If you want to learn a very aggressive approach to playing single table sit and go Holdem tourneys at the $100.+ plus buy-in level this is a good book. The author says he is successful with this method and I believe him. The downside is that his approach will likely be much less successful at the lower limits where raises get far less respect but some of what he teaches will apply to lower limit play.

If I had to advice one poker book only, my choice would be this one. It's explanation of the play with different blind sizes is fantastic. It's very useful also for cash players because they can understand the importance of the stack size (deep cash play is somewhat similar to small blind tournament play). I strongly advice this book

This is an excellent book on the 1-table SNG format. After describing the theory of play in each of a wide variety of situations (small, medium, and high blinds; short- and big-stacked; cards in hand; etc.), Moshman provides several hand "quizzes" that examine how to play specific hands. This is an EXCELLENT feature missing from most poker books--even most of the good ones.

One minor beef: I'd like to see some expansion into multi-table SNG's, which somehow ride the line between the 1-tables discussed here (and in several other books) and full-on tournament play.

This is a great book for SNG strategy if you are new to the concept.

But one could save themselves a lot of trouble by breaking it down to these three points:
1) there is going to be some variance in your wins, so make sure you have a large enough bankroll for the level you are playing (what "large enough" means varies by the player's skill and playing style)
2) play very tight early in the game, loosen up and be more aggressive later in the game
3) use SNG Wizard to review all of your games to learn where there are non-intuitive spots to get your money in when the blinds are high

Note that while this book is about NLHE, the basic concept will apply to nearly any SNG strategy, keeping in mind that for limit and PL games, it is slightly harder as your bet sizing is not always going to be much of a threat, therefore your fold equity does not count for much, which much of this strategy is built around.

Otherwise, this is essentially the mathematical model for beating the games.

I personally I have had less success (or perhaps just way more variance) in the turbo games, but crush the regular ones. The better you are, your skill is going to come from you making fewer mistakes, and you exploiting your opponents mistakes - that means in a turbo, there is going to be less time for your opponents to make mistake and so in theory the variance should be higher.

This book has become my favorite out of the dozens of poker books that I own. Before reading this book I was a marginal to losing player at on-line poker. Since reading this book, I have become a consistent winner at low and medium stakes SNG's. I honestly can't say that about any other poker book I have read.

Once you have read and understand the material in the low-blind, mid-blind and high blind sections it becomes an invaluable reference for constantly tuning your game. The organizational structure of the book makes it easy to quickly find a situation that you might want to review after an on-line session.

This book paid for itself within 24 hours of reading it. If you are serious about playing SNG's, but haven't been getting the results you desire, then this book is a must read.

I thought this was a great book on how to play in a SNG. So many books on tournament play are about big tournaments. This book just covers one table SNG play. Cash games and big tournaments are not the same game and cannot be played the same way. I like the way this book takes you threw a SNG from 9 players to heads-up. And talks about the raising blinds. This is not a fast reed book. The book is not that big, it's just that you need to take your time when reading this book and put yourself into each hand to understand how to play SNGs. Use like a user manual and go back to it and look up how to play from places like the bubble or when short stacked. Get this book, you need it. On second thought, don't get this book if you're thinking about playing in a SNG against me.

This is one of the best poker books I have ever read . I had been playing poker and SNG's for about a year and was very frustrated with my results and then I came accross SNG Strategy .This book gave me a very concrete idea of how to play every phase of the SNG game low blind , mid blind and most importantly the high blind and bubble play. This instruction was followed up with easy to follow hand examples . The ideas presented in SNG stategy are understandable and could quickly be applied to my game .I credit this book into turning me into a winning player and would consider it a must read for any poker player.

The beginning of the book is quite elementary, however his insight into the latter stages of SNG play, especially chip equity and applying pressure when short-handed is very helpful. It's well written so even people who don't have math degrees from MIT can understand it. Overall it's one of the more helpful books I've read.

Overall I thought it was an excellent book (most 2+2 books are). I would have liked to have seen more on turbo, six handed, and playing multiple sngs at one time.

Collin Moshman has struck the gold in untapping the SNG book market, with a book that is both easy to read and clear and with enough wisdom to make you a profitable SNG player at almost any level. Read and reread this book and cherish it!

[[ASIN:1880685396 Sit 'n Go Strategy]This book will pay for itself if you plan to play Sit 'n Go games. The math theory stuff was a little over the top for me, but overall this is an excellent book giving you what you need to know to survive getting busted out. The end-game info could be beefed up. This book already paid for itself for me. I highly recommend it even if you only play in home game tourneys. Good luck!

I was very disappointed with this book. I liked Moshman's treatment of equity in sit-and-go's at the beginning of the book, but after that the book is basically nothing but examples. That worked for "Harrington on Hold 'em Volume III," but Harrington's third book had two volumes of theoretical behind it. Moshman's book has virtually no theory.

And his examples were, I felt, dubious. For example, in one early example he says to raise three times the big blind (for a raise of 150) with AKo in late position. So far, so good. But then he says if you have three limpers ahead of you to raise to 175. Huh? If someone's going to call a bet of 150 (early in a tournament with a BB of 50), am I supposed to think they won't call 175?

(In "Winning Low Limit Hold 'em," Lee Jones recommends raising in similar situations to a multiple of the big blind equal to 3 plus the number of limpers. So, for the above example of Moshman's, Jones would be recommending that you raise to 300. That makes far more sense to me as a way to thin the field. And if one's goal isn't to thin the field with AKo, why is Moshman recommending raising with it in the first place? If you want to see a cheap flop and hope to trap people by hitting a monster, why wouldn't Moshman just recommend limping along with everyone else? Regardless, if I'm playing AKo pre-flop behind three limpers, I'm sticking in a big raise to thin the field and clarify my position -- unless I'm intentionally just trying to mix up my play.)

In my opinion, if you're looking to improve your tournament results, just buy Dan Harrington's three-volume set and go carefully through it. Harrington isn't dealing specifically with sit-and-go's, but I believe his books will teach you far more than Moshman's. And Harrington won't give you any dubious advice. Also, Lee Jones's excellent "Winning Low Limit Hold 'em" now has a 3rd edition with a chapter devoted to No Limit Hold 'em as well as sit-and-go's. I think Jones's book is far superior to Moshman's, even though the first parts of Jones deals with limit hold 'em. Much of Jones's limit stuff carries over nicely to no limit play, and the extra chapter he's added to his third edition outclasses anything you'll find in Moshman.

This book is a concise reference and workbook on SNG strategy. If you are a regular player, most of the concepts in this book will be familiar to you. Key points in the book include distinguishing equity from chip expectation, the independent chip model, tight play early, aggressive play during high blind play, and the gap concept (not explicitly named but talked about). One nice part about this book is an entire chapter dedicated to passive plays that are correct in special situations.

I cannot give this book 5 stars however, because there are a few typos like where chip stacks are given in text as if you were in the small blind when you are shown in the picture to be in the big blind. I also didn't like the fact that going from one example to another, there might be a subtle difference in say the hand you were dealt, and that lead to a drastically different conclusion. The truth of the matter is that small changes in the calling/opening ranges of opponents, and small changes in stack sizes can drastically change whether it is right to push or fold in a high blind situation (which is why I recommend SNG wizard, the software). Also, even though the book argued for a differentiation of chip expectation and tournament equity, sometimes a certain play was advocated for on a purely CEV argument.

Things became much more clear with the use of sit-n-go wizard (computer software). SNG Strategy by Collin Moshman gives the ideas in words so that us humans can better understand what SNG Wizard does. There are no steadfast rules that hold for every situation. Every hand in a SNG is fairly complex and there are many parameters needed as input (to determine the most profitable-- or highest equity play). Relative chip stacks, pay structure, blinds, required edge, calling/folding ranges all factor into the mathematical equity equation. Of course in real poker play you will not be making complex equity calculations. You will be putting to use concepts to develop instincts on when it is right to push, fold, raise, reraise all-in, etc. Moshman gives you these concepts. SNG wizard will help you develop your instincts via 'quiz mode' where you can cycle through 1000s of hands.

Another minor issue I had with the book was was the overuse of the terms loose-tight, aggressive-passive. These terms are very standard, but still vague. Loose can be loose calling or loose limping. Passive can be passive calling or passive folding. Much more useful in push-fold situations are the calling and opening ranges you can put your opponents on. Saying an opponent will call with all but 30% of the worst hands is much more specific than labeling him loose (which could mean he likes to limp or he likes to call).

By labeling opponents simply as loose, tight, passive, aggressive, a lot is lost in terms of deeper poker thought, in my opinion. During high blind play where most decisions are push or fold (or during mid-blind play when the decisions are raise, reraise, call or fold), more precise thinking is required than typing players as tight-aggressives or loose aggressives. Better would be to consider image, tilt, the possibility of impatince or fatigue, antagonism between two players, deceitfulness, adjustments players make to position, adjustments players make to you or your image-- all these things-- in piecing together opening, reraising, folding, and calling ranges (to raises and reraises). The more we know about a player's range, the more we can eke out equity from making the correct pre-flop play. Your own image, and card history (maybe you pushed the last 3-4 hands)are critical factors that are completely neglected in the book.

If I recommend this book, it is for intermediate to advanced players, and together with SNG Wizard. In my experience, most who play as a living already understand everything in this book.

I think most who I have played in sit-n-gos at the medium to high stakes understand all the ideas in this book through reading or through frequent online play. Thus I recommend this book to any non-pro. It is a bordline recommendable book for semi-pros. My review will mostly be about where the book is lacking if you are a semi-pro/pro looking for that extra edge.

The most critical idea in this book is that if you're fairly deep stacked, you do not want to make positive chip expected value plays FOR ALL or MOST of your chips, and even if the blinds are fairly high, you do not want to race with a slight or small edge AS THE CALLER because if you or your opponent bust, the Independent Chip Model says the people NOT in the hand benefit the most (because they all move up in the money). It also advocates being the aggressor not the caller in high blind situations (and in general). Of course as a caller, everyone knows the value gained from a possible fold as a raiser is nonexistent.

In this book, a few key strategic plays are outlined, such as stealing, restealing, making a stop-and-go, etc.-- very basic stuff. A nice touch to this book is that there is an entire chapter on when you might make a passive or callish play and plays where you might not go all-in with a short-stack.(An example from the book is when you have a microstack less than 3 times the big blind, and you are not in the blind, and a big stack raises big to steal the blinds-- you might want to sandwich yourself by passively calling to triple up since the blinds are going to fold giving you much better pot odds to call).

As for the examples in the book, there are a lot of "what-would you do in this situation" problems to drive home key concepts which make the book more useful for people who are more "hands on". A lot of these same conclusions that he makes in particular situations can be made with computer tools such as sit-n-go wizard (mentioned in the book). The ideas are not new but the book is a great concise reference and workbook. I highly recommend the book for beginning to near-expert level.

(The rest of my review will be highly technical and of little use to most beginners without the technical vocabulary.)

So why do I say the book is lacking for experts and pros? Firstly, it neglects the role of history and its interplay with image. The book also underemphasizes/neglects YOUR OWN image. The book also fails to address how most players adjust their tight-ness loose-ness or aggressiveness or passiveness depending on who is in the blinds and who they are getting involved with. TAG, LAG are not static descriptors and should never be considered as such. They usually change dynamically not only with position (most good players are very loose in position and very tight with many to act) but also with who is going to be in the blinds or who is likely to call/raise/fold. Some players are oblivious to your image (they are 'fish' or strong multi-table players usually). Some players are oblivious to how they should adjust with position. These are all critical pieces of information. These ideas are harder to include in ANY examples-based book, but they are important and NOT talked about in the book (nor in most books unfortunately).

Also I do not like the overuse of the terms loose, tight, passive, and aggressive in this book-- which I find to be overused in any poker book. Loose means a player wants to play a lot of hands. Tight means a player wants to play less hands waiting for good cards. Passive describes a player that usually is checking, calling, and folding. Aggressive means a player who is raising reraising or folding. In my mind in a high blind situation in a sit-n-go and one from the money, I analyze how "limpish", "callish", "raise-ish" and "re-raise-ish" the other players are at my table-- and they can all be different things. Many aggressive players are not simply aggressive-- they may aggress by raising frequently, but they may not aggress by reraising a raiser much. Some aggressive players may limp preflop, then try to steal the pot post flop with any two cards when they sense weakness. Many "passive" players might be on the brink of bumping back all in with nothing. A loose player may limp into a lot of pots, or they may raise 2.5 times the BB a lot or they may call raises a lot. The terms loose/tight passive/aggressive are too vague in my opinion.

To be a bit more specific and while maintaining useful categorizations, I tend to think in terms of how liable someone might call my preflop raise, reraise my preflop raise (with cards or nothing?), fold to my reraise, call my reraise, and reraise my reraise. I also try to separate preflop and post-flop play (how likely is someone to pay to draw, how likely is someone to call a continuation bet, etc.) Players might be passive preflop but aggressive post-flop. Some players who have good starting hands may continue to bet even if there are overcards to their pair and straight and flush possibilities (aggressive pre and post flop). Some players might be aggressive preflop but are quick to let their hands go if they don't connect post-flop. Most passive players get bullied and lose a lot of chips, but I think it makes sense to keep a measure of how much more a passive player is willing to take before bumping back hard. These are all things good players probably consider, but which are hardly mentioned in any poker book. Any book for semi-pros or pros however, could do better than TAG, LAG, etc. in describing opponents.
In terms of preflop play, by thinking more specifically in terms of the likelihood of someone calling, folding, limping, raising, reraising, I am much better off than thinking in terms of loose-aggressive, tight-aggressive, tight-passive, or loose-passive.

Also the book completely neglects the deceitfulness of an opponent which is separate from loose-tight and passive-aggressive. For example, in a high blind situation where you are in the big blind and a medium stack completed the small blind, I would absolutely consider how honest the player is (does weak mean weak or does weak generally mean strong?) How likely is it that he could have made this move with a high pocket pair?

If the player slowplays a lot, I would have to know I am taking a risk by doing what the book would suggest when my opponent shows weakness completing the bet in the small blind-- pushing all in as a short stack with most any two cards to steal. The book does mention you do not want to push in a situation where you are most likely going to get a call in this situation (you don't want to push against a loose-aggressive [LAG] is what the book would say). However the book neglects that good players might complete their bet as the small blind with the intention to trap depending on how frequently you make all-in raises or reraises (again your image, history, and in this case the deceitfulness of your opponent are all very critical considerations). I know because I have been on both sides (of busting to a trap, and laying the trap myself).

History so greatly influences how other players play poker that I don't think any serious poker book should neglect it. "I'm going to push because the player is tight and because the blinds are high," is not enough. Another way in which history affects players is when there is a sudden change. If you suddenly go from folding a lot to pushing all in in one hand as the blinds get cripplingly high, that sudden change may precipitate a loose call (some may think-- did he give up all of a sudden because the blinds are getting too high and make a move with marginal cards?). What would happen if you were betting 3 times BB to betting 2.5 x BB?

In my opinion, most players react to another player's sudden change of behavior in one of 2 default ways (ways they react most of the time)-- giving you less credit for hands, or giving you more credit. Stereotypes of your opponent as to how they react to sudden changes are very profitable pieces of information. Some people are spooked by suddenly different bets. Some might push all-in or reraise you. The book ignores these more advanced categorizations, history considerations, and image considerations.

This book (and most poker books out there) completely underemphasize recent history and image as critical considerations, neglect the assessment of a player's honesty/deceitfulness when considering push/fold and will lead strict adherents of this book (and other basic strategy guides) to prematurely bust many many times if they are sticking too seriously to basic (ABC) strategies. Sticking too seriously to ANY basic poker strategy guide will probably not get anyone too far (may even remain unprofitable).

Another consideration the book neglects is-- what to do when everyone is playing the way the book suggests. This is actually most sit-n-gos nowadays at $50 and up at least in the endgame. Most know to push aggressively, especially in position in a high-blind situation. Even if you encounter high-blind limpers, by the last 3-4, most SNGs are left with 3-4 tight-aggressive players with a mastery of the basic strategies outline in this book. So where do you go from there for an extra edge? A few things I might consider which is book neglects are 1.) how likely am I to take 1st, 2nd, 3rd outside of what ICM says; and 2.)How likely is it that others will race in 50-50 situations or 60-40 situations and bust moving me up; 3.) How good is the player I'm racing with and would it make sense to sacrifice some chip expectation value to gain in equity from busting a good player?

#1 is answered incomletely by the Independent Chip Model and the book (the book takes the ICM stance). ICM simply takes your chip count to do a mathematical calculation of your chances of winning 1st, 2nd and 3rd. This is not enough. If I'm a superb big-stack bully and I think I'm probably going to dominate short-handed against the remaining players (not proportional to my chip stack but even more so based on gauging my skill level as a big stack and the apparent stamina I think I have and my opponents have to grind out wins) I might be more willing to have a shot at this scenario taking a 50-50 or 60-40 race situation. Another question I might ask is, "If I pass this chance up, am I confident I can build my stack through stealing enough, and if not can I be confident 2 players will clash and push me into the money, or am I liable to be the first to blind out?" Obviously poker is much more complex than just loose/passive, tight/aggressive and the ICM. The book could have talked a bit more about these subtleties (like from a real hand Moshman played).

#2 is inadequately addressed in the book. I am more likely to take a positive chip EV preflop race that the independent chip model might say is negative equity if I know other players adhere to principles in the book (being the aggressor in a high blind situation and not calling so as to avoid increasing the equity of the sidelined opponents). I am more likely to consider positive chip expectation situations as positive equity in a table where everyone is playing smart basic strategy as outline in this book. Why am I more likely to equate chip expectation value with equity in a situation where everyone is following good basic strategy? Because I cannot hope for positive equity to come my way by me sitting on the sidelines if everyone is raising to steal but avoiding confrontations in general (a table full of tight-aggressives is what the book would say). At best if everyone is playing optimally, everyone is stealing their fair share, restealing their fair share, and in general-- avoiding confrontations for most of their chips. No one is getting anywhere until the blinds are so high the game goes from being poker to being lotto! I may be FORCED to gamble in marginally positive chip expectation value situations. There are basically three routes if everyone is playing a solid tight aggressive game: Deviate from my optimal preflop pushing-calling ranges to either trap or steal more blinds OR taking high variance positive chip expectation preflop races OR continuing with my basic tight aggressive strategy outlined in this book along with everyone else, hoping someone will deviate from it, letting someone exploit it (or exploiting it myself, in turn making me exploitable). An immediate analogy I can think of is trench warfare. ABC strategy is how I would imagine holding ground in the trenches-- it is far less riskier than trying to push forward-- a decision needs to be made against a table full of opponents who won't budge. I do become much more willing to take a high pair vs. two overcards race (JJ vs AK) if I think no better opportunity will arise, AND if I think stealing more blinds or restealing more, stealing less to trap with premium cards would not work. The book FAILS to mention what you should do when everyone is playing as outline by this book (not a situation you want to be in, but a situation you will find yourself frequently, being the last 3-4 left in online sit-n-gos). How do you break away from the back and forth, stealing, restealing deadlock when the blinds are so high less flops are seen? Sometimes when there are 2 places paid, and there are 3 opponents left, and all the stacks are fairly equal, a race holding a pair against my opponents two overcards is the resolution (especially if I think I can take the 3rd person out with a big chip advantage heads up). I may deviate from what the book suggests and call for all my chips if I know I'm up, rather than risk remaining deadlocked as the blinds go higher and higher (in the end it will be a lottery of cards as everyone has to raise and call everything).

If players are raisish and the bigger stacks are callish, I would sit back and enjoy the show rather than race myself. Another consideration the book fails to consider is when rivalries may benefit you-- Have 2 players developed an antagonism for one another? When two players get involved in raising and reraising too frequently (or sometimes even verbal fighting in the chat), I know one of them is probably going to bust the other. Maybe player X has told player y that he is reraising all in if his blinds are stolen again by player Y(since he had to fold good cards many many times against player Y's raise on the button). These are social dynamics that are critical in helping to determine whether or not you should take the initiative and get involved with all your chips where you think you might have a 60% shot of winning. Of course if two people are liable to bust each other, I'm going to sit back and move up in the money and steal blinds from neutral (not combative) players to survive. I may even fan the flames of rivalry between two players if I think it may benefit me ("Man.. he keeps stealing your blinds anyway.. probably with 34o or something this time.. lol").

#3, the consideration of the relative skills of two players going into a pre-flop race is completely ignored. If I'm at a table with regulars and semi-pros and pros, I know there is a lot of equity in taking them out. This is not a conclusion that ICM would make. Every player is assumed equal (obviously false). In the independent chip model, only chip stack sizes matter.

So how might this change my play? Depending how good my opponents are, I might race where the chip-EV is negative if I have a stack to survive a small blow. A good example of this in real-life play is Jamie Gold (poker amateur) vs. Allen Cunningham (a top poker pro). He knew he would be in trouble if he were heads up with Allen even with a 2-1 chip advantage. Allen moved all-in post flop as a 60% favorite (the hand is unimportant). Jamie Gold called knowing he was an underdog and NOT getting the odds to call because he was not confident he could chip away at Allen Cunningham to eliminate him. The main idea that can be had from this is that weaker players can make NLHE more luck based and high variance by playing ultra-aggressively earlier (preflop, and after the flop before the turn). The more cards there are to come, the close the win percentages are likely to be. Against pro poker players, weaker players can make the game of NLHE more luck based especially in a fast-rising blind structure (or in the end-game when blinds are already high). On the flip-side, better players probably will benefit from sacrificing some chip expectation in tournaments for the sake of reduced variance (in other words NOT making the plays which would on average make your stack bigger by the greatest amount, but rather risking less of a chip swing early for the sake of getting to higher win percentages [on the river there is usually one winner and one loser, and a pro can presumably gauge better who the winner is, or if he can bluff someone out of a pot or not.])

I could go on an on about why this book is too basic for expert to pro-level players, but I'm sure you get the point. Sure many concepts that I have pointed out as being lacking are hard to quantify (put in numbers). It is much easier calculate chip expectation, or to calculate tournament equity, or pot odds. Most poker tournament strategy books talk too little about history, image manipulation, deceitfulness, variance, and the role of skill discrepancies as factors in making critical tournament decisions. They are never brought up in worked out examples. A good fraction of players you are going to encounter in $50 and up SNGs and MTTs understand all the concepts in this SNG strategy book. If you think like I did that this book will help increase SNG return-on-investment from 15% to 40-50%, I will be honest-- this book won't get you there. Probably several hundred or several thousand more games (not multi-tabling 12 at a time, but really bringing an A-game to a few at a time at most) and analysis with pokertracker or SNG wizard and working out hand details and math and going over notes on how you felt or what you thought on a particular hand will get you there. This book will NOT make a pro into a killer pro, nor do I think a semi-pro would all of a sudden skyrocket in profitability from reading this book.

My post is mostly about where the book is lacking for the more advanced players. If you want to know more about what the book IS about, I suggesting reading other positive-description posts. They are fairly accurate. In a nutshell, the book is about ICM and distinguishing between equity vs. chip expectation value. The book outlines mostly aggressive strategies for low, middle, and high blind scenarios against tight-aggressive, loose-aggressive, tight-passive, or loose-passive opponents. It drives home the gap-concept though it never specifically points it out. The book distinguishes through examples where you want to avoid preflop races by calling or raising, and the rarer cases (with a very very short stack) where you have to gamble rather than be blinded out. The book also details how you can exploit players not playing optimally (such as high blind limpers). The book is the most concise and complete SNG strategy guide out there today. I would recommend this book and "Online Ace" for any beginner looking to get started in sit-n-gos rather than cash games. You have to know how to play texas hold-em however. I would also suggest the Harrington on Hold-em Series as good strating points. If you have only read HOH 1, 2, 3, this book contains enough unique information to be useful. If you have played thousands of sit-n-gos and are profitable, I doubt this book will introduce anything new. In summary if you consider yourself to be at a beginning to near-expert level, this book will probably benefit you. It lays the foundations for sound poker play. I doubt any long-time profitable poker grinder will learn anything new from this book-- my review hopefully outlined some of the reasons why.

This book "assumes" you know how to play poker. It takes that general knowledge and applies it to Sit 'n Go Tournaments. To be specific... ONE table Sit 'n Go Tournaments. Nice that the author does NOT try to teach about every different tournament type. The discussions of such things as chip equity, the Independent Chip Model, and high-blind play are absolutly excellent. My one & only criticism is that there really needs to be more discussion on some of the software tools available. SnG Power Tools and SitNGO Wizard get only a mention. I don't recall Poker-ACE HUD, another valuable tool, being mentioned at all. Never-the-less, still worth 5 stars.

Its a ok book. But offers nothing new on sng strategy.
play tight early, open up later...there...saved you $20.

Sit 'n Go Strategy takes the poker advice-from the best of other sources- and applies it to the sit 'n go. (Actually, I'm convinced that the author has been spying on me for the last couple of years and has turned his notes on me into a book. I'm thinking that I'm due some royalties...)

The author does a good job of explaining what tactics and strategy to use in early, middle, and late stages of a sit 'n go tournament. Every section starts with the author explaining the appropriate tactics and then he follows up with questions. The format is very similar to Harringtons' tournament books. (One of my few criticsims is that more questions/examples would have been helpful.)

The author also does a fair job of explaining the reasoning behind his theory. When a play differs from regular poker, or even normal tourney, play, the author explains. This should be quite helpful for those who are new to poker.

So, in short the book is useful, but it's not earth-shattering. Most of the tactics can be ascertained from reading other books and applying the principals to the sit'n go format. However, this book shortens that process and does a good job of it.

I have been a winner at SNGs from $6 to $60 over thousands of games. I was able to breeze through the hand examples and thought processes and finished the book in a hour at the bookstore. Nevertheless, this book is totally awesome.

SNGs are a relatively simple form of poker, but the concepts required to succeed are completely different from any other form of NL Hold'em. This book is written by a reputable and consistent winner. It covers everything from SNG theory, calculating tournament equity, and proper aggressive strategy.

For sit'n go strategy this book is the absolute nuts. I'd hate it if everyone read this book, but I'm recommending it because the author deserves the $$$ for closing the chapter on Sit'n Go strategy.

I have mixed emotions about this book, because if every poker player were to read it, online Sit `n Go tournaments would become much more difficult to beat. It is appropriate for SNGs with an entry fee of $10 through medium stakes, although many advanced, higher stake players will probably benefit from reading this book. Many of the topics presented are too advanced for the beginning player, who should first gain some tournament experience, and an understanding of basic concepts before purchasing this book.

Sit `N Go Strategy is one of the best poker manuscripts ever published, and a major contribution to poker, as there has been relatively little literature on SNG tournament strategy. It is a well written, fairly comprehensive guide to playing low and medium buy in, one table tournaments. Sit 'n Go Strategy is logically divided into sections on Low Blind Play, Medium Blind Play, and High Blind Play, as well as a chapter, titled Sit `N Go Career Play which covers some additional concepts.

For low blind play the author teaches a very tight aggressive style of play, although he acknowledges, that other playing styles can also be successful, if the players are skilled at post flop play. In the medium blind section, Mr. Moshman also advocates tight aggressive play. However, he demonstrates how an extremely aggressive play can be the optimum strategy when the blinds increase, and table conditions are right.

Part Three, High Blind Play is an outstanding section, and is the highlight of the book. A systematic analysis of table conditions, individual player styles, stack sizes, blind sizes, payouts, and chip values, and how they effect optimum strategy is provided. A wealth of valuable information is provided for the intermediate player, and advanced players should also benefit from reading this section. Concepts such as steals, resteals, stop `n go, and continuation bets are well explained and the concepts are reinforced by a large number of hand examples provided to reinforce the learning of each concept.

This is not just another poker book. Many readers will be surprised at the strategies Mr. Moshman teaches for mid blind and high blind play. It is a very interesting and informative book for the online player who wants to improve his play at one table Sit `N Go tournaments. This book may be as valuable for the SNG player as The Harrington No Limit Series is to the Multi-table tournament player.

Nothing really new, complicated or original. A very solid book exploring strategy for sit n go tournaments. It will absolutely improve your sit n go results. Basically, it will improve your timing on when to put your tournament life on the line and shove all in.

Great book, I play lots of Sit Gos in the computer, and all I had found before was small articles on basic strategy. The author does a thorough analysis of all the different strategies at the different stages.
Great job.

If you don't read this book and want to play sit n go's you will lose money unless you are an experienced well rounded player.
The author describes an excelent strategy to make money playing (online) sit n go's. With tracking software you will without a doubt gain profitable information on players and their betting tendencies. However, the plays described in this book are correct when you are playing people who understand the game. As such, this book will help you TREMENDOUSLY if you are playing 10$ or higher games. At lower levels players are just too inexperienced to recognize your play and inevitably you will lose huge pots because those monkeys keep drawing out on you by making that idiot straight or a two pair with K6o when all they had on the flop was a measly pair of sixes. That being said, I'm not complaining or telling bad beat stories. In the long run correct play is winning play. Realize however who you are playing against and adapt your plays accordingly, rather than doing what the book dictates.

I really like how the book is geared toward online SNG play. There are so many players just doing it for fun, and Moshman goes into detail on exploiting such weak players. He discusses how to use software to monitor multiple tables, how/when to force a play as short stack, and coming over top of HBLs (weak recreational players who treat the blinds as an ante and limp even into high blinds).

Preliminary concepts such as pot odds, expectation versus equity, etc. are also treated in full for newer players. I rate the section on manual reading very highly, and the discussion of buy-in differences and bankroll decisions are likewise very useful for many forms of poker, live or online.

Highly recommended.

I agree with the first reviewer: really good poker books need lots of examples. It doesn't matter how good the rest of the writing is ... I want lots of specific examples and lots of actual hands, and this book is bursting with them.

Doyle's chapter on no-limit in Super System 2 has solid advice, e.g., but there just aren't enough hands and details for me to feel confident implementing a lot of it into my game. Well that isn't a problem with this book.

Favorite chapters of mine in Sit & Go Strategy are primarily the high-blind stuff

(Lower blind chapters are good too, but we all know S&Gs are decided at high blinds):

Bubble Play (and the awesome ICM-justified queens fold to an all-in there)

Heads Up

Ante Adjusting (I hadn't realized how important antes were in S&Gs...)

Fund. Theory of High Blind Play - best part of the book

My only criticism is a fair number of small typos (even the back cover...), but that's well worth navigating to get this ultra-solid info on a game with huge profit potential.

This is an amazing poker book.

After you read the theory part each chapter where Colin describes how to play in different situations and why, you get to see actual hands and the reasoning behind each play. This book and the Harrington on Hold Em books are my favorite because of how many detailed hand examples they give.

For example, Colin describes "SNG Equity," and it's a good description, but I learn better through concrete examples. I was very happy he went right on to a hand:
Two guys go all-in against each other in the 1st hand of a Sit N Go with 2 2 versus Ace-King suited, and Colin explains how both these guys are losing money and how everyone else is gaining SNG Equity in the long run.

After reading it I understood the idea of equity (even the term in general) so much better than before.

I was also very surprised how aggressive you should be during high blinds ... Not just when you have under 10 blinds, but during the bubble, and Very Important, before you get blinded down to nothing. He says how it's better to push all-in with trash than not be able to steal pots in the future, then explains why and gives examples. It doesn't matter even when you're getting constant bad hands so long as you make your move at the right time.

I finished the book in two days and immediately put another $250 in my PStars account. I am now very confident I will be profiting from SNG's and highly recommend this book to any player.