The heads up stage of a sit and go tournament is very important because there is usually a substantial difference between the first and second place prizes. Once you get down to heads you have to increase the range of hands you will play and account for the blinds when deciding whether to raise or move all-in. You should also by know understand the type of player you are heads up against and use this information to give yourself the best chance of winning the tournament. Also, if you enter the heads up stage with the short stack you should play extremely aggressive and force the big stack to risk his chips.

When the sit and go tournament is down to two players you must greatly increase the range of hands you will play. By this stage the blinds will likely be very big and there is a good chance that either you or your opponent has fewer chips than 10 times the big blind. If this is the case you should be moving all-in every time you raise.

If you are the small blind you should very rarely call pre-flop and allow your opponent to see a free flop. You should likely either fold or at least make a minimum raise. This is because if you just call your opponent may sense weakness and raise you, which will cause you to lose double the amount of chips you would have if you just folded pre-flop. Also, your opponent may often fold to minimum raise, which means you are risking a small amount of chips to steal your opponent’s blind. From the small blind you should probably raise over half the hands and try to be the more aggressive player.

Aggression is very important in heads up poker. Hands rarely make it to showdown and it is often the more aggressive player who takes down the majority of pots. You should try to make a lot of small testing raises to try to take down the pots, while not risking a large portion of your chips. Of course if you or your opponent has under 10 times the big blind, you should be pushing all-in rather than making the small raises the majority of the time.

Once you are heads up in a sit and go tournament you will often have a fairly good idea as to the type of player you are up against. If you are up against a tight player you should play a little looser and try to steal his blinds, which will be getting quite large relative to stack sizes. You should also respect the tight player when he bets and give him credit for a hand. That being said, players who are tight early in the tournament often loosen up in heads up situations. This is simply because playing looser heads up is the better way to play and if you are playing a strong opponent they will be adjusting their game.

If your opponent has been playing loose for the entire tournament you should expect this to continue and possibly for him to become even looser. If this is the case you should still play a lot of hands for cheap and try to get all the money in when you make the nuts. You may also be able to trap a loose player when you have a good hand in order to extract maximum value from your hand.

If you are short stack heads up you should be ultra aggressive, moving all-in whenever you have the chance. This forces your opponent to decide whether to call and allow you right back into the tournament with a double up or to fold and allow you to steal his blind and continue to increase your stack.

In heads up poker aggression is almost always the way to go. You want to make your opponent make the tough decisions for all their chips. Even if you are playing aggressively and get called by the better hand you could still suck out and take down the pot. Also, by playing aggressive the blinds you steal usually more than make up for being a slight dog when all the chips get into the middle. Remember that first place is where the money is, so do your best to attack your opponent and get your hands on the rest of the tournaments chips.

Other Sit and Go Poker Strategy:

Double or Nothing Poker Strategy

Super Turbo Sit and Go Strategy

How Not to Win a Sit and Go Tournament

180 Man Sit and Go Tournament Strategy

Stealing the Blinds in a Sit and Go Tournament

45 Man Sit and Go Tournament Strategy

Sit and Go Bankroll Management