winning poker strategy

Turbo Six Max Sit n Go's (SNG) are one of the most profitable environments in Sit and Go poker. There are two main reasons why these games offer more room for profit than nine handed Sit and Go's:
1) They finish faster because of the turbo structure, and the fact that there are six players rather than nine.
2) Many players have difficulty adjusting their game to this unique structure, and are basically free money.

The best reason to play Turbo Six Max Sit n Go's is because a lot of players play short-handed tournaments far too aggressively, and play almost any two cards. They know that they are supposed to play more aggressively in six-handed Sit and Go's than they would in a nine-handed Sit and Go, but they take it too far.

The good news is that the player I just described is fairly typical in these games, and your next table will probably have at least two or three of them.
On average, two players are eliminated by the third blind level. If you play well you will almost always make it to that final four. With two of those four places being paid, this is a very profitable situation that does not exist in nine-handed Sit and Go's.

Phase 1: Getting to the Final Four
Until the game reaches this four-handed stage, play these like a normal nine-handed Sit and Go - tight, but aggressive. You don't want to go into a raised pot without a hand that is likely to be the clear favorite on a good flop. If during the first few blind levels you find yourself thinking a call is marginal, lean towards folding. You want to protect your chips early on. The strongest reason to avoid aggressive play during the first few blind levels is because the aggressive players haven't eliminated themselves yet, or even revealed themselves. This means that your continuation bets on the flop are being called more often, and your fold equity is reduced. Yes, the rising blind structure will soon necessitate aggressive play, but
during the first few blind levels splashing around in too many pots is dangerous. While you want to double up early, your best chances start to come when some of the players start to dip below 700 chips. You still want to be the one who eliminates the two players who are about to leave the table early. You want to be raising your big hands (AK, AQ, KQ, AA, KK, QQ, JJ). You also want to see cheap flops with hands that have an opportunity to flop a monster, such as pocket pairs and suited connectors.
When you have a pocket pair Nine or lower, or suited connectors QJ and lower, you want a lot of players to see the flop with a minimal likelihood of a reraise behind you. You want lots of players in the pot so that somebody will connect enough to give you their stack, and you want a low likelihood of a raise behind you because you don't want to throw money away. If both of these conditions seem likely then call a raise of three or four big blinds during the first two to three blind levels with these hands. It's a small portion of your chip stack, and you will probably get somebody's stack if your hand hits.
These opportunities are your best chance of doubling up early. If you fall under 1,200 chips you will have to start being more selective about the situations you call in with these speculative hands.

Phase Two: The Blinds Reach 75/150
At the fifth blind level (75/150) I switch gears completely, and start using fold equity aggressively. The tight image you've established so far will help to disguise the change, which gives you some extra fold equity. When you bet you always want to have a reasonable chance that your opponent will fold - the higher the better. If an opponent has raised in front of you, you probably don't have a lot of fold equity.
Play extremely aggressive whenever you feel that you have high fold equity, but stay conservative in a pot that has been raised. If a player raises in front of you, and calling seems marginal, lean towards folding. Calling two or three of these bets and folding on the next street can change your future in the tournament. The blinds are getting too high to play around in pots that another player has already laid a claim to unless you think you are ahead of them.
At this point in the tournament your strategy will be primarily dictated by your chipstack.

The Shortstack
If you are sitting on less than 1,500 chips at the 75/150 level you want to be playing all-in or fold poker. There is very little value in seeing flops once
the blinds hit 75/150 with a chipstack under 1,500. You want one quick double up so that you can play some cards again. If you have a small chipstack and are going to try to see a flop make sure that you're seeing the flop, and not being chased out by a reraiser behind you. If you have close to 1,500 chips there are obviously some hands that you should be trying to see flops with at the 75/150 blind level. Just keep in mind that as your chipstack shrinks, so does the list of hands you should
be limping with, and it shrinks fast. So many players spew chips at this point when they should be watching for a chance to get all of their money in as a favorite, and preferably with some fold-equity. Once they finally get their chips in they end up doing it with half of what they should have had, and end up back where they started - needing to do it all over again.
At this point, there will almost always be a chip leader who is using their stack to bully the table. That player is now your target. The chip leader will give you a chance to double up sooner or later. They will be stealing blinds, and when you push all-in they will be pot committed, and will call you with all sorts of junky hands.

The Average Stack
If you have an average chipstack you want to maintain your stack while watching for an opportunity to double up. I play defensive poker here because I know that most of my opponents are going to be taking stupid risks before I do.
By defensive poker, I do not mean let your stack shrink to where you have to play all-in or fold poker- that's probably the worst mistake you can make. Playing defensively means that you are trying to maintain your current chipstack while you wait for an opportunity to double up - and these opportunities present themselves quite frequently in short-handed play with high blind levels.

This means you are stealing blinds while avoiding being all-in preflop as an underdog. You want to think through every decision you make here because you will be risking a large portion of your chips every time you raise, or call a raise.

I expand my raising requirements significantly while tightening my calling and re-raising requirements. That sentence was in bold because it is absolutely the most important skill a player needs to have to beat these games. If you can do this well you will outlast a lot of your competition.

The Chipleader
The funny thing about chipleaders in these games is that most players treat their larger stack as being invincible despite the fact that the chiplead often changes hands at least two or three times between four-handed play and heads-up play. It's not uncommon for the four-handed chipleader to bubble. Remember, a chip lead is not a license to play bad poker. If you raise to 450 and your opponent pushes all-in for 1,700 they probably have a hand, so you had better have one too before that little voice in your head says "Call them, you're still in it if you lose". If a player re-raises you all-in it's time to stop and think for a few seconds. Most chip leaders get so caught up stealing blinds that they forget that they need a stronger hand to call a re-shove than they do to steal the blinds, which is why the chiplead changes hands so often at this stage. That's the bad news, the good news is that your fold equity goes up when you have the chip lead. You should be raising unraised pots as often as possible. You want to build on your chip lead by attacking the other players who in all honesty don't want to get involved in many pots with you right now.
Above all watch how many chips your opponent has before you raise their blind. lways know whether you are pot committing yourself with your blind steal if your opponent shoves.
Phase Three: Heads-Up Play

At any rate, your goal is to get to the heads-up match, preferably with the
chiplead. My goal in this article was to get you to the heads-up match. If
you are looking for the fishiest Six Handed Turbo Sit n Go's on the Internet
check out PKR, I have no idea why some of the players here keep playing
these.
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