Even though sit and go tournaments change based on the location that the game is played (online or live) and the type of poker being played (limit, no-limit, stud, hold-em, HORSE), the blind levels are generally the same, and therefore can be planned for and used to your advantage over players who are either unprepared or who haven’t made the same preparations as you.
Blind levels are set up to gradually force players out of a game. If too many players don’t play or play tight, the increasing blinds will force everyone to play any two cards and it will make the outcome of the sit and go be entirely up to chance. As someone who has invested money you want to make sure this doesn’t happen and if possible, plan to make sure it doesn’t happen to you accidentally.
The beginning of a sit and go generally consists of about three blind levels. In online play, those are often 10-20, 15-30, and 25-50. Unless the play is really crazy, these three levels will often be relatively easy as everyone has ample stacks and therefore they shouldn’t play really bad cards.
The next few levels of blinds are really considered the middle of any sit and go, and a place where everyone really starts to get into the game and are forced to play either because previous mistakes have lowered their stack, or they are preparing for the bubble. In online play, these would be the blinds from 30-60 to 60-120, which is often 4-5 rounds. These rounds are strikingly different from the first ones as they increase much more quickly in terms of nominal size and therefore drain tight players’ stacks much faster. At this point, you should make sure to have a strong stack because otherwise your chips will be drained very quickly on the blinds.
After this, the game really goes into overdrive. Blinds begin to rise by a huge amount to the point that almost everyone in the sit and go is starting to feel the pressure. In a single table sit and go, if you pass the 60-120 mark with 5 people or more you are almost guaranteed that it will be a very random level of play from now on as most people will be hurting for chips and therefore forced to play a much poorer style of poker or even online poker.
When playing sit and go’s, always make sure to be cognizant of the blind level and how it will affect the play. If you make sure to do this then you will find that it is easier to keep your focus and react to what other people will do as they do it.
