Hold Em Tournament Strategy

Tournament poker and table game poker are two totally different monsters. In tournament poker once you’re out, you’re out, unless you’re playing in a rebuy tournament. In a rebuy once the time expires to buy back in when you’re out, you’re out. Popular versions of hold em tournaments include single table sit and go’s, multi table sit n go’s, no rebuy tournaments, and rebuy tournaments. All four share similarities in that blinds increase, each player starts with a certain number of chips, and only a certain percentage of those who entered will be paid. There are also certain strategies that apply to each and every version of play.

Multi table tournament strategy goes something like this - avoid playing a lot of hands in the very beginning of the tournament, regardless of how many players are enrolled in the tournament. It could be 20, it could be 2,000. When the blinds are low you don’t want to be playing a lot of hands, as it’s easier to lose chips in the beginning. Players are more reckless in the beginning of the tournament. Let the reckless players take out the other reckless players. It is much easier to take out one reckless player than 10.

As the blinds increase you can now win more chips with your hands. Think about it like this: if the blinds are 10/20 and you raise to 80 with a lot of players at the table, you’re more likely to get a call. When the blinds jump up to 50/100 and you make the same sized raise, you are now putting 500 in the pot. This 500 is more likely to scare away opponents than 80. Also, if someone does call, you will be winning more chips in the hand with the same exact cards. As the blinds increase, you want to take down pots to stay in position to take down the tournament.

Also, another reason to not play many hands early on is because you want to survive into the later rounds of the tournament. You have more risk if you are playing a lot in the beginning. You’re risking your chance at winning, or at least making it to the money. Trying to double up too early on puts you at risk of losing. You really don’t want to lose chips early. At least if you wait until the blinds go up you’ve made it past a few rounds.

When it comes to hand selection you want to be tight aggressive. There’s no point entering into a hand with something like AK without a decent sized raise. If you don’t raise you are leaving yourself open to numerous draws or low pairs taking the pot from you. The bigger the raise, the more likely you are to scare away those who would typically draw.

Drawing hands can come in handy in longer tournaments where the blinds don’t increase quickly. In turbo or ultra turbo tournaments it is advised that you don’t go for many draws as the speed of the tournament is so fast, you’re risking unnecessary chips that would come more in handy for when you pick up a great hand.

Hold em tournament strategy will vary depending on the blinds but tight aggressive is always the best way to go to navigate your way through.

Jason Narog is an amateur poker player and article writer for Poker Strategies and Poker Tools and Free Texas Holdem Secrets.