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Single Table Tournaments, or SNG as they are called, can be serious Bankroll boosters with a little forethought prior to play. I currently play a lot of free online poker sites as well as $5.00 and $10.00 SNG’s at several poker sites with a fair amount of success. This is a simple version of how I play them.

Solid and Tight early on.
This means that early in a tournament you only play premium hands. Position is very important. Pairs from 22 thru 99 I only call and then only up to only 3 times the Big Blind. A larger raise and I fold them.

Larger pairs like 1010, JJ, QQ, KK, and AA of course call for a raise on a short table.

Get ready to call an all in whichever of those cards are shown- cards such as Queen/Jack, Queen/King, King/Jack & & Ace/10I play similar with tiny pairs & fold to raises higher than three times the big hand.

Now the hands that can get you into trouble.
I will explain to you in this next part some of the cards which may leave you in despair. Ace/Jack, Ace/Queen & Ace/King- you really have to understand when it’s best to fold these cards. Don’t get me wrong they’re brilliant cards when there’s just a hand full of opponents remaining, however during the opening they’re no good to any pair.

Learn to lay them down in the early part of a free poker tourney. One of the things I also do until the last 3 and in the money is show my winners. The table see’s Those KK and trip 7′s and so on. And I haven’t bluffed on a single hand…Yet. That comes when only 3 left. No more show and tell.

This sets up some great steals. All they have seen is winners from you…they have no reason to believe you don’t have them now.

As you just played the best cards at the start you have opened the door for the ‘bingo’ players to put themselves out. The odds are by being strong and rigid the chance will fall for you to knock a few opponents out yourself.

The bottom line is- you’re playing to win- and by winning you hope to make some money, and making money on the sit and go games takes a lot less effort. The majority of the time the top three will get some money and by coming third you normally break even. Therefore making the cash is crucial to doing well in sit and go poker games.

Another factor in play is a pet peeve of mine. I cannot count the times I have seen a table fold to a dead seat. There is nothing like seeing a deadhead getting free chips. The key factor here is PAY ATTENTION. You have to be in the game and not on vacation.

These are just a few common sense factors that I employ when playing for cash. I am well over 50 and have played poker in many forms and fashions for a lot of years, but I do have to agree with Doyle Brunson..”No Limit Holdem can be learned in an hour but takes a lifetime to master.” You go Doyle. Hope some of this helps someone improve their game.

To this I’d add, when you start or if you’re already familiar with poker but struggling – go and practice on micro/low stakes or free online poker site tournaments. There are some great ones out there and you can play loads with little or nothing at risk and in doing so really build your confidence and skills before starting to risk it bigger.

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