An Online Sit 'n' Go - Part I

Are short tournaments really a crapshoot? Some players think so, and some seem determined to play as if they actually were shooting craps.

Yes, short tournaments do require a bit of luck at the right time, but they also require rapid decision-making with the ability to adjust to the changing condition of blinds, stack sizes, player tendencies, and hand values.

Recently, I played a $100 buy-in 10-handed limit hold'em Sit 'N' Go (SNG) at an online site. The tournament lasted 54 hands, and took 45 minutes. Was it a crapshoot? Follow along with me as we play this event, and explore the ebb and flow of tournament play. For my $100 (plus $8 entry fee), I got a stack of $800 in tournament chips, with the betting starting at $15-$30 and increasing every 10 hands.

Ten Players: Starting in the small blind, I fold the first three hands. On hand No. 4, I receive pocket nines (9 9). After two limpers, I raise to $30, and get two additional cold-callers, making us fivehanded to the flop of 8 7 4. This looks like a swell flop for my hand, and when they check to me, I bet. My bet manages to lose one player, so we are four for the turn of the 6. I now have an open-end straight draw, an overpair, and a flush draw (albeit 9 high). Of course, I might be against a made flush or straight. The first limper, Seat 10 (S10 from now on), bets out, and the next player folds. This bet is not good news, but I feel I have too much going to fold, so I raise, trying to protect my hand from the two players behind me. I will fold to a reraise, but one of them folds, one calls, and S10 calls, as well. The A on the river does nothing for me, and I check behind S10. The other player also checks, and S10 shows down the A 5, for a straight on the turn. I am down to $680.

The next hand, I am dealt A-6 offsuit and fold in early position. It is far too early in the tournament to do anything but play solid poker, and A-6 offsuit is a trash hand. I contradict myself slightly on the next hand, as I call a raise with the A 8, something I would not do in a ring game. I am willing to speculate early in a tournament with a hand that might win a large pot. Even worse, S6 makes it three bets, and when the dust clears, five of us look at the flop of 4 3 2. After three of us check to the raiser who bets, three players call but I fold. I know the pot is large, but despite the two overcards and gutshot-straight draw, this is not the flop I was hoping for. It is better to save the chips for a better opportunity. I am down to $635.

After I fold three more hands, including Q-J offsuit early and the K 7 under the gun, I get the Q Q in the big blind. Now, that's more like it. S6 raises, and three other players call. I call from the blind, declining the opportunity to reraise until I see the flop, which is Q 10 10. Yes, I have flopped a full house. My goal is to optimize the number of bets without knocking everyone out, but deciding how to do that is often a puzzle. After the player to my right checks, I check and the original raiser checks, which is too bad, because I wanted to check-raise. The player to her left bets (at least someone bet my hand for me), and after one call, I call, as well. I hope to keep the original raiser in, as he is a candidate to make a second-best hand, and indeed he calls. The turn, the 5, puts a possible flush out there. I check again, as does the original raiser. S10, who bet the flop, now bets, the next player folds, and I raise. I must do this now, as several cards might fall on the river that can kill the action completely. We are heads up and S10 makes it three bets. I of course cap it (three raises is all you get online). I bet the river, a fourth diamond, and get called. My full house wins and I am above average with $950 in chips.

Nine Players: After folding all the hands back to my big blind (during which time we lose our first player), I get a free play with the 10 5 with three others. With top pair after a flop of 10 9 6, I decide to bet out, S9 calls, and S1 raises. I call, assuming the raiser is on a draw. I bet again when the Q comes on the turn, get raised, and decide to fold. I see in a showdown that the winner, who raised on the flop and the turn, wins with Q-J. Overall, I played this hand badly, even if I was in the lead when I bet. I should not be risking chips on such a tenuous holding.

The next hand is No. 20, and the betting is now $50-$100. I have the 7 6 in the small blind, and fold to a raise. I do not like suited connectors in general, and particularly in a tournament, where drawing hands drain chips. Unless you get lucky, you are going to flop a draw, and bleed off chips more than 66 percent of the time. The chips you might win when things happen to go well cannot compensate for the poor chip position you find yourself in when your draw does not get there. I fold two more, and then try a steal-raise when everyone checks to me. It works, as the blinds fold.

Eight Players: We lose one more as I fold the next 10 hands. I am below average in chips, but with $785, I still have plenty of time to wait for something. With $25-$50 blinds, even going to $50-$100, I can see lots of hands. While I am waiting, hand No. 29 happens and we lose three players! Here's a quick synopsis: After five players cap preflop and see K 9 5, four go all in with lots of betting. The final board is K 9 5 10 4. The winner has pocket tens. The others had K-4, A-Q, 8-6 suited (no clubs). I suspect this is an example of the crapshoot mentality we discussed earlier. These players had no need to play trash hands at this stage of the event, yet here they were putting in lots of bets with nothing. The shortest stack was the player with 8-6 suited. He started with $350 and was not in a blind, yet made it three bets preflop with an awful hand. And everyone else had lots of chips. The fact that the blinds were going up to $50-$100 may have influenced them, but that is no reason to put yourself out of the tournament.

Five Players: I am now the short stack at the table with $760, and get a decent hand, the A J on the button, and I raise, first in. The small blind folds, but the big blind reraises. My chips are precious, and I hate to waste them, but I reraise to take control of the hand. I have much better than a steal-raise, and I have position. However, this has cost me $400 of my $760 before the flop, which comes 7 5 3. I bet after S8 checks, but he calls. I now have $260 left, and I do not want to go all in on a hand with which I have only ace high. The turn is the useless 8, and I check behind him. Position is good for something. The river brings the K. It's not a good card for me, but he checks again. Should I bluff? I decide to keep my $260 for another hand, and check to see if I happen to win anyway. Wonderfully, I do, as he shows the A 9, and my jack kicker wins the pot. I now have a bit of breathing room at $1,260. I believe my four-bet on the flop won this hand for me, because if I had just called three bets, he would have led and I would have been reluctant to call for all of my chips on the turn and the river if he had kept betting. My early aggression plus my position won this pot for me. Note, however, that I was not going to "put myself all in" even though I had only a small stack left. Had I lost, I still would have been in the game.

In my next column, we will continue this tournament, as we look at the shorthanded play that developed.

Barry Tanenbaum welcomes your questions and comments. He also offers private poker lessons and consultations.