When I first started playing online, despite modest success playing live, I was a break-even player at best. Then I discovered a lovely little $8 sit-and-go on Pacific Poker. It was a 20-person SNG on two tables. You only got 800 chips to start with, and in no time at all you were down to the second table. In fact, it wasn't uncommon for two or three players to get busted before your first big blind was taken from you. I found that I could often get to a paid spot without having to play many hands at all. You just let the maniacs take care of each other and all of a sudden you were playing for 20 buy-ins worth of prizes. This SNG is what catapulted my profits and made me truly believe I could actually make money playing poker.

Of course, it wasn't a magical Pacific Poker SNG that only I could win; it was simply a format that suited my playing style. Two-tablers are neither a multi-table tournament nor a SNG, they are something in between.

The two table SNG is my single best game, and whenever the cash games or tournaments are going badly, I concentrate on them exclusively. Two table SNGs are not only my best game, they could be your best game and you don’t even know it yet.

Why two table?

Because they are much more profitable. You get five to seven times your buy-in for finishing in first place, and a good return for second or third. If you win an MTT, then you don’t have to cash again for long time, but you need to cash consistently in SNGs to avoid going broke. A couple of decent results in a two table SNG, however, and your bankroll can withstand quite a few knocks thereafter.

Although the size of the field will make winning one statistically less likely than a one table game, it isn't like an MTT, where the final table can seem a million miles away. It is very easy to make it to the second table without really getting involved in many hands, and still with plenty of chips intact. There is often a lot of dead money in these games, and staying under the radar early while a lot of these players bust each other is a key to success.

Why not?

Getting a game is probably the biggest problem. You can get into a single table SNG at the stake of your choice within a minute at most poker sites, but the two table games take longer to fill up, and some poker rooms don't even offer them. They are particularly unpopular at higher stakes. Most of the top SNG players clearly prefer the dynamics of the solitary table. The $50-$60 games on Poker Stars take a while to fill up, and the $100+ games take ages. There are very few games available above $200, which is frustrating, but at the low stakes you can get a game no problem.

Changing gears

Adaptation is the key to success in a two table game. I would say the fundamental tactic in a single table SNG is to survive past the bubble. In a two table, you need to accumulate chips, too. I tend to stay out of small pots in single SNGs, because I like as big a stack as possible for when I get a big hand. In a two table game, I might take a few more risks in the early stages when I have good odds/position, because I want a bigger than average stack when I get to the second table.

When the play gets short-handed in a single table tournament, flops don’t get seen so much and the action becomes all-in or fold. In a two table game, bear in mind you will get short-handed, but then return to a full table again pretty quickly. If you have enough blinds to survive an orbit or two, you don’t necessarily have to be all-in when you get a decent hand when you are short-handed at table one. Because once table two comes around, the orbits will be longer and you can wait for a decent hand again.

By the same token, the short stack can hang on that little bit longer, because when they get to that second table they won’t be giving up a blind every other hand. This means that with a healthy stack, you can bully and blind steal with more impunity, because people are less inclined to take a stand when they know they will be given some breathing space if they hang on that little bit longer.

On the flip side, you have to be ready to tighten up at table two if table one became a shoving competition. You have an entire table to get around again, and all-in with A7 is only getting called if it is dominated. At the second table, you will suddenly start seeing flops again.

When the game gets down to the last five players, the action slows down considerably. The bubble in a two table game is much longer than a normal SNG – the stacks are a little deeper and cashing seems much more important. The momentum shifts rapidly, and the chip leader at the start is rarely the chip leader when you reach the money. You can't sit on a chip lead, because you could end up getting blinded away. A lot of medium-stacked players can get robbed from here, because they are so close to a decent payoff and they will have a lot more blinds than in a normal SNG to sustain themselves. They also do not have to participate in three out of five hands a round, so they can wait for a reasonable hand to play with. Short stacks can become the chip leader during the bubble, because everyone thinks it is somebody else’s job to eliminate them when they go all-in every hand.

It only takes a few minor tweaks to turn a SNG player into a two table SNG player, but those tiny tweaks could result in massive improvements in profit. If you've been stuck in a bit of a rut playing normal SNGs, or you want some good (profitable) practice for MTTs, give them a try.