CardRunners Pros Discuss Sit and Go Poker Software

Many players have debated the current state of sit and go (SNG) games.  Some say that the games are still juicy, while others say that it’s all a solved science at this point.  There has also been a ton of talk about what tools are best for beating these games or even if they are still beatable at small-stakes and above.  To settle the debate and get a unique insight on the matter, we got in touch with two of the top SNG instructors at CardRunners, “braminc” and “Sippin_Criss.”

PokerSoftware.com: What is your opinion of the state of SNGs today?

Braminc: I definitely can see that SNGs are tougher to beat today than they were a few years ago.  However, they are still clearly beatable, especially if you game select well.  I don't just mean game selecting away from other good players, I mean game selecting categories of SNGs that don't have as many pros grinding them.  I think the chances of a low-stakes player grinding his way to a poker career are quite small, but hasn't it always been very small?  The best players have always been a very small minority of the overall poker population, so I wouldn't be too discouraged if I were coming into this new.

Sippin_Criss: I think SNGs now are as hard as they have ever been. Lots of people complain that coaching and sites like CardRunners have killed the player pool when in reality the problem is there are just a lot fewer fish. It's much harder to get money online as an American, and French and Italian players have been cut off from playing with us as well. To rise up from the start and become a professional is very hard these days and I wouldn't suggest that anyone do it unless they were already winning at a good clip for an extended period of time. It can still be done of course; it's just much harder.

PokerSoftware.com: What poker software tools do you think are absolutely necessary for a good player to utilize while playing SNGs?

Braminc: The only software that I think is absolutely necessary is SNG Wizard or some type of ICM calculator.  Poker results and statistics trackers like Holdem Manager and PokerTracker 3 aren't nearly as mandatory, but are still useful.  The key is learning how to push/fold in the late game stages correctly.

Sippin_Criss: I think every player should be using a program with an HUD like Holdem Manager, SNG Wizard, and some sort of hotkey program to multi-table better. I use a program called Hjalper that allows me to play 25 games at a time controlling everything with an Xbox controller and I've found that to be more convenient than using keyboard shortcuts.

There are players out there who don't use any of these things and they are costing themselves.

PokerSoftware.com: What is your opinion about a tool like SNG Wizard and how do you think it can help players?

Braminc: As I said above, SNG Wizard is the single most important software tool available to SNG players.  It is paramount to learning how to push wide in late stages, how to adjust to different players and calling ranges, and how to adjust to different stack sizes at different stages of a tournament.

Sippin_Criss: SNG Wizard is a great tool and I've been using it since it first came out. I can play over the course of a day and note 10+ tricky shove/call spots.  Then, I can just plug those into SNG Wizard for immediate feedback, where if I had nothing, I'd be constantly questioning my decisions, developing bad habits, and losing confidence. It has great features as well like charts, quizzes, and the option to send a hand to a Nash calculator.

PokerSoftware.com: Oftentimes when you teach, you also learn a lot.  After being an instructor at CardRunners, what do you feel you've learned about SNG games?

Braminc: I fully agree that through coaching and making training videos, I have learned a lot.  One of the main things I've benefited from is that it's kept me from being lazy.  It forces me to study difficult hands and spots with regularity.  I have also learned a lot about teaching, how to teach more effectively, and how an amateur poker playing mind thinks, which are very important when playing against other amateurs at a later time.

Sippin_Criss: I've definitely learned a lot of positive things from coaching and making videos on CardRunners that have improved my own game. It's interesting to see that in a game that is supposedly solved, every player has their own style from spot to spot. It's also great to see the players who put in the effort to improve their own game and that helps keep me motivated to do the same.

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