Sit & Go Tournament Strategy - No Limit Hold'em

Dozens of books have been written about Sit & Go Strategy. In this article, we have summarized the most important aspects of No Limit Texas Hold'em One Table Sit & Go Strategy. So to speak this is a Sit & Go Strategy Summary.
Most of these strategical considerations also apply also for Multitable Tournament Strategy and Multitable Rebuy Strategy.

No Limit Sit & Go Tournaments demand a totally different approach as Cash Games do. The biggest differences between Sit &Go Tournaments and Cash Games are the following ones:
- If you do not have any Chips anymore, you're out of the game (if there is no possibility of a rebuy).
- If your opponent does not have any Chips anymore, the tournament is over for him, too!
- The Blinds constantly increase!
- Usually only the last three remaining players are paid out. Becoming fourth is worthless!
- The number of players at your table constantly decreases.
- When someone gets busted, he is not replaced. No new players join the table!

We can give you the following general advice for One Table Sit & Go Tournaments:
- Start playing a tight conservative game to begin with and observe your opponents cautiously. When you are playing in the middle and late phase of the Tournament, every piece of information you have about your opponents is valuable. To begin with, it is not worth raising with mediocre hands like KQ and 88, because the blinds are to small worth stealing.
- If you want to start off by playing a loose and aggressive game (like Gus Hansen or Phil Ivey), you have to be an absolute postflop specialist. If you have the postflop qualities, why the heck are you reading this text then??? Go back to work. At the Poker Table!
- Do not bluff to begin with! It is not worth it yet! Build a tight image of yourself. Later on, when the blinds are high, you will be able to profit later on - when the blinds are much higher - from this tight image by getting away with one or two bluffs. - Avoid typical 50-50 (coin flip) situations to begin with, if all your chips are on stake! The justification of this hint is purely mathematical. Read our article concerning the Independent Chip Model. To play Sit & Go Tournaments well, you have to be familiar with that concept. We have written an article (also using the ICM) about 50-50 Situations (Coin Flip Situations) when the blinds are low and you are still sitting at a full table here: Article about coin flip situations in early Sit & Go Tournament Phase. - Avoid Slowplay, it's not worth it in the long run! Avoid slowplay in any case, when more than one opponent is involved after the flop!
- Play strong hands aggressively to begin with: Raise with AA, KK und QQ, to thin out the amount of opponents you face postflop and to build a nice pot.
- Do not play hands that look good but are in fact pure danger hands! AJ, AT und Ax (x = lower than ten), KQ, KJ are not good hole cards! AQ ist also not really as strong as it looks! A good example to show that playing these hands is not profitable in the long run is the following situation. You have A9 and the flop is AA7. If you raise and none of your opponents has an Ace, they will fold. Great, you just won a small pot. If one of your opponents has an ace (and I believe you are not playing against bad poker players), then he will certainly have a better kicker than you! In this case you are likely to lose a huge pot, maybe even all your chips! You should only play Ax if you are in late position and the cards are suited (Axs). In this case, you hope to flop a flush or a flush draw. Otherwise: Do not play hands like A8 or A7!
- Do not overestimate Suited Connectors! Most beginners think Suited Connectors are great hands. You should only play suited connectors when you are offered good Pot Odds. Only play suited connectors if more than one player has called in front of you and there was no big raise before you. In early position in a hand you should fold Suited Connectors lower than QJs. General strategy with suited connectors: Look at a cheap Flop. If you hit, great. If not, you're done with the hand!
- Vary the style of your play! When someone raised before you, in most cases a reraise with AA or KK is appropriate. Only slowplay this hand occasionally (for instance every sixth time) by calling, to stay unpredictable. If you slowplay AA or KK do this only when you have position after the Flop. Meaning: Do this only when you are on the button or the cutoff seat (one seat before the button) and no one else has called! If other players call before you, you have to keep raising with these excellent hole cards. If you only call with KK in early position and a couple of other players limp into the pot, you have to be prepared to let the hand go after the flop. When too many players are involved postflop, it is almost impossible to judge the strength of your Pocket Rockets or Cowboys. For this reason it is not profitable to constantly limp with AA, KK or QQ.
- Do not give away your hole cards by making predictable preflop raises. Thus, try to raise the same amount when you do raise, no matter if you have AA, JJ or AQ. If you make different sizes of bets with different starting hands, your opponents will be able to read you. If everyone has folded before you, we recommend not to limp into a Pot, but to enter the pot by raising. Good players will make mental notes like 'Ok, with hands like KQ or 44 he limps, but with hands like JJ, QQ etc. he will raise). If you do not want to raise with 44 in late position with many raisers, then fold! Play true to the motto 'is my hand not good enough to raise with, it is not good enough to call with either!'. This motto can be used in almost all situations in Poker (Raise or Fold). Do not become a so called 'Calling Station'.
- Learn to calculate the Pot Odds and obey their general rules consequently! Only call, if it is profitable to do so concerning the Pot Odds. If you have a strong hand, then raise aggressively, so that you offer your opponents bad Pot Odds to call. If your opponent calls anyway, he made a mistake, no matter if he then catches the Flush or Straight he was chasing. In the long run you will lose, if you do not pay attention to the general poker concept of the Pot Odds.
- Avoid Situations where you have to risk all your chips.
- Pay attention to your position in a hand. If you are the first one to act preflop (you are 'under the gun'), then AT is a weak hand at a full table. This hand is to be folded. In seventh Position, if all other players before you have folded, then AT is a hand worth raising with.
- Pay attention to the position you will have after the flop before you play your hand preflop! If you are the last player to act after the flop, this is an advantage. You can look at the flop with weaker hands then. If you have a good hand but after the flop you do not have position, we generally recommend raising preflop!
- If Suited Connectors are not worth much, what about Unsuited Connectors? ... Take a guess!!!
- The higher the Blinds are and the more players have been eliminated, the more aggressively you should play!
- Are only four or five players remaining (and the first 3 players are paid out), then play very aggressively. Many opponents will just try to wait and avoid confrontations until they have reached the money. If you are Chip Leader in this situation, then play aggressively especially when the second and third biggest stack are in the Blinds!
- For the so called Bubble Play (the phase just before reaching the payout structure) you have to be absolutely familiar with the Independent Chip Model. Knowing this concept and applying its rules will distinctively improve your overall Sit & Go results! In our opinion, the Independent Chip Model is the most important single concept of Sit & Go strategy. Playing Sit & Go Tournaments is about making decisions with a positive expected value. It's about optimizing your expected value (not the number of chips!) you have every hand. Chips and Expected Value do not correspond linearly!
- You can win a lot of money also after you have reached the money. Often beginners start playing recklessly after reaching the money. They look for a quick decision, as they have reached their goal! Think about the following thing: The winner of the tournament gets more money than someone who finishes third twice! It is absolutely vital to keep playing your best game when you have reached the money!

We can recommend the following books, which deal exclusively with Texas Hold'em No Limit Tournaments (also Multitable Tournaments):
Harrington on Hold'em Volume 1
Harrington on Hold'em Volume 2
Sit'n Go Strategy by Collin Moshman