180 Man Sit and Gos are suited for…
Are you trying to build a bankroll? Is it your dream to compete for a chunk of a sizeable prize pool but don’t have time to spend 8+ hours playing a massive Multi Table Tournament? Would you want learn a solid 180 Man Sit and Go Strategy?
If “Yes” is the answer to one or more of the questions above you came to the right place!
With multiple buy-in and structure choices 180 Man SNGs are a good poker format for novice players looking to build their bankroll and gain very valuable tournament experience.
Before you register to a 180 Man Sit and Go
There are certain things you have to consider before registering for a 180 Man Sit and Go:
Buy-in
Buy-ins for 180 Man SNGs range all the way from 50 Cent up to $30.
Due to the turbo structure the variance is quite high. That’s why bankroll management is especially important here!
Bankroll Management: Make sure you have at least 100 buy-ins in your bankroll!
Payout Structure
To make it into the money, you have to finish in the top 27 places. The payout structure is quite flat until you reach the final table.
Then it gets extremely top-heavy with more than 60% of the prize pool going to the first 3 places, while the winner takes almost 50 times his buy-in.
Conclusion: You have to play to win or at least to make the top 3 places, not only the money to make a decent long-term profit.
Time
Depending on what structure you choose, 180 Man SNGs can take between 2 and 4 hours. Make sure you have enough time to play before registering.
180 Man Sit and Go Strategy
Early Stages
At the start of an 180 Man SnG you will be quite deep. This early in the tournament your range should be hands that can win a big pot such as pairs, suited connectors and suited aces.
It is essential to accumulate chips to be able to apply pressure and not being constantly pressurized yourself in the later stages.
Observe players and make notes of your opponents. In 180 Man SnGs the ante is introduced right at the start so you should be stealing a lot from later positions especially against tight players or players, who don’t defend enough.
At this stage there will be some maniacs going all-in hoping to score a double-up. Don’t play out of position and with marginal hands against them, but get it in with premium hands.
Middle and Late Stages
With the average stack size decreasing play shifts from postflop to preflop.
To stay ahead of the curve you will have to steal the blinds and antes as much as possible. If the players to your left are tight or don’t defend their blinds enough, you should open a wide range from the button (BTN) and Cut-Off (CO).
Keep in mind that other players will try to steal your blinds too making the resteal one of your most powerful weapons especially against players who raise every hand from late position or against villains, who fold a lot to 3-bets. You can 3-bet or push a wide range against those players.
Do this with suited aces and bigger suited connectors like 109s as most of the time you will get a fold, but when you get called you still have a hand with a great playability.
Final Table
Congratulations, you have reached the final table! As mentioned above 180 man Sit and Gos are very top-heavy. That means, you have to aim for the top 3 places.
First thing you should do is to check your opponents stacksizes as ICM now plays a very important role. With an average around 10-20 big blinds you should not openraise and fold to a reraise anymore! Instead you should shove directly All-in and use your fold equity.
In addition to that, shoves are not exploitable by your opponents and prevent you from making big mistakes. The tighter the player in the blinds the wider you can shove.
So observe your opponents precisely and put pressure on the shortstacks and avoiding playing a big pot against a bigstack out of position. You want to leader up, so taking risks with marginal hands against opponents that have you covered should be avoided.
Identify the players who will try to bully the table and be prepared to punish their wide opening range with resteals and reshoves. Keep in mind that you always need a better hand to call an all-in than to go all-in yourself.
Conclusion
180 Man Sit and Gos are great tournaments for beginners or for players who want to gain MTT experience. If you follow the advice given in this article you will be able to soon make a decent profit.
As most of the 180 Man Sit and Gos have a turbo structure and therefore a high variance stick to a conservative bankroll management of 100 buy-ins.
Apart from that stay focused, accumulate chip, resteal and aim for the top 3 spots. Good Luck!
