10 Tips on How to Improve Your Tournament Play!
1.Want to improve your end game? Want to build your level of experience in
playing final tables? Want to learn how to 'close the deal' and win an event?
Play a single table satellite! And when you do, pretend you are at the final
table of the World Championship. Remember, every chip is precious. Playing
single-table tournaments is great practice for the end game of multi-table
tournaments. The strategies are very similar; with the biggest difference being
single-table tournaments usually take less than an hour to play, where the
multi-table tournaments take over 4 hours to play.
2.A good basic strategy for the single-table tournaments is to play solid,
playing only premium hands in the first three rounds. After that, open up and
play more hands, becoming more aggressive the higher the blinds get, and the
shorter handed the tournament becomes.
3.Be a bettor, not a caller. Remember, the bettor has two chances to win, the
first being you might be able to show down the best hand, and secondly, if
everyone folds, you win an uncontested pot!
4.When your chip stack gets less than five times the size of the big blind in a
no-limit single-table tournament or a multi-table tournament, consider moving
all in with any two cards as long as you are the first one in the pot. In these
situations you are just betting that no one has a hand that they can call you
with. If you do get called and have the worst hand, you might get lucky and draw
out on them. If you aren't the first one in, you are joining a pot with
automatic competition.
5.In the late stages when you have a large stack of chips and it's one or two
spots from the money, it's easy to rob players that are desperately trying to
make the money. Play more aggressive in that spot, reduce your starting
requirements, and pick up some extra chips!
6.When you have an opponent who is overly aggressive, use it against them. Let
them think you have a weak hand when you really have a strong one. Check into
them so they will bet. You will then have the option to check raise and take
advantage of their aggressiveness. In the case of a real monster, check it a
second time, and then pop it up!
7.Play Real games to practice for the early rounds of multi-table
tournaments. The play here is very close to the same because you aren't under
pressure from the blinds. So play real money games anytime you have the time to
improve your play for the early rounds. Play solid poker.
8.Have a game plan for your tournament. Decide if you are going to start out
playing tight in the early rounds, or if are you going to play fast and try to
accumulate chips early. Consider adjustments you might make if you get short of
chips, if you get a large stack, or how you might adjust to different types of
opponents styles. Be prepared for everything!
9.When you are playing, always observe your opponents and pick out who will and
who wont, defend the blinds. The higher the blinds get, the more valuable this
information becomes. Remember the tight players are easier to rob. Be ready to
take advantage of them.
10.Save the best for last. Play your own tournament! That's right, your own
little event that starts and ends when you want. You are the tournament director
and can play any form of poker you'd like. Sit in the smallest game you can
find. The rounds are 20, 30, 40 minutes, anything you want, so set an alarm
clock. When the clock goes off, you must get up and move to the next highest
game. Keep going and see how much you can accumulate and how far you can go. Get
to the biggest game and you win the trophy. Of course, in this tournament, you
can quit at any time and cash in your checkers. Good Luck!
Source: Poker Secrets School
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