Texas Holdem Double Up SitnGo Strategy

Double up Sit n Go’s are the easiest form of SNGs to beat if you approach and play them with the correct strategy based on solid fundamentals of the game. They require a similar approach to the way you would play regular poker tournaments. Their payout structure is such whereby 50% of the players double their entry fee and the other 50% lose it so quite a significant number of players stand to make a profit.

In this article, we’ll look at the early stages, middle stages, and late stages of playing Double up Sit n Go tournaments to help better understand how you should be approaching each phase of the tournament and to improve your chances of cashing in one. Also, here is a great resource about poker sites you can play double up sit and gos for real money.

The Early Stages of Double up Sit n Go’s

During the early stages of the tournament the main aim is survival. You can’t double up your buy-in busting out early on in the tournament. So this lends itself to playing conservatively with your chip stack, not making risky moves, and waiting for good hands to play. Whilst the blinds are still relatively small in relation to chip stacks, it’s not hugely importantly stealing the blinds. Playing premium starting hands and bet them aggressively to protect your hand and to accumulate chips.

The Middle Stages of Double up Sit n Go’s

During the middle stages of the tournament (the period when the blinds are 50/100 and progressively increase) your play really shouldn’t change all that much. With the blinds getting bigger it will become increasingly important to try to steal some blinds when it’s folded around to you in late positions at the table. Hopefully you’ll have built up a decent sized stack, which is about average or above it. Once your stack becomes relatively shall in relation to the blinds you really can’t afford to be raising/folding much. Once you get down to around 12-55 big blinds or less, you really want to consider either shoving all-in or folding.

The Late Stages of Double up Sit n Go’s

About 40% of the players would have busted out already as you approach the money bubble of the Double up Sit n Go tournament. The really short stacks will be looking for spots to double up. If you have a decent sized stack you really want to avoid big confrontations with the other big stacks at the table. Your chips are far too valuable to risk getting bused out before the bubble bursts.

Once the blinds increase to become a significant percentage of effective stacks, you really need to loosen up your play, and a lot more hands become playable. Hands with an ace and small pocket pairs look a lot more attractive. You can’t simply wait around for premium starting hands, because if you do that, you will get blinded out, and will have no chance of progressing past the bubble.

The majority of your chips will come from the less experienced poker players that fail to adjust properly. They will inevitably play poor hands and get their stacks in as really big underdogs or blind themselves down until they have no option but to shove with any two cards. But once these players have been eliminated from the tournament, players who can think logically about each and every situation and hand during this tense stage of the tournament will survive the bubble and earn a tidy profit.