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Last week, we discussed three-handed strategy for a single-table sit & go. This week, we will tackle heads-up play.

• Free Sit And Go Poker
• Sit And Go Poker Meaning

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It's important to be able to play the endgame effectively in SNGs. When playing poker online in a standard single-table sit & go, for example, the payouts typically have 50 percent of the prize pool go to the winner and 30 percent to the runner-up.

At this point of a SNG, the effective stack is usually under 10 big blinds or it will be in short order. The shallow stacks tend to make the game simple and relatively easy to play. Generally, you want to be going all in or folding. Which hands you do this with depends on the tendencies of your opponent.

Facing an Unknown or Balanced Player

When you are facing an unknown or balanced opponent, it is best to utilize an unexploitable strategy. One strategy that has stood the test of time is called the 'Sit And Go Endgame' system, or SAGE for short. It was developed and introduced by Lee Jones back in 2006 and is still relevant to SNG strategy today.

Essentially, SAGE is a shorthand memory trick that helps you determine if a hand is an unexploitable shove or call. Here is how you use SAGE.

First, you must calculate the Power Index (PI) of your hand. Number cards are valued at the displayed amount 2 through 10. Then jacks are worth 11, queens 12, kings 13 and aces 15.

To calculate your hand's PI, double the value of your highest card, then add the value of your lowest card. If you hand is suited, add another 2 points. If you have a pair, double the value of one of your cards, add the other one, then add another 22 points.

For example, with , you double the value of the jack (11 x 2) and add the 7, totaling 29. With , you double the eight (8 x 2), add the 7, then add 2 more for suitedness to total 25. With you double one of the sixes (6 x 2), add 6 more, then add 22 for being paired to total 40.

Once you've calculated the PI of your hand, use the chart below to look up the number of big blinds in the effective stack to determine if your hand has a PI high enough to play.

For example, when the effective stack is 7 big blinds, you must have a PI of 26 or higher to shove and a PI of 30 or higher to call. This means it would be recommended to open-fold (PI = 25), to shove but not call with (PI = 29) and shove or call with (PI = 40) based on our calculations above.

This shorthand is game theoretically optimal for effective stack sizes 7 BBs or below. It starts to break down for bigger stacks, so I am including a second short chart with the percentage of hands you can shove or fold 8-10 BBs unexploitably as recommended by Max Silver's SnapShove app.

SAGE Chart

SnapShove

Free Sit And Go Poker

These are great defaults to use when you don't know what mistakes your opponent is likely to make. But when you know he is too tight or too loose, you can deviate from this baseline to exploit him even further.

Facing an Overly Tight or Overly Loose Player

SAGE would have you call a 7 BB shove with a hand like (PI = 30). This is great to know against a good player who is shoving hands as bad as (PI = 26), but not against a player who shoves too tight.

If you know this to be true about your opponent, you should call him tighter than SAGE suggests. If you can determine the bottom of his shoving range, just call him slightly tighter than that.

By the same token, the range of hands SAGE suggests to shove is profitable against a player who calls correctly. But if your opponent calls too tight, then you can shove even wider than the SAGE ranges.

Feel free to throw in a few more hands, especially those that contain big cards, but don't go overboard. There are players and situations where you can get away with shoving any two cards — but this approach can quickly become a slippery slope to Spew Valley, so be careful.

When facing a player who shoves or calls too loose, you can just stick to the SAGE ranges. The fact that he is getting it in with more garbage than you just improves the EV of every hand in your ranges.

Heads-up play is where the real money is in a SNG. But because of the short stack sizes, it can be one of the easiest parts of the tournament to play. If you utilize these tips, you should win at least your fair share of SNGs in the long run.

Next week, we'll wrap this series up with a discussion of sit & go bankroll management.

Also in this series...

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  tournament strategyno-limit hold’emstack sizesstarting hand selectionpreflop strategysit & go strategyonline pokershort-handed strategysatellite strategyheads-up strategy

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Heads up sit and gos are a unique game in which you can win a
lot of matches or lose a lot of matches in a short period of
time. When playing heads up games you should study your opponent
from hand one. The blinds will be small and you should be
opening a number of different hands to see how your opponent
will react.

Assessing Your Opponent

The first thing you should do is test your opponent out by
putting in a raise from the button. If you put in a raise from
the button it gives you a better opportunity to gauge what type
of player you are playing against. Some players will let you win
every hand at the beginning of matches and you can continue to
easily win matches simply because they are afraid to play pots
without monster hands. These opponents are easy to exploit and
you can run them over.

Other opponents will constantly 3-bet
you. These are the players you most likely want to play against.
The match will be over very quickly and all you have to do in
order to win is sit and wait for a hand until you can stack
them. These players are recklessly aggressive and matches are
over in a matter of a few hands.

Another type of player is a calling station. The calling station will just about never put
in a raise or re-raise. This player is someone you can beat, but
it may take longer to end a match. The match will almost always
get in to the third or fourth blind level simply because you
need to get hands to beat them. If you don’t pick up hands you
don’t pick up pots.

Blind Structures

Sit And Go Poker Meaning

The blind structure of most heads up sit and gos will leave
you with 1,500 chips and 10/20 blinds to start the match. This
is plenty of room to work with and you should not be worried. To
start off you should make three times the blinds raises from 20
to 60 from the button pretty regularly. This isn’t to say to
play every hand from the button because you don’t want to be
reckless, but, you should play a large majority of hands. Hands
to stay away from are almost all small unconnected cards or a
jack with a rag card and queen with a rag card. If you can avoid
hands that can get you in trouble early on in the match, you’ll
have more success later on in the match.

A great deal of heads ups are won within the first three
blind levels. The reason for this especially at lower level
heads up matches is that none of the players have enough
patience. Patience is something that you should have as a poker
player in general, but especially when playing heads up sit and
gos. If you pick one bluff or shove off later on in the match,
that’s the difference between a win and a loss. If you don’t
have enough patience to wait players out you won’t have
success when playing heads up sit and gos. To have patience
means you are in it for the long haul and able to have the want
to be great. Without patience you will lose your money in heads
up matches, it’s that simple.

As the blinds begin to increase and you are at the second and
third levels, you’ll either see a change in the player you are
matched up against or you will not. Most players will begin to
pick up aggression at the second and third blind levels because
the blinds are now worth having in your stack. If you can see a
change in aggression you can start to pick up your aggression
level as well and open more hands from the button. Also, you can
make more three bets from the big blind. If you start to three
bet, then your opponent will shrink their range of hands to try
and pick you off.

After the first blind level your pre-flop
raise size changes from three times the blind to a minimum
raise. The reason for this is because you don’t want to commit
too much to a pot. If you start to raise three times the blind
at 25/50 blinds to 150, and fold to a shove, you are losing
money in the long run. The best play is to put in a raise to 100
at this level. If you decide to limp in, unless you are playing
against a completely passive fish, you are also not helping your
cause.

The reason to limp in is if you see how passive your
opponent is. If they are far too passive, to win pots sometimes
you don’t need to put in raises before the flop. You can
simply have them check the flop, you bet, and win the pot. This
isn’t suggested too often though, because most players won’t
let you limp in to pots. If you are the player in the big blind
you should try and run the limpers over. More times than not
they will snap fold pre-flop. Other times the player will call
before the flop then fold to a continuation bet on the flop. If a player limps in you can
take control of the pot pretty easily, and unless they smash a
flop you’ll win the hand.

Changing Gears

Changing gears in heads up matches is crucial to winning. If
you don’t figure out the type of player you are sitting across
from you won’t have success in heads up games. You have to
pay attention from deal number one to determine the proper
strategy to beat your opponent. If they are passive, then you
need to run them over. If they are aggressive, then you should
look to trap them. The little things in heads up matches mean so
much. If you play a pot and your opponent shows down a weaker
starting hand, you can keep that in mind to shove on them before
the flop next time. Small things turn losers into winners and
winners into losers. If you focus enough you’ll be a winner in
heads up games.