Why Trying To Win A Sit And Go Will Get You KILLED & What To Do Instead

Yes, you read that right. Trying to “win” a sit & go is actually the fastest way to lose all your money and I’m going to PROVE this to you.

Imagine that you are playing in a $10 buy-in 9-player SNG. The payout structure is such that 1st place will get 50% of the price pool (or $45), 2nd place will get 30% ($27), and 3rd place will get 20% (or $18).

Now imagine that you are fortunate enough to be one of the last 4 players remaining. Not only that, you have the second biggest chip stake at 2,000 chips. The chip leader has 7,000 chips. And the other two players have 10 chips each.

Consider this scenario. The blinds are 50/100 and you happens to be in the big blind and the chip leader is in the small blind.

Both of the short stacks fold leaving just you and the chip leader. Much to your dismay, the chip leader goes all in from the small blind.

Fortunately for you, as he pushes in his chip stack, the clumsy idiot accidentally turns over his cards and you see that he only has a measly 72 offsuit.

You look down at your hand and see that you have AK suited. According the the poker odds, your AK should win versus his 72 about 70% of the time. So clearly, you are way ahead.

Should you call?

Why Sit N Go Are Weird

This is where it gets weird. If you’re goal is to win the sit and go then you should definitely call. However, even though calling would allow you to win the sit & go tournament most often, it will actually cause you to lose A LOT of money.

The most profitable play, by far, is to fold.

Here’s why.

Because the other two players have such short stacks (only 10 chips each), they are almost guaranteed to be knocked out. This means that just by waiting a few more hands, you will pretty much be guaranteed the $27 prize for 2nd place. Not only that, but once the short stacks are out of the picture, you still have a fair shot to win 1st place.

So by folding, you make an automatic profit of $27 and still have a chance to fight for 1st place.

By calling the chip leader’s shove you are only risking that $27 and giving yourself a 30% chance to get knocked out and win nothing. The benefit of having the best hand and having a chance to double your chip stack is actually very slight and is not nearly enough to compensate for the risk that you are taking.

There are actually math calculations that I can do that will definitely show that calling will cause you to lose money in the long run.

So If Your Goal Shouldn’t Be To Win Sit & Go’s, What Should It Be Instead?

Instead of trying to win sit n go’s, your goal should be to finish in as high a position as possible given the size of your chip stack and the size of your opponents’ stacks.

So oddly enough, in order to win money in SitnGo’s in the long run, there are times when you actually have to fold knowing that you have the best hand.

The point that I’m trying to get across to you is that winning at sit and go requires a dramatically different strategy than if you were playing a poker cash game or multi-table tournament.

Tags: Sit & Go, sit & go tournament, sit and go, sit and go strategy, sitandgo, sitngo, SNG, sng tournaments