Late Stage SNG Strategy

Well congratulations! You've made it to the final stages in your SNG, a commendable accomplishment in itself. But now is not the time to grow content. In fact, now is the time for you to notch up the aggression to a whole new level and build your stack up as big as you can. Your late stage sit and go strategy is your bread and butter; this is where you make your money.

The biggest problem for SNG players who get this far is they grow content and just aim to make it to the money. They wouldn't mind a first place finish but they'll just as happily settle for second or third place. What they don't realize is that that is a losing mindset. If you settle for second and third place finishes too often, you'll still end up losing money over the long term. First place gets 50% of the entire prize pool and you need that money to sustain a healthy win-rate.

The Bubble

At this point in the tournament there are 4-5 players remaining and the blinds are taking significant chunks out of all but the biggest stacks. Everyone at the table knows that as soon as just one or two more players are eliminated, everyone else will be in the money. Players with big stacks are feeling pretty confident right now, players with medium stacks are just hoping to hang on and the small stacks are getting desperate.

You've played a patient and somewhat sane up to this point but now you're going to pull a Dr. Jekyll on the table. This is where your only goal is to dominate the table through sheer intimidation. You'll actually be playing a smart game, but your opponents will hopefully think you're just a maniac. You're going to be that shooting start that either reaches the heavens or burns up in a fiery mess of flames.

The bubble is where you steal as often as you can. Try to concentrate your steal attempts on the medium stacks. Those are the guys who are least likely to call you because they're so close to the bubble they can smell it. The big stacks will call more often because they're more confident and the small stacks will call because they're getting desperate. The medium stacks know they just need to survive a little longer so they'll put up the least resistance.

The blinds at this point are so big that any preflop raise you make might as well be an all-in push. You can raise for half your stack if you want but that pretty much commits you to the pot. All-in steals take away any chance your opponents have of turning the aggression around on you. There's nothing they can do to make you fold. The only way they can win the pot is if their cards beat yours in a showdown. You'd be surprised at how many times you can get away with all-in pushes before getting called.

Use the stack sizes and your player notes to find the weakest spots and punish them. Sometimes you'll get called by a better hand and lose but there's no time to worry about that. If you don't make your moves now, the blinds will eat your stack faster than you can say "I love fourth place finishes please give me more!"

Your entire goal during the bubble is to add as many chips as you can to your stack. If the other people at the table are just trying to coast in to the money, you'll be able to build a massive stack off the blinds alone. This massive stack will come in handy when it comes down to heads-up play because by then the blinds are so big it's basically just a crapshoot.

Heads-Up Play

After you've broken the bubble and knocked out one of the survivors, it's down to you and a single opponent. It's great you've made it this far but don't be happy to just make it this far. Go for that gold medal. You need it. Your country needs it. Make us proud young son.

First place gets 50% of the prize pool while second place only gets 30% of the prize pool. That means first place is worth almost twice as much as second place. This makes a big difference in your long term success at sit and go tournament's.

By the time it gets down to heads-up, the blinds are going to be so big that it basically becomes an all-in contest. Push all-in as often as you can and hope for the best. You can adjust your strategy based on how tight or loose your opponent is in calling all-ins but err on the side of aggression.

If you get stuck against an opponent who's also aggressive, it's going to be a hard battle. Hopefully you did well at building a big stack earlier and can just use that to your advantage. If you're lucky enough to get stuck against a timid opponent, you can push all-in as much as you like and not have to worry about him stealing your blinds.

The key to winning in the heads-up match is to play without fear. Don't feel too bad if you get overaggressive because the blinds have already turned this into a luck-fest anyways. The only thing you can do to give yourself an advantage is get away with more steals than your opponent does.