A General Overview of Sit & Go Tournaments
This text has been prepared by The Eureka Kid, on behalf of TheOmahaSplit.com
What Are They?
Sit and Go poker tournaments, also known as SNG or SnG have no scheduled time to begin, and start as soon as enough players are registered. They are commonly found at online poker rooms and are found, but are less common in live casinos.
Things to Consider
Blinds Structure & Starting Chips: The number of chips each player starts with, the starting blinds and the rate of increase in blinds differs between sites. Some players a greater ratio of starting blinds to chip stack, others will prefer a lesser ratio. once you find a structure that suits your style of play stick to it! In "Turbo" sit and go's the blinds increase at a far more rapid rate than a regular sit and go, meaning the tournament moves a lot faster.
Buy-in: Obviously the buy-in is going to be a consideration before you enter a sit and go, but don't just think of it in terms of what you can afford. The skill level of players differs greatly between buy-in levels. Work your way up in levels, don't just throw yourself in the deep end at a high level.
Keeping Records: If you are going to be serious about sit & go's or poker in general, it is good to keep track of your records. Record the date, the buy-in, the web site, the number of players entered, your finishing position and any winnings each session. You can even get poker software to do this for you, this software can be used to analyze your results.
Number of Players: Some sites have nine player single table sit and go's others have ten players, you can also play multi-table sit & go's, for example at PokerStars that have 18, 27, 45 and 180 players. Comparing the nine and ten player single table's there isn;'t that much difference strategy wise, but both tournaments pay the top three places generally, so with a ten player structure you are going to 'make the money' less often, but when you do you will win slightly more. You can also play short-handed and heads-up sit & go's, once again these have different payout structures and different skillsets.
Reasons to Play Sit & Go's
Experiencing Different Conditions : If you only play full ring cash games or large multi-table tournaments you probably don't get much experience playing short handed. If you always play cash games buying in for the full amount you probably don't get much experience playing short stacked. If you play sit and go's regularly enough, you will get to experience a full range of conditions, from full ring playing, to short handed, to heads-up. You will get a true poker education on how to play your stack size and your opponents stack size as well as the situation in the tournament.
Loss Limited to Buy-In: Unlike cash game poker when you sit down your potential loss is limited to the buy-in of the sit and go. You cannot keep adding money to the table, and the chips in play have no monetary value.
Profitability: Once you know the basics and get experience at playing sit and go's they are a great way to earn a profit playing poker. There are so many weak players around that over time your wins will accumulate to a nice income.
Regularity: You can find a sit and go online at any hour of the day, because they only require nine or ten players they fill up really quickly and there is no waiting around.
Time: When you sit down for a sit and go tournament you know that if you go the distance it is only going to take around an hour to play. Contrasting this a multi-table tournament can take many hours and its length is far harder to predict. Thus, sit and go's are a great way to get tournament experience without spending hours playing multi-table tournaments.
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