Strategies for good tournament poker for beginners and advanced
Introduction
Poker tournaments have become increasingly popular in recent years. This is due in large part to the increased presence on television, the growing number of online poker rooms and the victory of the online qualifier Chris Moneymaker with the $ 10,000 - WSOP No Limit Hold'em Main Event. Poker Tournaments fascinating because they give every player the chance to win a relatively small investment for a sum of money that changes their lives forever. Thus the victory of the WSOP Main Event 2004 already received $ 5,000,000, - dollars, or 500 times his bet. Moreover, since there is the opportunity to qualify via satellites to these events to virtually nothing, the big tournaments are almost irresistible.
Although a tournament victory is not possible without a healthy amount of luck is to put in all variations of poker in the long run by only players who actually bring the necessary quality. It is no coincidence that one always finds the same player name in the upper echelons of money. Stu Ungar won Said WSOP Main Event, for example, three times, Johnny Chan twice in succession with another second place, Doyle Brunson also won twice and reached several times the final table, and TJ Cloutier was second twice and reached the final table too many times. Once again: You need luck to win a tournament, but to get the money regularly (and then just now and the first to be) you need above all talent.
What is a poker tournament?
All players pay the same entry fee, called the buy-in to take part in the tournament. In addition, conceded the poker room or the Casino, a fee (Fee) by any player. If the buy-in $ 100, - is that the house will probably $ 10, - in addition, so that each player a total of $ 110, - paid. With 100 players, this results in a prize pool of $ 10,000, -. The payout structure depends on the tournament, but usually is about one in ten paid players. In our case this could be the winner gets 30%, the runner-up for 20% and the following players 13%, 10%, 7%, 6%, 5%, 4%, 3% and 2%. So the prize pool will be spread over ten players.
All players start with the same number of chips as the blinds increase gradually in the course, usually every 15-60 min. The number of starting chips, the growth rate and speed determine the blinds if the tournament takes a long time or soon be over. Good players generally prefer long tournaments with the chips (in comparison to the blinds) and long blank periods. This structure gives a player more chances to play off his opponent before the blinds rise so high that it is a "gamble" forced.
With 100 players in a tournament is usually played with ten players on ten tables. Those who lose their chips, leaves (exceptions are re-buy tournaments, in which it is permissible for a time to buy again). When players retire, the others are distributed more evenly as possible among the remaining tables. For example, when sitting at a table ten players and seven in two other, two players of the first table to the other two are set to sit on all three tables of eight players. The tournament ends when one player has won all the chips.
Differences between tournaments and ring games
In a tournament, the stakes rise steadily. This forces the players to take action. No one can afford to lose all the chips. After some time, individual tables can be resolved so that the players are constantly in motion. There are often situations in which a player is all-in before all the cards were given. In addition, the pricing structure leads to a different game behavior. Players present their strategy, whether they are small, medium or large stacks in front of him. All these factors lead to different strategies for tournaments and cash games.
The Gap Concept
The term "gap concept" ("gap concept") was the great poker author David Sklansky characterized by (see our book review). In tournament poker, you generally need a better hand to play against a Better / Raiser, than if you set yourself. Depending on whether your opponent is a tight or loose player, the size of the gap changes between the two. The tighter the enemy, the greater the gap, or vice versa. This means that you set from the front with many hands can, that they would never call a bet or a raise. If you play from late position Hold'em, have a sizable stack and was folded to you, you can also increase with such weak hands like 22, Ax and K-9s. Of course they have to narrow your hand back a little when sitting in the big blind is a very aggressive will play, which offers you a lot of resistance.
Stack Size
If your stack is relatively small, the gap is smaller, which means you risk it can not win with Steal Raises the pot. However, here comes a paradox in force, which leaves much room for reverse psychology. Since your stack is relatively small, other players are reluctant to raise or re-call, if they do not really have a strong hand. This is because no one will sit on a bluff, because you have so few chips, hardly anyone wants to play against you with bad cards since it can hardly win anything. This increases your chances of eventually even to bluff successfully.
On the other hand, a big stack against you dare attempt with a weak, because he has not much to lose. In this situation it is important that you know your opponent and know what they are capable of. A medium-sized stack is particularly difficult to play, because with this they are forced to make some tough decisions because you want to increase your stack like, while simultaneously trying not to become the short stack. In general, they should try to play more pots to small than to large stacks. If you are a big stack yourself, you have a large arsenal of weapons at hand. However, you must be very careful, because your opponents will aufzudoppeln you expect a lot of aggression and therefore try to set traps around. The bigger your stack, the greater the gap, and the more risk you can. In No Limit and Pot Limit Hold'em you can carry them by the size of your stack pressure on opponents by beds, raise or re-raise.
Early phase
At the start of a tournament you have in comparison to the size of the blinds usually have a relatively large stack. They can therefore afford to wait for good hands before you get involved with something. It is therefore advisable to be patient and play solid. Maybe you can put a weak player with a weak hand a trap. Initially, you should not risk too much if they can cost you your entire stack. Hopefully you have some luck and accumulate as many chips that you can also handle this pursue.
Middle phase
Since the blinds are constantly increasing, you can not ever wait for a premium hand, then to become active. Blinds and antes now cost you a significant portion of your stack, so you have to open your game and start to win pots. Be the aggressor himself and go a greater risk. Remember that many other players are now very cautious because they do not want to retire. The tighter your opponents get, the looser you should play. By now you should be playing styles of your opponents have learned to know better. Use this knowledge when you make a decision. Think about which players you can bluff and which are "calling stations" and they judge according to your play from. Finally, you would like to enter a big stack in the late phase of the tournament.
Late phase
If you could build a big stack, you are now at an advantage and must ensure that your capital. Now you can get a little passive, until the money ranks are close. If you only have to resign a few players, you start to use your big stack, or at least medium by strong increases. Your opponents now have fear of defeat, which opens up many opportunities to steal pots. Aggressive play is now offered, and you should always be the aggressor and not the caller. Avoid confrontations with big stacks, but focus on the smaller stacks in order to take any more damage.
If they are short-stacked, however, try as quickly as possible to double before have so few chips that you have to play each hand, regardless of what cards your opponent has. In this situation it is important for you to take risks if you still want to have a chance to win the tournament. Of course this also means that you could retire earlier.
The final table
With a large or medium-sized stack, you can attack and follow your basic strategy and the smaller stacks. Be still wary of confrontations with big stacks. They now want to meet, at least in the last three, because that is where the bulk of the prize money distributed. If you are small-stacked, waiting to push a decent hand. Remember to be the aggressor and not the caller, if you think this is not exactly a very strong hand. Do not wait until your stack has become so small that even a doubling does not make much difference. It is better to try anything with nothing than to be ausblinden itself. While other players retire, you have slowly become more aggressive, especially when only four or five players in the tournament. If you for some time have a passive stance, your sudden increases much more impact will do to the opponent. Always keep in mind that table image you have built up and play accordingly. If the other players just trying to survive, they can steal a lot of blinds and antes.
As you continue to improve your poker tournament can
To quickly gain experience, you should play online tournaments. These are freeze-outs or re-buys available and are offered with entry fees in any amount of one dollar to several thousand dollars. Your basic strategy will not change great if you play in a tournament with high or low Buy.in. In any case, you can play against hundreds of opponents, and it will be inherently difficult to win the tournament. Online tournaments are much shorter than live tournaments, but you probably play as many hands as quickly and dealt out to be played (the card shuffling is eliminated as well as the counting of the chips, etc.). One-or two-table tournaments are well placed to gain experience for the game at the final table and short-handed tables.
