Tip #7: Double or Nothing SNGs: the essential tip
It’s all about finishing in the money. Avoid taking unnecessary risks.
Many players think the difference between payments of a regular SnG of 50%/30%/20% to the top 3 players and a Double or Nothing Sit and Go (DoN SnG) isn’t that big of a deal. But this belief could be very expensive. While it is usually correct to play for first place in a regular SitnGo, the DoNs need a whole other strategy.
Double or Nothing Sit and Gos can be seen as qualification tournaments, meaning that there are a certain number of places that win the same prize. For example a satellite tournament for the World Series of Poker: Let’s say 1000 Players started the satellite and the best 5 of them will win a ticket worth $10.000. In this case it is figuratively unimportant if you finish in 6th or 990th place – either way you leave empty-handed. On the other side it is totally irrelevant if you finish among the top 5 players with 400 or 100k in Chips – the prize will be the same.
And that’s exactly how it works with DoN SnGs. The gap between a prize and none is the maximum. Either you win or you don’t – there is nothing in between.
This mean you have to adapt to these circumstances. Avoid any risks at the bubble. The bubble is this time during a tournament where the last players has to exit while all the others make the money. At this time it really is double or nothing for you.
If you have a big stack at the bubble, try to avoid other big stacks. Dodge them purposely to not risk your tournament life. Here is the reason behind that: As a big stack your chances are pretty rosy to reach the money. You would ruin this chance completely if you tangle with another big stack. You want to put pressure on the small stack that hardly can hurt you.
As a small stack you have two options: If your opponents are doing a lot of raising and fighting with each other, fold anything but premium holding and pray for someone to exit before you. If play is passive you can be the one giving action by stealing some pots and building your stack gradually. If possible, avoid raising if there is someone with a huge stack after you, unless you have a really good starting hand.
We will discuss Double or Nothing SNGs in other tips, but don’t forget this first one: It’s all about finishing in the money. Avoid unnecessary risks.
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Although I am usually a fan of the “look for the table with the most fish” strategy, I have to say that these double or nothing SNG games add a new twist to that line of thinking.
If you’re playing in a DON game that has 6 players multi-tabling (not that hard to find in the $1-$10 range) 3 fish, and yourself, by the 50-100 blinds you’re probably going to be looking at a 7 player (ish) game. MANY times I find myself in this situation and realize (seemingly before anyone else?) that there is a huge opportunity to steal when the game is full of regulars.
In fact, I find this situation to be almost as profitable as doubling up early (and far more common as i rarely go in without wired Aces early). Often I manage to take my average stack (1500ish) to 2500 before people begin feeling the crunch.
Not only does this strategy allow me to coast to the money very often, it also helps me avoid having to steal as much when the bubbling short stacks are much more likely to call.
I cannot agree more! If you can determine who the regulars are, it is totally valuable to exploit their tendencies.