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New players will often find that sit and go tournaments are the best way to learn the game and start building a bankroll. Now it is true that sit and go tournaments are not so easy as they once were where more and more players are adopting a tight-aggressive style which is hard to battle against, especially if you are playing the same way. So here is a new player, and some responses to our poker forum that is strategizing the best way to carry this out.

Hi all, first post but have been using Tournament Indicator for a while and reading this forum too.. I already have a few of you to thank I have learned a lot from just reading....and SO MUCH TO LEARN!
To start with my numbers since I have been using Tournament Indicator
20 - 7 -1.6 - 36 - 50 (ouch)
I am wanting to become a good tight aggressive and am wondering if there anything sticks out from those numbers (other than needing to win more when I go to showdown!) that I need to alter to achieve that goal or am I on the right path??

MY PLAN STARTING 2-11-09

On Full Tilt (BR $150) I have been playing and like the 90 man S&G but I am falling just OTM to often to play these profitably so I am proposing to begin by multi tabling 4 x 27 person S&G ($2) and a 1 x MTT...Does this look a good approach o can others suggest better S&G's on FT to serve my purpose...Also is this BR ok or do I need to give myself some more breathing space to begin with?

On Pacific Poker (BR $200) I have been playing several double or nothing tourneys and think while slow they are a great potential BR builder....The $5 or $10 DorN's have similar levels of opposition which I have been using Sharkscope to check... I am proposing to multi table 2-4 x $5 or $10 (if the right one comes along). Yes this is probably pushing the BR way too hard isn't it?? what BR would you propose to begin with if you agree with my plan or what S&G tourneys do you suggest on Pacific......I was also going to get into Pokerstars which I believe has double or nothing S&G's as well.....same plan as pacific if so.....

Guys please pick these plans apart if need be I have put this post here to get the best possible advice I can....Thanks

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Those stats look fine as a TAG player. Even the 50% is fine. you can still be a good profitable player with it as low as 48%. The highest it can ever be is about 55% over a large amount of hands and in this case you are probably folding too much and getting bluffed out of pots. I'd advise that your PFR % should be closer to VPIP. i.e raise more and call a bit less.

For building BR I'd advise the single table SNG's. The reason being is that they have less variance than the bigger player tournament and variance is hard to live with when you are starting out.

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I have been reading some other similar posts to mine and it seems a pretty common theme that it is better to commence with single table S&G's so I will look to play those on full tilt but instead of 4 tables I will look at going 6 but that will be my limit because if I try to play more than that at this stage my head would explode!

I think you are right about my PFR needing to be closer to VP....I know I have to raise more but I have just been too worried about busting which is a BIG mistake I know...timid play will get me nowhere....same thing with me getting bluffed out of too many pots..timid play i think.

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Hi guys, was having a go on just a 90 man S&G last night....was very close to the bubble (after the following hand I WAS bubble boy!!!!
I am wanting opinion on this hand though:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?4837711

I hope I have inserted this hand correctly its the first one I have posted so if you cant see it and I have made a mistake please let me know!!!

First off with this hand and YES I think I will get some negatives about playing it and that's what I need if required....
First off I am short stacked and call the min raise as I knew I am then seeing a flop (no one else to act behind me).
YES I get my 5 however TERRIBLE BOARD with 3 clubs.... I had read one player to be AK-AJ range and the other with a small to mid pair probably a little bigger than my 5's before the flop...I think I am ahead but scared of another club. HOWEVER as you can see I went for it and busted out...I still think this was my best move at this point.....HOW RIGHT OR WRONG AM I GUYS?????
OH and guys this is not here to whinge as a bad beat at all...I knew the risk was there and I was beaten but I am just not certain it was that bad a move and in the same situation what would you guys have done (why do i get the feeling most replies will say FOLD the bloody 5's first chance you get!!!! lol)

End stage high blind under 10bb's left, you should be shoving preflop there imo. Raise call is ok too. Nothing wrong with getting it all in on the flop there either. Even if he has flush, board pairs you win and you are committed really, best chance to come up right here. Fold the flop is a waste. Fold preflop UTG with the 55 is also an option. Really I probably would have been all in sooner I think with anything decent with chemistry or Ax late. I like shoving late rather than early when getting short against monster stacks.

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JP thanks for your feedback I just revised last nights games on SitNGo Wizard and as you had said Wizard agreed that I should have pushed....One of those hands that I am now recognising through using the wizard but have as yet to have the backbone to follow through and push this is indicated in the second last hand of the tourney (yes just before the 55 debacle) Wizard said I should have pushed, even today I though it was one that I should fold even though the advice is telling me to push......anyways I will post the hand and you can have a chuckle as I did today because if I had of pushed the hand before I would have probably thrown the 55 UTG to the sh@thouse and not had a second thought!!!!!!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?4838299

I know that this one would have worked out just fine but would you guys have all played it, I didn't (what a mistake!)......sorry I dont know whether these hands are too basic to be posting for advice but it is these ICM based calls that I am struggling with and if this is an obvious situation and hand to push with then I need to adjust my thinking a little further....the 55 yes I see I should have pushed but this one!!!!


First hand you have an M of 2.5. Under no circumstance should you be folding. If you are calling then you may as well just shove it in and let the other guys make the hard decisions. Also I'd advise never getting into this situation in the first place. I work on the premise that I don't let myself go under an M of 5.

Second hand its the same situation. You have a low M and J8 is starting to look like a playable hand. If your M was over 5 then I'd suggest folding, but here then you should be shoving any 2 cards.


Sounds like advice that I was expecting Matty...just needed someone to say it to me probably!
Need to not be so timid and get myself into that situation in the first place (m under 5) but knowing the right move in mid to late stage and actually EXECUTING the move is becoming a problem....
Actually while I am writing this something has occurred to me maybe my problem is not so much late stage (ICM based) issues as checking my SitNGo Wizard I am down from countless late stage mistakes to maybe one or two (which i know is still probably unacceptable and can cost you the tourney or a good finish anyway) but a vast improvement... Is the problem possibly MID stage where I have usually placed nice TAG to get a good healthy stack and then somehow lose my balls and peter away my stack!! YES these forums maybe worth their weight in gold not JUST for the great advice but for the self analysis that this advice prompts!!!
Thanks again and please keep the advice rolling....got a lot to learn and a short time to do it in!!!!

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Easy, Think of it this way...

Just look at where you are in the game. What are the chances of you making the money with a short stack if you don't get chips? Most likely zero. So you have lost already and are just wasting time pretending to play poker.

So since you already lost and you have NO hope of getting any money and 25% of your stack is in the middle in blinds and antes, just SHOVE late with anything with chemistry. Suited 35, J7o, Q8o, any ace, K9o. All of them have a chance against any hand with a bit of luck. Only a big stack can call wide and only a fool that you can take another 25% of his stack would call wide giving you a decent edge to get a chip up and if called, you have potential for double+.

You already lost so putting your chips in the middle isn't going to cost you a penny.
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This isn't carte blanche to become a maniac, you still have to play solid, make good decisions and pick your spots well. But when you are at the end and have little chance of making it, make your own luck or hope to get some luck if called. There is NO poker player alive that won any title or bracelet or mtt without getting lucky at least once with an underdog.


I was in an stt yesterday, I doubled early when a fool had a lot of faith in 2nd pair no kick on the flop. Then I was card dead forever and played no other hands for the next half hour. I ended up in last place with 5 still in it! I made one mistake call when still chip leader and cemented my fate forcing me to rock up and wait for a hand that never came.

I shoved K8o in cutoff, and won. I had Q9 shoved and won. I had K8d shoved and won. With 5 still in it now I was the chip leader. I was called all sorts of names, but hey so what, every one was right push in the situation.
Use of ICM decisions in the sit and go tournament was the ONLY thing that turned the tide and gave me the win.

I could have lost the game on any one of those hands. It didn't matter because I WOULD lose for certain if I didn't get chips. In fact, I became chip leader and table bully ending up monster chip lead and going from last place to first and winning the game. I took out everyone that was calling me names and thought I played bad. The heads up 2nd place guy said I played a great game, he wasn't busy crying about how bad my choices were, he concentrated on his game and was viable to win when we were heads up. It shifted back and forth a couple times until I got some big hands at the moment he chose to raise or shove.

So almost always, those junk hands I won with are folds. But in the right situation they are as good as pocket rockets. Knowing the difference is where the skill lies. 8)