Steps to finishing in the top three of every Turbo SNG Tournament

Online poker has always had sit and go tournaments and they’ve always been amongst the most popular ways to play online poker. You don’t need to risk a whole of money to pay sit and go tournaments and the odds you’ll win some money are fairly good provided you employ some basic strategy.

In the common nine or ten player sit and go tournament you’ll find that the top three players make money. First place gets 50% of the prize pool and then second and third place get the remainder of the 50% split up between them with second place making more money.

For instance on Poker Stars in a nine player $25+$2 sit and go tournament this is the break down of the payouts.

· First Place - $112.50
· Second Place - $67.5
· Third Place - $45

So as you can see the top three players make some money off of their $27 investment into the game. This is why finishing in the top three consistently is so important to keeping a positive bankroll. Many players have mastered sit and go tournaments and can consistently finish in the top three and these players are able to make a lot of money. We’ll now look at some simple steps you can follow to assisting your quest to finish in the top three of every sit and go tournament you play.

· In the early stages of a sit and go tournament a lot of the players will be playing loosely. This is good and bad depending on what type of cards you’re getting. If you get some monster hands then you’ll have a good chance of doubling your stack up and being in a good position for finishing in the top three positions. If you don’t get any cards while the blinds are low then that’s fine, you just need to wait for the cards and then make the bet.

· As the blinds increase you should start playing more aggressive if you aren’t in the top three. A lot of players will be going in with anything especially once someone has the lead. The leader will raise almost every hand trying to steal the blinds so once you get something re-raise all-in and take the pot or double up potentially.

· Once you’re down to five players or so you need to look at your chip situation. If you’re in the top two then you’re looking alright, but you need to be careful. The action will get loose again here with the lead stack and the lower stacks will be waiting for their all-in hand. A lot of hands will have people going all-in so if you’re in the top three then wait it out. If you’re not then you should be the one throwing your chips in the pot and trying to steal the blinds.