SNG Strategy - Make money playing Sit & Go tournies

Part 1 of a 2 part series.

Making money in SNG's consists of 2 key components:

1. Adhering to a feasible and realistic bankroll management strategy - It's easy to go out of your means, or to move up too quickly when playing Single Table Sit and Go tournaments. Wins and even cashes are great, but use them to build a bankroll that can support advancement through the different levels of buy-ins. One of the worst things a player can do to their bankroll is to jump up to the highest level SNG they can possibly buy into buy spending their entire bankroll (or most of it) on a single game.

2. Finishing ITM and Winning - Realize that you can, with some good luck and the right tactics, move up through the ranks into some pretty big money rather quickly. However, this will depend primarily on your winning percentage in these games, followed by  your ability to stick to rule #1 as explained above.



Part 1 - Adhering to a feasible and realistic bankroll management strategy:

While there are many different ways to approach bankroll management, a good general rule of thumb to follow is to never buy in to a game for more than 5% of your total bankroll. This will allow you to sustain some losses without losing your entire bankroll. Remember that winning and SNG is going to pay roughly 4.5 buy-ins to the winner, roughly 1.5 to 2 buy-ins to the 3rd place finisher.  Use your prize money to allow your bankroll to build naturally, all the while never buying in for more than 5% of your total roll.

While sticking to your strategy, you should also log your wins, losses, and track the progress of your total bankroll.

By sticking to a bankroll management strategy of buying in for no more than 5% of your bankroll, you will never get into a game that is over your head. If you're starting with a $50 bankroll, you'll stick to games where the buy-in is $2.  Not until you reach $100 will you move up into the $5 games. From there, your next step will the $10 games when your roll reaches $200, and so on. You can advance through the stages fairly quickly, especially if you're big into the multi-tabling available on most online poker sites.

This strategy will allow you to easily lose a good 20 games before going broke. Of course, if you're losing 20 games in a row, you might consider either giving up Sit & Go's for a while, or switching your table strategy for finishing ITM and winning SNGs. If you're using a solid SNG table strategy, you'll be able to move up the ranks with as few as 4 or 5 good finishes or wins.

The exception to this particular bankroll management strategy would be that you could buy into any SNG for $2 or less, regardless of your bankroll amount. This way, players with a micro-bankroll, such as players who are building bankrolls through freerolls or small deposits, could still participate in the games and have a chance to move up through the Sit and Go ranks.

Of course, this bankroll management strategy is certainly a test of one's self-discipline. Nothing is going to keep you from going nuts and losing what took you months to build on one big risk. The toughest part of adhering to this strategy is when a player is forced to move down the ranks. Often, after playing $100  SNG's where the winner is leaving with roughly $450, it can be a test of patience when a cold streak forces a player down to $20 games where the winner is getting only about $85. But you're not alone in feeling this way. Many professional poker players who stick to a bankroll management strategy become bored when being demoted to the lower games. What separates them (the pros) from the recreational players is the plain and simple fact that the pros stick to their original plan, regardless of the bumps in the road they hit along the way. It is important to always keep your eye on the prize. Look ahead to where you're going, stick to the plan, and you'll be up into the exciting big money games soon.