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How to play Sit & Go

May 21, 2024
by PokerStars Learn

This is your beginner’s guide to Sit & Go tournaments (SNG), with everything explained down to the last detail by Team Pro ‪Spraggy‬.

What is a Sit & Go?

A Sit & Go is a special kind of poker tournament. We can call it an “SNG” for short. It starts as soon as enough players have signed up and joined the table. Regular tournaments start at a set time no matter how many players there are.

Sit & Gos can have just one table with 6 or 9 players. Or they can have many tables with 18 to 180 players! You can choose how many players you want.

You can also pick how fast the tournament goes:

  • Regular speed lasts 50-80 minutes with 9 players
  • Turbo speed lasts 30-50 minutes
  • Hyper Turbo lasts just 9-17 minutes with 6 players!

The top few players get prize money at the end. For example, the top 3 players win in a 9-player Sit & Go.

There are also 50/50 Sit & Gos where half the players get the same prize money based on their chip stacks.

How to Play Sit & Gos

An important move in Sit & Gos is “stealing the blinds.” The blinds are the chips you have to put in before getting cards.

Stealing the blinds means betting to try to win those chips when you are in late position. Late position is toward the end, like the cutoff or button seats.

Stealing blinds gets you more chips with less risk. It also makes you look aggressive which can scare opponents later.

The best way is to just make a normal bet that is 2 or 2.5 times the big blind size. But be careful if opponents start defending their blinds a lot – then you need stronger hands.

Mastering the steal can give you a big edge in Sit & Go tournaments!

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