Introduction to Sit 'n Go's

In the next few weeks I will be posting notes that I have taken from the book Sit 'n Go Strategy written by Collin Moshman. These notes are not an alternative for reading the book, but should be regarded as a compliment to the reading. One will never fully grasp the lessons to be learned in the text without reading it themselves.

This will be the first post of many. I will start out with the basics, then discuss blind play, and conclude with thoughts and maybe some comparison of Collin's strategy's Vs. strategy discussed at PokerXFactor. Without further a 'do, let's dive into the basics.


General Strategy

Play cautious game when the blinds are small and an aggressive game when the blinds are large

1. When the blinds are low, play only profitable hands. Avoid big pots unless confident that you have the best hand


2. When the blinds are of moderate size, begin stealing & restealing with decent hands in late position


3. When the blinds are high, make raises to win blinds. Make these raises with marginal hands that you would typically avoid playing in the lower blind levels

In the standard three payout SNG (Sit ‘N Go) structure, the more chips you have the less each chip is worth in real money; while the less chips you have, the more they are worth in real money.

Winning chips is not the same as winning real money; you should only be concerned about winning real money.

Being the better/raiser is better than being the caller. This is because betting and raising allows the possibility of winning the pot immediately. You can never win immediately by calling.

Equity & ROI

Equity is the amount of money a play will make in the long run.

Tournament Equity is your “rightful share” of a tournament’s prize pool. Every player has expected equity based on skill, mental state, distractions, etc. No player knows his own, nor any other player’s exact equity going into a tournament.

• Table selection is crucial to maintaining a high ROI (Return on Investment)

Equity uncertainty is fundamental to tournament poker play in at least two regards:

1. It allows you to profit


2. It causes vast fluctuations in your bankroll

It allows you to profit.

• You make money by having higher equity than other players


• Natural fluctuations (luck) prevent losing opponents from realizing they are losing

It causes vast fluctuations in your bankroll.

• You will inevitably face winning and losing streaks rather than a steady bankroll climb


• This can cause doubt in your ability and makes for uncertain short-term profit or loss

Doubling up in the early stages of a SNG only doubles your chip count, not your equity. In an early double up scenario, the loser has lost chips of greater value than those the winner receives.

When players are all-in with a race situation early in a SNG both players are long-term equity losers. The remaining players are equity gainers.

A player can gain equity even if another player at the table can continually knock out opponents while you gain no chips.

Pot Odds

• Single most important factor in deciding whether to call a bet


• To know whether you should accept a certain risk, you must know the corresponding reward

Chip Expected Value

EV (Expected Value) of a wager is how much it wins you on average

• Calculated by weighing each possible outcome with how likely it is to occur

cEV (Chip Expected Value) is the number of chips a play will make in the long run
Note: Fold is always cEV = 0