6-Max vs. Full Ring SNGs

Six handed sit and gos tend to have more aggressive players
than full ring sit and goes. The reason for this is that with
fewer players, the range of hands players open pots with is
wider. A six handed game should be treated as a constant battle
to win chips. At the beginning of a six handed sit and go you
should look to play aggressive, but, also look to stay under
control. The way to do this is to play hands in position and
avoid playing big pots with marginal hands. If you start to play
more hands, you’ll lose chips and diminish your chance of
winning the sit and go.

Full ring games are more passive in nature, they are slowly built to be more and more aggressive as
players bust out. A full ring game you should treat at the start
like a multi table tournament. If you treat it like a
multi
table tournament and a slower grind, you’ll have more success
at the beginning. Also, you won’t bleed chips off of
your stack, and you’ll have a better chance at advancing as every player
busts out.

6-Max Sit and Gos

Six handed games are passive at first with slow blinds until
one player busts out of the game. When that first player busts
out of the game you should look to open your range of hands up
more. Also, depending on the blinds and how big they are when
the first player busts out, you should look to attack and pick
up the blinds frequently. If you get labeled as an aggressive
player early on in this game, it can help you later on as opposed
to hurt you.

When sitting at a six handed game often times the
player who opens the most pots is the player who will win the
game. If you play too passive in this game you’ll most likely
get your money in flipping a coin and that’s not the best way
to go about it. The only thing to avoid is getting involved in
big pots without big cards. If you play small ball poker, it will
help you build up a stack and win pots with minimal risk. If you
want to win in this game, then you shouldn’t be risking your stack or
life in the game right away. You should wait until there are
three or four players left to start gambling with hands and
applying the max amount of pressure.

Full Ring Sit and Gos

Full ring games are the slower version of six handed games.
You should look to play passive and protect your stack at all
costs early on. If you get involved too soon it will often mean
a quick demise. Play pots carefully and less often in full ring
games to start off. You should not look to stack up right away.
If you are careful and play only big pairs and hands like AQ or
AK, you’ll have more success when playing this game.

You should
begin to open your range up more after a few players have busted
out of the game. What you want to do in the full ring game is
establish a tight image. If you have a tight image when the
blinds are small, then change gears and play aggressive when the
blinds are big because this is the best strategy. The reason to play
tight is because at the end of the game, you’ll get credit when
you decide to shove in with marginal hands. You’ll force more
folds at the end of games than you would have otherwise. You’ll have to play marginal hands at the end of these in order to
win, but, in order to get credit and win the pots you’ll have
to make the slow progression from tight and passive to
aggressive maniac.

Most times to other players if you don’t show
hands down it will appear that you have caught a rush of cards
and will make them feel good about folding away the small pocket
pairs or ace rag type hands. If you are constantly playing pot
after pot to start the game off, you won’t get any credit for
having hands and will probably get called off by weaker hands.

Once you are in the money in a six handed game this means you
are playing heads up poker. With the blinds as big as they will
be, the easy decisions of whether to shove or fold are left. If
the blinds are still small, you can pick pots up by using the minimum
raise. If you use the minimum raise, your goal is to win the pot
before the flop without risking your stack. Also, it will allow
you to see if your king high is indeed the best hand. If you
shove with a weak hand like k5 or a Q10 and get called, you’ll
be behind and it could be a big mistake if the blinds are still
relatively small.

Also, when using the
minimum raise, if you have a
big pocket pair it allows your opponent to shove over the top.
If you were to simply shove in with a hand like aces or kings, it
doesn’t give the other player the option of a re-steal or
re-shove.

If you have made the money in a full ring game you are three
handed as opposed to
heads up, and at this point it’s
shove or fold poker almost all the time. If you are on the
button in a three handed game, you should be shoving hands like
K9, QJ, an ace, and any pair. You should look to gamble at this
point and build your stack to play heads up poker. If you choose
to muck marginal hands where you should be shoving, it will most
likely cost you the chance to play heads up and win the sit and
go. If you are sitting in the blinds, calling with a hand like
A7 to a shove is a relatively standard play depending on your
reads of your opponents. In a full ring game, you’ll have a
better chance to see how your opponents play and a better
opportunity to guess their range of hands simply because of the
time these games will take.