My Problems with the Sit & Go– Part I

[Note: this is a three part post, and after I wrote it, I lost 7 straight sit & go tournaments. But I worked hard on this post, so you're still getting it. ;) Besides, it might be helpful!]

I am experiencing modest improvement in my performance in sit & go tourneys this week. I have found some holes in my play leading to this. I am going to attempt to lock down these problems over the next few days. I had quite a stretch in December of late finishes in massive MTTs. There’s a great advantage of being at the late tables in those tournaments – every player that gets knocked out moves you closer to bigger money. In the first part of this topic I will explain the many tools you can use when there are fewer players and higher blinds in MTTs. I will follow that up with the differences in a sit & go, and why they’ve given me problems.

At an MTT final table you have quite a few weapons to use as a moderate short stack. You can use your cards at the most basic level – “my cards are better than your cards :-P.” Your chips are also a weapon, used to place other players in marginal situations. Your position relative to your opponents’ is perhaps the most powerful weapon you have at any stage of a tournament. Finally, you can feed off of your opponents’ fear of not making the money.

Let’s look at an example final table. There are the following players remaining:

Player A -SB	8000
Player B - BB	12000
Player C	31000
Player D	5000
Player E	1500
Player F	3500
Player G	18000
Player H -Button	11000

Blinds are 300/600 with a 75 ante putting 1575 in each pot to start the hand. The most basic weapon that every player at the table has is their cards. For example, Player E has less than the pot size in chips, yet if he is dealt aces on the next hand, he will most likely (at least) double up to 3000+ chips.

As a player’s chip stack increases, it becomes a weapon of its own. For example, let’s say the Player E got Aces and doubled up through Player B’s big blind. The stack sizes are now:

Player A - Button	7625
Player B - SB	10500
Player C -BB	30925
Player D	4925
Player E	3750
Player F	3425
Player G	17925
Player H	10925

On the very next hand Player E goes all-in again and Player A on the button has 44. The previous hand, Player E’s chip stack represented 18.75% of Player A’s. Now it is a whopping 49.18%! Player E forces Player A to (likely) fold here because he’s probably up against a coin flip (at best) for half of his chips. Player E’s chip stack is now large enough to be a weapon against some players. Now imagine Player C’s advantage, having nearly a 2:1 chip advantage on the rest of the table. After Player C calls from the big blind, Player E is eliminated and the chip stacks are as follows:

Player A	7550
Player B - Button	10125
Player C - SB	35425
Player D - BB	4850
Player F	3350
Player G	17850
Player H	10850

The next weapon is position. Player G raises the next hand with pocket sixes, making it 1,800 to go. It folds around to Player C in the small blind with an A9 suited. He’s got a coin flip against Player G, however since he is in the small blind, he’ll be out of position for the rest of the hand. So he folds. Position won the hand for Player G.

Another weapon is the payout structure. Here are our example’s remaining payouts and the current stack sizes:

Player A	7475
Player B	10050
Player C – Button	35050
Player D – SB	4175
Player F - BB	3275
Player G	21150
Player H	10775

Buy-in	$2.20
1st	$199.50
2nd	$109.70
3rd	$79.50
4th	$62.70
5th	$45.60
6th	$34.20
7th	$22.80

On the next hand it folds around to the chip leader on the button. He’s got 55 and shoves all-in on the short stacks in the blinds. Player D calls with 66. Player F has 77, but feels that the extra $11.40 is worth waiting for a better situation, so he folds. Player D is eliminated, while Player C avoided doubling up Player F because of the payout jump. This payout schedule really comes in handy right at the money bubble or in a satellite where there are multiple top prizes rendering final chip stacks meaningless.

These weapons are available at a final table. When used properly they can boost your bankroll by helping you into those final money spots. In my next post I will breakdown the problem I have translating this into Sit & Go cashes.

Part II