It's so simple and so obvious yet no one seems to get it! What's this easy-to-use secret for crushing Sit-&-Go tournaments online? The answer is PATIENCE, PATIENCE, PATIENCE. I am sure you expected something a little more "secretive". But the truth is, winning at Sit-&-Go's is pretty damn easy. They are actually easier to beat than winning at "real" poker games. I'm sure you are excited & ready to clean out the amateurs at the poker room of your choosing. But lets not get to ahead of ourselves just yet. What we need to discuss first and understand is why PATIENCE is so critical for Sit-&-Go success? First, let's get back to some basics. There are four types of poker playing styles:

• 1. Tight-Passive
• 2. Tight-Aggressive
• 3. Loose-Passive
• 4. Loose-Aggressive

The best playing style is Tight-Aggressive. Don't confuse "styles" with "preferences". If you want to be a great poker player, you MUST be Tight-Aggressive, period! Of course there are DEGREES of each playing style, and that's what accounts for the differences between one pro and another... the DIFFERENT DEGREES of Tight-Aggressiveness. What does "Tight-Aggressive" really MEAN? It means that you play TIGHT in terms of hand selection, but AGGRESSIVE when you enter a pot. Be careful... "Tight" and "Aggressive" are not opposites. "Tight" and "Loose" are opposites. And so are "Aggressive" and "Passive". TIGHT refers to hand selection. AGGRESSIVE refers to betting. This is how different playing styles relate to Sit-&-Go's. The nature of Sit-&-Go's makes them become flooded and OVERRAN by the LOOSE-AGGRESSIVE style players. The reasons are simple:

• 1. You can play a Sit-&-Go virtually anytime, anywhere, and with anyone. This means there's very low risk in LOSING, since you can easily just move on to the next game. It's not like in "offline" poker when once you get knocked out you're DONE.
• 2. The money seems less "real". Let's be honest, we all know the feeling of making a deposit into an online poker account and thinking to ourselves how it doesn't quite feel like REAL MONEY, am I right?
• 3. There's no "embarrassment". Online poker is virtually 100% anonymous. If you make a stupid move, you're not worried about what the other players THINK of you. Who cares? After all, the other "players" are really just silly little avatars on an animated screen. OK, so those are three (there are many more) of the reasons why Sit-&-Go's (and pretty much all of online poker) are dominated by the playing style LOOSE-AGGRESSIVE.

Loose-aggressive is also known as the "maniac" playing style. And what's the FASTEST way to beat a maniac? Yep, you guessed it PATIENCE. MANIACS are constantly playing many hands (loose) and doing so aggressively. What happens is that it's difficult to get a READ on them because you never know whether they're bluffing or not, unless you call their bets, which you can't do because you don't have that great a hand. Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever been up against a player who seemed to be playing VERY aggressively and you just couldn't figure out if they were bluffing or holding great cards? And then when you got all FED UP with it and DID make a call, he had you beat? My guess is that it HAS happened to you, just as it's happened for me and thousands of other online poker players.

The key thing to know is that THERE ARE certain steps you can take to defend this. But fortunately in Sit-&-Go's, this isn't really much of a problem. Because you're usually not up against just one or two manics. You're up against an ENTIRE TABLE of them. Which means you shouldn't be CALLING anyone's bets. Instead, YOU should push the action when you have a monster hand and ONLY when you have a monster hand and that of course requires PATIENCE! It's actually much easier this way. Mainly because with a table full of manics, you can rely on getting action with all your great hands. (I should point out, that I'm generally referring to Sit and Go's where the entry fee is less than $50, as the stakes get higher the quality of play is usually more intelligent.)

So what I'm about to tell you might take some of the "fun" out of Sit-&-Go's. But it will increase your profits dramatically. Here's what your Sit-&-Go "experience" should look like when the field is from 8 or 10 players down to 4 or 5 players.

If your hole cards are A-A, K-K - Go all in pre-flop if you're in early position. If in late position and there was a raise, go all-in. If people were just trying to limp in, make a raise and then bet very aggressively after the flop. Q-Q, A-K - If you're in an early position, bet big (but not all-in). If you're in a late position, use your read on the other players to determine whether or not you think you have the best hand. If so, bet huge or go all-in. All other pocket pairs - Limp-in. If you spike trips, go all-in. If not, fold. Suited connectors - Limp-in if the blinds are reasonably low. Fold suited connectors under 7-6. Ace-X suited - Limp-in if possible. Only bet if you hit the flush. All other hands - Fold.

What you've just seen will be completely different than most "starting hand strategies" out there. And that chart is NOT for all types of no limit Texas Holdem. We're ONLY talking about games that match these three criteria:

• 1. Online poker Sit-&-Go tournaments
• 2. Low stakes (under $50 entry)
• 3. While there are more than 4 or 5 players at the table (in an 8-man or 10-man Sit-&-Go)

DO NOT use that starting hand advice for any other poker games because that's NOT how you should play your starting hands in general. So why would Sit-&-Go's be so much different than "normal" poker play? Like I said before, the reason is because Sit-&-Go's are heavily dominated by loose-aggressive players... and THIS is how you beat those guys. Why exactly does this strategy work? It works because you're only playing monsters. Now if the players at Sit-&-Go's were SMART, they'd OBSERVE that you're only playing monster hands and they'd FOLD as soon as you went all-in. I mean it only makes logical sense, right? Indeed, this is how it works in live games. But not online. Because for online poker there's another important factor working to your advantage, NO ONE'S PAYING ATTENTION!

The truth is, many players are either drunk, hungover, stupid, or playing multiple tables at once. Or all of the above! They're not paying attention to your betting patterns. They're just playing the CARDS, not the PLAYERS. I call this strategy for patiently waiting for monster hands and then going all-in: "Tight-Aggressive Squared" The reason is because this strategy is like the playing style tight-aggressive... but on STEROIDS. Why go all-in so much? It's like I said you WILL get action. Maybe not every single time, but enough times to make it well worth your while. For Sit-&-Go's, all you need to do is double-up ONCE before the field gets to 4 or 5 players. THEN you can start playing aggressively. What will happen is that the 4 or 5 players LEFT IN THE GAME will usually be the smarter ones. And some of them WILL notice by now that you're playing tight. SO THEN what you do is steal blinds. It's that easy.

Everyone tightens up when there are four or five players in a hand because they want to make the money and they want to be VERY CAREFUL to make it into the top three. That is when you steal some blinds and add to your chip stack. Then, after that point you'll be in third place and will be in the money. I am 100% convinced that the "magic equation" for success is, PATIENCE & AGGRESSION!

Your goal for these games should be to place in the money as much as possible. Period. So why risk chips on silly hands early on? They're just not worth it and the other thing about this strategy is that it's a HUGE time-saver. Because it doesn't require hardly any work until there are 4-5 players left. It makes it MUCH easier to play multiple tables at once or do other things while the Sit-&-Go plays in the background. Well lets sum it all up, here's your "Tight-Aggressive Squared" Sit-&-Go strategy:

• 1. Be patient, be patient, be patient! Only play the hands I showed you earlier. Only bet before the flop with Aces, Kings, Big Slick, and Queens.
• 2. When you catch a monster, go all-in. Don't do this if you think someone has you beat (i.e. there's an obvious straight or flush draw on the board). I'm talking about only playing hands when you know you have the best odds of winning.
• 3. When the field gets down to four or five players (depending on how high the blinds are and how many all-in showdowns you've won), shift gears completely and STOP using this "Tight-Aggressive Squared" strategy.

That's the "secret" to Sit-&-Go's. It's obvious but not-so-obvious and it is DEFINITELY simple. The great thing about this is you can start implementing it IMMEDIATELY! Another thing I do to help me crush the online Sit-&-Go tables is use a program called "Sit-&-Go Shark". This is an amazing software tool because it will "take you by the hand" and give you coaching as you actaully play online Sit and Go's.