A Basic Strategy for SNGs By Rick 'RyckyRych' Perlini SNGs are poker tournaments which don’t have a pre-assigned start time and begin when all the available seats have been filled, hence the name ‘sit-n-go’. There are many different types of SNGs, ranging in size from heads-up games to large multi-table events spanning hundreds of tables. The typical online sit-n-go features a starting stack of 1,500 chips, an opening big blind of 20, and 10-minute levels. In this set-up, each player has 75 BBs. You can afford to play speculative. Single Table (9-Handed) Sit and Go Strategy. Nine-handed sit and gos are somewhat of a dying art, but they still run non-stop. While you won’t find 20 games filling up in a split second, you still need to know what you are doing if you want to be able to win. SNG Strategy in Poker If you don’t have the time to play a cash game, or a multitable tournament, there is one option available to you – Sit and Go’s. These exciting poker tournaments are different from MTTs since the blinds increase rapidly, and there are a set number of runners.

Welcome to PokerSitngos.com. This is the place to be if you want to learn more about sit n go poker tournaments, including what they are, how to play them and profit, what tools you need and what the best poker sites for sit and go’s are that will give you the best bang for your buck. The information on this site is mostly geared for beginner and intermediate players, but even advanced or pro sit n go players are sure to find something useful.

The rest of this page will explain more about the basics behind poker sit n go’s. So if you’re completely new to them, that’s where you’ll want to start. However, if you already know the basics, then feel free to take a look at our guides and strategy articles.

And if you’re interested in getting started at a site right away, we recommend playing at one of the rooms listed in our table below. These are the best sites for sit n go’s, based on available games and variations, traffic, site trustworthiness, bonuses and banking.

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What is a Sit n Go?

A sit n go is a tournament. Unlike the tournaments you see on TV, however, a sit n go doesn’t start at a specific day or time. A sit n go tournament starts when a certain number of seats have been filled. For example, an 18-man sit n go will start when 18 players have registered. That’s where the name comes from – players sit, and the tournament goes (starts).

Aside from when a sit n go starts, it will mirror a regular tournament in nearly every way. You start with a predetermined number of chips, and once those are gone the you’re eliminated. Only so many players will receive a payout, so if you’re eliminated outside of the payout spots, then you don’t receive anything.

The progression of a sit n go is the same, too. The blinds start low, but every so often they will increase.

And just like a tournament, there is a bubble and final table.

All in all, a sit n go is identical in nearly every way, with the exception of how it starts.

Types of Sit n Go’s

There are many types of sit n go tournaments – too many to list individually, that’s for sure. Each poker site online will usually have their own flagship or core games and variations (such as Betonline or Tiger Gaming), along with common sit n go’s that you’ll find anywhere.

The plan is to go into more detail about each sit n go out there in our guides, but here is a brief overview of the games and variations that you’ll find online – you can also find solid selections of most sit n go types at the Bovada, along with other recommended rooms like Carbon or ACR:

Formats & Game Types

• Heads-up (1-on-1)
• 4, 6, 9 and 10-handed (single table / STT)
• 12, 18, 27, 45, 90 and 180-mans (multi table / MTT)

In addition to the number of players, sit n go’s are played in almost every poker game type. Texas holdem is by far the most popular, but omaha, stud and mixed game sit n go’s are also played.

Variations

Numerous variations of sit n go’s exist. And each will have their own nuances and strategies. What you’ll find is that even though you can go from one sit n go variation to the next and be able to hold your own, without becoming a student of that specific variation you’ll never be that good or great at it. They’re that different from each other.

Here are the most common variations:

• Standard blinds (10-minutes long)
• Turbo blinds (3-5 minutes long)
• Super turbo blinds ( < 3 minutes long)
• Standard stack (1,000 to 2,000 chips)
• Deep stack (3,000 to 5,000)
• Double or Nothing (half the field wins)
• Knockouts / Bounty (knockout a person and collect a “bounty”)

That’s just a small glimpse. There are many, many more. Keep in mind that poker rooms might give variations different names. For example, a bounty tournament is also known as a knockout tournament.

Variations are usually combined, too. Take bounty tournaments for example again – most bounty sit n go’s are deep stacked, and the most popular ones have turbo blind levels.

Stakes

Sit n go’s have stakes ranging from $.06 to $2,000+ per game, with part of that going to the rake (house fee) and the rest to the prize pools and bounties.

Most games run at the micro and small stakes, between $.06 and $25. Depending on the exact game, variation, poker site and time of day, it’s common for these games to be running non-stop. This is great for multi-tabling grinders.

For stakes above $25, games don’t run as frequently. So if you’re playing at this level you’ll have to mix all kinds of buy-ins together (if you multi-table) to get a full session in. Or just wait until a game fires.

Sit n Go Tournament Pros

I have to admit, I’m a little biased as most of my experience comes from sit n go’s and a little bit of tournaments. So I do feel that most poker players would benefit from learning sit n go tournaments first, before moving on to tournaments or even cash games.

Let me give you a couple of my reasons why.

Pro #1 – Bankroll

One reason to start with sit n go’s is that your money will go farther – much, much farther compared to tournaments and cash games.

For example, say you started with a $300 bankroll. That would give you almost 30 buy-ins at the $6 level before having to drop down to the $3 games. And you can make $10-$20 per hour grinding the $6 games, and maybe more if you mass table (20+).

$300 wouldn’t take you that far in cash games. The only games you could (or should) play is 10nl ($.05/$.10). Say you earned 3bb per hour, that’s only $.30 per table per hour. 10-tabling would only make you $3 per hour. It would take quite a while to build a bankroll big enough to move up.

And along with making more money faster, you’ll be able to move up in stakes faster, assuming you have a reasonable sample size showing you’re profitable. Within 6-9 months you can be playing stakes that will earn you a substantial income — $5k to $10k, or more.

Overall, my opinion is that sit n go’s are better for your starting and building bankrolls. And if you wanted to play cash, you could build your bankroll playing sit n go’s and then move over to cash games where what you’ll earn is more substantial.

Online Poker Strategy Advanced

Pro #2 – Develop Skills

There are a lot of skills that you start to develop playing sit n go’s:

• How to put players on ranges.
• How to play with a short stack.
• Being patient and choosing your spots. Sometimes passing on a +EV spot for a more +EV spot later on.
• Developing reads.
• Hand reading.
• Multi-tabling.
• Poker math – odds, outs, ranges vs. pot odds, etc.

And I’m sure there are more that aren’t coming to mind.

All of these skills can be developed further while playing sit n go’s, or you can take them and use them to play tournaments or cash games.

I should point out that you don’t have to play sit n go’s to learn this stuff, but that I feel that they might be easier to learn playing sit n go’s.

Pro #3 – Consistency & Variance

You’ll definitely experience downswings and variance in sit n go’s. It’d be silly (and naïve) to think you wouldn’t.

Online Poker Sng Strategy Games

That said, they should be relatively small in comparison to what you might see in cash games and tournaments. With sit n go’s, it would be extremely worrying to have a losing streak of 30+ games – it just doesn’t happen that often. That’s not to say that not going on a 30-game downswing means you’re winning – it doesn’t. But you won’t go on some massive 50 or 100 buy-in downswing without winning anything, unless you’re trying to lose. So there’s more consistency to sit n go’s, which only increases as you improve.

This isn’t the case with tournaments. You can go tens, if not hundreds of tournaments without cashing, much less winning. So there is no consistency to them. The upside, of course, is that when you do when it should be a good payday. But you just never know when that payday is coming.

Sit n Go Cons

Like I said, I’m biased, but I don’t think it’d be right to put such a positive light on sit n go’s without sharing some of the downsides. There are a few.

• Earnings cap. There is a ceiling on how much a sit n go player can make per year. I don’t have an exact number to give you, and I do know that a six-figure income is possible. But I would be confident in saying that you’ll be hard pressed to find very many millionaire poker players that only play sit n go’s for their income. If you want to become a millionaire player, you’ll have to focus on tournaments and/or cash games at some point.
• Scheduling. Sit n go’s are inconvenient because you have to set aside so much time to play them. You can’t just get up and take a break whenever you want like you can with cash games. Once you start, you’re stuck until you bust, cash or win. For the smallest games, this can mean 25 minutes. But for the longer sit n go’s (90 and 180-mans), this means 2+ hours. That said, you do get a 5-minute break in the longer sit n go’s.
• Advanced poker skills. I did say that sit n go’s were good for developing skills, but they aren’t great for taking many of those skills to another level. One good example is hand reading. Sit n go’s are primarily a preflop game, so you just don’t have the opportunities to learn post flop play that you do playing cash games, and to some extent, tournaments.

Online Poker Tournament Strategy

The bottom line is that it all does come down to preference. Some people just like cash games more, whether it’s the limitless earning potential, freedom to get up whenever you want or the ability to develop postflop skills. And they mind the grind to get to all of those things.

Sng Poker Meaning

However, if you don’t have a preference and you want to build a good foundation, in regards to your bankroll and skill set, you can’t go wrong with sit n go’s. Even if you only play them long enough to build a bankroll for small or mid-stakes cash games, I think you’ll be glad you did.