Turbo Texas Hold'em Poker sit and go tournaments are becoming increasingly popular. The faster game play and wilder action has helped them become a pretty big attraction in the world of online poker tournaments, like heads-up sit'n goes.

But the question is, with the blinds increasing so rapidly and the players playing so wildly, are these turbo tournaments beatable? Furthermore, if you can play them profitably, what is the ideal strategy?

Can you win money from turbo sit and go tournaments?

Yes, of course you can. Whilst the element of skill has been reduced due to the increased rate at which the blinds move up levels, it is still possible to outplay opponents and make profitable decisions in each tournament.

Turbo sit'n gos are more of a numbers game than you standard tournament, as you will need to play a greater number of these turbo games in order to see any conclusive results because of the greater swings. However, if you can get a good strategy under your belt, you will be able to make money at these tables.

Turbo Poker tournament strategy

Here are a few quick facts about the turbo sit'n go games:

34 beginner, intermediate and advanced lessons in Texas Hold'em Sit N Go (SNG) strategy at PokerStrategy.com, the world's leading online poker school.

• The blinds move up levels very quickly,
• Your stack will rapidly become small in relation to the blinds,
• You will have less room for movement to make plays,
• Decisions will be reduced to the flop and preflop only.

Sounds awfully like you're going to need good Texas Hold'em short-stack strategy here, as the majority of the time your stack is going to be very small when compared to the size of the blinds. In a standard tournament you won't often find yourself with 5 - 10 BBs, but that is going to regularly be the case here.

Therefore, aside from at the start of a turbo tournament, you are going to need to learn how to play good short-stack poker.

Short stack Poker strategy

Good short-stack strategy in Texas Hold'em Poker starts with the starting hand selection (in fact, it revolves around it). The hands you want to play are the ones that are going to hit the flop hard. So the following hands are going to be ideal:

• Big pocket pairs,
• High cards like AK, AQ, AJ.

The chances are that we are not going to be able to make it to the turn or river the majority of the time because our stack is small compared to the size of the bets. Therefore we are going to need to look for hands that will get the job done.

Hands we will want to avoid are:

• Low connecting cards,
• Low suited cards,
• Small pocket pairs (except for when our stack is desperately low).

When it comes to short stack strategy, the last thing we are looking to do is call a raise with 67o with the intention of check raising on the turn with a flush draw on a semi-bluff, our stack just isn't going to give us that much room for manoeuvre.

Opening up your starting hand requirements

As your stack diminished in a turbo Texas Hold'em Poker pokerstars sit and go, you are going to need to adjust your starting hand requirements with it. If your stack has reached the stage where it is pretty much all-in or fold before the flop, you want to prepare to move in with any hand that can hold it's own in an all-in situation.

You should continue to stick with big cards, but incorporate some more speculative hands like the following:

• AX,
• KQ,
• KJ,
• KT,
• Pocket pairs,

Basically, any big cards are going to be your friend when your stack starts to hit the 10BB or lower mark. They may normally cause trouble in a bigger-stacked situation, but seeing as flop play is minimal or non-existent, it is not going to cause too many problems.

Turbo Sit'n Go: Pushing vs. holding on

Do you wait for a better hand or do you push all-in and hope to collect a few extra chips? It's not an easy decision, but as a rule of thumb, pushing all-in earlier on is usually the better option.

Sit And Go Poker Tournaments

The longer you hold off on moving in, the shorter your stack will be when a nice pair of cards comes your way. Even if you are dealt AK, a 4BB push is going to give the right odds for any old hand to call, so you are almost definitely going to have to see 5 cards with another player. Now against any random hand you have 66% chance of winning, so you still lose out 1 time out of 3. Are those odds worth waiting for?

On the other hand, if you find yourself with 8BBs and decide it's time to push, you have got a lot more weight behind you, and your opponents will have a hard time calling with any old hand. You have increased your chances of picking up the blinds to help build your stack, which will prove to be very handy. If worst comes to worst and you get called, you still stand the chances of doubling up to 20BBs or more, which is far better than the 8BBs you may have got by holding on.

It's a lot easier to hold on and hope for the best, but it's not necessarily the most profitable way to play. Forget about thinking 'what if' every time you push all in and lose, because you're better off grabbing the bull by the horns and giving yourself a decent chance of winning the tournament, as opposed to sitting back and diminishing into 4th place.

Turbo Sit'n Go: Overview

You should treat the start of any turbo tournament just like any other, so don't try and force a double up at the start to try and set yourself up for the rest of the tournament indicator. Play wisely, and play as you would at the start of a normal Sit and Go.

As the blinds start to increase, you will need to keep an eye on the size of your stack and the size of the stacks of the players around you. Start to incorporate short stack strategy when appropriate and consider how your plays will affect the other players based on the size of their stacks also.

The more you play turbo sit'n gos, the easier they will become. You're going to need to play a lot of them anyway to exploit that poker edge and see a profit, so consider multi-tabling to make the most of them. When you know you've got a winning strategy, it's all about playing as many of them as you can and turning that handle. Best of luck.

Online Poker » Poker Strategy » Tournament / Sit N Go » Sit N Go Strategy

One of the most popular forms of playing online poker today would be either in the form of tournaments or sit n go's. Unlike cash games where a player is playing with a chunk of his bankroll in front of him or her, tournaments and sit n go's offer players a chance to play only having to buy in for one set amount (excluding re-buys/add-on) with the opportunity to earn a nice return should they cash or win the game. These types of games are especially great for micro stakes players that are looking to grind a bankroll since the risk of a player blowing his 'roll is significantly reduced as long as they are playing within their means.

Having said all of that, playing in a tournament or sit n go requires a different approach in strategy if one wishes to do well and become profitable. This is because in tournaments and sit n go's only so many players will make the money with the rest who bust out early receiving nothing. This makes several things such as starting hands, position, chips stacks and recognition of the current levels very important to understand and pay attention to.

To hopefully get most of you on your way to tournament and sit n go stardom we have provided some basic guidelines on how to correctly approach these games so that you can start to churn out a profit. Please keep in mind most of these guidelines will be focused on smaller tournaments and sit n go's and will only apply to games that do not offer re-buys and/or add-ons.

Strategy for Tournaments and Sit n Go's

Early Stages

Most early stage tournaments and SnG's will consist of the first 3 to 4 blind levels. Typically, these are the 10/20, 15/30, 25/50, and 50/100 levels. During these stages, players should primarily focus only on playing solid starting hands, playing them in position and betting for value.

For example, hands such as AA-QQ and A-K should be played in early position, AA-1010, A-K and A-Q in middle position and all the early position and middle position hands plus 99-77, A-J thru A-10 and some suited connectors can be played in late position. All of these hands should be opened with a raise with raise being about 3 to 4 times the size of the big blind plus one for every limper. Once you get to 25/50 and 50/100 you can tone the bet size down to 2 to 3 times the big blind plus one for every limper.

These hands are also if you are the first one to act, not if there has been a raise in front of you. If you are facing a raise regardless of where you are sitting, you should primarily stick to the premium hands in terms of calling or raising (AA-JJ).

Most importantly, focus on playing in position because this is where most of your money will be made. Even playing premium hands such as AA's or KK's can be difficult out of position.

Lastly, when you do have a made hand you should be primarily betting for value. Being tricky and trying to slow play opponents will only give them free cards that can potentially beat you. This doesn't mean that you need to over bet the pot, but just be sure you are getting money in while you are ahead.

Sit And Go Poker Definition

As you are probably aware by now, the name of the game here is simply tight aggressive poker, aka TAG poker. This surely one of the best ways to approach sit n go's or tournaments and using this approach will surely get you to the middle stages of a sit n go or tourney unscathed in most cases.

Middle Stages

The middle stages of a sit n go or tournament are generally when the blind levels are 75/150, 100/200 and sometimes 150/300. It really all depends on the game you are playing and the size of the field.

The correct approach to these stages will not vary much from the approach you take to the early stages. You'll still want to play tight aggressive poker, sticking to solid starting hands and being sure to bet for value when you connect with the flop. Bet sizes during these levels should be around 2 to 3 times the big blind plus one for every limper.

The biggest difference here is that the blinds are starting to get to the point where it is occasionally worthwhile to steal them. This will again depend on how big the tournament or sit n go is, but if you are starting with stacks of 1500 to 2,500 or so, then it's time to start considering a few steals. When doing so, you are going to want to be in later position such as the cut-off or the button and will want to have something decent that will still play well should your raise be called. Also, be sure to take notes on players who tend to 3-bet you if you try to steal or just happen to flat call your steals a lot. This way you can make sure you have better hands if need be when stealing.

Lastly, be sure to start focusing on your opponent's chip stacks, as plenty of your decisions will be based from this. Look to avoid the shorter stacks since they are willing to push with a wider range of hands as well as the bigger stacks since they will more than likely have you covered or close to it. The goal here is to avoid doubling anyone up with the possibility of leaving us crippled in the process.

Sit N Go Strategy

Late Stages

The later stages of a sit n go or tournament will generally be when the levels are 100/200 or 150/300 and higher or when you have reached the final table. Again, this will vary slightly.

In the later stages, you are typically looking to make it into the money but most importantly, you are looking to win.

The approach here is to still play tight aggressive poker but it is going to be necessary to steal the blinds more often to be sure your stack stays afloat. If at anytime your stack withers below 9 or 10 big blinds you should be looking for a hand to push with as long as you are the first to do so or have KK's or AA's when facing an opponent who already has shoved. Do not let yourself blind out; there is no excuse for it. That doesn't mean you get into insta-shove mode and shove anything at anytime. Just be sure to pick your spots and push if you get short stacked.

Free Sit And Go Poker

It is in these stages that you will also be on the bubble. The aggression will have to be turned up here so again, you don't blind out. When you are in position with a solid hand, be sure to raise it to steal the blinds. If you are on the big blind and the small blind decides to limp in, raise him and make him or her decide if they want to actually play or not. Again, this is not to say to be overly and stupidly aggressive with trashy hands, but weak-passive play will not get you into the money and it sure won't earn you the win. Play solid and aggressive and pick your spots accordingly and you should be ok. Believe it or not, there will be times when pushing with 7-2 is correct and a time when folding A-K is correct. The most important aspect is knowing when.

Once you make it into the money, you will notice that many players sit back figuring they can do whatever they want. Do not be like this.. You want to continue to play your 'A' game and focus on playing solid hands in the best way possible. Remember, you don't want the minimum cash, you want first place. So don't just throw it away on some random draw. Play your best and get your money in while you are ahead and you are sure to do well.

Tournaments and Sit n Go's

As we have mentioned several times, these tips are really a general overview on how to approach sit n go's and tournaments. They will have to be adjusted slightly for games that are much larger and/or offer re-buys and add-ons. Aside from that, by following our tips and playing a solid and smart tight aggressive game, you are sure to find yourself in the winners circle of any online tournament or sit n go a fair amount of times.