Sit ‘n Go Tournaments: Playing in Sets vs. Playing Continuously

Sit ‘n Go Tournaments: Playing in Sets vs. Playing Continuously

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There are two ways to multitable Sit and Go’s. You can play either in sets or play continuously. We present you the advantages of each these two variants (the advantage of one variant is the disadvantage of the other variant) and give you a recommendation on the question “Should I play in sets or continuously?”.

Playing SNG Tournaments in Sets

If you play SNG’s (or other tournaments such as Double or Nothing), then you open for example eight tables and play these tournaments. Before you open new tables (or take a break), you finish all these tables. You therefore play on eight tables only for a limited amount of time. As soon as you bust at one tourney, the number of tables decreases. The main advantages of playing tournaments in sets are:

Similar or the same blind levels
The decision processes in single-table tournaments changes massively over the time due to the rising blind levels. While you should play very tight in the beginning, you will enter the push-or-fold mode when effective stacks decrease to ten to fifteen BB. When playing in sets, the blind levels will be similar at all of your poker tables. This makes playing poker easier.

Decision time per action remains approximately constant

Over the time, the number of players per table will be reduced, as one after the other opponent will bust. This means that you will have to take action sooner: If only five players are left at the table, you will have to make twice as many decisions as at the start of the tournament. On the other hand, you will bust early at some of the tables, reducing the number of tables you have to observe. These two effects roughly balance each other out, so the time you have per action will remain approximately constant.

Playing Sit’n Go Tournaments Continuously

If you play SNG’s continuously, then you open for example eight tables and open a new table as soon as one SNG is finished. You are therefore always playing eight tables simultaneously. The main benefits of playing poker tournaments are:
Less results-oriented play

Since you always have the same number of tables open, you won’t get to think “I already lost at six of the eight tables, I absolutely must finish the two remaining tables in the money, or this will become a losing session”. Playing continuously reduces the risk of tilt and lets you focus more on playing your best possible game.

More tables per hour and higher hourly rate

To illustrate this, we have constructed an example of a player who plays poker for 90 minutes. He multitables up to eight tables. Suppose that every minute a new table opens and that a single table tournament ends on average after 30 minutes. To win a STT, it takes 40 minutes (10 minutes longer). In one out of four SNG’s, the player busts early after 15 minutes.

When playing in sets of eight tables, it takes 45 minutes to complete a set with the assumption that he wins one of these tournaments. He only plays eight tables simultaneously for 10 minutes (see table below). He therefore manages to play a total of 16 tables in 90 minutes.

If he plays continuously, he plays most of the time 8 tables at once, resulting in a total of 23 tables played in 1.5 hours total 23 tables (click to enlarge):

The longer your Sit&Go’s session lasts, the more tournaments you will be able to play with the continuous play, increasing your hourly rate by a rough 50%. This is why most multitabling regs don’t play in sets but play continuously.

Recommendation

Our advice about playing poker tournaments in sets or continuously is: beginners who have just begun with multitabling should play in sets. This makes it easier to learn to play poker at multiple tables. Advanced players should definitely try to play continuously. This allows them to use the time spent for playing poker effectively and to increase the hourly rate by around 50%.

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