Sit and Go Strategy – End Game

Sit and Go Strategy Guide – End Game

First off congrats on making it through this Sit and Go Tournament Strategy Guide – Be sure you have Read SNG Strategy Early Rounds and SNG Strategy Middle Rounds of this guide. As it will ensure you are playing the best strategy possible for SNG’s. The late rounds of Sit and Go Tournaments are where the real money is made. Winning the tournaments as opposed to just “making the money” makes a huge difference in our ROI and Poker Bankroll. The later stages of a SNG begins after the bubble once all of the players have reached the money. With every played remaining in the tournament guaranteed a percentage of the prize pool, the dynamics of the SNG can change drastically.

End Game Sit and Go Tips

Even though there are incremental increases assigned to the payout ladder, the late stages of SNGs are not a good time to sit back and patiently wait for cards. First place prize money and bragging rights for the winner of the tournament is significantly more attractive than second or third place, so it’s immensely important to stay focused on your game that has allowed you to reach the pointy end of the SNG tournament

In order to give yourself every chance of winning the tournament, and let’s be real here, that’s the end goal of every SNG you play, it usually requires that you be very aggressive during the end game and final table of a SNG because of the size of the stacks in relation to the blinds, so you can’t just play a tight snug game simply waiting for a big hand, the blinds will eat you alive.

You really are not looking to play post flop poker, so you need to be looking for opportunities to add chips to your stack through well timed all-ins that aren’t contested by the other players. Really, the best way to accumulate chips during the later stages of a SNG is without a showdown. You want to make well-timed raises before the flop. In certain situations, you can move all-in with any two cards when it was folded to you and it will be a profitable play.

You Must Take a Race to Win

Of course when I saw you must “win a race”, I’m not recommending to take a 50/50 race and hope for the best. But because of the nature of the End Game strategy, you will be unable to avoid getting into a race. The key thing is to ensure you have either A) Some Fold Equity and use your stack to your advatage – Or B) You have a hand that does well in race situations. Example: Cards that play well seeing a showdown.

Using Your Stack – Fold Equity

A big part of the end game is using fold equity to your advantage. This means risking a lot including your tournament life, but the amount of chips you can add to your stack is significant, and the longer you wait the less fold equity you have with opponents more willing to call you lighter once you get really short, because they know you are desperate to double up.

Fold equity in poker describes how likely it is your opponents will fold. The more fold equity you have, the stronger the likelihood of getting your opponents to fold their hand without the need for a showdown. During the late stages of a SNG, your fold equity is imperative in taking down pots, and becomes much more important then your cards. That’s the main reason why you absolutely need to regularly be adding chips to your stack before it gets too small.

Fold Equity and Stack Size

The urgency with which you go all in will obviously depend on how short stacked you are. You don’t want to get blinded out of the SNG tournament, so amp up the aggression and look to pickup the pot uncontested. If there are antes in play, there is even more dead money in the pot you can potentially win. Anytime the blinds get to be 20% or more of your stack, you should be looking to make a play to take down the pot, because before long the blinds will eat up your stack.

The Stop and Go – Pushing Your Stack

In addition to making plays before the flop, another way to use fold equity to your advantage during the late stages is after the flop by making all-in moves before anyone else does. If you call and see a flop, which is a rarity in the end game of SNG’s you can use the old “donk bet” move. This play refers to calling an opponent’s pre-flop raise and then leading out with a bet on the flop instead of checking it to the raiser.

Statistically an unpaired hand will hit the flop around 1/3 of the time, so your opponent will have completely missed the flop the majority of the time. The post flop donk bet can be a good way to accumulate more chips against opponents who are looking to steal pre-flop but aren’t willing to call with nothing after the flop.

Eventually you will wake up with a good hand during the late stages, giving you a great chance of knocking someone out and winning a large pot. This stage of the tournament does require getting lucky, and sometimes you’ll be knocked out but that’s just a part of poker.

Heads Up Play

When you make it to heads up play, then you have a chance to win this tournament, even if you are “out chipped”. Being aggressive and smart during heads up play, will give you a serious advantage. So remember to not get baited into call off your chips on a marginal hand, and remember that there’s no need to get fancy. During the final heads up match, you need to become even more aggressive. Also be mindful of the ratio of blinds to chips. Some Sit and Go’s can get to the heads up stage quick. So if you are playing deep during heads up, you have more options and you can be more patient.

You should pretty much be raising with almost every hand on the button. When playing in the big blind, don’t call raises and look to play post flop poker, unless you plan on stealing the pot on the flop with a well-timed “donk” bet. Fast playing your strong hands will disguise them well and should see better results. If you had been raising the majority of your hands on the button and then suddenly decide to limp in with pocket aces, your opponent may become suspicious.

If you use the Strategy and Tips given in this guide, then you will be a winning Sit and Go tournament Player. These simple, yet effective tactics have been proven to work, and as you grow as a player you will be able to make minor adjustments, but overall you will see the information in this guide is solid!