Low blind Sit ‘N Go play is easy. All you have to do is sit there and nut peddle. You may isolate the occasional retard with a weakish hand, but mostly you’re just waiting for top hands. Mid Blind (50/100 to 100/200) Sit ‘N Go play is different.
When Sit ‘N Goes reach the mid blind stage, it’s time to change gears. If you weren’t fortunate enough to get a good run of cards and double up when the blinds were small, now is your only chance to build your stack before the high blind shove fest begins. Here’s my strategy.
Lockdown in Early and Mid Positions
If I enter the pot from early or middle position, rest assured I’ve got a major hand. Usually it’ll be something like TT+, AQs+, or AKo. I might enter from mid position with AJs or AQo if the players behind me are passive or if I don’t think they recognize the Gap Concept.
Stop Limping!
I hardly ever limp during mid blind play. In fact, the only time I’ll limp is if I’m in early or middle position when I have a monster hand and an Aggro-donk has yet to act. Barring the occasional trap, I don’t limp. I will, however, raise tightish players or players that limp in early/mid position if I notice that they’re limping too much.
Steal Without Mercy
Your blind is mine bitches!
I may be on lockdown in early positions, but I open my range up a lot in the cut-off and the button to steal the blinds, especially if the big blind is tight.
The stats I have up on Hold’em Manager are VPIP/PFR/Steal %/Fold BB to Steal/3-bet and on the next line I have Agg Factor/Flop Cbet/Fold to Cbet/Hands. That may seem like a lot of stats, but I have good reasons for them.
Obviously the VPIP/PFR stats tell me what kind of player I’m dealing with (tight-aggressive, loose-passive, whatever) and the Fold BB to Steal stat tells me how likely I am to get their blind. The higher this number is, the wider I’ll raise to steal.
The 3-bet stat and Fold to Cbet tells me how the big blind defends when they decide to play back at me. A 3-bet stat less than 3% and a high Fold to Cbet tells me that the player will defend by calling and playing fit-or-fold on the flop. No problem there. I’ll keep stealing and cbet the flop and give up if I’m called.
Players with a high 3-bet stat are a bit trickier. Obviously I’ll tighten up my stealing range a bit, but I also have to check my pop-up to see what their fold to 4-bet stat is. If it’s a non-zero number, I know I can 4-bet them with a lot of my (now tighter) range. If the 4-bet stat is zero, I’ll have to give up unless I have a solid hand.
Defend the Blinds
I believe that the Mid blind stage of a Sit ‘N Go is one big war over the blinds. I’m pretty generous with my small blind and will only defend it with solid hands, but I’m a bit trickier with my big blind.
Once again, my move depends on my opponent’s stats. The higher their steal % is, the lighter I’ll defend my blind. I usually defend with a 2.5x 3-bet, though I’ll occasionally call and donk the flop since I’ll play a big hand like that every once in a while. I don’t defend every time of course, but it usually only takes one or two 3-bets before my opponent’s leave me the hell alone.
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Mid blind Sit ‘N Go play is the closest Sit ‘N Goes get to “real poker.” In low blind play, you nut peddle and in high blind play, you shove; but Mid blind play give you the chance to make some read-dependent moves. Master Mid blind Sit ‘N Go play and you’ll master Sit ‘N Goes.
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