Sit-and-Go Essentials Part 3: Short-Handed Stages

At this stage of the game, post-flop play is out the window - flops are rarely seen. You have two options: push or fold. And..., you should be pushing.

Your goal is to win sit-and-gos. You don't want to "limp" into the money. When you just try and limp into the money you are throwing money away. You have to have the killer instinct to attack and destroy players who are happy just limping into the money or moving up the pay scale.

Everyone at the table will probably be short-stacked. (Appart from 1 or 2)

In poker, if a player is playing scared, they're exploitable. Everyone wants to finish in the money; nobody is playing to get eliminated. You're no different.

But your goal is to win. Therefore, you have to look at the long term and put the short term out of your mind. Concentrate on making good plays at the correct time and forget about the results.

If you make the correct plays, success will eventually follow.


Push without fear:

As you know, the top three players in a sit-and-go get paid. So when you get down to four- and five-handed play, you've reached the bubble. There will almost certainly be some short stacks thinking if they play ultra-tight they may sneak into the money.

They're wrong. You want to get more aggressive, not less. When play is short-handed the blinds will already be very high. Your average stack will be just 12 BBs, meaning you'll be lose 10% of your stack to the blinds every rotation.

When the game is short-handed, those rotations come fast and furious, decimating your stack. You're better off pushing all-in without looking at your cards than letting yourself get blinded out. Do not let yourself get blinded out!

USC ;)