Basic info about Sit and Go

The benefits and disadvantages of sng’s

Every game has its benefits and his disadvantages. The variance by sng’s is pretty high. At cashgames you are able to sit with 100BB constantly and by sng’s that is not the case. Because of that you cannot exploit your edge a lot. The result of that is that the variance will get higher. Another disadvantage is that you will need an hour (at minimum) for a sng. Most of the time a STT takes about 50 min, calculate the time which it takes to start too that and you are over an hour. You can play a cashgame for 30 minutes if you want to. Another one is that you can’t grow that much with playing sng’s. The biggest online winners are all cashgamers. Ofcourse sng’s do have their benefits. If you master a solid standard then it is quite easy to beat. You can learn this very quick and in cashgames you won’t. In cashgames you will come across a lot more difficult spots and therefore it takes more time to learn it. Most of the time the players who are good at sng’s are also good in MTT’s and also the end game of it. Sng-players are used to play with stacks who aren’t deep and therefore they are experienced in it. If you can’t decide what to play then just make some decision. Choose for the thing that pulls at you the most.

Bankroll management

A frequently asked question is: “what kind of bankroll management do I need to maintain?” If you are playing cashgames then that’s an easy question. You only have to look at the limit. If you are playing sng’s then it is a different story. You need to keep the ITMER, buy-in, if it is a turbo or not all in mind. You can imagine that you need less buy ins for a deepstack 9-players sng then for a 180 players turbo sng. If you keep yourself to the below scheme you can are able to play pretty safe.

SoortStake# buy-in Turbo# buy-in Non-TurboSTT(6-9 players)0-5.5$6545 6-11$8060 12-27$11580 28$-39$140100 40$-60$180120 61$-119$225150 18-27 players0-5.5$7050 6-11$9065 12-27$12085 28-39$150110 40-60$190140 45 players0-5.5$7550 6-11$10075 12-27$140100 28-39$180130 40-60$250175 180 players0-5.5$10075 6-11$12585 12-27$175100 28-39$250120

Volume

It’s important to play with a lot of volume because the variance is high. If you beat $16 (9 players) sng’s with a ROI (return of investment) of 20% (which is good) then you still only win $3,6 for every sng you play.
Assume that one sng takes about an hour you still only earn $3,6 an hour and that is not an hourly salary which will make you rich. It is important to attempt to reach the maximum from your profit(highest possible hourly salary). Let’s take another example. If you have a 15% ROI at $3,25 while playing 10 tables at the same time that will earn you more money. You, yourself need to figure out what is the highest profitable point. You need to learn to play a lot of volume, it is a process that everyone has to go through. If you are only able to play 2 tables at the same time then that is also a sign of level. You still have to think a lot about situations and that takes time. If it takes time the result is that you aren’t able to play a lot of tables. As you grow in your skill a lot more “standard situations” will occur and that allows you to play more tables.
A commonly used method to play at more tables is to constantly add one table to your amount. For instance you keep yourself to it that you will add one table each week. At PokerStars you are able to choose between tiled and cascade. The benefit of tiled is that you will see a lot of showdowns and it gives you a good overview. The disadvantage of it is that you cannot play that much tables (12+). The benefit of cascade is that you are able to play a lot of tables. The disadvantage is that if you respond too late you will wind up siting out which can lead to a loss in stack and you are completely unaware of it. Also you don’t have a lot reads and it’s not the best option for a nice overviews.
There is also a difference between playing constantly or playing sets. The benefit of playing sets is that you are constantly in the same fase from your sng(early stage, midstage and endgame). The disadvantage is that you are playing a lot less sng’s then if you were playing constantly. The disadvantage from playing constantly is that you are different blind levels all the time. If this doesn’t bother to you then it’s recommended to play constantly. You will play more games an hour which means that your hourly salary is also higher.

The use of Holdem Manager and PokerTracker in sng’s

HM(Holdem Manager) or PT(PokerTracker) were actually designed for cashgames. During these days it is also used in a lot in sng’s. An important thing to keep in mind is your HUD(which is aimed at cashgames). You won’t have that much on the 4bet percentage in sng’s because it is rare.

Look at the VPIP and PFR percentages for a guess at the level of your opponent. A BIG disadvantage is that stats are able to deceive you. Your opponent will always play a lot more aggressively in a HU then at the beginning of a 9-max sng. 36/26 looks like a donk to you then maybe but 40 hands could possibly be played in a HU sng.