Yesterday I played 14 of the Double or Nothing (DN) sit 'n go tournaments on PokerStars. I cashed in 10 of the 14 tournaments, giving me a nice ROI of of 32.3%. I will take that ROI all day long, every day! No complaints here. However, I need FAR more games to flush out my DN strategy... like a thousand more! But even with the short sampling of games over the last week, I am starting to see some patterns and key changes I need to make from my standard sit 'n go poker strategy. As I mentioned in my previous post, I will outline them in a modified version of the SitNGoTraining.com course.
I am also seeing some significant advantages of the DN tournaments over the standard sit 'n go's. The biggest advantage comes from the six person bubble and no In The Money play. In standard sit 'n go tournaments you have four people on the bubble and then three and two when playing in the money. As a result, the number of decisions you must make greatly increases. Because of the increased frequency of decisions, it is much harder to multitable. With the DN tournaments, since the bubble has six players and no in the money play, the amount of time between decisions is greater, reducing the number of decisions and increasing the number of tables you can play at any given time.
Poker Stars “Double or Nothing” SNG Strategy
I have been playing a lot of the Double or Nothing (DN) sit n’ go (SNG) tournaments on PokerStars lately. If you are unfamiliar with the Double or Nothing format, basically half the players double their money (less the tournament fee) and the other half get nothing. For example, if you are playing a $10 DN SNG you pay $10 for the prize pool and $1 for the tournament fee for a total entry fee of $11. The SNG starts with a total of 10 players. The first five to get knocked out get nothing. The other 5 each get paid $20. So if you are one of the five that gets paid, you make $9 ($20 prize less $11 entry fee).
The Double or Nothing SNG’s differ from traditional single table SNG’s. In a traditional single table SNG only three of nine positions get paid. Third place receives 20% of the pool, second receives 30%, and first place receives 50%. In a traditional SNG, first place makes more than double that of third place. So it is in your best interest to shoot for first place. However, with the DN SNG’s, the last five players all receive the same amount of money. As a result, the strategy needed for playing DN SNG’s is very different than that of the traditional SNG’s. I am going to start documenting the differences on this blog and will eventually create a DN version of the SitNGoTraining.com.
The Double or Nothing SNG’s differ from traditional single table SNG’s. In a traditional single table SNG only three of nine positions get paid. Third place receives 20% of the pool, second receives 30%, and first place receives 50%. In a traditional SNG, first place makes more than double that of third place. So it is in your best interest to shoot for first place. However, with the DN SNG’s, the last five players all receive the same amount of money. As a result, the strategy needed for playing DN SNG’s is very different than that of the traditional SNG’s. I am going to start documenting the differences on this blog and will eventually create a DN version of the SitNGoTraining.com.
Make Big Money Playing SitNGo Tournaments
Single table no limit hold’em tournaments, also known as Sit and Go (or SitNGo) tournaments, can be divided into two distinct phases:
The late phase is where the majority of the chips are won. It is dominated by all-in raises designed to steal the blinds. Learning how to play well in the last phase is the single most important skill you must have to win SitNGo tournaments.
This is where the SitNGo Wizard can help.
- The early phase where the blinds are small relative to the stack sizes.
- The late phase where the blinds are large relative to the stack sizes.
The late phase is where the majority of the chips are won. It is dominated by all-in raises designed to steal the blinds. Learning how to play well in the last phase is the single most important skill you must have to win SitNGo tournaments.
This is where the SitNGo Wizard can help.
Calling A Reraise
I received the following message from one of the Sit N Go Poker Strategy and Training site readers. He wrote:
I love your blog, but I’m confused about the pre-flop strategy section. You advocated raising in circumstances where you have good EV relative to the M of your stack, but you don’t give any guidance what to do if you get re-raised? For example, in my last tournament, I was at an M of 15-20, with two consecutive hands where my cards were EV of 0.25 to 0.30 (I think I had AJos and then K10s). Both times I was first to enter the pot, but both times someone after me re-raised me to put me all in. Both times I folded, causing my chip stack to drop substantially.
My question is, if you are re-raised, how do you know whether to call their re-raise? Furthermore, is it really a good strategy to raise (rather than limp) if you KNOW you would fold to a re-raise, as is probably the case with those marginal hands like AJos and K10s?
Great questions. He is getting to the heart of what I am writing for the advanced lessons. The answer is simple...
I love your blog, but I’m confused about the pre-flop strategy section. You advocated raising in circumstances where you have good EV relative to the M of your stack, but you don’t give any guidance what to do if you get re-raised? For example, in my last tournament, I was at an M of 15-20, with two consecutive hands where my cards were EV of 0.25 to 0.30 (I think I had AJos and then K10s). Both times I was first to enter the pot, but both times someone after me re-raised me to put me all in. Both times I folded, causing my chip stack to drop substantially.
My question is, if you are re-raised, how do you know whether to call their re-raise? Furthermore, is it really a good strategy to raise (rather than limp) if you KNOW you would fold to a re-raise, as is probably the case with those marginal hands like AJos and K10s?
Great questions. He is getting to the heart of what I am writing for the advanced lessons. The answer is simple...
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