Carbon Pokers $8 tier 1 and $24 tier 2 sit and go tournaments can be very good value for the players who are able to use the tournament structure to their advantage. The fact that 1 out of every 3 players get paid is different than most 18 player tournaments in which only 4 players cash. The extra two players cashing, along with 1st through 5th being the same prize allows you to play a much tighter game in order to hold on for a cash. Another reason the tournaments can be good value is because the first half of the tournament is played at two tables. If your table doesn’t play as many hands as the other this means that there is a greater chance of players from the other table busting before players from yours. A lot of players will just be scheduled tournament players who are used to very large fields and are just looking for tokens to some bigger buy-in MTT’s. You can take advantage of these players by using the tournaments structure to your advantage. Here’s how:
Play tight and aggressive early on
Your objective early in the tournament is to stay close to your starting chip count and not play many hands. If you do get a big hand early of course you should play it and try to gain some chips or double up. Play big hands aggressively at this stage though. You do not want to let people catch hands against you and bust you from the tournament at this stage. Remember to stay tight. It’s actually possible to cash in these tournaments without every playing a hand. Extremely rare, but possible.
Slow down your table
You can slow down your table by taking the maximum amount of time allowed for you to make every decision. The logic behind this is that if your table plays fewer hands than the second table, the second table players will have more hands to possibly bust on, as well as have more blinds being put into the middle. Obviously once you reach the final table this is no longer beneficial.
All in or fold with 10 times the big blind or less
Once the blinds have increased to a point where you have 10 times the big blind or less you have to start either pushing or folding. You can no longer afford to call or raise because you don’t have enough chips to make moves after the flop. At this point the only call you should possibly be making is from the small blind, with no other callers in front of you.
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Watch the blind increases
Once it gets down near the bubble the blinds will be very large. At this point it would be smart to start managing the blinds are trying to be in the button seat when the big blinds increase. The 200 chip difference between levels could be the little difference between bubbling and cashing.
Do not be the bubble boy
This goes without saying. You do not want to finish in 7th position and have played the entire tourney with nothing to show for it. If you are a shorter stack near the bubble you should be checking if you or other short stacks will be having their chips forced in first. If other players will be forced in by the blinds before you, it may be smart to wait and hope that their cards don’t hold up when they are pushed all-in. If it is you who will be the next person forced in you should be looking to push all-in sooner rather than later. When choosing when to move in you should take into consideration your position, the other players chip stacks and tendencies and of course your hole cards. A perfect situation would be pushing from the button with a good hand on players in about 4th or 5th who would not want to risk crippling their stacks and doubling you up.
On the other hand if you have managed to develop a large stack heading into the late stages of the tournament you should try to coast into the money and not risk your chips. You should try not to play many pots with other large stacks. Remember there is no difference in prize money between first and fifth so be stingy at this point and don’t risk your chips.
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