Congratulations you have reached the final three and the price money! You're now in the money and have completed the first goal, getting in the money. Now that youvé reached the top three places it´s time to focus on winning the tournament. This is our last and second goal.

We at pokerbeginner see this last part of a Sit & Go tournament as a tournament by its own. The strategy for this last part is divided into the two sections, Three players and Heads up. But first a little reminder on how the price structure impacts our strategy. As you know the price structure is not linear. If it was linear you could just focus on getting in third. Since the structure is somewhat progressive you need to try to finish first more often than you finish second or third. Earlier we showed the big difference this could make in your long term profit. The reason is simply that first place pays 50%, second pays 30% and third pays 20%. You should notice the small gap (10%) between third and second and the larger (20%) between first and second! In other words it´s worth taking a few risks to get into first place. The payoff is much larger. That said let´s get on with the strategy.

When there are few players at a poker table the cards quality and strength changes. Pocket pair goes up in value, even low ones, and also high cards. Suited connectors and similar hands that need to improve by hitting the flop good, or get help later on, will be less valuable. You will not have the right odds to draw to these hands. Notice that this does not apply to high suited connectors, because they are high cards! This said a hand with just an ace is now a good hand. At this point you're getting involved in most pots so you're playing a lot of hands that are not that great.

If you have a large chip stack when there are three players left you will have some freedom. You can choose to play somewhat passive and hope that the other two clashes and one gets eliminated. You can also choose to be more active and get involved in pots by raising a lot thus pushing the others around. We want to emphasise the importance of not get to passive. The blinds are probably high and your stack will vanish if you wait to long. At these levels you will not be able to wait many rounds before your stack diminishes Remember that you are one of only three people so you don't need great value hands to play.

If you have a smaller stack you should take risks that you probably would not take in a cash game. If you think you have a chance to win a pot by going all-in do so even with a weak hand. You can not allow yourself to wait to long. Hopefully you will win blinds and stay alive a bit longer. Remember if you are short stacked almost any hand is a good hand worth pushing all the way.

If someone goes all-in you can also call with a worse hand than you normally would (not a useless hand but a bit weaker). Also remember that it´s always better to be "first in vigorous". This means that you're first in the pot and put in a descent raise. This gives you two ways to win. First you might win the pot straight away (picking up the blinds) or you might get a great flop. This should be your normal play if you think there is any chance of picking up the blinds.

Two players left and it´s finally time to decide who wins; you're heads up! A lot of people say that Hheads up is mostly about luck. They are right in some sense, but the luck factor can easily be overestimated.

To play heads up in a Sit & Go tournament is normally to be faced with a situation where the blinds are huge. You probably realize that you can't afford to be passive. You should be raising a lot of pots and rarely fold. If you don´t have a good reason to fold (i.e you don´t face a big raise) than you should play the pot and this means playing almost every pot. Remember the odds and play accordingly. For instance, if you are in small blind, you will almost always have the odds to call the big blind. You probably don't want to do that with the very worst of hands, but pretty much with the rest of them. If you notice that your opponent always raises after your call you should then instead raise more often yourself. Raising first in is the natural play in heads up.

Try also to change gears. Fold three hands and then raise three in a row. It can give you a surprise effect that could be worth a lot.

As we said earlier you should raise a lot of pots. If you hold a pocket pair, an ace or two high cards you should raise. A lot of players will only raise the minimum but that is letting your opponent in to cheaply! We recommend that you make a decent raise or go all-in with these hands. With the minimum raise your opponent has almost the odds to call with any hand.

If you believe that your opponent only will raise with a good hand and has been passive you should respect his raise and fold. After that you can continue to picking up the blinds again.

To slow play hands with great value (AA, KK and QQ) can often be very valuable in heads up play. To take a little extra risk to get good pay off after the flop is often worth it. Sometimes that extra card turns your opponents hand into a monster but if you raise to much with these hands preflop chances are you just end up winning the blinds. If you are in small blind you might just want to call and see the flop. If your opponent raises, you can then re-raise. If he doesn´t raise he might not yet have a hand and you can give him an extra chance to pick something up. He might even try to steal the pot.

To summarize, in heads up play almost every hand and play it aggressively!

If you would like to study Heads up we can recommend the great book by Dan Harrington: Harrington on holdem vol II. See also our reading strategy here.