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Rivered Poker Article
An overview of Single Table Tournaments
A single table tournament or STT or Sit n’ Go is basically a very mini tournament. They normally consist of tables that seat between 6 or 9 with sometimes there being an option of playing 2 or 3 tables in a Sit n’Go.Today we are going to focus on a 9-seater Sit n’ Go.
The early stages:
In the early stages of the STT you will be tempted to play many hands because it doesn’t cost much in relation to your bankroll, but this is totally the wrong approach. In the beginning stages you need to be super tight and only get involved with premium hands. The purpose of this is two fold - firstly you will need good hands to beat your opponents while the table is still long handed and secondly and most importantly, you need to create that super tight image for the later stages of the STT.
The middle stages:
In the middle stages of the STT once you get down to about 7 players or less you still need to be tight, but you need to look for opportunities to steal blinds and pots, as long as you remember to keep your table image of being tight. Don’t be too concerned if you are folding a lot as this will only help your table image, and eventually the cards will come your way. Once the table gets down to about 5 players, you need to really start turning on the heat and going for the bluffs and steals as this is where your super tight image you’ve created will help you. By this time opponents would have perceived you as being a person who only plays premium hands and will therefore be much more likely to fold their marginal hands to you.
The late stages:
In the late stages of the STT when there are 3 players to heads up, it is all about aggression and setting traps. There are a couple of key points to remember here.
- Firstly, you have created a super tight image so now you need to use that by constantly applying pressure on your opponents.
- Secondly, when you do catch a monster you must try and set a trap or slow play the hand as you need to maximize the fact that you have a great hand. Obviously this can back fire, but in an extremely short handed game this is rarely the case.
- Thirdly and most importantly which applies to 3 players but more so to heads up; you must remember that you are betting on what your opponent doesn’t have rather than what he does have. For example; if I am holding Q9 and the flop comes K54 and I am first to act, then I would lead out making a decent sized bet, betting on the fact that I don’t believe my opponent has the K, so instead I represent the K… You will be surprised how often your opponent will fold.
