Playing "double up" sit and go's.

Recently the double up sit and go has gained in popularity with inexperienced sit and go players figuring that they have more chance of cashing in this format.

If you start playing this format of game you need to adjust your strategy to a more patient game than a standard six handed game and this can make it difficult to make the transition back to the normal SNG.

This game is so easy to beat that any average player should be able to make a return on them. Just follow the rules for the standard six handed game until you get proficient enough to deviate. The following notes will help you beat the double up game:

First of all you need to be aware that the bubble is going to come to you when you are four handed rather than three handed. Because of this it's usual that the four remaining players have a sizeable chip stack. It's normal that two players will bust out donating their whole starting chip stack to another two players and that will leave two comparative short stacks on around 1500 chips and two on the 3000 mark.

If you are one of the happy big stacks then you don't need to do anything else apart from wait for a monster hand like AA or KK. Playing anything else is folly until the blinds get up to a level where you need to maintain equity. You are waiting for another player to bust - not trying to force the action.

Secondly, be aware that there are far fewer very weak players at this game simply because of it's nature. Many players who want to start building a bankroll use this format to start doing it as it involves lower risk. It also involves a lot of grinding to build a bankroll so you have more patient players at this game and you need to adjust to the pace of the table.

Lastly , there will be a lot of limpers, so take the opportunity to make up the small blind when you have limpers in front of you whatever trash you have. If you hit the flop hard then you can play - and by hitting it hard I mean making the straight, flush or flopping trips with a good kicker. Making any pair on a low card board always put's you in danger of busting out to a limper with 88,99, or 10,10.

And as a bonus tip remember that the big winner from this format game is the poker room, because the buy in fee is a higher proportion of your winnings you need to maintain a very high win rate to make it worth while.