Does it all boil down to sit and go math now? by Marty Smith

Well with so many ranked pros playing sit and go tournaments for a living now, turbos no less, there has been a movement to purely mathematical decision modules near the money and in the money. Colin Moshman brought a lot of this strategy to light in his sit and go strategy book released from two plus two last year. Even he though, pinpoints some drawbacks of using the independent chip model exclusively to make decisions. Those drawbacks may include your opponents skill and relative positions at the table in a given hand.

I think a lot of Colin Moshman's success, and that of his readers, come from emanating his style during the high blind stages in sit and go tournaments. And yes there are equity decisions in this stage as well, but the pure aggression of it all, is what turns certain sit and go tournaments into relatively mathematical based games of chance. I mean, a lot of these guys just play turbo sit and go tournaments leading half the field orange and mzoned 20 minutes into the tournament. There just isn't a lot of play there for bluffing or re-stealing when I bet at the flop is going to pot commit you anyhow.

There is simply more luck involved in turbo sit and go tournaments. So you can expect some high variance swings in your bankroll if you play these in the upper limits. Check some of these big-time players out on shark scope and you will see a drop of $100,000 to $200,000 is not unusual. Unless you can handle fluctuations as big as that, I would recommend you stick to sit and go tournaments under $100, and avoid turbos. This way your bankroll will build more consistently but also allow your opponents sufficient time to make those inevitable mistakes found in the lower levels.

There is caution to be taken at the bankroll building stage that may actually preclude you from playing this style of poker, and that would be the correct math for you. Not everything can be boiled down to simple math when your bankroll is considered too.

Yes, it's good to know the numbers, it's even better with a firm grasp of sit and go ICM . But you still have to take care of your bankroll while building that upward graph, not only an ROI percentage, but your education as well.

About the Author

Marty Smith has a free sit and go strategy profiling report and videos for playing sit and go tournaments successfully. He also reviews all the online poker calculator using video in real game situations, so you can see which one is right for you before you buy.