Sit & Go Poker: Rules, Stages and Basic Strategy

A sit-and-go (SNG) is a small poker tournament that starts as soon as enough players have registered, so you do not wait for a schedule. Everyone pays the same buy-in, receives the same starting stack, and plays until the prizes are decided. Typically a sit-and-go has one table of 6 or 9 players and lasts 30 to 60 minutes.

The short version

• It starts when the seats are full. No fixed start time.
• One table, usually 6 or 9 players. Only the top places are paid.
• Blinds rise at regular intervals, so you have to play faster as the game goes on.
• The game has four phases: early, middle, bubble and heads-up. Your strategy changes in each.
• With 10 big blinds or less, most decisions become "all-in or fold".

How a sit-and-go works

1. Registration. You pay the buy-in (a prize contribution plus a fee) and wait for the seats to fill.
2. Starting stacks. Everyone gets the same number of chips, commonly 1,500, and starts at low blinds such as 10/20.
3. Blind levels. Blinds go up on a timer. Regular games use longer levels, turbo games shorter ones, and hyper-turbos the shortest. The exact timings depend on the poker room.
4. Eliminations. A player is out when they lose all their chips. The order of elimination decides the prizes.
5. Payouts. Only the top places win. See below.

Typical payouts

Payouts differ between sites, so always check the lobby. Common structures are:

• 9-player: top three paid, often around 50% / 30% / 20%.
• 6-player: top two paid, often around 65% / 35%.
• Heads-up (2 players): winner takes the whole prize pool.

Because the payouts are fixed and much of the money goes to the top places, the value of a chip is not constant. See ICM.

Sit-and-go, multi-table tournament or Spin & Go?

• Sit-and-go: one table, fixed small field, payouts for the top few. Starts on demand.
• Multi-table tournament (MTT): many tables and a scheduled start; a longer game with large fields and large first prizes. See MTT strategy basics.
• Spin & Go: a hyper-fast three-player sit-and-go with a randomly chosen prize pool. See the Spin & Go guide.

Strategy by phase

Early phase: deep stacks (about 30 big blinds or more)

Blinds are small compared with your stack, so you have time. Play solid hands, mostly in good position, and avoid risky confrontations: busting out early gives you nothing. See starting hands and position. Look at how opponents play, and who calls too much.

Middle phase: stacks of 15 to 30 big blinds

The blinds start to hurt. Steal the blinds and antes with raises from late position when the players behind you fold often. Be wary of calling raises with weak hands; you need to hit the flop to continue and you cannot afford many misses.

Bubble: one place before the money

This is where ICM matters most. Short stacks try to survive, so the big stacks can pressure the medium stacks by raising a lot. If you are the big stack, use that pressure. If you are the medium stack, avoid marginal confrontations with the big stack and look for spots against the short stacks.

Heads-up: the final two players

Aggression wins. Blinds are high compared with stacks, so most hands are played by raising or folding. Open a wide range on the button, defend the big blind widely and do not give up the blinds without a fight.

Push or fold: playing 10 big blinds or less

When your stack drops to roughly 10 big blinds or less, raising a normal amount and then folding to a re-raise would cost too much. The simple approach is all-in or fold before the flop:

• The fewer big blinds you have, the wider the range you can shove.
• Position matters: you can shove wider from the button than from early position.
• The fewer players left to act behind you, the wider you can shove.
• Calling a shove needs a stronger hand than making the shove, because the shover chooses the moment.

Published push/fold charts based on Nash equilibrium show exact ranges for each stack size. Learn the rough shape first, then check the charts away from the table.

Mistakes beginners make

• Playing too many hands in the early phase and losing chips for no reason.
• Waiting too long to start stealing blinds and ending up short-stacked.
• Calling off a short stack against a big stack on the bubble.
• Not knowing the payout structure.
• Ignoring the fee: in small-stakes sit-and-gos the fee can be 5–10% of the buy-in, which reduces your long-term profit.
• Joining games that are too big for the bankroll.

Bankroll for sit-and-gos

Sit-and-gos have high variance: even a good player can lose many games in a row, because only the top places are paid. Commonly recommended is a bankroll of at least 50 buy-ins for a given level, and more for turbo formats. For the general method, see bankroll management.

Try the calculator

Short-handed sit-and-gos are all about the payout ladder. Enter the stacks and prizes in the ICM calculator to see how chips turn into prize equity and what an all-in costs you.

What to read next

• ICM: why chips are not money on the bubble.
• Spin & Go guide: the hyper-fast three-player version.
• MTT strategy basics: the multi-table format.
• Bankroll management: how many buy-ins to keep.
• Poker freerolls: how they work, passwords and what to expect.