Comparing Online Poker Sit & Go Tournament Structures

While cash games are basically the same across the different online poker sites -only the players are different-with the same blind/antes, rake structure, and rules. This is not the case for Sit & Go poker tournaments; although most sites start with 1,500 chips and the levels last the same amount of time -10 minutes-the starting blinds differ, as well as the amount they increase level to level.

In this article I will examine the top three US-friendly poker-rooms –UB, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker-and their Sit & Go structure. For this piece I will be examining their standard speed, full table Sit & Go tournaments; turbos and short-handed tables are not covered.

UB and Absolute Poker (The Cereus Poker Network)

• Players: 9
• Starting Chips: 1,500
• Level Time: 10 minutes
• Blind Structure: Cereus Poker uses the slowest S&G structure, with blinds starting at 5/10 and moving up very slowly. In fact, you’ll have played 30 minutes before you hit level 1 of Full Tilt Poker’s S&G’s! You won’t hit 50/100 -the mid stages– until level 6; 200/400 -desperation time-until level 11!

After playing UB/Absolute Poker S&G’s every other site will feel like a Turbo.

Full Tilt Poker

• Players: 9
• Starting Chips: 1,500
• Level Time: 10 minutes
• Blind Structure: Full Tilt Poker starts there S&G’s a little higher up than Cereus, but the initial pace is still fairly slow. You won’t be able to set-mine and play hands with good implied odds as long as you can on UB or Absolute Poker, but like those sites the 50/100 -the mid stages– level comes at level 6, and 200/400 -desperation time-comes at level 12.

Full Tilt does give you a lot of room to maneuver, but unlike UB/AP an early re-raise can end up being a good portion of your total stack.

PokerStars

• Players: 9
• Starting Chips: 1,500
• Level Time: 10 minutes
• Blind Structure: PokerStars starts players off at the 10/20 blind level, but quickly escalates to 50/100 at level 4 of the tournament. Even more of an issue is that the 200/400 blinds come into play at level 8, a full 30 minutes before UB/AP, and 40 minutes faster than Full Tilt!

PokerStars definitely uses the fastest tournament structure of the three sites.

Summary

While Full Tilt and the Cereus sites both move at a slower pace it’s the Cereus Network that allows you to play more in the early stages, since once a standard 3x raise becomes 10% of your stack you really can’t take as many chances. The pace at PokerStars gives players some room to maneuver, but is better geared toward players who are looking to play a high volume of tournaments.