Weekly Sit & Go Tip: Slow Playing For Max Value
Posted on April 24, 2009
Filed Under General
One of the most frustrating aspects of a Sit & Go tournament is that you don’t often get that many opportunities to play big hands for big pots. Players like to step back and keep to a very tight strategy and often will only call pre-flop raises with very premium hands. What this means is you won’t likely get any sizeable action when raising pre-flop with premium hands, and even medium strength hands like middle pocket pairs. Because of this, I try to use many of these situations to try to flop big and slow play for a turn or two in order to try and maximize my value, as lots of Sit & Go players like to bet to try and pick up a pot post-flop whether they have something or not.
Now obviously you can’t do this with pocket aces in first position, as basic poker strategy tells you that you must put out at least an average-sized raise in order to scare away all the drawing hands. However, I will often just limp in pre-flop with hands like 8-8, hoping to flop a set, which might net me an entire stack of chips off a player who flopped top pair and has no problem playing it for all their chips, which is surprisingly common.
At the same time however, you don’t want to put yourself in unnecessary danger either. Flopping a set is great, but if there are multiple players in the pot and the board has at least two matching suits, you’re going to need bet if the action is checked around to you, and you might also consider a raise if someone bets prior to your turn. Who you’re playing against and how much you know about them will also aid in knowing when to try and slow play a pot, as hyper aggressive players will happily bet out with nothing on every street in an effort to get you to fold, however at the time a very tight player might need to see a free card or two before they’re willing to put out a feeler bet and try to pick up the pot.
As I always say, you need to be playing to win with S&G tournaments, and picking up the blinds with the one time you’re dealt K-K throughout the whole 45min session is not the best way to accumulate chips. Is there a short stack still left to act after you? Limp with your K-K and see if they don’t push in their chips in an effort to pick up the blinds. This unorthodox style doesn’t play well in long, deep-stacked tournaments, but it can open up some opportunities for you during short, single table Sit & Go’s.
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