Poker Tournament Strategy

The Beginning Stages

Your play in the early stages of a tournament should be extremely tight.  Most players think that since the blinds are cheap in the early stages, that this is the time to go in with marginal hands. NOT SO! In fact, the opposite is true. Since the cards are coming so cheap, now is the time to be picky about what your play with. One particular author I read went as far as to say that he only plays 2 hands in early tournament play, AA and KK. With both of these hands, he bets hard and does not try to trap. He would consider playing QQ in certain positions. While I consider that a bit too tight, it does make my point that early stages you play tight hands. You want to gain the reputation of a stone cold rock.

Hands that I will play in the early stages: JJ, QQ, KK, AA, AK suited. I will occasionally deviate from that list, but only in good position. I never bluff in the early stages of a tournament. Why so tight? This style of play will let the fish bust out, without taking you with them. How many times have we seen some schmuck stay in with 4 2 offsuit and flop two pair to beat a good players solid starting pair? It happens all too frequently in the early stages of the tournament. Even playing those top 5 hands, it can still happen to you, but hopefully alot less.

Play ultra-tight early and do not bluff. Let the fish die off, without burning away your chips. Remember, only the top positions pay, and thats your goal.

An alternative strategy of playing more flops is advocated by the new breed of poker players such as Phil Ivey.  They play alot of flops early on, and when the flop hits them hard, they seek to clean up alot of extra chips and build a stack that they can bully with.  This style works well if the tournament starts you out with plenty of chips (100 big blinds or more).

The Middle Stages

After you have given the fish a chance to throw away their chips and you are at the table with fair and solid players, now is the time to loosen up and play your regular game. Your hope at this point is to rake in a good number of chips, so that you make it to the final tables with at least the average amount.  Middle stages are also prime time to bluff at a few blinds. You have two things going for you in this case. First as more players are eliminated the thought that “we dont have too far to go to make money,” begins to settle in on everyones mind. Many players will completely lock up as they move further into the tournament. Secondly, you have hopefully gained that “rock” tight image.  A bet or raise from you will be respected. This translates hopefully into a few stolen blinds.

A word of caution: you're still a good ways off from the money, and so a stone cold bluff with rags would not be advised. However, QJ, offsuit in late position where you only have one caller, or the blinds to go might be worth a raise.

In summary, middle tournament play should resemble your regular style of ring game play. You're looking to gamble a little and collect enough chips to be a force at the final tables. If you bust out in the middle stages with good cards then so be it. Better to lose it on a good play, than to make it to the final tables, short stacked and get blinded away to finish just outside of the money.

The Late Stages

So you’ve worked your way into the late stages of an online MTT By now, you’ve probably noticed that the blinds are pretty high in relation to most players chip stacks Pre-flop hand selection skills are imperative now as you set your sights on a Final Table appearance. Chip accumulation remains of utmost importance even now. If 500 players started this particular tournament, and you’re down to 2 tables with an average stack then you should focus all your attention on making appropriate moves to either pick up dead money (blinds and other pre-flop action that players will fold) or get your chips in the middle with the best hand.

One thing a beginning or struggling MTT player should keep in mind at this stage is that there’s not a lot to control about certain situations. Sooner or later, a player will find him/herself gleefully pushing all-in pre-flop with hands like AQ from early position due to the circumstances. In cases like these, if you get called down by AJ, you’re a Genius… if you get called down by AK, you’re a Goat. It’s just that simple sometimes.

Another aspect to pay attention to is how you (and your opponents) adapt to full and short-handed tables. Nine or ten handed tables play a lot differently in general than five or six handed tables do and there will be times when drastic changes will have to be made in order to reach the Final Table without getting blinded away.

Once you’ve reached the Final Table, be sure to keep your cool and analyze every situation before making a decision. Cooler heads usually prevail and once again, you’ll give yourself the best chance at success if you go in with The intension behind accumulating chips instead of waiting on the cards to provide a miracle.

Sit and Go Poker Stratgey

The Beginning Stages

Your play in the early stages should be very tight. There are plenty of people eager to get into the action, and each “kill” greatly improves your chances of making the money. Even with good cards, all-in show downs are marginal.

However, STT’s are a quicker game than an MTT and you want to give yourself enough chips to bet properly during the middle stages. Consider reducing starting hand requirements slightly from late position where there are no raises. This is no limit poker and the expected value of say, a small pocket pair, can be very high.

Hands that I will play from any position in the early stages: JJ, QQ, KK, AA, and AK suited. Be prepared to let all but AA and KK go if someone goes all in.

Hands I will play (for cheap!!) in late position include two suited face cards, and suited aces down to an eight. You are looking here for a nuts or near nuts hand (nut flush, full house or straight) that you can afford to slow play and make a big gain for a small initial stake. I’ll also play any pocket pair, especially against multiple callers, because of the disguise value if I hit a set on the flop.

I never bluff in the early stages of an STT. The blinds aren’t worth it, and if there are multiple callers, one of them will pay to see you. Post flop you should be mega-tight and never jeopardise either your chips or your table image chasing the river.

One big difference between an STT and an MTT is where one player amasses a huge chip lead in the early stages. In an MTT, you hate having them on your table. They steal the pots while people on other tables are playing hands. But in an STT I always like a clear chip leader. The bluffers are in big trouble - whatever they throw in, big stack can afford to call. I can play nice and tight and still keep up. On occasions I’ve reached the money in this type of game without making any significant bets.

The Middle Stages

In an STT the time to change gears can be dictated by the number of players left, or by the increasing blinds. In a tight game, the blinds can go up three or even four times without anyone being eliminated, but in low stakes games expect to see three or more players out within 20 hands.

Now loosen up and play your regular game. Middle stages are also prime time to bluff at a few blinds. By now you’ve seen enough of your opponents to know who is susceptible to a bluff. Look for semi-bluffing opportunities in late position (especially strong draws to the nuts). Use the threat of just missing the money to your advantage – don’t let it freeze your own play.

Do not overvalue the threat of drawing hands. Ring games (especially low limit) revolve around multi-way pots. STT’s revolve around two or three way pots. Anyone with a drawing hand is likely to have to pay you at least twice for every time you have to pay them. If you’re ahead, raise and make them pay to draw out on you. And if you reverse this logic, you will rarely have pot odds to justify playing your own draw hands, unless you can limp in or you have other outs (e.g. overcards or pairs).

Summary
Middle tournament play should resemble your regular style of ring game play, but with selective aggression against passive players. More times than not, you are going to have to “create” something to get in the money.

The Late Stages

Once in the money, remember the premium for winning. When short stacked avoid the temptation to hope the other players will take each other out. They’ll be thinking the same and will happily watch you lose on the blinds. I advocate a more aggressive approach. Look to double up with all-in plays based on any reasonable cards. You’ll be surprised how many times the other players fold, and more surprised how often you will win with average cards. This does not mean go all in with 72o, but A8o is not such a bad hand when the blinds are killing you.

If you are ahead, keep on the pressure. Respect big raises, but attack calls, especially where both opponents have put in money. By small raises, you can stimulate betting between them and get into the heads up stage even if you lose the pot.

As with all heads-up play, aggression tends to be the winner. On a straight show down, most hands dealt are a coin toss so the winner will be the player who wins with the most bad hands, not the one who gets the most good hands.

Some strategies advocate raising 80 to 90% of hands. I’m not sure if this is true in no limit STT’s but over a long period of time, success is based on the number of hands you bluff rather than the number you win on merit.

Develop your own preferred style. Some players prefer numerous all-ins, others like to use smaller non-fatal raises. The important thing is to be comfortable and consistent with your strategy, and to monitor if it is working. If your records show you get in the money more than 50% of the time but you are only winning 10% of the time, your heads up play is almost certainly too passive.

Cash Game Poker Strategy

Limit Holdem Strategy

Although this game is similar to No Limit Holdem, Limit Holdem requires a completely different outlook and skill set to beat the game. No Limit Holdem players are often considered fish in limit games, because they don’t take the time to learn the differences. More hands go to a showdown and you have less control over the other players because of limited bet sizes.

Limit holdem involves a lot of controlled aggression. You have to sit back, wait for the right hand, and then raise your heart out. Squeeze as much as you can from your opponents when you have the best of it, and lose as little as possible when you’re behind.

Since you’re limited by the amount you can bet, it’s hard to bluff with the purpose of getting your opponent off a hand. Sometimes poker tactics like check raising work, but usually it’s best to play straight forward, since it won’t cost your opponent to much to call down if they’re suspicious. When you’re behind and you don’t have the odds to continue, your best bet is to just lay down your hand and wait for a better spot.

Pot odds are a very important in limit holdem when determining whether you should continue playing a draw when you’re behind. You have to consider the size of the pot, your odds of hitting the draw, and if any of your outs may be counterfeited (a card that will complete your draw, but also give your opponent a better hand).

No Limit Holdem Strategy

One of the hardest lessons for many beginning poker players, even good ones, is realizing how big a difference there is between no limit Hold’em cash games, and no limit tournaments. In my first year of playing no limit hold’em, I found that I was an excellent sit and go tournament player. Because of this, I thought shifting to a cash game should be easy—since in both cases there were only nine other players to deal with at any given time. That was an expensive assumption.

Cash games require a different strategy that tournaments, and your no limit hold’em strategy has to shift drastically depending on which game you’re playing. Some of the early things you need to know about cash games:

  • Top pair isn’t nearly as strong in cash games as in tournaments
  • Aggressive, aggressive, aggressive, and aggressive
  • Reading your opponents is not optional—it is an absolute necessity
  • Press even the smallest statistical advantage

In cash games, know you are going to bust, and that you need to buy back in and keep playing. In tournaments you bust and then you’re out, which means if you are a 51% to 49% favorite, then in a tournament you almost never want to go all in when this situation comes out. You want to wait until you have the ability to push a big advantage. In a cash game, it is almost always right to press even the smallest of advantages.

There are several reasons for this. In a tournament, you have to reach a certain place in order to get into the money—which means finishing outside of that leaves you with nothing. Because of this, you only want to risk your chips in situations where you are an overwhelming favorite, or when you have a perfect read on your opponent. In a cash game, you want to push every advantage, since in the long run a 5% advantage should at least pay off that much. In addition, playing aggressively may occasionally let you steal a hand that you had no business winning. Because of the times in cash games you’ll loose to a lucky draw that beats you, you want to make sure to cash in on weak players’ mistake when the cards hold out. Good no limit hold’em strategy in the tournament means waiting for a huge edge, but in cash games it simply means pushing any edge.

In cash games, many players will play rags like 5-9 off suit, hoping to hit two pair. Sometimes they will hit that lucky rag on the river, and beat your pocket aces. This can be frustrating. Why should you bet heavy when they may beat you like that? Because for every time that happens, there will be four or five where the aces hold out—and you want those weak players to pay you off when they don’t get lucky. In the short term you may lose a hand here or there, but in the long run you’ll make money.

Cash games are more like a roller coaster. You will have huge highs, and huge lows. You’ll see king high win several hands between guys betting every single turn, and you’ll see high pair dominated constantly. Keep your head, press your advantage, no matter how slight, and buy back in when necessary. The best cash game players in the world know how to read their opponents, know how to never get shaken up, and aren’t afraid to keep betting and play aggressive. Work on this, and you will find that despite ups and downs, in the long run by using good no limit hold’em strategy you will become a dominant player.