Tournament
Strategies
Just to make sure: when talking
about tournament strategies and tactics, we exclusively
refer to No-Limit tournaments.
There are Limit and Pot-Limit tournaments too,
of course but Limit tournaments are, in our opinion,
dreadfully long-winded and dead-boring; Pot-Limit
tourneys are a matter of taste and some of the
content here does apply to them, yet only to a
certain extent. Ok, let’s get going.
Multi
Table Tournaments
Freerolls
Valuable
Tips
Advanced
Tournament Concepts
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Multi Table Tournaments
When
the tourney has just started
- Check how many chips
there are in total in play and divide
this figure by 20; that will give you the minimum
amount of chips required to make it just about
to the last table
- Don’t pay any attention to the
early chip leaders of the tourney - you
won't see them at the last table, because they
take too much risk too early in the tourney and
will continue doing so until their chip lead is
gone again. Why trying to “win” a
tournament in the first 30min when it’s
going to last well over 2 hours?
- It’s all about survival in the
early stages. Maintain your chip stack
by winning a few small pots and let the others
do the busting -- unless you have a very strong
hand.
- Making trappy-fancy moves will
not find a lot of admirers in the early stages,
because most players won’t understand what
you’re doing. Keep that for later on and
simply play straightforward poker: if you have
a hand – bet; if you have trash –
fold. It’s as simple as that.
Close to the Prize
Money
With a short stack,
stay out of every hand to make it into the prize
money ranks. Only play AA & KK and fold everything
else. If you see the Blinds closing in and they
are big enough to gobble up your remaining chips
then go all-in before they arrive no matter what
you hold.
Exception: when there are only 1-2 more
players due to bust out, let your timer run out
and get auto-folded; every second of survival
counts.
With a medium-sized stack,
this is the best time to play aggressively but
stay clear of the big chip stacks. Target the
medium sized stacks and very small stacks. Here
is why:
a) the big stacks won’t
risk a lot when calling your big bet but they
have you covered and busting out now is not what
you want
b) you can do a lot of damage to the medium sized
stacks, so they are most likely to fold to big
pre-flop raises because they want to ensure to
get some prize money and will only then start
playing again; but don’t overdo it with
your aggressive play; fold to bets that would
cripple your stack or eliminate you from the tourney
c) the small or very small stacks are trickier;
when you see a player is trying to win time by
letting his timer run out, raise him because he’ll
fold no matter what he has; also, if you have
a short-stacked player covered by 10 times or
more call his all-in with any hole cards but only
if you’re the last one to act and nobody
else has entered the pot
With a big chip stack,
you are comfortable and can eliminate players
by relieving them off their sorry chip stacks.
If you are in a postion that almost guarantees
you a last table seat then leave most of the action
to the other players and get only involved when
you pick up a monster hand. This way you maintain
your lead and all you want is to get to the last
table.
It’s good practice
to always aim for the last table,
because there is the money that was worth playing
the tournament for. If, for example, the last
20 places are paid but 11th-20th will only get
slightly more than the entry fee was, then ask
yourself this: “Is getting a few Dollars
pay-off a result I will be happy with?”
There’s nothing wrong with taking that small
prize money, especially when you just started
out playing poker, but don’t limit yourself
by aiming for it from the start.
Again, these are guidelines. Your observation
of the table action and playing styles of other
players is still crucial for your decision making.
We hope the guide above will help you to become
a more successful tournament player.
The best books ever written about No-Limit tournament
strategies & tactics are Dan Harrington’s
Expert
Strategy For No-Limit Tournaments –
Volume I & II.
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Freeroll
tournaments
People tend to play like maniacs
in Freerolls. Don’t get drawn into this
“playing style” and stick with playing
your game. Look at it as if you had paid a $20
entry free, so you won’t take huge risks
for little returns. If you then lose all your
chips because the other guy got very lucky, well
that’s how poker is sometimes, but at least
you have a clear conscience that you didn’t
bust out because you played too wild or without
concept like many of the others.
If you do make it to the prize
money, this could be your starting funds of building
up a truly awesome bankroll. Should you lose that
money then you can look back and say you had a
good time playing, haven't lost a penny, and gained
more poker experience.
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Valuable Tips
Making Complex Moves
Make your complex moves only
when you’re up against players who will
understand what you’re doing. A weak player
is likely to misinterpret a sophisticated move
and might do the exact opposite of what you wanted
him to do.
Example: You’re running a complete but well
set-up bluff. The only read your opponent has
on you are your betting pattern and the bet sizes.
A small bet from you on the end will mean to a
strong player that he’s beaten and you’re
offering him almost irresistible pot odds just
for him to call to get more money into the pot
and may therefore elect to fold.
A weak player in the same situation will see your
small bet in the end as weakness and come over
the top or call if he’s got some holding.
Medium pairs in the
Big Blind
Holding 88, 99, 1010, JJ when
you’re the Big Blind is good but don’t
get too excited. If there is a raise from a player
in early position don’t re-raise unless
he’s short-stacked and desperate to make
a move and/or a weak and tight player. Just call
the raise if the price is reasonable, like 2:1
pot odds or better. All you’re looking for
is to hit trips on the Flop - and your chances
for that are 7.5 to 1 against - or that all 3
cards are lower than your holding. If there are
high cards coming on the board then let that hand
go when another player bets big.
KQ, KJ, QJ are treacherous
Hands
Every poker professional and
every halfway decent poker book will tell you
exactly that: KQ, KJ, QJ are nice looking hole
cards but trouble hands. Poker novices and weak
players naturally think that they’re holding
great cards – don’t fall into that
trap! In most situations it’s better to
fold them than playing them. When you play them,
be very cautious and alert because most players
tend to stick around with high cards and if the
flop comes with high cards, you may have found
something but so they might have.
QQ - Pair of Queens
Pocket Queens is actually the
trickiest pair to play. They are better than the
medium pairs and lower than the premium pairs.
How to play them ‘correctly’ will
very much depend on a lot of factors, like your
own playing style, your position in that hand,
if the table has been conservative or aggressive,
are the other players weak or strong who are still
in the hand, how you are being perceived by the
other players, your current standing in a tournament,
your
‘M’, and how far is it to the
prize money or last table, respectively.
So, what should you do? In general, raise 4-5
the Big Blind in early position; if you get re-raised
only call; always consider your current standing
in the tourney; if in doubt -- do the ‘Madsen’.
Don’t know the story? Here it is:
There’s a story going round where the very
Michael Madsen was playing in a major tournament.
He had a comfortable chip stack
and only one more player needed to bust out for
all remaining players to be in the prize money.
He picked up pocket Aces, raised pre-flop but
the chip leader re-raised putting Madsen All-in.
After some thinking Madsen said: “Just so
you know, you made me lay down pocket Aces.”
showing his cards. Most of the other players were
amazed - few others understood his reasoning.
Transferring the moral of this story to our case,
pocket Queens are nice to hold but if you are
being put in a position that could jeopardise
your tournament, do what the Pros would do –
fold.
Holding Aces or Kings
If you hold a pair of Aces or
Kings before the Flop, raise so that you cut down
the number of (potential) opponents. Your perfect
scenario is to go heads-up against a single player.
AA & KK are about 85% favourite to win against
a single lower random hand. Against two other
random hands, this figure drops to about 65%,
so you could easily find yourself in trouble after
the Flop.
A finely sized bet
Scenario: Halfway through a Multi
table tournament; you’re in command of your
table and have a solid chip lead. There’s
a short-stacked player with 1120 chips in front
of him. The blinds of 100/200 are closing in and
will hurt his stack, so he raises pre-flop to
600. One player with a medium sized stack calls.
You pick-up AA. Now, here’s the tip: raise
to 1,100 (or even 1,110) and do it quick. If the
small stack then goes all-in for his last chips,
he will have re-raised you by a few chips only
and the caller is caught in a sandwich and might
not realise that. If he calls the small stack's
all-in, then it’s your turn once more before
the Flop, so you can put him all-in as well or
at least re-raise with an amount that will hurt
his chip stack.
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