Playing position in heads-up Sit & Go's

When approaching heads-up Sit & Go’s there are some general adjustments you need to make, such as loosening up and playing more hands. However, to judge quite how loose and how many hands you need to play, you need to gauge a number of factors including position, your opponent and the effective stack sizes.

Position is very important in all poker games, but in heads-up play where the blinds are reversed and the button posts the small blind, it is even more so. The player with position will be able to place considerable pressure on an opponent throughout the hand, as long as the stacks remain relatively deep. For this reason you should be raising the majority of your hands on the button to three big blinds and only folding absolutely unplayable hands like 7-2 offsuit, 4-2 offsuit or J-3 offsuit, although against very tight opponents you can raise almost 100% of the time. Equally, against very loose or aggressive ones you should probably tighten up a little bit more (but not too much).

Facing down the button

Out of position you are at a significant disadvantage throughout the hand, particularly when playing deeper stacked at the beginning of the Sit & Go, so you should only play hands with at least moderate strength to negate this effect. A typical hand range would be all pairs, Broadway Aces, suited Aces, suited connectors and any two paint cards. Depending on how your opponent plays you should also re-raise some of the time, since he will often have nothing and have to fold (but beware of getting into big pots out of position with marginal hands).

When playing looser players with strong hands making sure you’re re-raising is vital as you’ll often get action, while another time to be aggressive out of position is when you have the chip lead and won’t fall too far behind if you lose the pot.

For the most part, however, calling raises is the best option out of position, though this should be balanced by also calling with some big hands like A-A or K-K. On the flop your opponent will usually make a continuation bet when checked to, allowing you to check-call medium-strength hands or strong hands on dry boards, and check-raise strong hands, draws and occasional bluffs.

Whatever your position, you will often have a medium-strength hand after the flop, so you need to think as much as possible about your plan for the whole hand before you make an action. This might mean raising and then checking behind on the flop with a weak pair to avoid being check-raised, double-barrelling scary turn cards, or betting multiple streets for value with a strong hand.

Heads-up play with deeper stacks is all about getting these marginal decisions right, so start getting in your practice now.