Poker How To Win Tournaments

Fold equity is the value we gain when other players fold. When you are the aggressor, you can win the pot in two ways, either by everyone else folding or by showing down the best hand. When you are calling, you must show down the best hand to win. From this basic analogy, it goes without saying that in any poker tournament it’s not mostly about how you plan to use the cards you, but how you strategize to beat your opponents. The breakdown of what it entails to win is just but combination of thinking above the cards you see on the screen.

Buying into a poker tournament like the MicroMillions Main Event or the Sunday Million can be a daunting experience. One look at the lobby and you’ll see thousands of other players also seated and battling it out to win the tournament. It can feel like an impossible task to outlast all of these opponents, make the final table and go on to win. However, there’s no need to approach a huge poker tournament with this outlook. It is possible to go all the way and win – here are some tips to give you the best chance of succeeding…

Don’t get ahead of yourself

Try to avoid concentrating on the total number of players in the tournament and focus just on what is happening at your own table. This is the only place where you have any influence – the other tables will take care of themselves. In a tournament with hundreds or thousands of players you will be playing poker for a long time before the major prizes are handed out. (In a live tournament like an EPT Main Event this will be several days, whereas in an online tournament like the Sunday Million it could be upwards of twelve hours.)

It’s crucial to remember that you can’t win the tournament in these early stages. Resist the temptation to look at how many chips the chip leader has early on; it’s irrelevant. The only thing to concentrate on is how your stack compares versus the blinds. If you are in a comfortable zone – for example, your stack is over 25 big blinds – then there’s no need to panic even if you’re the short stack on your table. Just continue playing your own game and if you continually make correct decisions the chips will come your way eventually. It’s only in the latter stages of the tournament, when you reach the bubble or the remaining couple of tables, when being aware of how your opponents are doing can be an important part of your own strategy.

How To Win Poker Tournaments

The crucial middle stages

In many ways, navigating through the middle stages of the tournament – where the blinds are getting higher but the bubble is still a distant blur in the distance – are the most difficult of all. It’s at this point where your strategy should shift and you should try to loosen up your game a little bit. In the early stages there’s really no benefit in trying to steal the blinds as they are so small. Instead, it’s best to focus on actually making a hand and trying to get maximum value from it. But once you hit the middle stages those blinds are suddenly quite valuable, especially if antes are also involved. If it’s folded to you in late position try and steal the blinds as much as you can. There’s no need to have a strong hand when you do this because you’re raising as a steal, hoping there won’t be a flop. Even if the small or big blind calls then a simple continuation bet will often win it for you anyway.

There will be a much wider spread of stack sizes in the middle stages that you should pay attention to. It’s probable that on your table you will have short stacks of less than 10BBs, medium stacks of 25-35BBs and chip monsters of 50BBs+. This creates a very different conundrum from the early stages when everyone essentially has the exact same stack. It’s very important that you analyse the stack sizes of the players around you before you make a move; for example, don’t raise a weak hand like 5-4 suited when the three players left to act all have between 10-20BBs. It’s very possible one will shove on you, leaving you unable to call. But if you have that hand the players left to act have between 25-35BBs it’s a perfect hand to open as they are more likely to call or fold rather than shove.

If you can build up a stack in the middle stages then you’ll have a great chance to make the money and go on a deep run. Find out more about navigating the bubble, hitting the final table and going on to win a huge poker tournament in Part 2.

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Beginners Guide to Poker Tournaments

Playing a poker tournament for the first time is a surreal experience. The intensity of games, agro-maniacs, and jumping blind levels can be too much to handle for many TAG cash game players. Passive players in particular need to adjust their game before dipping their feet in the tournament fields. In this guide, I want to clear a few commonly asked questions/qualms about playing tournaments, and help you through your first game.

Adjusting from Cash Games to MTTs

If you’re a cash game player playing tournaments, you will have to make some big adjustments to your overall game. Even a $200 NL shark can look like a nit at the tournaments if he doesn’t adjust properly.

Poker tournaments are not really about playing solid ev+ poker. Forget everything you read up to now. Because the truth is: playing tournaments is all about chip-building and getting in the money.

What’s the difference? Tournaments are very strange relative to “normal” cash games in poker, and there are several reasons why. Firstly, you only have one buy-in (unless it’s a re-buy event), so you have to make decisions with that in mind. Secondly, you don’t have “time” on your hand because the blinds and antes are always increasing in levels. Players can’t “wait” for their pocket rockets and big gun hands. You need to force yourself into pots, and often this puts more emphasis on playing your opponents rather than your hands.

Lastly, poker tournaments have various “stages”. Technically, most people refer to 3 stages in any tournament – the early stage, middle stage, and late stage. In each “stage” or period, your MTT strategy needs to adjust because the environments changes. In the beginning of a tournament, you have to play tighter than the final table for example. As fewer players remain and the payoff money approaches, everyone changes their game in some way. You can go here for more information on how to play poker tournaments.

What Are the Odds of Me “Busting Out” from a Tourney?

Pretty big. Nah I’ll come out and tell you the truth. The odds of you busting out (losing you chips) in a tournament are virtually 100%. Unless you win a tournament and come 1^st, it’s guaranteed you will have busted out of a tournament from bad play, bad luck – or in my case falling asleep at the computer monitor.

How To Win Poker Tournaments One Hand At A Time

You can still make alot of money busting out of a tournament however – as long as you make it to the later stages. Over time, the number of tournaments you play will begin to equalise your downswings or good/ bad luck.

How Often Can I Win or Make Money in a Tournament?

An exact answer would depend on a few things including your skill, the skill of your opponents, and finally the number of entrants in a tournament. If we assume we’re better than 70% of the field (which is almost always the case in Micro buy-in tournaments), you can expect to make profit for every 5 -10 tournaments you play (10-20% of games in total).

Professional online MTT players such as Chris Moorman make around 50% lifetime ROI (return on investment) in their games. In summary, if you’re a good player than in the long term you will be making money. Learn more about tournament ROI and how much do players make in tournaments.

How Do I Choose Online Tournaments?

Poker rooms have more tournaments than players nowadays. So choosing which ones to play can be tricky.

The most important part is playing tournaments with the “right” entry fee. Tournament bankroll management suggests only playing tournaments with a buy-in of 1% or less of your total online poker bankroll. If you have a $200 bankroll, you should only play $0-$2 buy-in events. This reduces the risk of you losing your entire bankroll, and lets you play enough games to make some decent final-table finishes and profit.

For more information on choosing a tournament you can read this guide.

Where are the Best Online Tournaments?

People choose tournaments for different reasons (sort of like women). Some like them lean and mean – others like them “big n juicy”. The best tournament poker site voted by many is PokerStars. Officially we recommend UltimateBet, but as a beginner we’re sure you’ll find everything you need here. To find great tournaments to match your bankroll, visit our online MTT Guide.

Any Last Words of Wisdom?

Tournaments are a game of volume. Play over 100 games before you judge yourself and give up. I know someone at Full Tilt Poker who played 20 $2 buy-in games and didn’t cash out. Next game he won Full Tilts’s $200,000 Double Deuce event and made over $30k in a single pay-off! Also check out the MTT tools that can help you make that last step from busting out in the middle stages to breaking onto the final table.

Play at the Biggest Poker Tournament Site:Go to PokerStars +$600 Bonus