Mastering Sit and Goes - End Game

There are five basic stages to every sit and go, table selection, beginning play, middle portion, late portion and the endgame. By mastering all five stages of sit and goes, you should be able to sit down at any of these tables, and walk away with a profit the majority of the time.

This section, the first of 5, will cover what to do during the end game of sit and goes, when there are only two players left.

If you are playing in a standard sit and go, which is featured on almost every internet site, then the standard payout for a sit and go is a 50-30-20 structure. First place gets half the winnings, and second and third get the rest. Clearly it is much more desirable to place first in a sit and go than any other place. In fact without a majority of your in the money sit and go finishes being first place, it is hard to make a profit off of them.

So if you have made it to the final two, what is the best way to ensure that you get the first place money, instead of the the lesser money for second? The trick to this is very simply by being aggressive. Most people play the end game of sit and goes way to tight. And although you may think you are being aggressive, for heads up sit and go end games, you probably aren't. By the time sit and goes are down to the final two people, the blinds are a huge proportion of the chip stacks. The lesser chip stack could easily have only two or three times the big blind in these situations. And when this happens, all your decisions become either all in, or dump. If you follow the strategy detailed below, it will ensure that you won't give up any edge to another player, no matter how good they are. If you are playing heads up against Phil Ivey, you should win about 50% of the time.

But before I detail the strategy, let me say when it should be used. It should be used only if the blinds are large in relation to the smallest chip stack. If the smallest chip stack is less than 10 times the big blind, then this strategy is applicable, if not then you need to play a little more conservatively. However, rarely at the end of sit and goes are the blinds small in relation to the chip stacks. This strategy should work the majority of the time.

Finally, this strategy is not applicable if you are not playing in a heads up situation. If there are more than two people, then the value of each chip is not fixed, it is dependent on how many other chips are in your stack, and the situation is much more variable.

However, if you are heads up, and the smallest chip count is less than 10 times the big blind, you are in an all in or fold situation. How do you know whether you should be all in or folding? Very simple. All you need to do is compute 2 values.

The first value we will call R, is the relation of the big blind to the smallest chip stack, after the blinds are taken out for the hand.

R = small chip stack / big blind

R doesn't have to be exact, the nearest whole number will do.

The second number is how many points are in your hand, your Power Index (PI). To compute this you multiply the value of the higher card in your hand by two, and add the value of the lowest card. Number cards have a value of their number. A jack is worth 11, Queen 12, King 13, Ace 15.

If your cards are suited, add 2 points. If you have a pair add 20 points.

As you can see, in heads up play, suitedness isn't very valuable, and connectedness is even less valuable.

Now compare the points in your had to the table below. If you are in the small blind and have more points than the table says, you should go all in. If you are in the big blind and have more points than the table says, you should call an all in bet. Otherwise you should fold from the small blind and fold to an all in bet from the big blind. If you are in the big blind and the small blind doesn't go all in, but just limps in, then if you have more points in your hand than the small blind points in the table, you should go all in, other wise just check.

Example 1

The blinds are 300-600. You are in the big blind and have 5000 after the big blind has been taken from your stack. Your opponent has 3100 after the blinds have been taken. So the R value is 5, 3100 / 600 ~ 5.

You look down and see J-7 unsuited. This power is 29. ( Jack is 11. 11 * 2 = 22 + 7 = 29 )

The small blind raises all in. You look at the table and see that the required power is only 28, you have 29 which is greater than or equal to the require power, so you call all in and see what happens.

Example 2

Same as above, except that the blinds are only 200 - 400. So you have 5200 after the blinds have been taken, your opponent has 3200.

In this case the R value is 8. 3200 / 400 = 8.

If your opponent raises all in, then you see that your Power index is less than the 31 required to call, so you fold and see the next hand.

Hopefully the above helps you to play more aggressively in heads up play and causes you to win more than you other wise would have. Using the above strategy, especially if your opponent is playing tighter, and folding blinds to you, should maximize your winnings, so good luck.

To view the other section of my sit n go strategy go here

1) Playing Sit and Go's --- End Game

2) Mastering Sit and Go's - Late Portion

3) Mastering Sit and Go's - Middle Portion

4) Mastering Sit and Go's - Beginning Play

5) Mastering Sit and Go's - Table Selection

Note, the above strategy, known as SAGE, is Copyrighted 2005. For more information go to http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_magazine/archives/showarticle.php?a_id=15250&m_id=65582