7 Tips for Sit and Go Poker

1) Watch for Hands with Potential

When starting the tournament, ensure that you sit tight and watch for any hands with potential, as normal strong hands such as a royal flush will always be your friend. During the early stages of the tournament the blinds are usually small, so it is not worth your time to get involved in this, the best tactic is to start showing your confidence a bit later.

Despite this, make sure that you are keeping an eye out on any hands that have potential for you to do well with. Sometimes, marginal hands such as smaller pairs and aces with a tie-breaker card could potentially be a winner. If you decide to go ahead with a hand like this, then be wary of players that raise the bet, you do not want to risk it if they raise out of your comfort zone. As for the flop, ensure that you pay attention and fold if it lowers the strength of your hand.

2) Don’t Hesitate, Take Action

Big pairs such as aces, kings and queens always are premium hands with potential, make sure you don’t waste the opportunity if this is your hand. Successful players will raise the pot to double the amount, this will scare your opponents and push them to fold or raise with the weaker hand. This may not always be the case, there is the slight chance they could match your hand.

When it comes to the flop and it results in a big hand for you, make sure you take your chances and raise. It’s possible other players will fold or call you with a top pair, but their kicker may not even be that great.

If you decide to check at this stage of a sit and go tournament or after raising, make sure you make a big move if your opponent makes a bet.

3) Show Confidence and Scare Weaker Bettors off

Keep an eye out for those players that are making smaller bets throughout the poker tournament, they are likely to be one of the weakest at the table. You could also look out for the players that are short stacked.

If your hand has a good possibility of winning the round for you, use this opportunity to scare away the weakest. Keep raising and they will likely fold or call with a weak hand, making it a win win for you. BUT, you need to be confident that they are in fact the weakest link, so make sure you are paying attention to detail.

4) Know When to Surrender

It is important to make constant bets in a sit and go tournament, but you need to know when to stop and slow down.

Usually, poker players will play hands that they wouldn’t normally play in regular multi-table tournaments or cash game tournaments, it's likely they will make riskier plays. If someone raises and you have a hand that has a slight high chance of losing such as a top pair with a bad kicker you need to play it safe and back down.

5) Watch The Stacks

Always keep an eye on the stacks, they can excessively go up and down, particularly when the blind increases. Effectively paying attention to the stacks will ensure that you know who is the stronger player and who is the weakest, those with bigger stacks are the ones you need to look out for as they could be the one to knock you out.

If you are one of the last players standing and you have the shorter stack, don’t let this scare you. You can use the all-in tactic to panic your opponent into giving up.

6) Consider your bankroll

Bankroll management is a vital factor for being successful at any poker tournament whether it be sit and go or a single table tournament. From start to finish, you must always consider your bankroll when making a move, you don't want to be out early and you don’t want to be out after making an expensive mistake.

It is ok to make play risky in a sit and go tournament but only if you have the money and brains for it. For example, at the start you should play tight, and as you make your way to the big blinds, approach the game strategically, using all the tips in this article.

7) Don't be afraid to get aggressive and finish them off

At the point of the tournament when it is short handed you need to start taking action and play aggressively. Raise when you can but don’t make any silly mistakes and raise on a hand that is lacking any potential.

Well done if you have made it to heads up play, it is now time to finish in the money and raise until your opponent has nothing left. If your opponent is playing this tactic with you, you need to re-raise a good amount to spook them out and lead to a win. Of course, don’t do anything stupid but with two players left even a top pair could even win your the prize pool.

Now you have read the top tips and tricks, we hope you can now improve your sit and go strategy and smash all your opponents at the table!