Sit and go's - the importance of shoving

Single Table Tournaments / Marcus Bateman / 25 June 2010 / Leave a Comment

Hands which are easy shoves if you are first in are easy folds to a shove from another player, and this concept is absolutely critical to sit and go success.

One of the most common and obvious problems you see players make in sit and go's is a failure to understand how important short stack play is to winning these games. Although all sit and go's start with quite low blinds, they rise quickly, and the important end of the game is always played short handed with predominantly small stacks.

Short handed small stack play requires very different skills to deep stacked full ring games, and it is essential to winning play to fully understand how to attack late on in these games. Short stack play requires two key aspects to be successful - bravery and timing. You have to be prepared to die in order to live in tournament poker, and shoving marginal hands is essential to staying afloat as the blinds rise and rise.

Although bravery is essential, it is only half the battle, as you also need to have a solid grasp of the best spots to make these plays - timing them well is crucial. Within timing, the most important aspect is being first in. Due to the gap concept in poker (that you always need a stronger hand to call a bet than to make one), it is essential that you judge the difference between raising and calling well. Hands which are easy shoves if you are first in are easy folds to a shove from another player, and this concept is absolutely critical to sit and go success.

Many players really struggle when the blinds get high and the remaining stacks get short. They clam up and play too tight as the blinds relentlessly march through them, and they end up going out many places before they should even if they had accumulated chips well early. Make sure that you turn up your aggression substantially and don't hold back when the game gets short - the difference between winning and losing sit and go play is simply controlled late aggression.

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