Double thru Sit & Go's are an exciting new twist on the SNG format. As the name implies, you are not playing to a specific prize structure but rather half of the entrants double their buy-in and the other half get nothing. In a ten-handed game the bubble will burst when five players are left and the sixth-place finisher is the unlucky bubble. Obviously this is quite different from the standard Sit & Go format where three people are paid out on a 50%/30%/20% basis, and that means your strategy needs to be different too.
In the early stages you should play much tighter than in any other format, because you only need to double your stack once to have average chips for the prizes, and often if other players get knocked out quickly you may not need to win even this many. For example, if your starting stack is 1,000 chips and another player knocks out three people to amass a hefty 4,000 chipstack, the average for the other four players when the bubble bursts will be 1,500 rather than the initial 2,000. In some cases if lots of confrontations take place you may even get there without having to increase your starting stack at all!
Staying alive
As survival really is the name of the game you should avoid playing most marginal hands early, as flush and straight draws will often cost you additional chips to hit. The main exception is if you can get in cheaply after other players with a small pocket pair that can instantly flop a monster when it hits a set. In fact, using the ICM (Independent Chip Model) formula we can calculate that if you play a $5 Sit & Go and double up on the first hand your stack is now only worth $7.78 in equity terms, because the elimination is also beneficial to the other players. For this reason you would need to be around a 65% favourite or greater in an all-in scenario not to be losing money overall.
This all adds up to prove that avoiding big confrontations with marginal hands is vital in the early game. A hand like A-K only wins 65% of the time against a random hand, and much less often against the stronger ranges people usually play in this format (J-J or better). As such, getting all-in with it would usually be a mistake, and against most players you should only be prepared to get all your chips in with big pocket pairs like Aces and Kings. The again, if you know your opponent is very loose and bad and likes to play any Ace then you could have them crushed. Think carefully.
The middle game
Double thru Sit & Go's are not as simple as they may first appear. Playing tight at the beginning is generally a solid approach, but what do you do after a couple of players have been knocked out and the blinds are starting to increase? The middle game strategy of a Double thru requires you to take stock of what has happened so far in the Sit & Go and weigh up your overall situation as you move towards the bubble. Keep a close eye on your ranking, how many players are left, when the blinds are due to go up and what the biggest stack is, as well as your own chip count in relation to your neighbours.
One solitary big stack can radically change the average stack needed for the other players to win and you need to factor that in when there are just a couple more knockouts needed. Calculate what that number would be (excluding the big stack, of course) and see how it changes as players are knocked out and alter your play accordingly. If you have over the average chips you can obviously sit back and avoid all but the most risk-free situations until you start falling below that average, hoping the shorter stacks get knocked out. If the average is 2,000 and you have 1,750, your strategy should depend mostly on what the other stacks sizes are and how many players need to be eliminated for you to win. If there are still seven or eight players left and no big stack the game could go on for some time, so trying to win a few more pots where possible is advisable or you’ll find yourself turning into the player that everyone is waiting to get knocked out.
Under pressure
Any time you are in a marginal position you must consider the timing of the blind increases. These will be key in terms of forcing you to make a move if you are a shorter stack, or allowing you to sit back if you have a decent stack. Will the blinds increase before you, and are they likely to decimate any short stacks before you? You should also remember that if you are one of the shorter stacks you have nothing to lose and should be trying to attack the scared middle stacks with all-ins while you still have enough to hurt them. As few as four to five big blinds can still give you fold equity at this stage of the game. Don’t play scared.
Beating the bubble
As in most Sit & Go's the bubble is the most important stage of a Double thru tournament, and the nature of the payouts in this format make it absolutely key. The early and middle stages of these unique games are really just a build-up to the bubble, and depending on how you fare in them you will need to adjust your strategy in the latter stages.
If you understand how to use ICM (Independent Chip Model) to calculate the real value of your chipstack on the bubble this effect becomes most pronounced. For example, if six players remain with equal stacks then each will have five-sixths of the prize amount, but now being all-in means you will either win an additional one-sixth of the prize or lose your entire five-sixths of equity, and that means you’ll need to be at least a 5-to-1 favourite most of the time. For this reason, avoid calling all-in on the bubble unnecessarily, as it is imperative that you don’t freeroll the other players into the money – even a hand like K-K wins less than five in six times against a random hand!
Playing not to lose
You should therefore focus almost exclusively on your overall position at this stage rather than the cards you are dealt – if you have a top-three stack you are virtually guaranteed to win anyway, so why get involved with any hand and risk it? All your focus at this stage should be on the shortest stacks’ attempts to survive and the correct strategy is simply waiting long enough for one to be eliminated – so even with a medium stack there is little reason to get involved unless players double through and you become the short stack yourself. The blinds and level increases are key here (especially if you have the fourth or fifth biggest stack), as who is hit first by any jumps is likely to be more important than a few hundred chips difference in stack size.
In a marginal situation you have to pay close attention to who will have to risk their tournament life first, and try not to get involved unless it’s you. If, however, you are the shortest stack, look at putting your chips to the best use by not only picking the best hand to play but the best situation. Shoving against the big blind of the fourth or fifth place stack is very rarely the wrong thing to do - if you win you will likely cripple them and they'll be forced to fold all marginal hands.
In this format remember that when you get to the bubble neither you nor your opponents should be playing to win – you should be playing not to lose…