[Making negilible amounts of money ;-)]

Interesting! Thanks! Is it NL? What is the main change in starting hands?

It is no-limit yes. Trying to describe what hands you should start with is difficult, and generally you should fold more during no-limit, otherwise you can get trapped for a lot of money. With limit-hold em, no-one raises you by ridiculous amounts, so you can play more 'hopeful' hands like Jack-10 (where you limp in for a small amount in the hope that you make a straight, or straight draw).

There is one hand that is always difficult to resist in hold em. They are suited connectors like 8-9 hearts for example. They have huge potential, as they can make a straight, straight flush or a flush, and these are extremely powerful hands. Unfortunately more often than not, someone will beat you with a pair, because the odds of making a pair are better than the odds of you hitting your straight or flush.

In NL, you should only play these hands if it is cheap to do so, if you are facing a raise, then fold.

In Limit, you should gamble more with these hands, because the betting never goes spiralling out of control, so even if you don't make the straight or flush, at least you didn't waste nearly all your chips!

So in summary, you should play more speculative hands in limit, such as suited connectors, and play tighter in NL, but make sure your aggressive when you do get a premium hand! Becuase you want only 1 or 2 to call you!

[Making negilible amounts of money ;-)]

Can we have a blog entry to explain what sit and go is? I only play NLH so not sure on the rules and differences on s n'g. Ta.

What Are Sit and Go (SnG's) Tournaments?

(Please note: This article primarily concerns itself with No Limit Texas Holdem Sit and Go strategy and how to play. Some of the advice in this article is applicable to other sit-an-go's, but not necessarily all of it.)

A sit and go poker tournament is a mini-poker tournament with only one table, although some sites now offer multi-table sit and go's with 2 tables. (Party Poker offers this, I know, and some other sites might also, but I'm not sure which ones.) I like to play SnG's because they give me the opportunity to get a lot of poker action for a relatively small amount of money. Party Poker SnG's start at a $5 + $1 buy-in and go up from there. I recommend playing $10 + $1 buy-in sit and go's rather than the $5 + $1 buy-in's, because the rake is half as much and the competition at the $10 + $1 isn't really any more difficult to beat.

The buy in for a sit and go tournament makes up the prize structure. The first figure in the buy-in is the amount of money you're contributing to the prize pool, and the 2nd number, the number after the "+" sign, is the fee that the cardroom takes in lieu of a rake. Normally a one table sit and go pays out to the first three places, and the prize pool goes like this:

• 1st place gets 50% of the prize pool
  
• 2nd place gets 30% of the prize pool
  
• 3rd place gets 20% of the prize pool
  

Buy-in's for the most common Texas holdem sit and go tournaments at Party Poker look like this:

• $5 + $1
  
• $10 + $1
  
• $20 + $2
  
• $30 + $3
  
• $50 + $5
  
• $100 + $9
  

The competition's skill level increases as you move up in limit, but the cutoff between the really soft games and the harder games is the cutoff between the $30 + $3 and the $50 + $5.

How a Sit and Go Poker Tournament Works

Each player receives a number of chips at the beginning of the sit and go. At the $30 + $3 levels and below at Party Poker, each player receives 800 chips. At $50 + $5 and above, the players each receive 1000 chips. At other sites, like Poker Stars and Ultimate Bet, players start with more chips (1500 is common) and the games play a little longer as a result, and proper strategy becomes a little less aggressive, since you can wait for better hands without worrying about the blinds eating up your entire stack.

The blinds at the Party Poker sit and go tournaments go up every 10 hands, although some other sites have a different structure where the blinds increase based on how much time has elapsed. But this affects your strategy in the following way: early in the sit and go tournament, it's smart to play tight, because the blinds are small, and you don't have a lot to gain from loosening up and getting aggressive. Later in the tournament, when the blinds are higher and your chip stack might be a little smaller, you might have to play a little more aggressively.

Sit and Go's at Party Poker generally have 10 players; most other online cardrooms have 9 players at a table.

Why Play SnG's?

A lot of people like SnG's because they have a distinct beginning, middle, and end. (I'm of that school of thought.) At Party Poker, the SnG's below the $50 + $5 buy-in are generally pretty soft games, and if you play appropriately, you can see a reasonable ROI, especially if you're able to multi-table and resist playing emotionally. In fact, I've won third place in many sit and go tournaments when I clicked on the "away" button and just folded my way into the money by default.

Another reason to like SnG's is because you can get at least an hour's worth of poker action while risking a very small amount of money, so it's a great way to practice. You also get experience playing at a full table, a short-handed table, and heads-up at a SnG. (Assuming you play well enough to make it that far.) Some people get burnt out on playing ring games all the time and play sit-an-go's as a change of pace.

And finally, a lot of sites have SnG's that are qualifiers for the bigger, multi-table tournaments with the big prize pools. If you can win a $10 + $1 SnG and get an entry into a $200 + $15 multi-table tournament, then you can get a chance to play with the "big boys" without having to risk an entire $215.

Please visit the 2nd part of this article, Texas holdem SnG strategy. I discuss bankroll requirements and playing strategies in that article.

This page is part of our series of articles about how to play poker. We're including, or have plans to include, articles on:

• How to Play Seven Card Stud
  
• How to Play Omaha
  
• How to Play Texas Holdem
  
• How to Play Razz
  
• How to Play 5 Card Draw
  
• How to Play Sit and Go Tournaments
  

You might also be interested in our article about Texas holdem starting hands, even though that article is aimed more at ring play than sit and go tournaments

This was copied and pasted from www.unknownpoker.com

Hope that helps!

[Gambling for real money is wrong! I hated it!]

I'd call myself a tight player, and I've noticed my own instincts and decision making are going up. Only today I got hole cards KsKd and raised. Someone called and the flop was Qh, Jd, Kc. The other guy raised my pot-sized bet so I would have to call him with over two-thirds of my chips. I worked out that he probably had a straight. So I layed down my trip Ks, and he did have a straight!

My heads up play is something I need to work on a bit, but it's slowly improving.

[Gambling for real money is wrong! I hated it!]

Heya!

I play poker too! I used to play 2-4cents on Party Poker and was up and down like a yoyo. I tend to sit still and until the time is right to strike. I only play pairs and 10J upwards.

A friend introduced me to Titan. Here they have lower tables 1-2cents. Much more my scene! I joined with £20 and soared up to £38-50. I am now hovering around £31 and fluctuating by the odd pound or 2 daily.

My Moto: Patience and we all get paid ... !!

I did have $3 left over from m $50 withdrawal so I can use that for the odd SnG. I did this morning and shocked myself by winning it. I was heads up and went all in with 10J suited and got a straight ace high, but got beat by Ace high flush. I had some chips left over, and eventually won it going all in with K9 suited and flopping a two pair, beating this other guys K10! So now im up to $6! Nuisance money I know but I can't do anything with it except use it for the SnG or low buy-in tourneys. I'm gonna try to build it up to $50! lol

Thanks for commenting!