Poker Skills: Learn from a Sit-And-Go Scene

Let's set the scene.

You are playing in a $100 + 9 sit-and-go on you favorite Online Poker site and there are four players left. You are obviously the "Hero" and your three opponents are O1, O2, and O3. The stack sizes look.

Hero: $2,800 O1: $2,600 O2: $5,800 O3: $2,300

There is no more frustrating situation for most SNG players than being fourhanded and waiting for the next player to bust out, especially when it might be you, since only three places are paid. With A-9 suited on the button and the blinds at 200/400, what do you do?

The first thing you need to know to make a decision is what you can expect of your opponents. If O1 and O2, who act after you, are likely to get in a confrontation, then we fold easily. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case, because everyone tightens up at this stage and tries to sneak into the money. O3, who will be in the big blind next, is also very tight and trying to avoid confrontations.

But you have been watching your opponents carefully, and you know that O2 and his big stack do not deserve each other. He has been a little too loose pre-flop and has been calling raises with hands like 6-6 and A-8. He's not a maniac, just a little loose, and you estimate that if you raise all in he will call you about 20 percent of the time.

You also know that O1 is a very solid player whom you have played with before. He is likely to push all in if you fold to him, but if you raise all in he will need a very strong hand to call, and will only call about 5 percent of the time. If he does call, you are probably in very bad shape, but if you win you knock him out and have almost as many chips as O2, giving you a good shot at winning this thing.

You know from the work you have done with ICM's and other tools used for calculating the odds that your highest equity move is to push all in here unless there are extenuating circumstances. You also know that A-9 suited doesn't play too badly all in, which helps you make your decision.

The knowledge you have about your opponents does not make this the perfect place to push, but it certainly doesn't indicate anything contrary, so the correct move here is to push all your chips in the middle and hope that your opponents fold (usually they will) or that you win if they call you. It's the right decision, and over the long run it will make you the most money, so those chips are going in the middle.

It also helps to think about what your opponents would hate to see you do. The other two small stacks would like to see you fold, which isn't going to happen. They would also like to see you get called if you are going to push, which isn't going to happen very often. If you get called and win it is an absolute disaster for them. You are making the play that they hate to see, and that usually means that you are making the right move.

After you move all in and your opponents fold the stacks look like this:

Hero: $3,400 O1: $2,400 O2: $5,400 O3: $2,300

And the short stack is about to be in the big blind. You are probably better than 75 percent to make the money now and even have a shot at chipping up to challenge O2 in a heads-up battle for first place. Couldn't get any better than that.