Early Stages Sit n Go Strategy

Starting Hand Selection in Early Sit n Go Strategy

During the early stages of Sit n Go Strategy you’ll want to concentrate on playing only top quality hands.  Because in multi-table Sit n goes (or long handed) you’ll be sat on a 10 seated table; the chances are someone will be raising preflop with a monster hand like QQ or AK.  This makes limping into the pot from early or middle position pointless.  My advice with starting hands is to only call with hands you can continue to call a raise with from early or middle position.  This includes hands such as AK/AQ, high suited connectors and pocket pairs above 77. 

From mid to late position in early sit n go strategy you can be calling with a slightly greater range of hands to see the flop including suited connectors and smaller pockets.  Because the blinds tend to be very small for the first few levels in sit n goes, you can afford to call with these marginal hands from late position as part of early sit n go strategy because of the implied odds.  This means you’ll receive your value for calling when you hit a monster hand that will draw in underdogs.

Throw Away Rag Aces

The most important thing to remember in early sit and go strategy is to never play rag ace hands.  The problem with these is that on a full table it’s very likely you’ll be beaten by a better kicker.  This means your sit n go strategy will be to wait to make a two pair on the flop in order to get the best hand. Obviously you don’t have pot odds to call for this sort of thing.  Aim not to call the blinds out of position with less than A-10.  If it’s suited than you can make larger allowances if you’re in late position or on the blinds.

Early Stage Sit n Go Strategy is About Patience

Another important part of early sit n go strategy which many players ignore is to be patient.  You can more or less get the middle stages of a sit n go tournament without having to accumulate any chips.  This means you can afford to wait for a better hand rather than getting worried about everyone around you gathering chips.  You’ll notice that many poor sit n go strategy players calling to see the flop over 40% of the time will go bust very quickly. 

Don’t Risk it for a Biscuit

Forget bluffing or value shoving at this stage unless you’re certain your opponent has nothing.  Blind stealing in this stage of sit n go strategy shouldn’t be a major preoccupation because of their relative little value.  Don’t worry about protecting or defending your blinds because they’ll be close to meaningless – and definitely aren’t worth protecting with a 4xBB raise against AK and 1010.