Single Table tournaments have been growing in popularity through internet poker.  These tournaments are attractive because they start as soon as a set number of players is reached and can therefore be played anytime of day or night. These sit n go's can be played for just about any stakes and usually take from 30-80 minutes. There are a variety of sng's with differing numbers of players and differing amounts of times per blind level, for the most part we will be discussing the 10player single table sng. These tournaments are structured so that the top three players are paid, usually dividing the prize money 1st- 50%, 2nd-30%, 3rd- 20%. With 10 players participating this means a 3rd place finish gives you back about double your buy-in.  This can make these games a consistently profitable venture for a skilled player as they can often secure a place in the money without any risk of elimination, and only then begin gambling to "win" the tournament.  Below we will provide the best advice we can on how you too can profit from these tournaments.  Along the left side we will display rooms that offer a good player base for sit n go tournaments, a wide array of games, and/or Single table poker tournament promotions.

In the early stages of a SNG you should be playing a very tight. There is an adage that comes to mind that applies very well... "You cant win a tournament with nine players at the table, but you can definitely lose one." Your primary goal should be survival, with a secondary goal of acquiring chips. Play only hands where you will know where you stand, Ace high flush draws, Pocket pairs, Ace King, Ace Queen.  Any other hand should be routinely folded in this stage.  Even these playable hands should only be played cheaply, avoid putting a substantial portion of your stack into play unless you are a substantial favorite.  By playing hands like pocket pairs and nut flush draws you will be able to identify when you have the best hand or best draw very easily after the flop and avoid losing chips with second best hands.  Some players engage in early game aggression, getting involved in lots of hands, this can be done provided you have a good understanding of the intricacies of small ball poker. This is a talent best acquired through experience (cash game play helps), and mostly involved controlling pot size and effective use of bluffing and semi-bluffing, but the key is still never involving a large portion of your stack.

If you do lose some chips do not let this tilt you. Even losing half your stack in this portion of the game does not mean you've lost.  If your stack has been substantially reduced you may have to adjust your strategy and play as if you were deeper into the game.  This is because the blinds will be placing a disproportionately larger amount of pressure on you then your opponents.  In a way though your shorter stack works to your advantage, you may very well get looser calls from the larger stacks and will be able to prey on the medium stacks that can afford to give you some chips without impacting there position significantly.  

In the mid stages of an SNG you should still be playing tight game but your requirements should begin  to loosen up and your pre-flop aggression should increase substantially. The blinds are now worth stealing and by now you should have a cultivated an image as a tight player.  Your opponents have see you fold the vast majority of your hands for the first three levels, you will be able to steal 3-4 blinds before anyone even notices you have suddenly  shifted gears.  You should not be playing loose here, but should be pushing aggressively with strong hands.  A 20% range is reasonable here, Any Ace with a Jack or better, any pair, KQ, KJ, bet strongly pre-flop and do not be afraid to fire continuation bets post-flop if the action is checked to you.  Do not over do it, You still need to survive to make it to the final three.  You only need to take down 1 hand per round of blinds, and if that hand gets any players involved it can pay for several rounds of blinds.  Appropriate raise at this point are still 3-4 blinds as an open raise.  A re-raise should probably be an All In push.  
 

At this point the action is probably short handed.  The key to playing with blinds this large is good use of position.  When in late position you should be trying to pick up the blinds almost every time, and don't make small raises, With blinds larger then the 1/10th of your stack your only raise should be All In. Assuming you are in the money you should definitely be playing very aggressively, first place is usually rewarded disproportionably while the difference between 3rd and second is small.  For this reason continuing pushing as the value from the chips you will gain when your opponents fold outweigh the risk of being slightly behind. 

If you are not yet in the money it is important to remain aware of relative stack sizes.  If you have a lead that is more then 1-2 Big Blinds over the the bubble player the correct play is usually to wait and force him to double up or acquire chips.  At this point it is only worth risking chips if you figure to be a SUBSTANTIAL favorite.
 

Once you have secured a place in the money your goal should switch from survival to winning the tournament.  Second place is really a small consolation prize as most single table tournaments use the 50%-30%-20% payout distribution.  You should be playing very aggressively regardless of whether you are the shortest or largest stack on the table, the extra chips will serve you well once you are heads up.  Having the chip lead when you reach the heads up confrontation gives you a massive advantage.  Furthermore even a few additional first place finishes will more then compensate you for those spots where by waiting you could have locked second place. The one thing to remember is only start gambling once your in the money, just as first is far better the second, third is infinitely better then 4th.  

The ability to play effectively from with a large stack is by definition vital to winning any tournament, eventually you have to win all the chips so playing well once you have most of them is definitely important. With that said, how should having a large stack affect your strategy in a single table tournament? Well the primary advantage of a large stack is your ability to threaten another player with elimination while not facing that same risk yourself.  Also the blinds should be putting less pressure on you then the other players who have less chips.  These two points seem to suggest contradicting strategies, because you no longer face the risk of being eliminated you could play looser, but because you can afford to wait longer you really don't need to.  So when is it right to tighten up with the big stack and when is it right to use it to bully the table? To begin with, all big stacks are not equal, In the examples below we begin to see that it isn't really the number of chips that is important so much as the amount of chips you have in relation to the size of the blinds and the other stacks at the table.  You should also always be aware of where you are in relation to being in the money in the tournament.  In general your strategy with a large stack should not significantly differ from good strategy with a medium stack, this means that if your table is playing too loose you should play tight, and if the table is playing too tight you should loosen up and play aggressively.  Now lets go into some more specific situations using these examples.  

Measuring and examining your results will go a long way towards helping you become a better poker player regardless of whether your playing small single table tournaments or major multi table events.  It is important to know how you are performing for you to know what if any adjustments are required.  By maintaining a long term database of results you will be able to identify small changes that increase your profit margins... are you finishing in the money frequently but not finishing in first often? Are you rarely cashing but when you do you generally win?  Are you doing neither and losing money?  These are important things to know.  Don't let your play be determined by what you "think" is happening, track it and know for sure. 

There are free options available to you.  I recommend this spread sheet put together by some friendly twoplustwo'ers.  It is a Microsoft excel spreadsheet specifically designed to track single table poker tournament results. It will provide all the statistics you need as long as you regularly input your results.  And if you later decide to convert to poker tracker it has built in functionality to import/export info between the two.  PokerTracker is definitely the most robust solution for tracking results, some players do not play enough to justify spending the 50$, if that's you the spread sheet should be fine.

If you are playing the larger multi-table tournaments you should definitely be investing in poker tracker.  In the big events you will see that many of the same players compete week after week, by maintaining a database you will not only gain insights into your own playing habits but those of your opponents as well.  This information can definitely help you improve your returns as you will know which players to avoid and which players to try and isolate.  We recommend a number of poker tools to improve your play and make life a little easier in general.  Check them out.