SIT N GO POKER STRATEGY

People can be extremely wild and aggressive when playing poker online. The fact that they have nothing tangible in front of them makes them forget they’re playing for real money. This is a great thing when you’re playing in a tournament or sit n go. The faster players get knocked out, the closer you get to the final table.

Playing Ace-Rag Off-Suit

Just because you have an ace doesn’t mean you should be in the hand. Ace 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, off-suit really aren’t good starting hands. You should try not to play these cards unless you’re in late position, and it’s cheap to limp-in. If players fold in front of you and you are in late position, you can go ahead and raise with ace-rag and hope to pick up the blinds. Single aces become much more valuable later in the tournament, because you’re more likely to be heads-up against someone.

Playing Suited Cards

You shouldn't play every time your cards are suited! This is a common mistake made by beginning players. Unless you are dealt very high suited cards or suited connectors, you shouldn’t enter the pot. The chances of flopping a flush are extremely low, but when they are suited face cards, your chances are much higher of winning the hand without a flush.

Playing Suited Connectors

You should try and play these cards. Suited connectors consist of 5-6 suited, 6-7 suited, 7-8 suited etc. It's better to play them early in the tournament when the blinds are low. I prefer to limp-in with these cards against weaker players, and raise pre-flop when I'm against more experienced players. Raising pre-flop against experienced players will throw them off if you actually flop something good. They'll never see it coming when they call your raise, and then you flop a straight, trips or even a flush.

Playing Small Pairs

Small pairs are in the same category as suited connectors. On average, you shouldn’t call any more than 5% of your stack with a small pair. After that point it becomes too expensive to try and hit your 'set'.

If you flop a set with more than three or four people in the hand and there is an ace on board, you should definitely bet. There is no need to slow play, because you will most likely get called no matter how much you decide to bet. The chance of flopping a set is very low, but the payoff is huge.

Playing Flush Draws

You can lose a lot of money on flush draws so you need to be careful. Generally, you shouldn’t draw into a hand where a lot of people have limped before the flop, and the board has a pair on it. Many amateurs aren’t paying attention to that pair on board, and even if they have a flush draw, it can still be busted. With so many people playing before the flop, it’s very likely that someone made trips.

There’s also a good chance the player who flopped trips could possibly make a full house to beat your flush. You might get rocked, and lose most of your chips. For this reason you shouldn’t chase a flush when the board is paired and there are a lot of people in the hand.

When to Raise

Good raising hands are pairs of tens and better. Remember this is pre-flop with no raises in front of you. The purpose of this raise is to keep the 'fish' away from catching their cards. The only time you should limp-in with a high pair is when you predict a player acting after you is going to raise, and you plan on re-raising.

You should also raise with suited face cards such as AK, KQ, AQ, and AJ. These are very strong hands and worthy of a raise equal to 7-8 percent of your stack. At this point, if you raise pre-flop and you only get one or two callers, you should bet after the flop as well. With a high pair or over-cards, you are probably still in a good position. You will usually force players out with a raise after the flop. If you get re-raised, you will then have to rethink the situation and possibly fold.

In tournaments you want to pick up average sized pots with your raises, and you don’t want a lot of callers no matter what you're holding. The only time you are going to slow play is when you flop a monster hand, and you don’t think your opponents have much.

Making Final Tables

If you’ve played in sit and go tournaments before, you know what happens at this time. Everyone tightens up because they don’t want to be the next person out. All their effort to get there will have gone down the tube. It sure feels bad to finish just out of the money. That is the reason everyone quits betting all of a sudden. When players are playing tight, what should you do? You need to play aggressive!

In the Money

Once players are in the money we all know what happens next; it becomes an all-in fest. There’s a lot of luck involved when the blinds are really high and there’s only a few players left. The best thing you can do is bet very big with moderate hands. The only thing you are trying to do is take the blinds in front of you. A lot of amateurs will move all-in. This isn’t necessarily the best move.

Sometimes just a raise equal to double the big blind or slightly more will be effective. If you’re used to going all-in no matter what at this point, try just raising enough to get them to fold. You will still be left with plenty of chips, and you can see a flop if they should call. If you are forced all-in you still have an option to fold, which is fine.

Once you make it to heads-up play, you don’t have to go all-in every time. See some flops and play some poker. Going all-in is effective in taking blinds, but you don’t have to go all-in every hand. This is a classic mistake of amateurs. If you have a big stack of chips there’s a pretty good chance you might hit a hand in the next few, so sit out a couple of hands, and let your opponents make the mistakes.