Early Stages of a Sit and Go

The early stages of a sit and go tournament (SNG) are marked by big stacks and small blinds. It's tempting to jump in and see a bunch of cheap flops but that's actually a losing strategy. Your goal during the early stages of a SNG is to conserve chips, wait for solid hands and let the maniacs bust each other out. Yes it sounds boring but that's how you win SNGs. But don't worry; I'm not asking you to be a tightwad during the whole tournament - just during the early stages.

There is no exact definition of the "early stages" but I can give you a pretty good explanation. The early stages are roughly marked by there being 7 to 10 people still in the tournament and the blinds are still small compared to your stack size. You'll usually have anywhere between 45-75 big blinds in your stack at this point.

You want to play extra tight during the early stages for several reasons. First of all, your opponents will be playing extra loose so there's no point in trying to get fancy or make any steals. Your premium hands get paid off early in SNGs so you don't need to bluff.

Second, you need to conserve chips so you can pull off steals later in the tournament. If you mess around and donk off half your stack in the early stages of a SNG, it's going to be hard to push people around in the later stages. You need a decent stack that's capable of stealing the blinds when they become big enough to steal. For now, the blinds aren't worth anything and you probably won't get anyone to fold anyways.

The third reason you want to play tight in the early stages of a SNG is simply because there are still a good number of people left in the tournament. With 7-10 people still being dealt cards every hand, you're going to run into stronger hands on average. On top of that, you'll be out of position more often than when there are fewer people left in the tournament.

So when starting out, stick with premium hands like TT-AA and AK - especially when in early position. In late position you can open up your range a little to include hands like AQ, AJs, KQs and the like. If there are several people in the pot in front of you, you can limp in with small pocket pairs and try to hit a set. This is the only time during the tournament where you can profitably go set hunting. In the later stages, you don't want to set hunt because the blinds are too big compared to the stacks and there's a greater chance that someone will push all-in preflop after you've limped in.

The key to smart early stage sit and go play is tight, straight-forward poker. You don't need to fool anyone or try any bluffs because there's still plenty of time to gather chips. In fact, most of your chip gathering will occur during the bubble when everyone else is tightening up and trying to make it to the money. Winning SNGs requires you to go for gold - not silver or bronze. In pursuit of that first place finish, save your chips early on and use your stack to push people around when they tighten up.

It sounds like a boring, unimaginative strategy to play so tight and straightforward but it really does work. If you can keep patient and maintain your stack size, you'll be well rewarded for it later in the tournament. But for now, play tight, stay cool and be confident in the knowledge that you know how to win a damn SNG.