Shorthanded SNG Strategy

Shorthanded SNG tournaments have 6 players battling it out for a first and second place prize. First place gets 65% of the prize pool and second place gets 35%; the remaining players go home without anything. In regular SNGs, it's important to play for first place but in shorthanded tournaments, it's vital.

The biggest differences in strategy for shorthanded strategy all relate to the number of people in the tournament. From the very beginning you'll be playing at a shorthanded table (hence the name) so you can play a few more starting hands than you would at a full table. There simply aren't as many hands out there competing against you.

You still need to be careful, though, especially from early position. If you play recklessly from early position, the players in late position will eat you alive. At the beginning of the tournament, play from early position the way you would play in a regular SNG.

As the tournament progresses, you can open up more from early position because there aren't many people left to act. When it gets down to three handed play, early position before the flop becomes late position after the flop because it's just you and the two blinds.

In late position you can really open up and put the pressure on the players in front of you. You'll get plenty of opportunities to do just that because the blinds come around so often. There's no reason to go crazy over the blinds in the early stages but as you get down to the end, the blinds are usually big enough to be worth attacking when the opportunity presents itself.

There's less room to play weak, drawing hands in SNGs because there are fewer people in each pot. The best strategy for picking your starting hands at shorthanded tables is to stick with hands that have high card power and to play them with aggression. Even hands like medium pocket pairs can win pots without improving so open up your range but don't get too attached to any one hand. If someone gives you a good reason to fold, you should almost always fold and wait for a better spot.

Because fewer people start the tournament, you'll reach the bubble a lot quicker than you will in regular SNGs. It's nice because the blinds usually aren't as ridiculous at this point in a shorthanded SNG as they are in regular SNGs. Just like in normal SNGs, you want to be aggressive during the bubble. If you see anyone playing just to survive, that's a perfect target for blind steals. Attack those blinds all you can and be ready for people to try to steal your blinds.

I also recommend you not to expend too much energy defending your blinds in shorthanded SNGs. Unless you have a strong hand or a good read, don't go out of your way to defend your blinds. Defending your blinds will leave you out of position, confused and wandering how you're going to win this big pot you've just created. You don't build stacks by defending your blinds; you build them by stealing blinds.

The whole purpose of all this SNG strategy is to give yourself a big stack going in to heads-up play. Even in shorthanded SNGs the blinds are usually pretty big by the time it gets down to heads-up. The player who wins the heads-up battle is usually the player who's the boldest.

The blinds are big and you're both under pressure so it takes aggression and tenacity to win the final battle. You don't have time to wait for strong hands or worry about your opponent having strong hands. Just get in there and keep up the pressure.

If you stick to this strategy and use your own experience to help along the way, you can be very successful in shorthanded SNGs. They don't take a long time to play, most of your opponents make the wrong adjustments and you'll get a lot of final table experience that translates nicely to tournaments of all types.