Sit & Go Poker Guide
Sit & Go is an exciting variation of online poker. It is also a versatile game on poker sites with many different variations and tournaments available.
This Sit & Go online poker guide covers everything you need to know, including how SNGs work, what variations are offered, and what the best Sit & Go poker strategies are to help you win at the tables.
In This Sit & Go Poker Guide:
What Is Sit & Go Poker?
Sit & Go (SNG) poker tournaments are events with a set number of players that begin as soon as that number of players sign up. These games come in a variety of different sizes, buy-ins, and structures.
Some of the benefits of playing poker Sit & Go games over multi-table tournaments include:
- Much smaller player pools and shorter run-times
- No rebuys and even starting stacks create a fair game for players of all bankrolls
- On-demand tournaments instead of scheduled ones
Example: A $10+$1 SNG poker table could have nine seats and regular 10-minute blinds, or it could be a $5+$0.50 table with six seats and turbo five-minute blinds
The number of players currently seated is displayed on each table. If a six-person SNG shows that four players have registered (4/6), you would bring that number up to 5/6 if you registered, and then the tournament would begin as soon as a sixth player registered.
Types Of Sit & Go Poker Games
There are several formats of SNG tournaments that you may come across. Here are the types of Sit & Go poker games:
Standard Sit & Go Formats
Single Table Sit & Go
Single table tournaments, featuring six players or nine players, are the most common form of Sit & Go poker. Generally, the top three spots are paid on nine-person tables, and the top two spots are paid on six-person tables.
Expert Tip: Learning Sit & Go poker strategy on single table events can help you with late-stage multi-table tournament strategy. You’ll get a lot of practice with short-handed tournament play that you’d otherwise only get at the final table of large tournaments.
Multi-Table Sit & Go
These tournaments are like larger multi-table tournaments with no rebuys. Standard sizes for multi-tables include 18 players (two tables), 27 players (three tables), 90 players (10 tables), and 180 players (20 tables).
Expert Tip: Since multi-table tournaments require a lot of players to get started, they tend to run much less frequently than other formats. If you are interested in trying one and see one that is close to filling up, don’t miss out on your chance to hop in.
Satellite Sit & Go
Satellite Sit & Gos award entries into larger, or more expensive, tournaments. Sometimes, these poker tournaments come in steps, such as a 10-person $1 table that sends the winner to a 10-person $10 table, which then sends the winner to a $100 multi-table tournament.
Expert Tip: Always check what tournament entry is on the line prior to signing up for a satellite tournament. You don’t want to get stuck with an entry to an event that you aren’t able to play due to time constraints.
Fast Fold Sit & Go
This type of game is also sometimes called a “speed” or “zoom” poker. In these events, players are moved to a new table with new opponents immediately after they fold, creating a much faster gameplay environment.
Expert Tip: Since players have the opportunity to see many more hands per blind level in this format, they tend to be much more selective with the starting hands they choose to continue with. We recommend using a poker strategy with tighter ranges than you normally use to account for this change when playing in fast fold tournaments.
Blind Structure Variations
Regular Sit & Go
“Regular” refers to the speed that the blinds increase, generally between 10 and 15 minutes, depending on the poker room. This is the slowest time format available, which leads to more deep stack play in the early stages.
Expert Tip: Avoid big pots with speculative hands in the early levels of regular tournaments. With plenty of time to play a large stack and small early blinds, you can pick your spots wisely early on.
Turbo Sit & Go
Turbo has more frequent blind increases than regular versions, with an average time per level of around five to eight minutes. This format strikes a good balance between slow regular and fast hyper-turbo variations.
Expert Tip: Always pay attention to your stack size in relation to the blind levels. As the number of big blinds in your stack decreases, you will need to ramp up your aggression to avoid getting too short-stacked.
Hyper Turbo Sit & Go
Hyper turbo averages around two to four minutes per level, and usually have smaller starting stacks. These tournaments move very quickly and are designed for players who enjoy action.
Expert Tip: Be aggressive right from the start. If you have a strong hand or a favorable position, don’t be afraid to move all-in. The blinds may deplete your stack before you can find another good spot.
Super Turbo Sit & Go
Super turbos are the fastest style of SNG poker, with tiny starting stacks and lightning-fast blind increases every one or two minutes.
Expert Tip: Stick to playing these games just for fun. Since the blinds go up so rapidly, and everyone is forced to get their chips all-in early and often, luck usually plays a bigger role than skill in determining a winner.
Unique Formats & Special Rules
Heads-Up Sit & Go
Heads-up is a one-on-one game that is usually paid out in winner-take-all format. The game begins as soon as two players register and ends when one player has all the chips.
Expert Tip: Heads-up poker requires a completely different poker strategy than single or multi-table games. We recommend studying Heads-up strategies and practice at lower stakes tables before jumping into this fun and challenging format.
Double-or-Nothing Sit & Go
Double or Nothing tournaments end once half of the players in the field have been eliminated. Then, each of the remaining players split the prize pool evenly. This doubles their initial investment. For example, in a six-person $10+1 Double-or-Nothing game, the final three players will each win $20 when the tournament ends.
Expert Tip: Survival is more important than building a large stack in this format. Even powerful cards, like suited ace-king, might require a fold in high-stakes situations. The best move depends on how much each player has left to play with their “stacks”.
Deep Stacked Sit & Go
Deep Stacked games give players more chips at the start of the tournament than they get in the standard variation.
Expert Tip: Post-flop strategy is very important when playing with a deep stack, as there is potential to play big pots after you’ve seen the flop. Be selective pre-flop to put yourself in a better position to succeed post-flop.
Coin-Flip Sit & Go
This luck-based online poker automatically puts players all-in pre-flop and then deals cards to determine a winner. These automatic all-in hands, also known as coin flips, are dealt until a winner is decided.
Expert Tip: Coin flips can be fun if you like to gamble, but they should only be played for entertainment purposes as skill plays no role in determining the outcome.
Flipout Sit & Go
Flipout, also known as Flip & Gos, combine coin-flip and standard Sit & Gos. These tournaments have automatic all-in hands to start the event, and that’s followed by a round of real poker played by the players who advance.
Expert Tip: We suggest that the pure luck factor in the automatic all-in stage of flipout games puts these tournaments into the “entertainment only” category.
All-In or Fold Sit & Go
The All-In or Fold is exactly what it sounds like. Players have two options on every hand, to move all-in or to fold.
Expert Tip: You can’t simply wait for premium hands to go all-in with in this format. A good all-in or fold Sit & Go poker strategy includes plenty of light all-ins from late position. This is when the action has folded to you in an attempt to steal the blinds.
Lottery Sit & Go
Lottery SNGs, AKA jackpot Sit & Gos or Spin & Gos, are SNG tournaments with randomly drawn prize pools that can range from two times the buy-in to 1000x. These games are generally winner-take-all hyper-turbo format, other than when the top prize amounts are awarded.
Expert Tip: The variance on these tournaments is very high due to the randomized prize pool, winner-take-all payout and hyper turbo levels. Expect big upswings and downswings if you play these regularly.
Knockout Sit & Go
Knockout SNGs, AKA bounty Sit & Gos, pays players for each opponent they knock out during the tournament. Generally, half of the prize pool goes towards player bounties and the other half goes towards standard payouts based on where you finish.
Expert Tip: All-in bets are called much more frequently in this format as players hope to collect real-money knockouts. Try to avoid letting yourself get too short-stacked as going all-in as a bluff is far less likely to work in this variation.
How To Play Sit & Go Poker
Sit & Go (SNG) poker offers a thrilling twist on poker. Unlike cash games or larger tournaments, SNGs start with fewer players and progress quickly. This means you’ll encounter many “short-handed” situations, where fewer players are at the table.
Here are some foundational Sit & Go poker tips to help you play your best:
1. Opening Hands
The range of opening hands that you ‘call’ or ‘raise’ with before the flop will have a major impact on how easy or difficult your decisions are post-flop.
Example: A well-balanced pre-flop range should include premium hands like pocket pairs, suited aces, suited “broadway” cards (tens or higher), and high suited connectors (such as eight-nine of the same suit or higher).
Starting with weak hands (like queen-four suited) can be tricky in SNGs. Even if you flop something good (like top pair with queen-six-two), you might be behind a stronger hand (e.g., ace-queen, king-queen). This makes post-flop decisions difficult as folding a good-looking hand can feel like throwing away money.
On the other hand, if you start with a pair of sevens, it’s much easier to play post-flop. You can fold if the flop comes out ace-king-ten without giving it too much thought. And, if the flop came out ace-seven-three, you’d have a well-concealed monster hand. Be patient and wait for strong opening hands.
Expert Opening Hands Tip:
As you get more comfortable bluffing and making tough decisions post-flop, you can play a wider range of hands pre-flop. We recommend starting with a tighter range of opening hands when you are first building your Sit & Go poker strategy.
2. Bet Sizing
When sizing your bets, consider what you are trying to accomplish with the bet you are making. Are you betting for value, hoping to get a weaker hand to call? Are you betting as a bluff, hoping to make a stronger hand fold? Knowing what your bet is trying to accomplish can help you with sizing properly.
Example: There are 200 chips in the pot and the flop comes seven-eight-nine. Your opponent checks to you, and you have the straight holding ten-jack. In this instance, you may want to bet something small like 50-75 chips, giving your opponent good value to call, since you know you have the best hand.
In SNG poker, analyzing the situation goes beyond just your cards. Imagine holding ace-ten, a decent hand, but not unbeatable. A larger bet (125-150 chips) might be a good bluff to push out opponents. Also, consider each factor in the hand. This includes how many players there are, what you think they might have, and what their stack sizes are.
Expert Bet Sizing Tip:
The standard pre-flop bet size is usually between two or three times the big blind. This is a good rule of thumb, but players tend to call a lot more online than they do in live games. With premium hands, like top pairs, bet three times the big blind or more to take advantage of this tendency and build a larger pot with your best holdings.
3. Early Phase
The early phase of a Sit & Go online poker tournament most closely resembles standard deep stack cash game play. You’ve got plenty of chips in relation to the low blind levels and can play your entire range of hands. This is a great time to try to see cheap flops with boom-or-bust hands, and to only play big pots when you have very strong hands.
Early in SNG tournaments, you can leverage your larger stack to play a wider range of hands.
Example: If you have a 1500 chip stack at the 10-20 level, a raise of 50 chips represents a small risk. Calling with a strong, speculative hand like this is a great play early on. If you flop a set of threes, you could win a massive pot from a player who overplays a hand, like top pair. If you don’t hit a three, you can fold and still have a large stack heading into the next hand.
Expert Early Phase Tip:
Only play big pots during this stage with monster hands like three of a kinds, straights, and ace-high flushes. There’s no need to over-play weaker hands when you are so deep-stacked and have time to find better spots. Look to pot control with calls, instead of raises, when you don’t have top hands.
4. Middle Phase
During the middle phase of a Sit & Go poker tournament, the starting field of six to nine players will be down to three to five, and stacks will no longer be as deep due to the increase in blind levels. With smaller stacks, speculative hands like low pocket pairs and suited connectors have a lot less value, as you can no longer see cheap flops with them. As well, your position in each hand should play a big role in your decisions.
Example: When you are the first to act pre-flop with five players remaining, any raise you make can be called or raised by four other players — so you’ll want to raise with a narrow range of hands. A player in a later position, like the button right before the blinds on the other hand, can open raise with a wider range of hands. This is possible as two players have already folded and the raise only has to get two more players to fold.
At this stage in the tournament, you should generally only be entering the pot with hands you want to raise with, unless you are getting a discounted price in the blinds. If your hand isn’t strong enough to raise with, it’s probably not a bad idea to fold and wait for a better situation.
Expert Middle Phase Tip:
Keep an eye on how many big blinds you have remaining in your stack. When you get down to 10 big blinds or fewer, you should be moving all-in to try to steal the blinds or double up with strong hands.
5. Late Phase
When you advance into the late phase of a Sit & Go event, only two or three players remain and the blinds have likely climbed to a level that is putting pressure on everyone. At this stage in the game, stealing blinds is the most important part of a winning strategy.
Example: A player wants to wait for a great hand to make a move with three players left. They have a stack of 3500 chips, and the blinds are at 200-400. Every three hands, by folding to raises in the small blind (200) and big blind (400), they lose 600 chips. After just four orbits around the table, if this player folded 12 hands, they’d be down to just 1100 chips and would be forced to go all-in soon.
With the blinds so high and rotating around the table so quickly, you no longer have the luxury of waiting for the perfect spot. Move all-in when you are first in the pot often, to try to win the blinds, and call all-in bets when you have solid hands like ace-high. Aggression can help you come out on top.
Expert Late Phase Tip:
There is a significant pay jump between first place and second or third. Take risks and play for the win late in your poker Sit & Gos, instead of letting yourself get low in chips and settling for low payouts.
Sit & Go Poker Betting Strategies
Here are more advanced Sit & Go poker betting strategies that can help elevate your game to the next level:
Adjust Your Play Based On Position
Each position at the poker table has a name. The dealer button rotates one seat to the left at the end of every hand, so each player at the table takes turns in all of the following seat positions:
- Big Blind (BB) – Pays the big blind and sits two seats to the left of the dealer button.
- Small Blind (SB) – Pays the small blind and sits one seat to the left of the dealer button.
- Button (BTN) – The seat right in front of the blinds, where the dealer button sits.
- Cutoff (CO) – The seat to the right of the button.
- Hijack (HJ) – The seat to the right of the cutoff (called middle position at a six-person table).
- Lojack (LJ) – The seat to the right of the hijack (called under the gun at a six-person table).
- Middle Position (MP) – The seat to the right of the lojack at nine-person tables.
- Under The Gun (UTG) – The first player to act pre-flop, seated to the left of the big blind. Followed by UTG+1 at a nine-person table and UTG+2 at a 10-person table.
The button is the most advantageous seat at the table. The player in this seat doesn’t have to blindly put money into the pot, gets to see what all the players in front of them do before acting, and is last to act post-flop. As a result of these advantages, the button can afford to raise pre-flop with a much larger range of hands.
Conversely, the player under the gun (UTG) at a nine-person table is in a terrible position. If they raise, eight other players will have the chance to re-raise or call. Any player who calls before the blinds pre-flop will act after them post-flop. Due to these disadvantages, UTG players should fold most of their hands and only enter the pot with premium hands.
Position dynamics are constantly changing due to the position of the dealer button and the shrinking table size as players are eliminated. Take a moment at the start of each hand to evaluate your position and adjust your play accordingly.
Expert Tip:
Think about how the position of your opponents might affect their play. For example, since you know that raising under the gun is only a good idea with a strong hand, you should respect a raise from that position coming from your opponent.
Make Moves Before You Get Too Low In Chips
As the blind levels increase, the number of big blinds you have in your stack decreases. A starting stack of 1500 chips represents 50 big blinds at the 15-30 level. However, that same 1500 chips are worth only six big blinds at the 125-250 level.
Each time you are forced to fold to a raise in both the small and the big blind, you lose 1.5 big blinds. That doesn’t have much impact on your play when you are the big blind every eight hands and have 60 big blinds early in a tournament. But it matters a lot when you are the big blind every four hands and have only eight big blinds.
Once your stack falls below 20 big blinds, it’s important to start raising unopened pots or re-raising in advantageous positions to try to build your stack and avoid the danger zone. When you fall into the danger zone at 10 big blinds or fewer, it’s best to move all-in with all your strong hands, and even with weak ones, when the action folds to you in late position. If you wait until your stack gets too low, opponents can call your all-in bets more easily, and your double-ups will be less impactful.
Expert Tip:
Some players wait too long to make a move in Sit & Gos because they hope to last long enough to earn a minimum cash, such as a third-place finish in a nine-person SNG. Money lost by missing out on the occasional min cash by being aggressive will be offset by money won with more frequent higher finishes.
Attack The Bubble
It’s unfortunate to get knocked out of an online poker tournament right before players get paid, which is known as the bubble. In a standard $10+$1 nine-handed Sit & Go, the top three spots on most poker sites would be paid out $45 to first, $27 to second, and $18 to third. Fourth place is the bubble spot as that player would be eliminated without making money.
As you might expect, action tightens up quite a bit when there are only four players left. The big stacks don’t want to put their lead in jeopardy prior to bursting the bubble, and the small stacks are hoping to survive.
You can use this fear around the bubble to your advantage by ramping up the aggression. When you make a raise, you will get situational folds even from strong hands that don’t want to risk losing a big pot or being eliminated. This stage of the tournament is a great opportunity to build up your stack for the home stretch.
Expert Tip:
Every now and then you’ll run your marginal raise into a monster hand and feel regret for your aggressive play. Just remember that, in the long run, this strategy will help you accumulate more chips and win more Sit & Go tournaments. This should help take some of the sting off of being knocked out on the bubble.
Don’t Be Afraid To Make Tough Calls
Aggression plays a key role in winning these tournaments. Once you understand this concept, you’ll start to see it in action as you play — and you’ll often be on the receiving end of some of this aggression. This means that, sometimes, you will need to defend your blinds and make some light calls.
Example: You notice a capable and aggressive player making timely raises in the seat to the right of you. When the tournament is down to four players, they move all-in on the button and you are staring at king-nine off-suit in the small blind. This is not a premium hand, but at this stage in the game, if you anticipate that your opponent would be going all-in with any ace, any king, any queen, and some suited connectors, your king-nine will perform well against that range. Even if you are behind, you would have a 50% chance of winning against a hand like pocket eights and a 35% chance against a hand like ace-ten.
It’s always preferable to be the one moving all-in, as opposed to calling, so that you have the chance to force a fold without confrontation. However, sometimes you need to take a stand.
Expert Tip:
Not being afraid to call also applies throughout the tournament in situations where you feel that you are being bluffed. If you feel your opponent’s bets don’t make sense in relation to the hand they are trying to represent, trust your instinct and call, even if you don’t have a super strong hand.
Pay Attention To Your Opponents’ Styles
You can learn a lot about your opponents during the first few levels of a Sit & Go poker tournament. Sometimes, a player folding 15 straight hands just means they had a bad run of cards, and a player raising five straight hands might have just had a really good run of cards. More often than not, however, these are trends of a passive or aggressive player.
When you identify an opponent’s style, you can adjust your own game to exploit theirs.
Example: If, every time someone raises or calls pre-flop, the player to your left re-raises them, you shouldn’t call or raise marginal hands like low suited connectors. You’ll be forced to fold or call and play a big pot when they re-raise. We do recommend re-raising them when you have a very strong hand, since you know they could be getting out of line with a weak one.
Against a passive player, you can bet and raise more aggressively to bully them out of pots. If they fight back, you can pump the breaks and fold everything but your top hands, since there’s a good chance they’ve got the goods if they are actually showing interest. Exploiting the tendencies of your opponents is an effective Sit & Go poker strategy.
Expert Tip:
Poker sites like Bovada and Ignition have anonymous players with no screen names, so you’ll always have to learn and adjust to tendencies at the table. If you play at an online poker room that does have screen names, use the software to take notes on your opponents to remember their tendencies in the future.
Best Sit & Go Poker Betting Site For Beginners
The best Sit & Go poker sites for beginners will have a wide range of games at low stakes that players can play while ironing out their poker strategy. Bovada is our recommended SNG poker betting site with an easy-to-clear deposit bonus for new players.
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Best Sit & Go Poker Site For Beginners: Bovada
Bovada delivers an outstanding variety of poker Sit & Go action. With table sizes of two to 45 players and buy-in levels from $1 to $200, you can play tournaments of any size at smaller stakes. This is a great way for beginners to hone their skills before placing higher buy-in amounts. You can also play beginner-friendly formats like double up where the field is paid. Or earn entries into higher buy-in events with inexpensive satellite tournaments.
New players will receive a 100% match of up to $500 on their first deposit. You will unlock $5 in poker credits for every $10 in Sit & Go tournament fees you pay. This is an industry-leading 50% rakeback. This generous welcome offer combined with Bovada’s extensive SNG online poker offerings make this a must try poker site for beginners.
Is Sit & Go Poker Betting Different From Regular Poker Betting?
The most well-known types of poker betting, most frequently found in retail casinos, are cash games and multi-table tournaments. Sit & Go poker has a few key differences to know about.
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Sit & Go poker games have a set buy-in and are played with tournament chips and increasing blind levels. They start when the required number of players have registered, and end when a winner has been determined.
Cash game poker uses chips with cash value, has set blind levels that do not increase, and players can join or leave these games at any time.
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Multi-table tournaments start at a scheduled time and generally allow for late registration and rebuys if you get knocked out. These tournaments offer bigger player and prize pools, but also take a long time to finish.
Sit & Gos start on demand when the table is full and do not usually allow late registration or rebuys. These tournaments require players to get through smaller fields to cash, and take much less time to complete.
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Responsible Gambling
We encourage you to gamble responsibly and consider online betting as a form of entertainment, not a source of income. Set loss limits and time limits, and don’t bet more than you’re comfortable losing.
Here are some resources to help you, or someone you care about, gamble responsibly and get help:
Sit & Go Poker Tournament Takeaways
Sit & Go poker games and tournaments are a lot of fun to play. This style of online poker offers an enormous range of games to try, from single table to multi-table and turbo games to satellite games. There also key tips and strategies that will inform your playing style. Knowing when to be more aggressive and where the best seat at the table is to raise or fold, is key.
We recommend trying all the Sit & Go poker tips and strategies on this page at our recommended poker site, Bovada. The site has a great selection of Sit & Go games at all buy-in levels. Good luck! We’re rooting for you!
