any good tips for my first poker tournament?
18 January 2009
8 Comments
m t asked:
i play regular small cash games every week with some friend but this week i’m playing in a small 20 man tournament. any good tips/advice about tournament play? how should i change my playing for a tournament?
i play regular small cash games every week with some friend but this week i’m playing in a small 20 man tournament. any good tips/advice about tournament play? how should i change my playing for a tournament?
Use your poker face!
Good Luck!
always keep your cool and never express emotion
Good luck!
Yes play tight in the begining loose towards the end. Dont toss your cards in before its your turn to act. Dont look at your cards intell its your turn you can give away to much information. Keep your chips neatly stacked otherwise it will be to hard for your opponents to see what you have and they will have to have the dealer count it down for them every 10 min slows the game. If your in an all in hand and you bluff our even if you have the hand stare at the flop and dont make a beep even if the guy is talking crap. And good luck.
Bonus Tip-Dont let your stack get to low. Never let your stack go lower then 3x the size of the big blind if its even getting close go all in with any 2 cards. Reason being you dont want 7 callers when your all in you want 1.
newer players always get scared of being eliminated so when faced with a big bet, they fold.. If you think you have the best hand, RAISE OR CALL, don’t fold. DON’T be afraid to bet all your chips, you will have to at least once or twice.
Good answers, I agree with tight play in the beginning. Pay close attention to opponents style of play and adjust – wait for an opportunity to trap aggressive players and take advantage of tight-weak players, other than that get your chips in when you’re ahead to put pressure on opponents. Don’t play big pots without a big hand until you have to unless you’re confident you can induce a fold.
Unless you have really great cards at the beginning of the tournament just kinda get a feel for how others are playing and ease yourself into the action. This is for you to settle into the game and not be so nervous.
Good Luck and Good Cards!
I like to play a lot of hands early on when the blinds are low…also hoping to steal a few pots from others playing tight…hopefully as the blinds get raised you will have a nice little stash to hold you while you start to play tighter and better hands…all the while building on the old chip mountain till eventually you are able to start bullying a little…
Chris from Big Stacked Poker Gear:
If you are a hyper aggressive cash game player who picks up tons of small pots because of your aggression but are constantly reloading because you often are on the losing end of all in confrontations, keep in mind that in most tournaments you can not reload. So, early on you can’t play as fast as you may like to.
If you are a patient and trappy cash game player who waits all day for the nuts in hopes of doubling up against the second nuts, this is not a bad way to play early in a tournament when the blinds are small relative to stacks. The early stages of tournaments often resemble cash game play but the later stages of tournaments are a completely different game.
Later in a tournament, when the blinds are high relative to stack sizes you usually can’t afford to wait for aces or kings and will have to push your good hands and risk your tournament life or else blind out of the tournament.
You will find yourself in some difficult situations in which you must decide whether to exercise patience or aggression. You must often choose to either pursue survival or to risk pushing a small edge in an attempt to double up.
Before the tournament you may want to have a goal such as winning or finishing in the money. As your stack size changes, your odds of success will change also so you may have to reevaluate your goal in the middle of the tournament. Maybe you were going to go for the win but you know that your stack is so low your odds are slim and you know you can fold into the money, maybe that is a situation that calls for folding some otherwise playable hands. Or perhaps you are on the bubble with an average stack and decide that there is more value in shooting for the top two or three spots so you will risk finishing out of the money for a shot at doubling up and having a shot at first place.
So, you must constantly decide throughout the tournament what strategy has the most expected value as your stack size will often determine what the best approach will be.
Hope this helps and good luck to you!
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