Many Texas Holdem players prefer Sit&Go tournaments. They say that cash games are too stressful. And this point makes sense. Of course, Sit&Go tournaments are more relaxed. You just get your 1500-2000 chips and play trying to save your stake and eliminate your opponents. And there is another advantage of Sit&Go Texas Holdem tournaments – you just need to finish in top 3-10 to win money. And it is not as difficult as it seems.

So, today I am going to give you an idea how to participate in Sit&Go tournaments with success. And first of all let me introduce your possible rivals.

All your opponents can be divided into these categories:

1) ESPN-style players with aggressive strategy. Most beginners watched ME WSOP on the TV. And now they think that they are masters of Texas Holdem poker who can smash everybody. They try to copy style of world stars. And they think that if Daniel Negreanu raised with 10-9 once they should do the same. Therefore ESPN-style players are very aggressive. They are ready to be all-in with connectors like AK or weak pairs like 8-8. Their strategy is totally wrong and it is not surprising that they are the first contenders to be eliminated as soon as possible.

2) Chasers. They usually play Pot-Limit or Fix-Limit poker and they have not adjusted to No-Limit Texas Holdem yet. Therefore they cannot evaluate their pot odds realistically. If a chaser has got drawing hand he calls all bets hoping that he will catch needed card. They just forget that there are no limits now. They become tied to the pot and put all their chips on the centre of the table. Sometimes these strategy works and chasers hit the jackpot. But at the same time they can easily lose all their chips. Chasing the cards is not a proper Texas Holdem strategy. And chasers usually leave poker table pretty fast.

3) Tight-poker fans. They are direct opposite of ESPN-style players. Many players are very accurate, they set special requirements for pocket cards. For example, they never play without a pocket pair. Tight-poker fans can wait 15-20 hands. So, they wait and lose blinds. Their stake vanishes. But at the one moment tight-poker player finally gets KK, bingo! Tight-poker fan is over the moon and he starts to pool chips from his opponents. The flop brings 2-3-8. One of the opponents places bet and tight-poker player calls. The turn brings J. Tight-poker fan places bet, his opponent calls. The river brings ace and the opponent places a bet. After several raises and re-raises both player are all-in. And tight-poker fan loses all his chips because his opponent has got 4-5. So, some people would say that in this case our player lost because of the bad luck. Yes, of course the luck played an important role. But I reckon that the reason was a wrong Texas Holdem style. Tight-poker fan waited so much his KK and he just could not evaluate his odds and fold.

4) Bubble-boy. Such players prefer tight style. They are very good at the beginning of tournaments. They are always somewhere on the top. But when the Texas Holdem poker tournament comes to the end and possibility to win money is really high they start to panic. In such situations they are trying to be careful, therefore they never raise or all-in. But such accurate strategy is useless at the final stages of tournaments. Bubble-boy tries to snatch at the third profitable place. Therefore he just misses many good chances to steal blinds or even win several thousand chips of his opponents. A bubble-boy doesn’t have big chances to win a tournament. But it is very possible that he will finish in top3.

5) Weak heads-up. Such type of Texas Holdem poker players is not common. He was playing really well during the whole tournament and now he has got 15 000 chips. The stake of his opponent is only 3 000 chips. But in several minutes the opponent holds 17 000 chips and weak heads-up only 2 000. What ‘ s happened ? Bad luck ? I bet no, it is just a lack of heads-up skills.

6) Real pro. Basically, it is just a very experienced and strong Texas Holdem player. He is not satisfied with second or third place. He captures the lead in the very beginning and doesn’t give a chance to his opponents. It is extremely difficult to outclass him. So, hopefully you won’t face him.

Also recommended:

1. Playing in Rebuy Poker Tournaments
2. Texas Holdem (Limit) Tournaments
3. DO NOTS of Texas Holdem tournaments: part 2
4. Slow playing After the Flop in Texas Holdem
5. Slow-Playing in Texas Holdem