Sit ‘N goes are a progression of insanity. You start out playing ABC poker; waiting for solid hands and playing them strong. Then the mid blind phase comes and you start stealing blinds like a clepto and defending yours like they’re your children. But once the high blind phase comes (150/300+), all reason goes out the window and you start sticking it in with 92o.
I’m not gonna lie. I haven’t fully developed the balls necessary to stick in my stack with any two cards unless I’m in really bad shape…or I’m tilting. The “book” says you should shove from the small blind with any two when you have less than 10x the big blind, but I just can’t do it with the bottom of my range (32o, 45o, 93o, etc.). Maybe I’d win more SNGs if I did. I don’t know. But for now, here’s how I play Sit ‘N goes during the high blinds.
Big Stack Bully
I bet...oh, say... $12 million.
I love being the big stack when a Sit ‘N Go hits the high blind stage, especially if we’re on the bubble. I’ll raise, re-raise and shove with all kinds of trash knowing that my opponents pretty much need JJ+ or AK to make their call +EV. I may slow down a little bit against a player who doesn’t seem to follow the SNG rule book, but not by much.
Once we get into the money, I don’t let up a whole lot. If my two opponents are close in chip count to each other, a second pseudo-bubble develops as they fight for second place and I keep pounding them. In this kind of situation, I’m likely to take first place easily.
Small Sack Sucker
It sucks to be the small stack when the blinds are high and it really sucks if you’re on the bubble and you figure to be bubble-boy. You only have two moves at this point: shove or fold.
I’ll usually wait until I’m the first in the pot to shove. If someone limps, I’ll usually lay it down unless my hand is pretty strong. When I do shove, the quality of my hand is inversely proportional to the quality of my position. The later my position, the more likely I am to shove with trash. If the hand isn’t suited or connected, I usually like to see some paint before I shove but that all depends on how short I am and who I’m shoving into.
I also shove wide in the small blind, but I usually want at least 9 high if the cards aren’t s00ted.
Average Joe Stack
It’s tough for me to play with an average stack. If I have around 11-13 big blinds, I usually just shove with decent hands or I’ll raise 2.5x if I want to steal a blind, but I have to go through the big stack to do it. If the big stack re-raises often, I’ll just fold or shove through him. If there’s a shorty at the table, I’ll try to wait him out. Otherwise, I’m looking to build my stack to have a decent shot at first place.
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High blind SNG strategy should be governed by the Independent Chip Model. If you want some help working on your push/fold game, SNGwizard is a great program that will analyze your hand history and show you where you’re making mistakes. It’s a necessary piece of software for any serious SNG player.
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