Playing the Opening Stages of a Sit and Go

This video is going to teach you how to play the opening stages of the SNG, which in this case are the first three blind levels. We talk about staying tight at the start, choosing your preflop hands wisely, and protecting your stack to give yourself a shot later on in the SNG.

Key Points of this Sit and Go Video:

Here are the key points that this video made, so you can quickly review after watching the full poker video.

#1 - Stay Tight at the Start

During the early stages it's extremely important to keep a tight starting hand selection. You can get into a lot of trouble by seeing flops with sub-par hands, and this can lead to stacking off early in the sit and go. Stick to playing premium hands preflop and you'll be rewarded with easier decisions on the flop, turn, and all the way to the river.

#2 - Avoid Long Shot Draws at the Start of the SNG

Tons of players at the lower stakes dump a lot of chips by chasing draws to the river, especially when its expensive. If you have a backdoor flush or straight draw, or have a bottom pair, it's not worth calling many chips off to see the next two cards because you're most likely way behind. Stay tight at the start to conserve chips, and you'll be in good position later on.

#3 - Protect Vulnerable Hands

Like you saw in the video, I bet with my 10-4 on the 3s-Ks-10-10 board. The reason I did this was because there four players in the pot, and a lot of hands fit into that board for big draws, including J-Q or any two spades. There was no reason to slow play there, because the hand is really vulnerable, and its unlikely someone else is going to make a big second best hand to pay me off.

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