Double or nothing sit and go’s are tournaments where half of the entrants double their money and half of the entrants lose. For example if you play in a 10 player $10 buy-in double or nothing tournament, the top 5 finishers would win $20 and the bottom 5 would leave with nothing. Needless to say this unique payout structure requires you to make some changes to your game in order to have the best chance of winning.
Tip #1 – Play very tight for the first few levels.
For the first few levels you want to play very tight and only play your premium hands. Playing tight will allow you to preserve your stack for the later stages and will also give your opponents time to take each other out. You should try not to risk chips in this stage and only play pots when you think you are ahead.
Tip #2 – Try not to call in the middle to late stages
It is important to try to maintain your stack through the middle and late stages when the blinds start to get bigger. To do this you should raise your premium hands or even your moderate hands in good situations and hopefully take down some blinds. One thing you should not do in these stages is call raises. You should be pushing all-in or folding to most raises at this stage. Once the blinds get bigger it’s not worth risking a tenth or so of your stack to see the flop because those chips may be the difference between doubling up and bubbling out.
Tip #3 – Try to get your chips in when you’re ahead
In double or nothing sit and go’s coin flips are not beneficial to your cause, especially in the early stages. The amount of chips that you might win is not worth the amount of chips you could just as easily lose. This is because you can only win a maximum of double your buy-in, so the added value of a double up doesn’t equal the 50% chance of losing your entire stack, because even if you double up you aren’t guaranteed to cash.
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Tip #4 – Play tight at the bubble
In order to make the top half of the field you should stay tight at the bubble. In double or nothing sit and go’s there are more players at the bubble than in normal tournaments, which decreases your chances of being the bubble boy. For this reason it is smart to just play super tight and hope that another player busts. Fifth place pays the same as first, so there is no reason to risk being eliminated in 6th to take the chip lead.
Tip #5 – Survive with smart all-in moves late
If you are getting short stacked at the bubble you should try to move in from good positions to steal blinds and survive in the tournament. You should go after the middle stacks who have enough chips that they feel they can survive until the cash, but have few enough that they are worried about you doubling through them.
The majority of the profit that can be made from double or nothing sit and go’s comes from the few wild players who do not understand the structure. The players who will be the most profitable are those who are able to adjust their games through the various stages of the double or nothing sit and go.