How do you play a tournament?

1. Introduction

In this article

• What is a Sit and Go tournament
  
• How to play a Sit and Go tournament
  
• The three stages of a Sit and Go tournament
  

You hear the sound of chips clattering against one another. The excitement engulfs you. You glance at your cards and then you take a look at your opponent. It's your turn. What's the best move now...?

A tournament is fun. It conjures up action, excitement and diversity. And it brings profit for those who know how to play. You are watching the professionals on TV and think: Wow, I'd like to know how to do this as well. You can master it, too. You'll learn everything that's necessary about Sit and Go tournaments in our beginners section and soon you'll be able to enter the fray of tournaments successfully and well prepared.

In the following articles, you'll experience what a Sit and Go is. You'll learn how to play this kind of tournament successfully. You'll also learn one or two professional moves in order to always stay ahead of your opponents in the low and medium limits. If you're new to poker, we'll teach you all necessary basics, such as what the early position is or which cards constitute a top pair.

In the following section, you'll learn what a Sit and Go is, as well as the basic strategy for winning one. The subsequent sections will then help to deepen this knowledge.

2. What is a "Sit and Go" tournament?

A Sit and Go (SNG) is a form of poker tournament. You take an empty seat at a table and wait until the table is full. The poker game starts as soon as the specified number of participants per table is achieved. The strategy introduced in this article is made for tournaments with 10 participants.

When you take a seat at a table, you have to pay a sort of entry fee which is called a "buy-in". This money goes directly into the pot, which is the prize money you and your opponents play for later on in the game. Of course, the poker room wants to earn something as well and keeps a small amount of the prize money, the so called 'rake'. You'll find specifications like $10.00 + $1.00. This means that you have to pay $11 in order to enter the tournament - $10 for the prize pool and $1 as rake for the poker software provider.

3. How to play a "Sit and Go" tournament?

Two characteristics are of particular importance for your strategy:

• If you've lost all of your chips, you're out of the tournament. You can't rebuy chips.
• The later you're out, the more money you win.

The bottom line is obvious: The point is to survive longer than your opponents and to stay in the game for as long as possible. The more opponents that get knocked out earlier than you, the more money you win. It differs from a cash game, in the sense that having the most chips is not imperative.

You're probably thinking: But in the end, the one with the most chips wins. That's right. But the chipleader after the second, tenth or fiftieth round is far from guaranteed a certain victory. Actually, we often see that the early chipleaders don't get that far.

You have just one chip stack. In order to survive, you have to protect your chips. You want to bet a lot of your chips only if it looks good for you. You don't want to risk losing a big part of your chips.

Another very important characteristic of tournaments is that the blinds are increasing as time goes on. If you have a lot of chips and the blinds are small, you can settle back and wait for good cards. Nobody can force you to risk anything. However, you're under pressure if the blinds are high and you have only five times the amount of the blinds left. So you have to play weaker cards as well, because if you wait too long for good cards, the blinds will eat your chip stack.

4. The three stages of a tournament

You have a lot of chips if you have more than 24 times the big blind. That's the case at the start of the tournament, for example. You are in the first stage of your strategy. Settle back and wait for good cards because you're under no pressure to risk anything. There's no need to play for a big chip stack. After all, your goal is to reach stage 3 and you can also fulfill this goal with less chips.

If you have between 14 and 24 times the amount of the big blind in your chip stack, it's not all that much. Your strategy should change as you enter its second stage. For example, you should stop calling small pairs in preflop situations. Instead, you're going to play other cards more aggressively and you'll use more situational playing moves in your game which you'll learn later on.

You have very few chips if you have less than 13 times the amount of the big blind in your chip stack. That's often the case when the tournament comes to an end. Stage 3 of your strategy is also called the push-or-fold-mode and it's the most important stage. Your previous strategy was just to reach stage 3 where you can then outplay your opponents. You won't use complex playing moves here. You'll either go all-in and bet all of your chips (push) or fold you cards (fold).

5. Conclusion

You want to survive in a tournament. You don't care about how many chips you have in the first or second round of the tournament. Tournaments are not like a beauty contest where you puff up at first in order to deflate at the end. Save your strength since you want to get as far as possible and survive longer than your opponents. You have just one chip stack, that's why you need to protect your chips. If they are lost, you're out. That's the whole principle of tournament play.

The following articles teach you basic poker knowledge that you also need in other variants of the game: How your position has an effect on the strength of your cards and Which hands are profitable after the flop?. The article "Your strategy when having a lot of chips" provides you with a specific strategy for stage 1 of your play.

LINKS

Related articles: How your position has an effect on the strength of your cards Which hands are profitable after the flop? Your strategy when having a lot of chips. Your adjustment when the blinds increase. A special move: Blindsteals A special move: Stealreraises Your strategy when the blinds get very big. How do you go your way: The bankroll management Discussion forum: Here you can ask experts and discuss with other players about this topic Videos: SNG and tournament videos Live-Coaching: Sit and Go coachings

6. Appendix: Answers

Question 1: What is the name of the entry fee in a tournament?	b)		Buy-in
Question 2: The strategy you are going to learn now is made for which kind of tournaments?	c)		For tournaments with 10 players.
Question 3: Who wins in a tournament?	c)		The player who survives the longest.
Question 4: The higher the blinds, the ...	a)		... more aggressive you play.
Question 5: If you have many chips, you should do what?	b)		Wait patiently for good cards.
Question 6: How many times the big blind do you have available if you have many chips?	a)		More than 24
Question 7: What's the name of the special stage where you only have left 13 or less times the big blind?	b)		Push-or-fold-mode