Résumé (englais) de "Sit n Go Strategy" de Collin Moshman

"Sit N go's do not pay for high chip counts or early leads. The only thing that matters iin determing payout is how many people have already been eliminated once you are through playing."

"The strategy we put forth is to play a cautious game when the blinds are small and any pot you play puts you at risk for early elimination, yet aggressively when the blinds are large and you begin your quest to accumulate all the chips in play."

General Overview of the book.

1. When the blinds are low, play only hands you recognize as being profitable and avoid big pots unless you are conifdent in your winning chances"

2. When the blinds are moderate, begin blind-stealing or re-stealing with decent hands in late position

3. When the blinds are high, raise big to win them often. If necessary, make these raises with marginal hands that would normally be avoided.

Part one: Low blind play.

In a standard 3-payout sit n go structure, chips decline in value. The more chips you have have, the less each chip is worth. Similairly, the fewer chips you have, the more each individual chip is worth.

This is because you can win back at most 4 to 5 buyins in dollars, even if you increase your chip count to a near-maximal 8 to 9 times the original size.

Does anyone here want to know about tournament equity? Its basically your rightful share of the tournament, he says its important but I don't think it is, it can't help you improve.

"The aggression principle" Being the bettor/raiser is better than being the caller. This is because betting and raising allow the possiblity of winning the pot immediately since everyone may fold. But you can never win immediately by calling." This is what Gus Hansen and Annette use constantly.

How to play when blinds are low. Collin said that there are 3 hands should always be played.

1. Premium hands: AA, AK, QQ, KK

2. Speculative Hands: Hands with great flop potential. These hands must fit 3 requirements
A. You are in middle or late position
B. The pot is unraised and there are at least 2 limpers.
C. You are holding a hand which could develop into a post-flop monster.

Suited connectors, suited Aces, suited gappers. See flops cheap or get
out.

3. Late Position "Steal" hands. These hands must fit 3 requirements.
A. You have a decent hand in late position
B. Everyone has folded to you
C. You think a raise is likely to win the pot uncontested
(DON'T DO THIS VS people who are lag and behind you).

AQ, AJ, JJ, TT, 99 should either be limped in mid-to late position or raised or called with, he discourages these hands to be played in early position.

POST- FLOP-LOW BLIND PLAY

1. Excellent Flops: These are hands where you flop top pair, top kicker or better

2. Solid Draws: Hands where you flop a draw to the nut flush, mid pair plus an open-ended straight draw or flush draw or other quality draw.

3. Hands where you were the pre-flop aggressor but miss.

4. Marginal Hands.

Excellent Flops: If you raise pre-flop with a premium holding and flop a hand such as top pair, top kicker or an overpair to the board, you should exploit your opponents' looseness and bet for value relentlessly. Bet more with more opponents and more dangerous boards. You want to force your opponents to choose between making an unprofitable call or simply surrendering the pot with a fight.

Solid Draws: suppose you flop a flush draw or open-ended straight draw in a multi-way pot. If you are last to act and no one bets before you, tend to take the free card unless you feel that a bet has a strong chance to win immediately. This way, you are keeping the pot small and you do not risk a raise that will force you to discard a hand that might improve to a monster by showdown.

If there are acting opponents left after you, and your draw is strong enough that you would have to call a bet were one made, tend to bet yourself so you may win the pot immediately if everyone folds. This play is a semi-bluff. You may win uncontested at the flop, or if you are called, your hand may improve to beat the caller's hand on a later street. Should an opponent raise, tend to fold unless the odds are right.

Now suppose someone bets before you. If the player to your right bets in a multi-way pot, tend to fold unless the bet is small, as any active opponent may raise, forcing you to abandon your hand. Indeed, if there is any substantial betting and raising, tend to fold unless your draw is a monster (such as the coveted open-ended straight flush draw which is the favorite over a hand as strong as an overpair to the board). With a draw this strong, tend to smooth-call in a multi-way pot, but reraise heads-up since you may win the pot immediately and if not you may still be the favorite.

Marginal hands: if the following criteria are met, tend to leave the hand

1. The pot is small

2. Your hand is marginal

3. You are not the aggressor.

Good advice: if you are the pre-flop aggressor and an opponent bts out unexpectly at the flop, then he is very unlikely to have a monster hand.


Low-Blind Play: Summary

Play a cautious, tight-aggressive game during low-blind play. Before the flop, select only those hands you recognize as clearly equitable. If you are unsure whether to play a hand, fold as a default. But those hands you do play, proceed aggressively. When you enter a pot, it should usually be done with a raise or fold otherwise (unless you are on a draw in a multiway pot and the bet comes from your right).

Part 2: Mid Blind Play

Play Preminum hands the same as you do in low-blind play

SPECULATIVE HANDS

Speculative hands should be played sparingly mid-blind play. This is because with higher blinds, limping costs a non-negligible portion of your stack, and an opponent later to act may elect to raise, making you walk away from your sizeable investment. So conditions need to be optimal.

In particular, you should be late to act, with several limpers, ideally holding a low-mid pocket pair. If you have a reason to believe a raise is more likely than normal from someone to act after you, do NOT LIMP. The smaller your stack, the less often you should limp. 2 reasons for this.

1. If you are short-stacked, then you want to go all in.

2. The greater your stack, the less the value of the chips you are risking. This is because of declining chip value. Therefore limping with a small stack requires greater equity investment (costs more) than limping with a bigger stack. Another way to think about this is that the penalty to you for losing assuming you have the small stack, is greater than the penalty would be for the large stack.

Blind Stealing Hands

These are hands where you make an open-raise with the intention of winning the now-sizeable blinds before the flop. You also want cards that afford a reasonable chance of winning after the flop if called. When evaluting whether to play a blind-stealing hand, ask yourself the following three questions:

1. How late is your position? If you are in the small blind and all have folded to you, there is only one remaining player to contend with. By contrast, steal-raising as MP1 leaves 6 active opponents who may call or reraise

2. How strong is your hand? Get hands that have some possible chemistry after the flop, that can possibly get a straight, flush, top pair with good kicker.

3. How likely are your remaining opponents to fold to your raise? Is your opponent a loose-aggressive player who call or raise with any two or is he a tight player that will only defend his blind with a good hand? The tighter and more passive the remaining opponents (and big blind in particular), the more likely you should be to steal.

With a stack fewer than 10BB, if you intend to blind-steal, push all-in rather than make a smaller raise.

Never Bet more than is neccessary to bluff down a pot you will not win at showdown

Steals and Re-Steals

When Someone makes a raise during mid-blind play, his motive may be broken down into two components:

1. Desire to steal the blinds

2. Wanting value on a superior holding.

The two important criteria for deciding whether its a steal or a raise are bettor aggressiveness and bettor position. The more passive the bettor, the more likely he is raising with an actual hand. The earlier he is to act, the more likely he has a strong hand.

The Re-Steal

You should consider a re-steal when the following three criteria are met:

1. An earlier-to-act opponent makes a raise you classify as primarily steal. This classification increases the likelihood his hand will lack sufficient strength to call your re-steal.

2. You have reasonable showdown potential. Clearly you want a hand which does not figure to be a severe underdog should you be called.

3. The steal is large enough such that the pot represents a significant fraction of your current stack, yet not so large that a reraise on your part leaves your opponent pot-committed to call.

Do not re-steal a pot-committed opponent!!!

You should be much more inclined to re-steal against a stealer and a caller(s) than against a single stealer

This is because the pot grows enormously with each extra caller, yet no more strength has been show. Sure, a tricky player might sometimes smooth-call a pre-flop raise with aces or kings but in general a second player who stays in the pot is showing weakness by not reraising and you should attack this weakness when the pot is large and your hand has decent showdown potentional.

Attacking Passivity and High-Percentage Raising
High-Blind Limpers (HBLs)

Any time you notice a player limping repeatedly after the low-blind stage has passed, label him High-Blind Limper as a player note. You must notice this behavior more than once or see the player flip a non-premium holding at showdown after limping at mid-high blinds before yo use this information. Otherwise you are vulnerable to aggressive players who limp hoping to reraise.

Once you have ascertained your opponnent is genuine HBL, be inclined to go over him with more hands than normal. Knowing that your opponent will limp at high blinds without a premium holding is valuable information. if you are under ten BB, you should often move all in with a marginal hand as a low pocket pair, or mid suited connectors if you are late to act and no one else has voluntarily put chips in the pot.

Multiple High-Blind Limpers

While the first player to limp in a mid-high-blind hand could have a premium holding, subsequent callers are trapping only rarely

Explanation: This is similar to the parallel concept for re-stealing against a blind-stealer and a subsequent caller(s). It is conceivable that a player -- even an observed HBL--- who open-limps is a doing so with a premium hand to induce a steal-raise from a weaker hand. (While such open-limping from a passive player is usually literal, weak players can find such deception "fun" if nothing else.)

But it is nearly impossible for the second caller to be trapping since he already has one limper and both blinds in the pot as victims to attack with a raise if he actually held a premium hand. Instead, subsequent limpers most likely observe that they have increasing favorable odds for a call and thus they will tend to limp with correspondingly weaker hands.

So whether there is one HBL or multiple HBLs in the pot, you still have about the same chances of being called by a legitimate hand if you make a sizeable raise. But with multiple HBLs, there is correspondingly more money to be won immediately with an aggressive play.

Any time you have a reasonable holding and there is a chance to win a sizeable fraction of your stack immediately, strongly consider moving in if you believe there is a good chance everyone will fold

Part 3: High Blind Strategy

The Fundamental theorem of Sit N go High-Blind Play: Never allow yourself to get blinded out.

If you have a stack between 3 to 5 BB and you let the blinds hit you rather than make a move earlier, then you have broken the cardinal rule and allowed yourself to be blinded out. The underlying principle behind this concept is that the minimum stack you must have a reasonable chance to steal the blinds with a fight is 3BB. Even this is a low number, since the big blind must pay 2BB to match your raise wit ha pot of 4.5BB.
Your opponent(s) will be getting better than 2:1 odds and with any two cards (ATC).

"But every time Iget short-stacked, it seems every hand I'm dealt is either trash or I have someone else raising before me. What am I supposed to do, just push with nothing?" Yes

You should push with nothing rather than get blinded out

Let us assume that anyone with a hand in the top fifth starting hands will call your steal-raise of 3 to 5BB. Then if you were to blindly push two cards dealt you, you would win 36% of those times you were called. A random hand will win more often than once in three, on average, against a legitimate hand.Those are about the same odds as completing an open-ended straight draw or flush draw after the flop.

The reason that two random cards win so often over much better hands is that high cards significantly outnumber pairs. Therefore the common worst-case scenario is pushing with two low cards and getting called by two high cards. But even in that case, the high cards are only about a 2:1 favorite. The cases where you are facing an overpair are roughly offset by those times in the dark push is with a hand that is a favorite or only a slight underdog.

How not to get blinded out

With a stack of around 3 to 5BB, the best strategy to avoid getting blinded out is to pick a player who will be the big blind within 3 or so hands before the big blinds hits you and then push in the dark on him if no favorable situation arises earlier. You want this opponent to be as tight a caller as possible and have a short to moderate stack.

High Blind Re-Steals

Your hand: You (3,800) have KTo in the small blind. The button is a loose player who has been routinely min-raising during high-blind play. The big blind has 4,200, UTG is short-stacked and the tight-passive cut-off
is the chip leader with 6,000.

Action to you: All fold to the button (5,100) who min-raise

Question: Do you fold, call, or raise?

Answer: Reraise all-in. Your raise will be to 4,100 around 3.5 times the button's bet, which puts a lot of pressure on him. If he calls and loses, he will go from major contendor to being on the verge of elimination with under 2BB. In addition, you have a decent hand, particularly for short-handed high-blind play. The button's raise is almost certainly steal rather than value --- he is a loose player raising his standard amount with position.
If you get a fold, you will win 2,100, over 50% of your stack. With 5900, you will be about tied with the passive (weak) chip leader and in solid position to aggress mercilessly near the bubble and place yourself in position to place first. And should the button call, while this is certainly not what you want, you may still win a huge pot with your two high cards putting you solidly in the lead.

Many players willrecognize the benefits of such aggressive play, yet still hesitate, not wanting to take such a big risk with a decent-sized stack before the money. But it is precisely this instinct that makes such a place correct since many of your opponents will want to avoid a certain gamble with their big stacks at all costs.
You can't play frightened poker, particularly late in a tournament. Remember, when you play a cautious game during the early stages, you maximize your chances of making it late into the tournament. But the cost is generally a smaller stack than your loose opponents late in the tournament. You must not coast along and get blinded out before the money or in the third place. You want to make an aggressive stand to accumulate chips when your fellow opponents are tightening up their calls near the money, thereby maximizing your chances of winning the tournament. After all, one first is much better than two-thirds. You win 25% more and forfeit one less rake and time investment.

2:1 rule

When someone goes all in and you have 2:1 odds then you should call with ATC (any two cards).

1. You do not want to be the one calling an all-in on the bubble unless you have a significant edge, or you are shorter-stacked relative to the blinds with a strong hand and must make a move to avoid getting blinded out.


2. If you push all-in on the bubble, you are offering your opponent a vastly inferior wager than had you made this same push during non-bubble play and so he is correct to fold many hands he would normally fold with. While few of your opponents will go so far as to discard QQ pre-flop, even a loose and ignornant player strongly wants to finish in the money and so will tighten up his calling requirements considerably when you push on him. Even if your stack is only enough to damage, yet not eliminate an opponent, he will still frequently tighten significantly.

When other players will call with comparatively few hands, so should you aggress with a wider array of hands.

Most players are strongly averse to gambling for all their chips when any other player getting eliminated places them automatically in the money

This means that very often your bubble raise will win the blinds uncontested.

The Stop n Go

Suppose you have a solid hand and are facing a pot-committing raise. You have decided to play the hand but there is no chance a pre-flop reraise will get your opponent to fold. Then you should consider a "stop n go". Call the pre-flop raise, and then bet the remainder of your chips at the flop regardless of what comes. This play works best if you are first to act post-flop since your opponent's inability to bet prior to your all-in gives you added fold equity --- chips won due to the possiblity of your opponent foldings.

Implicit Collusion

Suppose there is a multi-way pot where at least one player is all-in. Each remaining player gains equity from any other player busting out. "Implicit collusion" refers to the still-active players having an unspoken agreement to check the hand down, thereby maximizing the odds that the all-in player(s) bust.

The rationale is that even if you bet/raise with the current best hand, you may knock out an opponent who would have improved to take down the pot over the all-in player's potentially decent holding. Then both active players (as well as everyone else at the table) lose the equity they would otherwise have gained through the third player's elimination.

Implicit collusion is often the correct path to take in such all-in situations but there are three noteworthy exceptions:

1. The pot is large and you have a hand that is very likely to be best now, but could easily be outdrawn. For instance, if the pot is half your stack and you have the top pair on a board of nine-five-deuce, you cannot give a free card to your still-active opponent(s).

2. There is a significant sidepot between you and the other active player(s) and you think a bet is likely to take down the sidepot. For instance, suppose the cutoff raises 2BB, the button calls for his remaining 0.5BB and you and the small blind as well. Then the main pot is 2BB, while the side pot is 6BB. If you think a bet will knock out the other active players, go ahead and attack.

3. You have the nuts or close to it and are betting the value

Exploiting Pre-Flop Passivity as the Big Blind

Suppose you are the big blind and all fold to the small blind, who limps. If you have yet to raise a hand he has limped, you should take his passive play literally. He most likely does not have a hand and you are not being trapped. This is because he has no reason to assume you will raise. If the blinds are significant, one of you has 10 BB or less, you should consider pushing any two cards.

Calling all ins and profitable passive plays.

Calling Short-stacked all-ins as the big blind.

If you are getting better than 2-to-1 on a pre-flop all-in call, and your call closes the action, calling is nearly always correct.

The basis of this observation is that the most common worst-case scenario when calling is facing two overcards, in which case you are a 2-to-1 underdog. Those occasions when your opponent has an overpair are roughly balanced by those situations when your oppoent is bluffing and you are only a slight underdog or small favorite. So when getting better than 2-to-1 on a pre-flop heads-up all-in call, calling is higher cEV ( chip equity value, a good bargin basically.) than folding. (same thing applies in MTTs)

This does not mean you should always call in such a situation. Don't do it when a call and a loss will cripple you. When getting 2-to-1, you need a reason not to call rather than a reason to call.

When you should not attack high-blind passivity

We have made it a theme that you should relentlessly attack high-blind pre-flop passivity namely by making big steal raises against loose-passive high-blind limpers or min-raisers when the combination of the blinds and the bet(s) are significant relative to your stack.... and you have at least a decent hand. But this principle can break down when your passive opponent meets two-criteria:

1. He is a very loose caller

2. He has a much larger stack than yours

This type of hper-loose big-stacked opponent is liable to call just for the sake of calling when your stack is comparatively small. He is found most often in lower-stakes sit n go's and you should only go up against him for value since he folds so rarely. If you believe you are up against such an opponent and his stack is much larger than yours, you may be better off waiting for a better opportunity unless your hand is well above-average.

3-Handed Play

When the play gets down to 3-handed many players are so happy to be in the money that they reason as follows "I have already made a profit in this tournament, so now is basically a freeroll. If I place any better, great. If I bust out here, hey --- at least I'm still ahead"

You must resist this reasoning at all costs. You are playing for long term profit, not just to finish int the money in one particular tournament. Remember, you win considerably more with one first than 2/3rds.

Your best approach now is standard high-blind aggression. Blind-steal and re-steal often, throwing in the occassional call from the small blind when the blinds are lower or the big blind has been passive.


Heads-up

You should always play aggressively but your specific strategy will depend on your opponent. If he is passive, you want to call more often on the button, folding to most raises (which indicate genuine strength). If you miss the flop completely, min-bet often, particularly against tight-passive players who will often fold. Check/folding is usually the best line against calling stations when you miss.

If you hit any piece of the flop against your passive opponent, bet for value relentlessly. Furthermore, never leave the hand (where you have hit the flop) unless you are both non-pot committed and have strong indication that you are beaten, such as a re-raise when you have bottom pair.

Against an opponent who is pushing very often, you should call with any hand that is clearly above-average, such as k8s, 66, QJs, or A3.

General theory of heads-up play:

Always play aggressively but exploit any weaknesses you have found in your individual opponent.

Stack-Dependent Strategy on the Bubble

Your strategy when 4 or 5 handed should almost always be aggressive. Lets specify optimal strategies for players of different stack sizes. Suppose the blinds are 100-200.


Player A: 8,000

Player B: 3,500

Player C: 1,100

Player D: 400

What game plan should you choose as chip leader, average stack, short stack and minuscule stack?

Player A's Game Plan

If you are player A, you should be very aggressive. If you are the opener and D is not in the bb, then you raise 400-500 with any non-trash hand. Expect everyone to fold a significant majority of the time. If you are called by B, tend to make a continuation bet of 500 or so regardless of the flop. If he bets first or reraises your pre-flop or flop bets, it is very likely you are beaten unless you hold a premium hand since he will avoid taking a serious chance of elimination when he can coast into the money.

if you are called/reraised by C or D, then going to the showdown as an underdog is not so bad. You may win by outdrawing and if you lose, you are still a monster chip leader.

In summary, as bubble chip leader, Player A must accumulate even more chips. This is done through ruthless aggression as well as value calls when the short or minuscule stack pushes and you have a chip advantage.

Player B's Game Plan

When it comes to attacking C and D or calling all-ins from these shorter-stacked players, your strategy should be comparable to A's. Even if you lose an all-in against C, you will still be second in chips with 2,400.

You can find yourself in a positive equity pre-flop gamble for all your chips against Player A if you only have Aces or kings. If Player A realizes this and/or is re-stealing liberally, then aggress on him with your better hands--- just be willing to leave the hand if he plays back and you do not have a monster hand.

in summary, Player B should play similarly to Player A when contending with Players C and D. He should avoid most pots against A and those he does play, he must either keep small or have an overwhelming edge.

Player C's Game Plan

Don't allow yourself to get blinded out

High Blind Player Summary

High-blind play is largely a game of chicken. The blinds are high and rising
and you often find yourself with unplayable cards or prior all-in raisers for many hands in a row. Yet it is here where the money is decided and it will tend to flow toward the most aggressive. Never get blinded out, even if that means you must push in the dark against tight blinds.

While we did consider examples of passive positive equity plays, such as calling all-ins with weak hands when the pot is laying better than 2-to-1, profiting from SNGs is largely a function of your aggression as the blinds rise and the table shrinks. This is why we encountered situations where pushing any two cards is correct, such as when you will be blinded out the subsequent orbit or you have the opportunity to open-push on the bubble as the chip leader and effective stacks of 10bb or fewer.

Remember, all but the most reckless players want desperately to survive. So force them to react to your analytical yet highly aggressive and the results will speak for themselves.