Full Tilt Poker Report: Sit and Go Strategy for Building Your Bankroll

These days in online poker, you don't just have to know what cards are good, you need to know what game is good, how to manage your bankroll, and how to prvent yourself from going baliistic tilt. Yes a tough game indeed. You may want to consider something like Tournament Indicator, it actually helps keep you on track with any or all of these deficiencies you may be experiencing.

Sit and go tournaments (STT’s) are the best way to learn poker, advance your game, and build a bankroll online. At Full Tilt Poker however, this is even more applicable because of the blind and prize structures. If you are playing in a certain circuit as well, Full Tilt offers some of the best note taking features on your opponents, whereby this extra information will allow you to make a move with weak hole cards on occasion.

When I first sat at a Full Tilt sit and go table, I was shocked to find the blind levels raise every 5 minutes! I actually thought I had sat a turbo table in error, but when I investigated further I pleasantly discovered that the actual blinds raise in very small increments. I was used to the Party Poker scenario where blinds virtually doubled every time, putting all kinds of pressure to make a move with sub-par hole cards. Full Tilt increments go in very small raises whereby after a full hour of play the blinds are still a reasonable 150/300. With accelerated online play, that means you could have seen up to 100 hands in that hour, which is plenty of time to watch the loose players kill themselves off while you push your solid hands and remain a competitive chip stack by staying out of the action and multi-way pots.

In light of this, your strategy is to simply stay out of hands. If you are in one you should be loaded with a big pair or big slick and forcing the action, not calling it. There are other marginal hands like JJ, AQ, AJs, ATs or smaller pairs that you can call in late position hoping to flop a big hand. If you don’t and that is most likely, you absolutely need the inner strength to fold medium strength hands and draws here to any type of aggression whatsoever. Your ability to lay down hands in these tournaments, are simply what is going to win them for you.

Now, if you know your players well, and have taken notes in this game or others, you may have opportunity to make position moves. When you are late in position, that’s the time to re-raise players who may be over aggressive, maniacal, gun shy, or min-raising chumps who like to see flops. Watch for these rare spots to chip up, otherwise, stay out of the fray.

If you wait for quality hands and bet enough to get heads up against your opponent, you will place in these tournaments without risking a lot. Once you get to third place, aggression is the key here, unless your two opponents are aggressive themselves, and hopefully with each other. First or third should be your guide when 3 handed. Don’t beat yourself up by going out third with a quality hand or position push because the difference between 3rd and 2nd is marginal. You want to win an all in hand so that it puts you in a huge advantage to take first after you win.