The art of the single table sit-n-go (sng)
By: Danny "THE_D_RY" Ryan

My name is Danny Ryan and I play $500 to $2k sit-n-gos (SNGs) as well as MTTs online as THE__D__RY. Although SNGs have the same basic strategy at all buy-in levels, some differences in play do exist. We’re going to focus mainly on the mid buy-in single table SNG tourney, in which nine or ten players fight for the top three money places. Many players argue that SNGs are just “all-in poker” when the blinds get high, and are more or less crapshoots. Although I agree that there is less of an art to them than to MTTs, due to the rapidly increasing blind structure, this doesn’t mean that there isn’t a strategy that can be mastered within this structure that allows you to make the most +EV (expected value) decisions possible.

The most important thing to remember is to PLAY WITHIN YOUR BANKROLL! This seems so easy to say, but for many it is so hard to do. Why spend months or years of bankroll building, only to lose it all after running bad while you’re playing out of your limit? I recommend having at least 100 times the tourney buy-in available in your poker bankroll before registering in any tourney. This way you never have to say to yourself, “I need to win this one.” It will allow you to play 100% +EV poker and maximize your game. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself folding +EV hands later on, hands that you would have played had you been at a lower, more comfortable level.

As with all poker games, many different styles work, which is what makes the game so interesting in the first place. It’s important in SNGs to keep pots small in the early levels of the tourney when you are uncertain if you are ahead, or if your lead is not that great. In SNGs, there isn’t as much +EV from building a big stack as there is in MTTs, so it doesn’t warrant taking a coin flip with A-K all in pre-flop at 20BB for 1,500 chips (especially not in 1k SNGs where only A-A, K-K, Q-Q, or J-J would regularly call you). I like to see cheap flops with pocket pairs and suited connectors (usually with position) in the early stages. If you’re fortunate enough to pick up some nice hands or flops, you can build your stack up nicely before the blinds increase. If not, you should still be fine on chips and ready to scrap when the blinds become more significant.

As the blinds move to 50-100 and beyond, I recommend either raising or folding pre-flop almost exclusively. Do not limp or fold your chips away to the aggressor. The only situations in which I would limp at higher blinds would be when I am heads up in the blinds or if I want to slow play a big hand. As always, you will have to get a feel for your table and know which players are willing to enter pots and which players are playing conservatively, just hoping to make the money. This comes with careful observation and by taking notes on players you frequently play with. More observant players and players who are playing fewer tables at a time will have a better feel for the others at the table, and that will ultimately lead to good value-calls and a higher average profit per tourney.

As the big blind goes to 150 and beyond, I begin to steal the blinds whenever possible. Avoid being too obvious when stealing, because that will leave you vulnerable to the re-steal from a good player on your left. Keep in mind that if you have 3,000 in chips and raise A-10o to 425 at 150BB, you will usually fold if a player puts you all in for 3k, just like you would if you had raised the same, but with 7-9 suited. Therefore, it follows that the hand that you are raising with is not as important as the credibility of the raise in the eyes of your opponents. Avoid raising when you think it won’t seem believable, unless you are willing to call a big reraise.

With blind steals, the ultimate goal is to maximize the return while minimizing the risk. If you successfully steal the 100-200 blinds twice for a total of 600 chips, but you were reraised another time in the process and had to fold 575 chips, you are only ahead 25 chips (300+300-575). So avoid getting re-popped!

Here is another example of risk versus return: Imagine that you have 2,250 chips on the cutoff with A-9o and the blinds are 75-150. Is it worth going all in and risking 2,250 chips for a return of 225, or 10% of your stack, with three players left to act? I don’t think so, especially since the hands that will call you will almost certainly have you dominated — hands like any higher ace or pocket pairs above 9-9. In fact, I think an all-in here with Q-J suited instead of A-9o would actually leave you a better chance of winning against the range of potential calling hands. However, I recommend coming in with a normal raise of approximately three times the big blind in both cases and folding to a large reraise.

When your stack is around five to seven big blinds, you should either go all in or fold pre-flop, unless you’re hiding a monster. It is important to munch-tain yourself (maintain your stack by munching the blinds once or twice a round) in this scenario. Good hands to go all in with are pocket pairs, suited connectors that aren’t too low (you don’t want to push 6-7 suited and be up against 8-8 without an overcard), and most aces. However, avoid pushing hands like A-7o with a full table behind you, even if you are low, because you will often be called by a higher ace and have slim outs. If someone raises before you in this situation and you have a solid hand that you think may be a coin flip, this is usually a good time to take a chance for a stack. You don’t want to stay at six big blinds the whole tourney, since the +EV is in first place. It’s necessary to make a good value call or try to win a flip while short stacked.

The payoff structure is set up in such a way that playing for first is absolutely essential in the long term. Let’s take a $100+9, nine-person PokerStars SNG as an example. The payouts are as follows: first, $450; second, $270; third, $180; and fourth, $0. This means that your profits from one first place finish are $450-$109, or +$341, second +$161, and third +$71. In other words, to equal the profits of just one first place finish, you would need to place third (341/71) 4.8 times in a row! SO PLAY FOR FIRST! This also means that the profits from first are more than double that of second. So take your heads-up matches seriously and try to pull out the win. What are the overall profits if you go fourth, fourth, first, playing strong for the win, compared to those of third, fourth, third, playing passively on the bubble, trying to sneak into the money? You’ll have $123 in the first example compared to only $33 when you played for third. So you decide if you want to play strong on the bubble, moving up in chips, or if you want to try to drift into the money and ultimately break even in the long run.

All players should determine how many tables they are the most comfortable with playing simultaneously, how many tables they find the most profitable, and which buy-in level they find most lucrative on an hourly basis. I recommend recording all your poker results in an Excel spreadsheet. You should make a separate spreadsheet for each buy-in and game that you play. For example, make one for all of your $109, nine-person SNGs and a separate one for each $77 SNG, and for each unique game that you play (cash games, Omaha, NL, SNG, MTT, etc). Record all the details you think will be helpful (e.g., number of tables you played at a time, place you finished, cost of tourney, prize it paid you, and the overall profit/loss). When you have hundreds or thousands of tourney entries, you can observe the data and understand more about what the normal patterns and results are for your game in each specific area. Most importantly, you’ll know which game and which buy-in you should play, and whether it’s really worth playing 20 tables at a time, or if you are actually more profitable at 4-tabling a higher level.

There are so many details that must be considered in order to make the best possible decisions for yourself at and away from the table. Move forward with the mentality that you are always going to improve your game and that you can always learn something new, no matter how good you have already become. If you ever stop improving and changing your game, the others will catch on to you and you will no longer have the same edge. So stay calm and collected, carefully observing everything that you can in order to make the right adjustments when needed, and you will be on your way to success. Good luck, and long live the freedom to play poker!