When taking part in a sit-and-go the last thing you want to do is start off hell-bent on playing every hand, winning every pot and generally acting like a maniac. It amazes me how often I join a sitand- go and see people going all-in (and consequently all-out) in the first few hands of the game, when the blinds are low and not worth stealing.

So take it easy and hope that you run into the maniac. If you do, the best way to play him is to let him steal the small amounts at the start and wait for the chance to win all your money back and more when the blinds go up. By which time you’ll also have lulled him and the rest of the table into a false sense of security with your tight play.

What sort of hands should you play at this stage? A lot of people argue you should get in with hands like suited connectors, as you can often fill a big, even nut, hand, which is disguised enough to pay handsomely. However, when you get action with your 8-9 suited you could find yourself in serious trouble. Consider tackling hands like J-J on a flop featuring a J-10 or even something like a Nine-high. The bottom line is there’s no reason to make moves at this point and play too many hands. Instead, play tight, avoiding any big confrontations unless you’re sitting on a made hand.

All being well, after a few levels of play the bad players will have either been eliminated or have taken out better players and ended up with a sizeable chip stack. Either scenario is good for you. And the latter is ideal as the big stacks are now the fish that will end up paying you off in the long run. Because by now you should have been identified as a tight player who only commits chips when holding a premium hand – a fair reflection of your game so far. And if you’ve been lucky enough to have hit a few hands and been paid off there’s no reason to change your style of play at this point. If, on the other hand, your chip stack is below average, it’s time to scrap the passive play, change gears and employ some aggression.

Naturally, you need to control this. Turn it on when you’re close to the button and in position to attack the blinds, as they should now be worth stealing. Before too long you should accumulate enough chips to get ahead of the average stack size and back into the comfort zone.

Never forget, though, the absolute basics of tournament poker should remain at the heart of your play. Play big hands as well as poor ones and be aware of the power of your chips in relation to both the average chip stack and the size of the blinds.

At this point in the tournament there’ll generally be five players or less, which puts you tantalisingly close to the cash. Two big factors come into play now. Firstly, hand values increase dramatically. Hands like A-10 that are eminently passable with ten players are now huge. Secondly, your opponents’ desire to make the prize-paying positions is a weakness you can prey on as nobody wants to go out on the bubble.

At this stage it’s extremely hard for anyone to call an all-in with no hand, and the ‘no hand’ scenario is going to apply to most players most of the time. In fact, when you consider any pocket pair is a 16/1 shot and the probability of any player holding an Ace in a four-handed game is only 50 percent you realise that pre-flop exploitation is now by far the best way to accumulate chips.

If you can identify a player who’s nursing his chips with a desire to simply make the money, start religiously raising his big blind and only stop when you push him to the point where he’s going to be forced to call with any two cards – unless you have a genuine hand that is.

Similarly, the player holding the big stack will probably be of the opinion that he can afford to lose some blinds while holding onto his lead, hoping that the smaller stacks will battle it out and drop away. This is another potential victim ripe for exploiting.

In fact, the only ill-advised play now is that of ‘fearless calling’. That’s never a good idea, even if you feel someone’s on the take. You could well be right but calling an all-in holding the likes of Q-6 is foolhardy and could undo in a second all the hard work you’ve put in for the best part of an hour.

You’ve probably got the message by now – the later the game the more aggression you should show. You’re not going to get paid off by waiting for big hands when you’re down to two or three players, and if you’re serious about playing sit-and-gos you shouldn’t be happy limping into the final three by nursing your ever-dwindling chip stack.