Speed Sit & Go’s have become one of PKR’s most popular formats, and in this article we’re going to look at the strategies needed to make them pay.
While there are many differences between speed and regular Sit & Go’s, the key thing to remember is that you’re still playing the same game. The basic structure and payouts remain intact, meaning the same fundamental concepts – position, stack sizes, fold equity – apply to both formats. For instance, it’s generally accepted that tight is right in the early levels of a Sit & Go, and this remains true in speed Sit & Go’s.
The most obvious way in which speed Sit & Go’s differ from standard Sit & Go’s is that the blinds escalate at a quicker pace – every four minutes as opposed to ten minutes in regular Sit & Go’s. While some may say this makes the speed Sit & Go’s more of a crapshoot (yes, it is true that the maximum attainable ROI% in speed Sit & Go’s is lower than in regulars), you can also play many more in the same amount of time and therefore make a higher hourly rate. Find what works best for you.
Same but different
While the blind structures may be the same in both formats, you’ll see far fewer hands per level in the speed SNGs. So what does that mean? Well, you have less time to wait around for something playable in the speed Sit & Go’s. This is not your cue to go mental and start three-bet jamming 30 big blinds with suited connecters from the big blind over a button raise. That said, you should be far less willing to bet/fold and more willing to enter into 60/40 and coinflip situations, as players are under more pressure to find hands and it’s rarely correct to slow-play.
You’re going to reach the push/fold stage of the tournament more rapidly and there will likely be more opponents left when you do. This means that to get in the money in speed games you’re probably going to have to win more showdowns, and as such the variance will be a little higher. So if you’re going to play speeds it’s a good idea to either already be competent at late-game play, or put some time in at getting better.
I recommend playing around with software such as this ICM/Nash calculator to see if your push or fold was ‘correct.’
Conversely if you believe your edge lies in the early levels of a Sit & Go then maybe you’re better suited to regular Sit & Go’s after all!
Turning up the heat
So, to recap, just because the blinds rise every four minutes doesn’t mean you have to go crazy and start shoving and calling blindly once your stack gets a little short. In speed Sit & Go’s you can approach the early levels in much the same way as regulars, in the sense that once you reach levels four and five (50/100 and 75/150) it’s almost never correct to flat-call preflop (especially out of position), as stacks are too shallow. Equally, it’s almost never worth slow-playing big hands in speed Sit & Go’s because other players are always looking to get their chips in.
The crucial levels in ten-handed Sit & Go’s are levels six through nine (100/200, 150/300, 150/300/a25 and 200/400/a50). During these levels the field will shrink and you’ll approach or reach the bubble, while effective stacks at the table will almost always necessitate push/fold poker.
Keep on shoving
Most players do not shove wide enough in the late stages of Sit & Go’s and most players call too lightly (especially when you consider that most players aren’t shoving wide enough). Here is just one example of optimum pushing and calling ranges using the ICM/Nash calculator mentioned above.
In this example the blinds are 200/400/a50 and there are five players left in a ten-handed Sit & Go (1,500 starting stack). The stacks are, from first to act to big blind: 4,000, 3,000, 3,000, 3,000 and 2,000. What would you shove as the under-the-gun player? Here the UTG player can shove 30% of hands, which is as wide as J-To. How about the button? Would you shove T-6s or 5-4s? You can profitably. Put yourself in the big blind’s position. What would you call with if the small blind shoved on you? Would you call off your chips with T-6s or 8-9o? Again you can do so profitably. But a word of caution – the ICM/Nash calculator assumes that the small blind in this case is shoving 84.6% of hands. In my experience people shove tighter than this, so obviously you need to tighten up your calling range in response. And also in the ‘what can you shove with’ parts, remember that most players call a little lighter than they should, so it’s best to tighten up the hands you shove with to compensate.
The above is just one arbitrary example. Plug in some numbers using real hands and see what you find. Chances are you’ll be surprised just how many hands you should be shoving once the stacks get short.
Exploiting player types and stack sizes
In speed Sit & Go’s you want to be targeting everyone, but for very different reasons throughout the game. In the early levels (levels one to three) you want to be targeting the very good and very bad players. You can exploit the good players – who we assume will know ‘correct’ early strategy and also are probably multi-tabling – by going after their blinds when you’ve got position or very few players to go through. For instance, if you’re in seat seven and you know seat nine is a solid player, raising when you’re on the button is a great spot to pick up some chips as this player is unlikely to be pulling moves at this stage. If you are called you will have position and you can use that to your advantage. As for the very bad players, when the blinds are small (10/20, 20/40 and 30/60) you want to play pots against them in position with hands that you’re either playing for value or that can flop massive. In fact you can do so profitably because the bad players are more likely to stack off lightly with a poor made hand postflop.
Pick your mark
In the later stages you really need to keep a close eye on the clock, because a shift in blind levels can take your stack from comfortable to imperilled. When you get down to five or six players, at which point you’re almost always playing push/fold, you want to target players based on their playing style, stack size and your position relative to them at the table. Going after players who are tight and/or weak is a good tactic as their calling range will be so tight. In terms of stack size, focus on players who are comfortable but will be decimated should you beat them in an all-in confrontation. So if you’ve got a stack of 2,800 at 150/300 and the two players to your left have 3,700 and 4,000 respectively, this is a great spot to shove, as the players have far more to lose by calling and shipping you chips than they have to gain by knocking you out at this point. Accordingly, their range should be fairly tight and that is something that must be willing to exploit.