn’t play a single hand until we were in the money.

Things have changed and you have to play a few hands even at
the lowest levels today, but the same basic concept still seems
to work well. Be patient, focus on your best hands early, and
play solid ABC poker.

At the higher levels you have to combine solid poker
fundamentals with knowledge of the other players. The top buy in
levels have a much smaller number of regular players so you need
to start building a database of information about them as soon
as you start playing. You need to be able to exploit playing
tendencies and poor playing decisions at this level if you want
to win enough to overcome the rake.

The rake is the extra add on instead of a charge per hand. In
a $10 plus $1 sit and go tournament, the $1 is the rake, or fee
the poker room collects.

Summary

Texas holdem sit and go tournaments require a different set
of advanced skills than larger tournaments and ring games, but
they can be quite profitable if you’re willing to learn the best
strategy.
Even if you’re an experienced Texas holdem player, try your
hand at the lower buy in levels until you grasp the subtle
strategy adjustments you need to make. Remember that it could
take hundreds of tournaments to get a real picture of your
success. Don’t be in a hurry to move up to the next level until
you’re convinced you’re playing winning poker.

You can sign up to any online poker room these days and start playing sit and go tournaments immediately. But which poker site is the best for SNGs? Allow me to help point you in the right direction.

Sit N Go

Sit and go poker sites rankings table.

What to look for in a good sit and go poker room.

Every online poker room offers SNG tournaments (sometimes referred to as STTs). I could just cobble together any old list of random rooms and call them the 'best poker sites for sit and gos'. However, I enjoy being opinionated, so I won't.

Here are the factors I looked at when compiling this list of the best places to play SNGs in 2021:

1. Poker room player traffic.
2. The level of competition (how 'soft' the site is).
3. Variety and types of SNG tournaments on offer.
4. Tournament fees.
5. Basic SNG structure (i.e. starting stack sizes and blind structure).

1) Poker room player traffic.

Without at least few hundred SNG players active in the poker room lobby throughout the day, the action can get a little stale. The more active players there are in the lobby, the quicker the tables will fill up and the less time you have to spend staring at empty seats.

Don't underestimate how annoying it is to wait for a simple sit and go tournament to fill up at a low-traffic room. It's just like driving to a theme park all excited, only to find out there is an hour-long queue for every ride.

Stick with the high traffic sites and ride the roller coasters until you're sick.

2) The level of competition.

Don't forget that you're in this for the money. Sure, playing SNG tournaments at online poker sites is a barrel of fun, but it's even more fun if you're winning money.

There's no shame in hunting down and taking advantage of bad players. In fact, it's just common sense. If you don't win a fish's money, someone else will. If you're a decent SNG player, a high traffic poker room + soft competition = easy money.

3) Variety and types of SNG tournaments on offer.

Even though the Texas Hold'em SNG games are the most popular, there are a bunch of variations of the sit and go tournament on offer. Here are a few of the different types with some examples:

• Number of entrants
  • 2 (Heads Up)
  • 6
  • 9
  • 10
  • 18 (More than one table)
• Poker games
  • Texas Hold'em
  • Omaha
  • Stud
  • HORSE
• Faster blind levels
  • Turbo
  • Super Turbo
  • Extreme Turbo
• Varying stack sizes
  • Regular (100bbs)
  • Double Stack (200bbs)
• Varying payout structures
  • Fifty 50 (PokerStars only)
  • Steps

I'll explain more about these different types of SNGs in a minute. But basically, even if you're happy with the standard SNG format it's nice to have a bit of variety to choose from (if you're ever feeling fruity).

4) Tournament fees.

Again, winning money is important. Although the standard fee for a SNG is 10% (e.g. $10 + $1), these fees can and will vary between sites. As you can guess, the smaller the fees in relation to the buy-in the better.

Sit And Go Tournament Pokerstars

There's often a lot of variation in the size of SNG fees at the lower limits, where the fees can increase up to 20% or more. If you're not a micro stakes player then the size of the fees isn't going to be an issue for you. However, if you're a beginner or have a small bankroll, it's worth searching around for the best price (i.e. poker sites with the lowest fees for SNGs).

5) Basic SNG structure.

This is a non-issue these days, as the stack sizes and blind structures follow a fairly standardised format at the biggest SNG poker sites.

Back in the early days of online poker though the structures of SNGs at some sites were all over the place, and you could either end up with too much freedom to play (games took ages) or not enough (games were pure luck).

Thankfully, most poker rooms have now worked out what kind of structure works best. Although there are still subtle differences in the setups for the straightforward sit and go tournaments, the point is they are subtle and are not really worth worrying about.

Types of SNGs in online poker.

We all know how a simple sit and go works – you pay your entry fee, sit down with a bunch of other poker players and try and finish first. Easy.

Obviously some players felt that this wasn't quite exciting enough, so a number of variants to the humble SNG have been developed. Here's a quick guide to the most common types of SNG currently on offer.

The most common types.

These types of tournaments are available at all the best SNG poker sites. You can probably find them at the worst ones too.

1) Turbo tournaments

How they work: These are just like normal SNGs, except that there are fewer hands between blind levels. Therefore, these SNGs are over more quickly and involve a greater element of luck. There are a few different 'degrees' of turbo tournament:

1. Turbo
2. Super Turbo
3. Extreme Turbo
4. Hyper Turbo

...and I'm sure there are a few more speedy-sounding names out there. As a rule of thumb, the 'faster' it sounds, the fewer hands there are between blind level increases.

Pros: Fantastic if you fancy a faster-paced game. Fun and exciting.

Cons: The faster structure means that turbo tournaments are more luck than skill. If you're a good player you may want to stick with the standard SNGs.

2) Satellites

How they work: You buy in for a set amount of money as usual. But instead of the top place prize(s) being a break up of the prize pool, the winner(s) gain entry in to an even bigger tournament with bigger cash prizes or tournament seats.

Pros: Opportunity to enter bigger tournaments for bigger prizes than you would normally be able to afford with your current bankroll.

Cool Story: Chris Moneymaker won his way to the 2003 WSOP through a $39 satellite and ended up winning the Main Event for a total of $2.5 million. Wikipedia has a nice summary of the Chris Moneymaker story. There's a book about it as well.

Cons: You need to get pretty lucky to win your way up to a big tournament through satellites. You then have to get even luckier again to place in that big tournament. Personally I'd rather play standard SNGs and save my winnings as I go along, then enter a bigger tournament if I fancy it (and can afford it).

Less common types of SNG.

These are the more 'speciality' SNG games. They're not available everywhere and are usually unique to just the one poker site.

1) Steps

Available at: Party Poker, PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker

How they work: There are a set number of tournament 'levels' or 'steps'. You can buy in at any step, but the cost of entry increases as you move up the steps. The twist is that you can only win money in the highest step SNG. If you start at a lower step than the top step SNG, you have to win that lower step SNG to move up to the next level (and so on).

I know, I know, you're probably scratching your head right now.

Think of steps tournaments as a pyramid. They are constantly running and you can join in at any level you like whenever you want. Only the top level SNG has cash payouts, whereas the others give you tokens to move up to the next level. The goal is to reach the top step and try and win some of the big buy-in prize pool money.

Pros: Opportunity to win big. Win a bunch of SNGs in succession and you can net a huge payout, especially if you start at one of the lower step SNGs.

Cons: Steps tournaments are kinda like fixed-structure satellites. So again, whilst you can win a heap of money if you get lucky, you do have to get lucky. Also, imagine working your way right to the top and busting out on the bubble – that's a smashed mouse and keyboard situation.

2) Double or Nothing

Available at: Party Poker, 888 Poker, Betsafe Poker

How they work: Standard SNG format with an even number of players (usually 10). However, the game is over once half of the players have been knocked out. The remaining players win double the amount of their buy-in.

Pros: Interesting variation on the standard 1st, 2nd and 3rd place payout structure. There's also more chance of winning something from these tournaments, which is always nice even if it's a smaller amount than usual.

Cons: You'll either love them or hate them. Maybe not quite on the same scale as marmite, but not far off. The biggest disappointing aspect is that you don't get the satisfying feeling of 'winning', as you never truly come out on top – you're always sharing the top spots with other players.

These SNGs are also full of players that sit tight and hope to squeeze in to the money, never really getting involved or having fun.

3) Fifty 50

Only available at: PokerStars

How they work: Very similar to the Double or Nothing tournaments, except the payouts for the remaining 5 players is a little different. Instead of doubling up, the total prize pool is divvied up amongst the remaining players based on the stack sizes. The bigger your stack, the larger your slice of the prize pool.

Note: The Fifty 50 tournaments replaced the similar Double or Nothing tournaments at PokerStars. This was due to the Fifty 50's favourable payout structure. The DoN SNGs ended on the 28th of February 2011.

Pros: The dynamic payout structure of the Fifty 50 tournament makes it more interesting than its DoN cousin. There are more rewards for being active and building a large stack.

Cons: Again, you'll either love or hate this sort of format for single table tournaments. Although it's more rewarding to be active in Fifty50 tourneys, you still get the complete rocks playing 0.01% of hands.

4) Matrix

Only available at: Full Tilt Poker

How they work: You are forced to play 4 SNGs simultaneously against the same 8 players across 4 tables. The total prize pool is split up in to 5 parts; 4 chunks for the standard 1st, 2nd and 3rd payouts on each table, and 1 last chunk for 1st, 2nd and 3rd for overall performance.

It's a bit like multi-tabling 4 SNGs by yourself, except that you get rewarded for performing well thanks to your multi-tabling skills.

Pros: Lots of action. With 4 tables open at a time you won't be sitting and waiting for your next turn for long. Plus, you'll have a distinct advantage if you're up against players that are inexperienced when it comes to playing on multiple tables.

Cons: If you're abysmal at multi-tabling and multi-tasking in general, you're not going to do very well in Matrix tournaments. You have less time to focus as your attention will be divided across 4 poker tables. Not recommended if you haven't got some experience with online poker under your belt.

Sit And Go Tournaments Las Vegas

Sit and Go online poker sites FAQ.

Where can I play poker tournaments online for real money?

All of the poker sites in the table above allow you to play SNGs with other players for real money.

Every online poker room I've ever signed up with has offered real money sit and gos. So it's not really a case of where to play SNGs for cash; it's more like which site to play them at.

Which poker site has the smallest stakes SNGs?

One of the sites with the smallest stakes SNGs I've come across is Betsafe Poker. Their smallest buy-in regular sit and go tournaments start at $0.10+1c.

In general, the lowest level STTs at the vast majority of poker sites start at around $1. This is like the industry-standard minimum, although I'm fully aware that some rooms go lower. I've included the minimum stakes SNGs on offer at each room in the table at the top of this page.

If you have a small bankroll, you should check out my rankings of the best poker sites for small stakes players.

Do all poker sites offer SNGs?

Yes.

Sit and Go tournaments are hugely popular. A poker room without a SNG lobby would be like a butchers without beef. You could sign up to any random online poker room and be 99.9999% sure that they have them.

SNGs that is, not beef fillets.

How much can you win from sit and go's?

You could be asking two different things with this question, so I'll address them individually:

1. How much can you win from one SNG?
2. How much can you win from playing SNGs in general?

1) How much can you win from one SNG?

The payout structure for a standard 9-seater STT is as follows:

• 1st = 50%
• 2nd = 30%
• 3rd = 20%

So if there are 9 players in a $10 + $1 SNG, the total prize pool would be $90 (tournament fees do not count toward the total prize pool). Therefore, actual winnings for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place would look like this:

• 1st = $45
• 2nd = $27
• 3rd = $18

2) How much can you win from playing SNGs in general?

This depends on two things:

1. How good you are at playing SNGs.
2. How many you play.

You can't win every SNG you play, so the aim is to get a positive ROI. If you can get a positive ROI, it's just a case of how many tournaments you play.

To give a quick example, let's say you have a 5% ROI playing $10 + $1 SNGs. If you play 20 of these a day, you could comfortably 'earn' over $300 a month. Not bad.

Can you consistently win money from SNGs?

Yep, and there are a number of players that make a very comfortable living from playing SNGs online. You just have to learn good tournament strategy and be able to outplay your opponents.

If I could explain how to do this from just a few paragraphs within an FAQ I'd be the most loved man in online poker. However, there is a lot to learn if you want to be able to 'beat' sit and gos for a profit. It takes both time and effort.

If you're really interested in winning money from SNGs, check out my friend Mark's Sit 'n' Go poker strategy site. It's the perfect starting point for beginners.

Useful links.

• Turbo or Regular SNGs? - PokerFives.com

Go back to the Texas Hold'em rooms.