To detail the thoughts that go in to a typical Sit and Go tournament and how those thoughts change in relation to factors such as stack size, blind size and position I've recorded all the key hands from a recent game.
Hand 1:
The blinds are 20/40 and I have a stack size of 1,575. I'm in the big blind with Q
4 and the enemy in the cut off and the small blind flat call. Both of them are shorter stacked than me by about 100 and have played tight so far.The flop - A
Q
4
Immediately the small blind bets out 80 in to the pot of 180. With no flush draw or straight draw options I opt to call, hoping to build the pot and not scare away any weaker hands. At this point I figure the bettor has a pair of aces with a medium kicker; the enemy in the cut off also makes the call probably with something like QJ.
The turn - 3
I don't think this would've paired the the original bettor and it wouldn't matter if it paired the enemy behind me. The small blind bets out 200 in to the pot of 320. I'm now pretty sure he has something in the range of AT and that the player behind me would be folding regardless of what I do. I'm faced with the choice to just flat call or to raise - Knowing my hand strength is pretty well hidden already I decided to raise the minimum amount to commit my enemy who I knew would call the extra 200 with top pair. The player behind me folds giving me position for the river and the original bettor calls my raise.
The River - 6
This is a pretty good board for my two pair, with the turn and the river too low to give the enemy a bigger two pair I feel confident I will win a showdown. The pot is 1120 and the small blind bets out 160 in what felt like an attempt to see my cards cheaply - completely certain of my read I raise to 1,055 hoping that my raise on the turn had committed my enemy and that he wouldn't be able to fold his top pair on such an innocuous board. Unfortunately he did manage to fold his hand, and in hindsight I could have made a smaller raise on the river, to only 320 or so in order to maximise my gains. This was still a good size pot to win early on after getting to see a free flop in the big blind.
Hand 2:
The blinds are 30/60, the table is now 7 handed and I have 2,300. I'm dealt J
Q in second position, and make a small raise to 120, the three players behind me have been playing extremely tight and fold as expected. The big blind calls the extra 60 chips - He's been playing rather loosely and I'm happy to see a flop in position against him.The Flop - K
92The play is checked to me, I could make a continuation bet of around 3/4 of the pot at this stage and probably take the hand down on such an innocuous board. However, wanting to keep the pot small with a weak hand like J
Q on that flop I also check.The Turn - A
The play is checked to me again, this is the power of position - the second check lets me know my opponent didn't hit the flop hard so I bet out 120 in to the pot of 270. He makes the call. On this board there aren't a lot of hands that he would simply flat call with - he is likely holding some combination of flush and straight draw, or a flush draw with a pair of 9's.
The River - 7
The play is checked to me again, picking the enemy has missed his draws or will fold his mid pair in fear of the A on the board I bet out 240 in to the pot of 510. The bet is small again, the reason being that if my read is wrong I will lose the minimal amount yet if my read is right the enemy can't call and I will take the pot. My read is correct and he folds handing me a nice pot that I won by using my position instead of my hand.
Hand 3:
The blinds are now 40/80 and I have a stack of 2,750. There are still 7 players at the table. I'm dealt J
7 on the button, there is one limper in front of me. I double the Big Blind to 160. With a short stacks of 1,325 and 1,070 in the blinds I don't want to entice them to move in over the top of me so I keep the pot small. They have both been playing tight and this small raise is sufficient to either make them fold or reveal their hand strength to me. The larger of the two stacks calls from the small blind and the original limper who has been playing a fairly loose game also calls.The Flop - 5
5QThe pot is checked to me. Faced with a similar situation to the last hand I opt to check as well. I want to keep the pot small, the enemy in the small blind could have something in the range of 66 and move over the top of any bet I make and the Q is in both of their ranges.
The Turn - J
The pot is checked to me again, without risking anymore chips the strength of both hands has been revealed to me, I'm pretty sure I'm ahead now and bet 160 in to the pot of 560. It's a small value bet that I want called by someone with low to medium pocket pair. The small blind calls and the loose player folds leaving us heads up to the river.
The River - 8
The action is checked to me again, now there are three possibilities with this river. The first is that my opponent is holding 88 and is now slow playing his full house hoping I will bet out again. The second is that he has a small pocket pair and the 8
is just another scare card and he will fold to any bet. The last is that my read was wrong and he has something like JT. If I bet out and get called I'm beaten, if I bet out and get raised I'm beaten, if I bet out and the enemy folds I gain nothing. Betting out here is pretty much a lose-lose-lose situation so I check. The enemy had AT and I took down the pot. I never put him on A high because he had played super tight so far and I expected him to fold that range of hands after I bet the turn.Hand 4:
The blinds are now 80/160 and my stack is 3,490 with a chip lead of about 800 and only 6 players left. I'm dealt A
J in the Big Blind. The enemy on the button raises to 320 and the small blind folds. He has a decent sized stack of 2,165. Right now the raisers hand range is pretty wide, he's been playing a semi-tight game and could be anywhere from JT to AA. I call the min raise and see a flop.The Flop - T
93I'm out of position in this hand and I've missed the flop, with no information about my opponents hand I don't want to inflate the pot at this stage. I check it expecting him to check behind me with his over cards. Instead he continuation bets 400 in to the pot of 720 - this is about a quarter of his stack and I have a critical decision to make. His hand range is too wide so flat calling is out of the question - I need some more information so I raise to 800 and he instantly folds.
Conclusion:
From this stage onwards I was able to steal blinds continuously and call the short stack all ins. Only four crucial hands played in a SnG that lasted for an hour - usually it's less and they last for a longer time but those aren't very interesting to read about. As the blinds get larger the emphasis on starting hand selection becomes immensely important as there is virtually no post-flop play. Here I was able to pick up several key pots without even making a hand or reaching a showdown.
