Sit and Go Strategy – Late Stages
The late stages of a sit and go separate the winners from the losers – both figuratively and literally. This is the point in the tournament where you can pick up the most blinds and put yourself in position to win the entire tournament. During the late stages of an SNG, your main focus should be attacking the blinds and winning as many chips as possible without seeing a flop.
Stack sizes are a key consideration during this stage of the tournament because stack sizes determine both how you should attack and who you should attack. There will be a variety of stack sizes at this point but the players you should focus on are those with medium stacks. These are the players who still have a chance to outlast a few more people but don’t have many extra chips to splash around. Attack these players’ blinds with everything you have.
The size of your own stack will determine how you should attack the blinds. If your stack size is sitting at around 8 big blinds or fewer, most of your blind steals should be all-in pushes. It may feel risky to go all-in on a steal but with such a small stack size, any steal attempt will commit you to the pot anyways. By going all in, you put your opponents in a position in which their only options are to fold or call and hope to win the showdown.
With a larger stack, you can attack the blinds by simply putting in a raise of 2x the big blinds. At this point in the tournament, a 2x raise is more than enough to let your opponents know you are serious about taking the pot. If you steal with a terrible hand and get caught, you can still get away with most of your stack intact.
Before the Bubble
When there are five players left, it means you are only two positions away from the money. Many players will start to tighten up at this stage in the tournament. You’ll see this the most with players who have medium stacks and are trying to outlast the short stacks.
The best strategy at this point is to steal the blinds from the medium stacks as often as you can. The small stacks are poor targets because they will be getting desperate and willing to call with any decent hand. The large stacks are also poor targets because they know they can call without putting the tournament on the line.
If you catch a premium hand during this stage, the best bet is to play it fast just like you would with a steal. The occasional slowplay is ok but only if you think someone else will go after the pot. Most of the time, however, your best bet is to play strong hands aggressively. You may also want to consider showing your premium hand if you win the pot without a showdown.
During the Bubble
The bubble in an SNG begins when there are just four players left and everyone is just one position away from the money. This is the time in the tournament in which you’ll see the tightest play. Some of the smaller stacks may be getting desperate but the other players will often be hunkering down and waiting for someone else to go out first.
You should become as aggressive as possible during the bubble. This is the best time to collect chips and improve your odds of taking first place. It can be tempting to tighten up and let someone else go out first but that strategy doesn’t pay well over the long run. You need to collect chips and go for that first place finish. That’s where the real money is at and that’s how you develop a healthy win rate.
After the Bubble
You may hear a collective sigh of relief after the bubble breaks but your work is not yet done. Some of the players may suddenly loosen up now that they know they are guaranteed a payout. You will need to study these players and figure out which ones are still willing to give up their blinds and which ones are ready to gamble.
After one more player gets knocked out, you’ll be down to heads up play. Hopefully you have built up a large stack by now and have the advantage over your opponent. The blinds will be so big by now that the game almost turns into a crapshoot. The best strategy moving forward is to become hyper aggressive. You want to be the person who steals the most pots at this point because everything else is basically luck.