Poker Tournament Tips

Ok, you have sat down in the tourney and the cards are being dealt. What now?

***1. The first step is by far the most important. While many of my other tips may win you a pot here and there, this is the key to have any chance of winning the tournament. Watch the other players. In the first couple of rounds the blinds will be small, you can afford to burn these and just watch what kind of opponents you are dealing with. Usually there will be at least one extremely loose "maniac" who will be raising large amounts with "monster" hands like AJ or K10, or any pocket pair. There will also likely be players who will call any reasonable bet if they have any pair in their hand. Watch these tendencies and exploit them later when you can. That is not to say that if you pick up a real hand like QQ or better that you shouldn't play it, but since the blinds are so small it sometimes pays to just chill for a minute and see what exactly you are up against.

2.Timing. This is something that I have noticed from personal experience but haven't seen addressed in any poker book. Generally, if there is ever a hand that is showdown to the river with two very weak hands, someone will try to bluff or overplay their cards the very next hand. The reason for this is very obvious. Everyone just saw a showdown where a shitty hand won, and either player could have forced the other out with a large bet. Therefore, people are reminded that Hold 'em is a game where you don't necessarily need good cards to win, and will try to buy a pot with crap. Conversely, whenever there is a huge hand with two great hands up against each other, the next hand will generally be played passively by all. What do these two things mean? If there is a showdown between weak hands, fold most hands, and if you pick up a great hand in early position, limp and wait for the check-raise. If there has been a huge showdown, open with a raise with most any cards and be prepared to continue your aggression post-flop unless you are very sure that the flop helped any callers you got.

3. Mix up your bets. One of the things I believe I am good at in poker is mixing up my play to the point where it is very difficult to pick up a pattern. After reviewing my play I found that I generally opened with a 3-5 times the BB bet with a hand I liked, and 5-20 times the big blind with a pocket pair of 9 or higher to isolate. While I logically liked my raises and still often open with the same, I realized that I was becoming too predictable. In my eyes, a player who is just as likely to go all-in with AA as limp with AA is a very dangerous player and can get away with alot of free limps simply because players are too scared to raise because they do not know if you are trapping or not. If you watch as much poker as I do, you will see that the very top players who are killing the scene right now (Negreanu, Ivey, Hansen) mix up their play so much that people are terrified of them. They utilize people's fear and passiveness against them into seeing many cheap flops and then outplaying their opponents after the flop with their superior skill and reads. A friend of mine who was just learning how to play hold 'em used to throw me off my game when he played because he was just so reckless and aggressive with his bets that I would have to sit back and wait for a big hand. Now that he has played alot more and become a "better" player, I have a much easier time beating him because he is far easier to put on a hand. (yes I'm talking about you Chris)

4. Short-Handed strategy. I have read many books that teach you to go after the short-stacks in these situations because even if you lose, they cannot hurt you that much. That advice blows donkey dicks. Yes, if you are just trying to eke into the money, wait for the short-stacks to get knocked out if you can, but that is a pussy way to play. My advice is that if you have a decent stack late, to pick on the other leaders or large stacks as much as possible. They are likely playing the pussy way as well and are trying to wait out the short stack. This equals huge blind-stealing chances for you to cement a huge lead that will be almost impossible to relinquish. Sure, if they wake up with AK or better they will probably call you, but its worth that risk. Conversely, don't mess with the short stack unless you actually want a call. They have little/nothing to lose and are fighting to hold on. Their pot-odds will likely be right to call if you wantonly try to steal their big blind.

I ain't the greatest player in the world, but I feel like in any given tourney I could beat any given player. This is just my two cents.