Double or Nothing Sit and Go Tournaments at Poker Stars

I noticed a new format today that is essentially Double or Nothing Sit and Go Tournaments at Poker Stars. Meaning, of 10 players that sit at the table, 5 will double their buy-in, while the other 5 are eliminated. The tournament ends when the last 5 player are determined.

I tried and cashed in 2 bucker trying to figure the right strategy to employ and also what these could mean for bankroll building strategies. They surely lack the excitement of 1-2-3 payout structure, but does anyone see how these could be useful?

_________

I played these for a while at Pacific. For a good player at low stakes they are pretty easy. However once you get up to the $50 buy-in (even at Pacific) they are still pretty tough and I basically concluded that the ROI was not there as compared to other game types.

That said, I think they could be a great learning / experience gaining tool, provided appropriate adjustments are made.

A few things I have observed:

1. Rake nips at your heels in these. You need to be cashing about 60% of the time just to show slow BR growth.

2. They play exactly the same as muti-prize satellites (eg 1 in 4 seats wins etc). That means you absolutely must know or get (even if not fully understand why) that chip values are non-linear and your current stack is way more valuable to you than the chips you hope to win by a big all-in clash. All of that basically means play rock solid tight (and somewhat passive) poker where you are just completely averse to coin flip situations.

3. The ICM structure theoretically means you have to be very tight and risk averse (see above). But most players (even at $50 buy-in) don't make this adjustment and play them exactly like a regular SNG. That means they are playing way too loose, which conversely means you need to be playing EVEN tighter than the already tightened adjustment game.

4. You would think that with this kind of ICM extreme bubble play dynamics, most people would intuitively get the fact that they need a huge hand to call a shove if it means their life is on the line. That should mean that big stack bully power is more effective. However that has not been my experience and "tight is right" continues to be the most effective strategy even on the bubble.

5. For all of those reasons which demand ridiculously tight play, it is a structure which I find too difficult to have good enough patience for.

6. If someone was learning SnGs playing these, and then made the transition to regular structures later, I worry that they would basically have to start re-learning from scratch because the ICM and bubble play is almost the complete opposite. That said, you get to play alot of hands for cheap and maybe they are a good BRB format for the experience element.


____

They are very similar to the 5400 FPP SNG qualifiers to the Sun Mil where 4 people qualify. I never failed to qualify with them and ALWAYS played very tight, watching the donks playing normal SNG strategy and wasting chips or busting out. I didn't care as my aim was to double up slowly to 3000 chips and only take an interest in the game when it was down to 6 players. By that stage I usually had between 1500 and 2500 and there were guys with big stacks and 2 very low stacks. Basic conflict avoidance. I then focused on helping to eliminate the remaining low stacks.

In the 5/10 SNG, the strategy is the same. Conflict avoidance until down to 7 and then keep the pressure on the weak 2. In reality you are only wanting double up at most and 5th is as valuable as 1st, so do not chase it. The chips will come to you. If you are fortunate to have premium cards and knock a guy out early on, coast to the finish line. Do not try and be 1st.

The aim is win 2 out of every 3 games as a minimum, but 3/4 or 4/5 is a more realistic target.

I agree with phaedrus, it is harder higher up because the guys at the higher levels know how to adjust - but if you are BR building it is a good way to learn patience and discipline as you build a roll.