If Sit & Go’s were a film, it would be The Last of the Mohicans. The goal is to be part of the wagon of the last three players still in the running, so that you can get in on the money and make a profit. The key to surviving is to avoid making huge mistakes.
New players all make very similar mistakes at the beginning of the game. This article looks at the top five ways players jump from a Sit and Go. You will also find some tips on how to avoid making these mistakes.
5 things not to do in Sit&Go’s
1. Play like a maniac
The easiest and quickest way to jump out of a Sit and Go is to play like a maniac. Sometimes, when playing in low buy-in tournaments, you’ll see players jumping into almost every move, and losing a ton of chips with marginal hands. They go too far with these hands, and lose many more chips than they should. Example: A player raises a pot with K♥ J♥ at the beginning of the word, touches the second pair of the flop, and pushes all his chips into the middle. Why would you do that? It just doesn’t make sense. He can always enter the next tournament.
2. Play to wide
Some players see more than 40% of the flops, even at the beginning of the tournament in the full ring. It’s a mistake that I see again and again in the SNG. The only possible justification for seeing so many flops is to hit AA or KK 40% of the time, which is, you will agree, implausible.
Ok, I’m exaggerating a bit on the range of starting hands, but it’s totally unproductive to play too many hands, especially at the beginning of the tournament and find yourself engaged in a pot against multiple opponents. You’ll be 6 in a row, plus you can be sure that the badger in the big blind will make a min 3bet to “inflate the pot”.
As a result, you are in a pot with 20 BBs in the middle with your 9♣ T♠ out of position and hit top pair. Big blind bet 15BB, what do you do? With this decision, you already know that you’ll have to commit your mat at the turn… . All in all, maybe it’s not so bad to tighten up your hand selection… .
3. Underestimate your opponents
Even if you play at a low buy-in table, you should never take your opponents lightly. For example, I was recently in a $7 SNG. I was loaded with A♦ A♥ . I raised and had a call. The flop was K♠ 5♣ 4♦ , and my opponent bet the pot.
At that point I would put it on a KQ or KJ style hand. So I over-raised, he pushed all his chips to the middle and I quickly decided to pay. He unveiled 4♣ 4♥ and I went to the kitchen for coffee.
If it was on a bigger buy-in SNG, I would have thought a bit more and found his bet suspicious, but as it was a low buy-in game, I figured it was probably some idiot who wanted to rip the pot.
4. Do several things at once
Regardless of your poker level, it is important to focus on one task at a time. If you play online poker while cooking, cleaning, watching TV and chatting with friends, you are doomed to a bad session. For this reason, you should always and only concentrate on your poker. Even if you are multi-tabled, you will be more focused on the action at the tables by concentrating only on your computer than if you are doing other tasks.
5. Overestimate your draws
Another very common mistake that can be seen regularly in low buy-in games is players committing their entire stack at the first hands on a draw! You are supposed to play tight in the early levels, and the only time you will commit your entire stack is when you are sure you have the best hand. A straight or flush draw clearly does not meet this criterion.
Want to know more?
Mistakes are common in poker and the goal is to make as few mistakes as possible and to push your opponent into making them. Take advantage of beginners’ mistakes, point out the mistakes that bad players make and spot the fish at your table.
