All Entries in the "Tournament Strategy" Category
Jon Turner – Making the Sneaky Check.
At every stage of a Multi-Table Tournament, your stack size relative to the blinds should be crucial to how you approach different hands and situations. You may start a tournament with anywhere from 50 to 500 big blinds, but by the final table, the average stack is often between 25 and 40 big blinds. When [...]
Michael Gracz – The Rebuy Tournament Strategy.
Going into any rebuy tournament, you should know before the first cards are dealt how much money you’re willing to invest. Whether you’re playing with a single bullet (not planning to rebuy at all), enough money to rebuy 50 times, or somewhere in between, you should have a number in your mind. You need to [...]
Allen Cunningham – Stealing the Blinds.
The middle stages of a poker tournament can be a tortuous and tedious experience for even the most seasoned pro. The long trek toward the money, combined with a variety of potentially tricky scenarios you may face along the way, make it difficult to come up with one sure-fire strategy to help you through. That [...]
Allen Cunningham – Early Tournament Strategies.
Many players’ first exposure to poker comes from watching WSOP and WPT tournaments on TV, and I think that’s great. It’s entertaining and you’ll see some interesting plays, but viewers have to understand that they shouldn’t model their games based on the action they see on TV. Why? The answer is simple – what you’re [...]
Jon Turner – Playing AK Out of Position.
Ace-King may be one of the strongest starting hands in poker, but you’ve got to play it right in each position to make it pay – especially in the early stages of a tournament. Being in early position adds another challenge to the situation. But if you’re betting consistently and keeping an eye on your [...]
Erik Seidel – Looking at the Long Term.
Tournament poker can be a very tough business. No matter how good you are, you’re bound to encounter long periods where things don’t go well. On the tournament circuit, even the best players can go several months – or even a couple of years – between significant cashes. These dry spells can be tough to [...]
Rafe Furst – Cash Equity at the Final Table.
While playing the final table of the $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold ‘em event, I found myself in a difficult spot when we were down to four-handed play. I was in the big blind and Rizen, a tough, respected online tournament pro, was in the small blind. It was folded to Rizen who announced that he would [...]
Erick Lindgren – Play More Pots.
In tournaments, I play lots of hands. I’ll put my money in with all kinds of connected cards, especially when in position. I might limp, I might min-raise or raise a little more than the minimum, depending on the circumstances. I’m looking to keep my table off balance so they don’t know where I’m coming [...]
Chris Ferguson – Winning Tournament Poker – Part 2
The fourth question: Surely the different payout structure between ring games and tournaments means something, doesn’t it? Yes, tournaments differ from live action in that you are rewarded for how long you last, rather than for how many chips you accumulate. In ring game poker, the chips you save by folding are just as valuable [...]
Chris Ferguson – Winning Tournament Poker – Part 1
People often ask very specific questions about how to be a winning tournament player: How many chips am I supposed to have after the first two levels? Should I play a lot of hands early while the blinds are small, then tighten up later as the blinds increase? I seem to always finish on the [...]
