Tips For Texas Holdem Tournament
- Tips For Texas Hold'em Tournament Play
- Tips For Texas Hold'em Tournaments
- Tips For Texas Hold'em Tournament Tips
- Tips For Playing Texas Hold Em Tournament
The following is a list of tournament Texas Hold'em strategy articles for the multi-table tournament (MTT) games as well as the smaller single-table tournament (STT) games.
If I had to choose one word to describe heads-up sng poker strategy, it would be 'aggression'; but there's more to it than that. Let's take a step back and look at a full 10-handed table. But, you can change all that with a solid Texas Hold'em Tournament Strategy plan. And, of course, you will need to be able to make that plan work to win. In this guide, we'll show you how to become a tough tournament player. No one will mistake your buy-in as a stepping stone to their success, ever again. Tournament Poker Strategy: Main Components. The real money online casino world depends on bonuses to attract and retain players. With no Winning Texas Holdem Tournament Strategy physical location and no way to see the player face to face, a casino must Winning Texas Holdem Tournament Strategy find a compelling reason for you to make a deposit to try out their games, and the most common way to do so is to give you Winning Texas Holdem.
ThePokerBank is more of a general and cash game strategy site than anything, but I thought that I would cover some basic tournament strategy for all of you interested in playing MTTs and STTs (Sit and Go tournaments).
Tournament Texas Hold'em strategy articles.
| Title | Level | Category | Utility |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic MTT Strategy | Beginner | Tournament | 7/10 |
| Basic SNG Strategy | Beginner | Tournament | 7/10 |
| Poker ROI | Beginner | Tournament | 4/10 |
| Turbo Tournament Strategy | Intermediate | Tournament | 6/10 |
| What Is The Independent Chip Model? | Expert | Tournament | 8/10 |
| Using The Independent Chip Model | Expert | Tournament | 8/10 |
Tournament strategy section highlights.
Important tournament strategy articles.
The independent chip model (ICM) articles are more advanced than the other tournament strategy articles on this site, but in my opinion they hold the most value for those that aspire to become very successful tournament players.
The what is ICM? article explains what ICM is all about and the using ICM article shows you how to use it. These articles essentially highlight the mathematics behind whether to call all-in or to fold and save your chips in the late stages of tournaments.
Other useful tournament strategy articles.
The basic SNG and basic MTT strategy articles are popular amongst new players looking to get started with some basic strategy for playing these specific variants of NL Hold'em. Even if you're an experienced cash game player, I would still recommend that you start with these articles.
If you're making the transition from cash games you have to be humble and be prepared to the learn the basics of tournament strategy, as the different game structures mean that the strategy you need to employ to be able to win money is more different than you might think.
This is another small strategy section, but as I mentioned earlier I'm mainly a cash game player so I tend to write more strategy for that particular form of Texas Hold'em. If you're after more tournament strategy I highly recommend you check out Sit and Go Planet. It's by far the best resource out there for MTT and SNG strategy.
Go back to the awesome Texas Hold'em Strategy.
Comments
Poker Tournament Strategy
Whether you’re playing micro stakes tournaments or the Sunday Million – you need to know what you’re doing to have a chance at winning. That seems obvious right? But trust me, there are too many players entering tournaments with no clue. That’s great news for you though cos it mean’s poker is not dead, despite what you hear. This article is going to give you poker tournament strategy tips that can be used to increase your cash rate, final tables and wins.
Don’t stop stealing the blinds
Tournament poker regs seem to nit it up and count on making it deep with premium hands. Don’t be one of them. Stay active, keep stealing the blinds from late position and don’t give up. A lot of poker sites are advocating the slow down approach but that’s what your opponents want. Regs are playing too many tables, not paying enough attention and missing profitable spots to steal the blinds. Tournament poker will always reward those who are able to consistently steal blinds and keep their stack alive. The fact that people are defending their blinds loosely should not make you fold more often in late position. Why? You have position. You have the advantage in a hand, even if your hand is weaker. Never forget that.
Pre-flop bet sizing
Consistency is very important when it comes to raising pre-flop. It’s fine if you want to make it 2.5x then stick with that. Please don’t change it based on hand strength. It’s 2020 and even the most basic of poker players will notice and instantly tag you. If you are a poker training video membership member, you’ll know my preference re’ pre-flop bet sizing but I will re-iterate it here non-members.
Early Position Min Raise
When I’m raising from early position, I lack information on the rest of the table. I want to open raise if I play but I also want to steal cheaply and/or keep the pot smaller against my opponents that flat in position. I also have no problem with it folding to the big blind and them calling a min raise. In fact, I welcome it. I will have position, a better hand and have increased the pot a little. My hand range is likely to be stronger than theirs and I have the pre-flop aggression.
Middle Position 2.2x
With fewer opponents behind us, I am happy to increase the sizing a bit and play a slightly bigger pot against the blinds. I don’t want to raise too much as I am still potentially acting first post-flop if someone in position calls. I am also slightly dissuading the blinds to call which is no bad thing in tournaments. I am likely to have a wider range from here so I have no problem with them just folding.
Late Position 2.5x
This may seem counter intuitive to some. Why raise more with a wider range? I want to play bigger pots when I have positional advantage. Sure, sometimes I will be light but sometimes I will be strong too. I want to charge the blinds more than the minimum to play against my wider range. By making it 2.5x I am also protecting myself against 3 bet bluffs a little more. Consider a min raise from the button. The big blind is far more likely to 3 bet bluff that than a bigger raise.
Notice – my pre-flop raises changes based on position – it doesn’t change based on hand strength. Therefore, it is logically consistent as I am raising 2.5x from late position with A-A and K-6s.
Defend the big blind
Tips For Texas Hold'em Tournament Play
Everyone and their dog are loving the small ball approach these days. The standard small raise is popular and with good reason – it works. One of the results of this is that you have to defend your big blind more. It means calling raises with hands you won’t necessarily want to but pot odds and solid poker tournament strategy dictate you must. Let’s look at a quick example to illustrate this.
Blinds – 600/1,200 (antes 120)
Player A- 42,500
You – 36,900
It folds to Player A on the button. He is a capable tournament player. He raises to 2,500. The small blind folds and the action is on you. Before even looking at your hand, let’s do some poker maths.
Pot – (1,080 antes, 1,800 in blinds + 2,500) = 5,380
Cost to call – 1,300
Equity needed to call – 19.4%
As you can see, you need to defend super wide in this spot. You just can’t afford to fold too many hands when you are getting these kind of prices in big blind.
3 Bet with 30 bbs +
Tournament poker is often playing shorter stacks and less “poker” playing but that doesn’t mean you must play shove or fold poker. You don’t want to 3 bet bluff with short effective stacks cos it means the 4 bet from your opponent will always be all in. With slightly deeper stacks though (30 bbs+), you can afford to 3 bet bluff and take away a lot of pots. Poker tournament strategy is usually to attack short stacks. Screw that, 3 bet bluff the bigger stacks. I find that the big stacks are just as protective as the shorter stacks, if not more. It also means you can potentially get the last bet in if they decide to 4 bet. Good spots for 3 betting are when the raise has come from middle or late position.
CAUTION – Avoid 3 bet bluffing when they are raising from under the gun or UTG +1 as their range is likely to be tighter.
Learn continuation betting strategy
This article is dedicated to poker tournament strategy, not continuation betting but the fact is, c betting is an important part of tournament poker. You need to understand which boards favour your perceived range and what favours your opponent. A lot of players waste chips throwing out foolish continuation bets. You need to appreciate board texture, number of opponents and stack sizes when choosing whether to continuation bet or not. If you want more help with continuation betting, check out our article on the do’s and don’ts of continuation betting.
Tips For Texas Hold'em Tournaments
Isolate the limper(s)
An oldie but goody. Raising over a limper or limpers is still a very profitable play. It’s crazy to think there are still players that adopt this limp in mentality, but it’s great for us. If people want to try and limp into the pot with pocket 3s or A-9 offsuit, that’s fine, we will take their blinds all day. In some scenarios, it may seem prudent to over-limp but most of the time, just raise it 4x and win it. If they call, you can often just win it with a flop bet anyway. It’s a great way to build a stack in tournament poker and is also good for your table image as people. This might help you get paid later in the tournament.
Practice heads up poker
Many tournaments end in deals being done but what if yours doesn’t? What if you’re against a tough player or someone unwilling to deal. You need to know how to play 1 on 1. After all, if you want to win the tournament you have to beat the last opponent. Heads up is a great poker format. Some basic heads up tips are below:
- Raise every button
- Bet most flops
- Check raise more
- Bluff catch 2nd pair down
- Stay on top of your opponent, don’t let up
- Don’t show bluffs
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Tips For Texas Hold'em Tournament Tips
I hope you enjoyed this article on poker tournament strategy tips for 2020 and beyond. A final tip is a little plug for our training videos. If you enjoyed this article and would like to learn more, you can. By join as a member you can gain access to almost 1,000 minutes of poker training videos. I give more tips, secrets and advice beyond this article. You can see how I play tournaments, cash games, SNGs and strategy lectures designed to help members make money. The price of membership is only £49.99 for 1 year. You can join by clicking below or clicking the banner below for information. Once you’ve paid for membership, you will be sent your personal login details within 24 hours.