Sit & Go play has developed to the extent that there’s now a very prescriptive – and optimal – way to play them. Because of this, the value has diminished, but thankfully not everyone is playing optimally. There are a number of situations where people are making the wrong decisions, and either playing hole cards they shouldn’t or folding cards they should be playing. Here then are a few leaks to watch out for the next time you pay your buy-in at a single-table tournament…
Small pairs in early position
Even in the early game these hands will be tough to show a profit with. If you limp you are likely to get isolated and if you raise you have so many people behind you to get through. As the blinds increase the value of your small pairs decreases even more, since your implied odds for hitting a set are reduced.
But the point at which people overplay these hands the most is when the blinds get very high and they are in early position with a decent all-in stack. The odds of one player having a pair might be 16-to-1 against, but when there are many players behind you these odds quickly reduce and risking 8-10 big blinds against a full table with middle and low pairs becomes unprofitable. For example, if you are under the gun at a ten-handed table where everyone has ten big blinds, pushing with 9-9 would be unprofitable if your opponents call with 9-9+ and A-Q+, and only T-T+ shows a profit against any calling ranges.
Weak Aces
Most people know that weak unsuited Aces are not great hands in hold’em and this is generally the case in Sit & Go’s too unless you have a very short stack, are in late position or are facing a shove from someone with a very wide range. But because Sit & Go situations are so fluid, what defines a weak Ace is also very conditional. For example, under the gun in a ten-handed game with ten big blinds, even A-Qo would be unprofitable against a range of 9-9+ and A-Q+, and only A-Qs and better should be played. Similarly, when you’re facing a tight pushing range, hands like A-T will lose you a lot of money if you are not careful, since other players rarely push with A-2 through A-9 unless they are in very late position or short-stacked, especially when you are in the late stages and ICM factors degrade your equity even further. These weak Aces do so poorly when called that pushing with A-2o against three players with stacks of ten big blinds is usually a mistake and A-9o only scrapes by in these spots as it fares better against middle pairs.
Calling with weak Aces is obviously not a great prospect, but depending on the situation it still becomes acceptable at certain points. When you know players are shoving wide on the button or cutoff, A-7 to A-9 now become calling hands since your opponent’s shove includes all worse Aces, giving you some situations where you dominate. Worse Aces are rarely worth calling with unless your opponent’s range or the pot odds are favourable as you are rarely far ahead. So in the big blind you might call with any Ace against a wide shove from the cutoff or button for 7-8 big blinds or as many as 10-12 big blinds from the small blind, who should be shoving very wide.
Broadway hands
Where weak Aces are deceptively weak in Sit & Go’s, Broadway hands like K-Q, K-J and Q-J are deceptively strong since they fare reasonably well against all but a small range of hands when called. For this reason Broadways can be pushed in many situations where weak Aces shouldn’t, and also act as reasonable calling hands against wide ranges or when you’re being offered good pot odds. For example, Q-Jo can be shoved for 10BB against four players unless they call very wide, and K-Qs against 5-6 players (again this depends on their exact calling ranges). This may seem surprising but it’s simply because when you are called you’ll often have two live cards against Ace-high or a pair and if not you’ll still have straight and (sometimes) flush outs.
As mentioned they are deceptively good calling hands when players are shoving wide or the pot is pricing you in. When a player in the small blind shoves into you and the bubble is not close, Q-J should be an automatic call for 10BB or less as there will be worse Queens and Jacks in their pushing range. When players are moving in like that their ranges include many weak Kings and suited connectors, so K-Q becomes very call-worthy, especially in the big blind when you are getting additional pot odds. In fact any time you are getting reasonable odds of say 3-to-2 or better and might sometimes have the best hand you should be calling, unless the bubble is a pressing concern. Even some weaker connectors like Q-9 or K-9 can become call-worthy.