You made it to the money. You've played a solid game to this point. You were very patient and made good decisions. Now it is time to loosen up your game a little and see if you can put yourself in a position to WIN the sit 'n go tournament. In this lesson I will cover some tips for playing in the money.
First, regarding the prize pool. You are already guaranteed 20% of the pool. Your goal at this point should be 1st place, not surviving long enough to squeeze into 2nd place. Although 3rd place is profitable on any single sit 'n go, if you finish 3rd place in as high as 50% of the sit 'n go's you play, you will still lose money. Here's the math using a $10 sit 'n go as an example:
Entry fee: $10 + 1 = $11 total.
3rd place prize: $10 x 9 players = $90 x 20% = $18
So if you play two sit 'n go's and cash 50% of the time your cost is $22 and your prize is $18, giving you a net loss of $4. Therefore...
First Place Is Your Goal
Many players, especially when they are on the short stack, will play very conservatively once they get into the money. The thinking is that if they can just hold on long enough for another player to get knocked out, they will make it to at least 2nd place and have a shot at heads-up to win. However, there are two problems with this thinking.
First, your profit finishing in 2nd place is just over 2 times the profit for 3rd place. However, your profit for 1st place is more than the profit of 2nd and 3rd combined! Your profit for finishing 1st place is almost 5 times the amount of finishing in 3rd place. On a $10 sit n' go your profit looks like this:
- 3rd place profit = $7
- 2nd place profit = $16
- 1st place profit = $34
So the message is simple... when you get into the money, your goal should be to WIN the tournament, not survive long enough to move into 2nd place.
Second, if you play conservatively when you are in the money, the blinds will chew away at your stack. And if you finally make it to heads-up, you will not have a large enough stack to play effectively against the big stack. So building your stack is critical during the initial stages of in the money play.
Second, if you play conservatively when you are in the money, the blinds will chew away at your stack. And if you finally make it to heads-up, you will not have a large enough stack to play effectively against the big stack. So building your stack is critical during the initial stages of in the money play.
Next: In The Money (2)
