The following page contains a basic sit and go strategy constructed using excerpts from,” Harrington on Holdem Expert Strategy for No-Limit Tournaments”
These are excerpts and do not in many cases give the full explanation or conditions of the strategy. It is meant only to highlight areas which may specifically help the sit and go player. You will need to purchase the book in order to get the full discussion of the text. Please support the author by purchasing the book with the link on the right sidebar or by buying from you local book store.
Overview of online sit and gos
Volume 1: pages 60-61
“The proper strategy for these tournaments is a little different from the other online events. In the early rounds, the blinds are very small compared to the chip stacks around the table, so conservative play is a good idea. At the same time, you can observe the other players at the table and see what kind of cards they’re playing. Some of the players will be rocks, while others will play any two suited or connected cards. In the first two or three rounds, most pots will be fiercely contested, so make sure you have a real hand when you get involved.
By the time you reach the fourth or fifth round of play, several things have happened.
1. Two, three, or four players have been knocked out.
2. The blinds have increased to levels that represent 10 to 20 percent of the original stacks.
3. The remaining players who still have substantial chips don’t want to jeopardize their chances of finishing in the money.
You’re now in prime stealing territory. Most pots won’t be contested at this stage, so if the hand is checked to you, go for it.
Just move in for the minimum raise with any two reasonable cards. Unless you have a real hand, fold on the few occasions when you are raised (which will represent a strong hand, not a bluff). You’ll win far more hands than you lose.
By the time the field is reduced to three or four players, the blinds will be so large that the game becomes a crap shoot. If you’ve done enough stealing on the previous few rounds, your big stack will make you the favorite. Otherwise, try to take the lead in the betting and hope for the best.”
Basic Strategy for Full Tables
Volume 1: pages 176-198
I have compiled a spreadsheet that outlines the playable hands that Harrington suggests for a full table of somewhat conservative players
After laying out the rankings, Harrington says that this is just a baseline and you must adjust your play for real life play. He goes on to say this.
“Real players will have a mixture of tight players, loose players, and players with styles that are hard to characterize. If your table is mostly tight or loose, the very general rules is that you want to play in a style opposite to that of most of the players at the table. At a table of tight players, you should loosen your requirements (opening not calling), because pots will be easier to steal, and you’d like to steal some of them. At a table of loose players, you theoretically want to play tightly, with better starting hands than normal, because you’ll win fewer uncontested pot.”
Short Table Play
Volume 2: page 290
“At very short tables, you actual hand shrinks in importance and your pot odds rise in importance. Get in the habit of calculating the pot and your odds before every decision. “…
“Weak cards plus good odds = playable situation”
Heads-Up
Volume 2: pages 365 - 366
In order to help with heads up play, Harrington has characterized the hand by the percentage in which they win in heads up situations
He goes on to say.
“The single key idea that you should take from this table is that suits matter a little and high cards matter a lot. Holdings with Aces and Kings dominate the rankings, while two suited cards are only about 2 percent better in terms of winning chances than the same two cards unsuited.”
He then goes on to outline his heads up strategy for the small blind/button and the big blind position. I have placed snippets of the strategy below, but, as mentioned before, many of the conditions accompanying these snippets have been excluded. The full version of the book provides much more detailed information.
Small Blind / Button
1. “At least call with any two cards”
2. “You have a potential raising hand if you hold any hand in the top 40% of all hands and the Ms are low.”
3. “If you are call an are raised, call with any Ace, any pair, or any other hand in the top 30%”
4. “If you are called and raised all-in, call with any hand in the top 20 percent of all hands”
5. “If you raise and are reraised (all-in or not), call with for certain any pair or any other hand in the top 10% of all hands”
Big Blind
1. “If your opponent just calls and the Ms are less than 5, raise all-in with any hand in the top 30% of all hands”
2. “If your opponent raises, call with any top-30 percent hand and reraise with any top-20 percent hand.”
3. “If your opponent raised all-in, call with any top 20-percent hand.”
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