Tournament Strategy Part 1
Tournament Strategy
A Guide to Playing Multi-Table Tournaments
By Tigerscott
Table of Contents
Pre-Game
Preperation
Comfort
Tournament Spec's
Notes
Early Stages
Table Image
Hand Selection
Player Study
Maniac Watch
Picking Spots
Middle Stages
Stack Size
Working your Reads
Starting to Push
Using your Image
Late Stages
Position Play
Money Watch
Play Type
Other Table
Final Table
How to Approach the Table
SNG
Picking Opponents
Short Hand
Heads Up
Pre-Game
Preperation is often over looked when people decide to tackle online tournaments. This also varies from player to player. Figure out what you need to be at your best during the entire tournament. I'd suggest limiting distractions such as having TV, People/Kids running around, etc.
Comfort helps to keep you focused on what you are doing. Having something to drink, using the washroom before it starts, gathering anything you need to play before it starts is always a good idea.
Tournament Spec's help you decide how your going to approach the MTT (Multi Table Tournament).
How many players are there?The number of people in the MTT affect how you should approach. If there is a large field or small field it changes the number of weak players in the MTT. It is nice to figure out before hand the avg stack you should need for the final table. # of players x starting stack / 10 (# of seats at Final table). An example... 200 people with 1500$ starting is a total of $300,000. If there is 9 seats at the FT the average is aprox. $33k+ chips.
How big is the prize pool? Size of the prize pool effects a few aspects in the MTT. If it is large people tend to play tighter. Middle to Late stages play becomes tougher as more small stacks tend to Push/Fold. The FT(final table) changes also, people are more likely to wanna deal when it becomes short handed.
How many spots pay out? Always nice to have an idea where you sit during a tournament in relation to who gets paid.
How big is your starting chips? Starting chips in relation to the blinds can force you to play a few more hands then you normally would. If the blinds move up quickly your stack size becomes key to how you approach the table. If you have a large stack, average stack, or short stack you need to adjust.
How long do you expect the tournament to last? Are you gunna be playing for 1 hour or 5 hours or 9 hours? Do you have a full day distraction free to commit to a MTT that might run 5-9 hours? Just something to think about.
Notes are always a good idea during MTT's. Whether your taking them on the players on the table or just your own play will help you to focus and improve your play in the future. You can play perfect poker mistake free and still lose! So if taking down a few notes on yourself and others helps to limit mistakes to small mistakes then yes it's a great Idea.
Early Stages
Table Image can affect alot of things during a MTT. It is how other players see YOU as a player. How people see you play changes how they play against you. If your Loose and raising alot showing weaker hands they will begin to call you down with less. If you have a tight image people play tighter against you and will respect your raises more. Everything you do in the early stages of a MTT affects your image. Personally I never like to show any hands I don't have to. Why show a bluff and make someone mad when you don't have to, all this will do is piss him off and make him try harder in the future to get you back.
Early on in MTT's with small blinds it's easy to see alot of flops. But I believe this to be a wrong way to approach this stage of the tournament. Early on all the maniacs and fish are still in the game. The good players are still in too. In this stage you wanna use a tighter table image. with 3 or 4 or 5 to a flop you need a stronger hand to take down pots. Sure you can use bigger bets to limit the field but if you make a mistake it has a bigger affect on your chip stack. Early on you wanna play stronger starters and make sure you have good position on the table. Position Position Postion!!! The idea I'm trying to get across here is to set up your table image has a Tight/Aggressive player. A player that when you make a raise people will have to respect it. Setting up a tight image helps you in the middle stages of a MTT which I will get into later.
Hand Selection should be approached like you would a No Limit or Limit Cash game. Position, Betting, Pot Sizes and Number of People in the hand tell you what hands you can play. I won't get into this to much cause most books and experience you have in playing should give you a good idea what to play.
Player Study is a great way to help you focus on the goal WINNING! Taking notes on players, their betting paterns, hands they've shown, how they react to raises and re-raises, and if they like to chase help you to take their chips. People betting paterns are the biggest Tell in online poker. How they bet from early, middle or late position may help you narrow down the range of hands they play from each of these positions. Do they limp or overbet Aces?, How hard did he play AK? Anything to get an edge. Hey you may meet this guy at the FT who knows.
Maniac's are my friend! Say it with me "Maniac's are my friend!". MTT's are long and your gunna hit some big hands. When you get a monster you wanna know who the maniac is and have an idea how your gunna get his chips. Is he a sucker to a slow play? Does he like to bet out? or is he the calling station type. Notes and player study help you here...
Picking your spots once you got a feel for the table. Is there two tight players in the blinds when you have the button? When's the best time to steal? Can you narrow the field to isolate the maniac when you hit a hand. Is the small stack across from you likely to push to a raise/call or raise/reraise? These are things that you need to look out for.
A Guide to Playing Multi-Table Tournaments
By Tigerscott
Table of Contents
Pre-Game
Preperation
Comfort
Tournament Spec's
Notes
Early Stages
Table Image
Hand Selection
Player Study
Maniac Watch
Picking Spots
Middle Stages
Stack Size
Working your Reads
Starting to Push
Using your Image
Late Stages
Position Play
Money Watch
Play Type
Other Table
Final Table
How to Approach the Table
SNG
Picking Opponents
Short Hand
Heads Up
Pre-Game
Preperation is often over looked when people decide to tackle online tournaments. This also varies from player to player. Figure out what you need to be at your best during the entire tournament. I'd suggest limiting distractions such as having TV, People/Kids running around, etc.
Comfort helps to keep you focused on what you are doing. Having something to drink, using the washroom before it starts, gathering anything you need to play before it starts is always a good idea.
Tournament Spec's help you decide how your going to approach the MTT (Multi Table Tournament).
How many players are there?The number of people in the MTT affect how you should approach. If there is a large field or small field it changes the number of weak players in the MTT. It is nice to figure out before hand the avg stack you should need for the final table. # of players x starting stack / 10 (# of seats at Final table). An example... 200 people with 1500$ starting is a total of $300,000. If there is 9 seats at the FT the average is aprox. $33k+ chips.
How big is the prize pool? Size of the prize pool effects a few aspects in the MTT. If it is large people tend to play tighter. Middle to Late stages play becomes tougher as more small stacks tend to Push/Fold. The FT(final table) changes also, people are more likely to wanna deal when it becomes short handed.
How many spots pay out? Always nice to have an idea where you sit during a tournament in relation to who gets paid.
How big is your starting chips? Starting chips in relation to the blinds can force you to play a few more hands then you normally would. If the blinds move up quickly your stack size becomes key to how you approach the table. If you have a large stack, average stack, or short stack you need to adjust.
How long do you expect the tournament to last? Are you gunna be playing for 1 hour or 5 hours or 9 hours? Do you have a full day distraction free to commit to a MTT that might run 5-9 hours? Just something to think about.
Notes are always a good idea during MTT's. Whether your taking them on the players on the table or just your own play will help you to focus and improve your play in the future. You can play perfect poker mistake free and still lose! So if taking down a few notes on yourself and others helps to limit mistakes to small mistakes then yes it's a great Idea.
Early Stages
Table Image can affect alot of things during a MTT. It is how other players see YOU as a player. How people see you play changes how they play against you. If your Loose and raising alot showing weaker hands they will begin to call you down with less. If you have a tight image people play tighter against you and will respect your raises more. Everything you do in the early stages of a MTT affects your image. Personally I never like to show any hands I don't have to. Why show a bluff and make someone mad when you don't have to, all this will do is piss him off and make him try harder in the future to get you back.
Early on in MTT's with small blinds it's easy to see alot of flops. But I believe this to be a wrong way to approach this stage of the tournament. Early on all the maniacs and fish are still in the game. The good players are still in too. In this stage you wanna use a tighter table image. with 3 or 4 or 5 to a flop you need a stronger hand to take down pots. Sure you can use bigger bets to limit the field but if you make a mistake it has a bigger affect on your chip stack. Early on you wanna play stronger starters and make sure you have good position on the table. Position Position Postion!!! The idea I'm trying to get across here is to set up your table image has a Tight/Aggressive player. A player that when you make a raise people will have to respect it. Setting up a tight image helps you in the middle stages of a MTT which I will get into later.
Hand Selection should be approached like you would a No Limit or Limit Cash game. Position, Betting, Pot Sizes and Number of People in the hand tell you what hands you can play. I won't get into this to much cause most books and experience you have in playing should give you a good idea what to play.
Player Study is a great way to help you focus on the goal WINNING! Taking notes on players, their betting paterns, hands they've shown, how they react to raises and re-raises, and if they like to chase help you to take their chips. People betting paterns are the biggest Tell in online poker. How they bet from early, middle or late position may help you narrow down the range of hands they play from each of these positions. Do they limp or overbet Aces?, How hard did he play AK? Anything to get an edge. Hey you may meet this guy at the FT who knows.
Maniac's are my friend! Say it with me "Maniac's are my friend!". MTT's are long and your gunna hit some big hands. When you get a monster you wanna know who the maniac is and have an idea how your gunna get his chips. Is he a sucker to a slow play? Does he like to bet out? or is he the calling station type. Notes and player study help you here...
Picking your spots once you got a feel for the table. Is there two tight players in the blinds when you have the button? When's the best time to steal? Can you narrow the field to isolate the maniac when you hit a hand. Is the small stack across from you likely to push to a raise/call or raise/reraise? These are things that you need to look out for.
Comments
Stack Size has to always be on your mind. I personally like to stay above or as close to the average stack size as possible. If you find yourself falling back it's time to make a push. Staying above average is important because it keeps you ahead of the blinds. Later stages of an MTT this is becomes even more important.
Work on the reads you have and continue to build your stack. When you get the nuts don't be scared to push the betting a little harder. Using the reads you have been working on up until now should help.
Start to Push your play a little to take a run at winning the tournament. If your short try to get back up to or above average. If you have a bigger stack play strong position, steal some blinds and continue to use the reads you've worked hard to get. You can vary your play a little depending on your stack size. You should notice play at the table starting to improve as maniacs and weaker players are eliminated. The better players should be surfacing and you can adjust play against them. Not all weak players will be gone and you may be able to pick up allot chips still.
Use the Table Image you created earlier. People believe you to be a Tight/Aggressive player. They respect your betting and using your reads you should be able to steal a little more and possibly get others to lay down hands they shouldn't. Remember though if someone comes back at you after you raise they have a Big hand!!
Late Stages
Position Play by now should be very strong. Being down to a few tables later in a tournament the bigger stacks are bullying and the smaller stacks are looking to double up. Now playing correctly is essential to your survival. 1 mistake in this stage of the mtt usually means death and your exit. Be careful with your steals. Smaller stacks are desperate to double up and raising their blinds usually means putting them all in. If a small stack calls PF they will normally push all in on the flop no matter what hits the boards. If your raise is any where close to half of their stack size they'll automatically push if they have a decent hand. On the other hand betting into a monster stack or raising their blinds can be very profitable it can also sometimes turn against you in the form of bad beats. Remember it's not costing them allot to see flops so their range of hands increases over the medium and small stacks.. Suited and connected boards must throw alarm bells at you so make sure your drawing to or have a very strong hand already before going up against these guys. The third and final group is the average stack! Whether you have a small or large stack these are the guys you wanna go up against and/or try to steal from. They don't wanna fall below average and are not going to play weak hands at all. if one comes at you look out! If your a small guy use fold equity and position to steal blinds if you can. Get aggressive and make a move. You here to win not survive. If your a large stack these are the guys you wanna push around and bully. They see your chips and don't wanna go against you unless they think they can win.. They won't even be calling small raises to see flops usually in this situation because even limping into pots hurts there Chip counts. With the Blinds going up and being as big as they are by now it is a great time for you to push them around. If they push back your usually beat!
Watching how close you are to the money should start before you get close to the money! You don't care about just making the money. This is the time to open things up and use all you know to build your stack. Aggression here will only benefit you to make a run at the FT unless you make a mistake.. Everyone else is watching the money too.. The closer you get the tighter people are going to be. Small stacks wanna make it into the money and will be wasting time and playing extremely tight. Medium stacks tighten a bit to but play will vary from player to player. Aggressive guys will build while passive guys tend to tighten up and slowly let blinds eat away. The bigger stacks usually tighten up. The last thing they wanna do now is double someone up. The closer you get to the money the easier it will be to steal. Once the bubble comes and goes you'll see a shift in the tourney.. Small stacks will start pushing with any Ace or King. People remaining will drop very quickly until money starts to get bigger.. Hopefully you got a stack by now and you can begin to play smart poker again. Use position, reads and pick your opponents wisely.
Play type in late rounds changes quickly and often. Keep an eye on whats going on!
Other tables can be opened up once you get down to 4 tables or less.. I can open 3 and have tournament lobby open all at the same time. Use this time if you can to keep an eye on the other players you may run into later... 1 or 2 guys go out and sites usually start balancing tables so you may be moved 1, 2 or even 3 times during this period of the MTT.
Final Table BABY!!! Yeah! You made it! BUT IT'S NOT OVER!!!!!!!!
How to approach the final table should be set by how the 1st 3 stages went for you. If your short you need to push and make a move.. If your average your in great shape and can pick your spots to play hands.. If your a big Stack or Leading you can tighten up and use Patience!
SNG strategies can be very useful here. all those 5$,10$ and higher SNG's tourney's has been practice for this time! Your here to win! Let your stack size dictate how you are going to play..
Pick your opponents wisely and use position to your advantage.
Short Hand play changes the style of game you play. once you get down to 6 or less people the money is usually huge and no one wants to make mistakes. Use this to your advantage and build your stack. Blinds are way to big to wait for hands and you can start to play weaker starters. With 6 or less people the hands aren't going to be that strong anyways. Usually from this point on every hand you play usually puts you into a Heads Up situation. Remember all those HU SNG's you played!! Practice makes perfect. Your running on feel here and playing your opponents more then the cards. Once your down to a few people there usually isn't allot of flops seen..
Heads Up! Yes right what you want to be, going head to head for it all. Exciting right? OK now everything you know about poker has to be used. If your leading try to pressure your opponent into making a mistake. You can do this by using aggression carefully and working your advantage in order for him to make a mistake. Be careful though you don't wanna double him up or give him the lead. If you find yourself behind when you go Heads Up you will still wanna use aggression to get back into it. This point in a MTT you what to take control of the momentum and hold onto it !!
Kick ass and win it! Good luck!
Hope you all like this! I don't claim to know it all just thought it might be good to open up discussions and if it helps you to figure out what works best for you then Great!
Enjoy!
PS
Win any thing big after reading this remember the author!!! Good Luck
couple of beers. (2)
You should see me after 10. lol
No one has any comments on it?
I think the key is that theres plenty of books written on the topic about overall strategies.. Thats why we post hands because it's easy to say you should be aggressive late in a tournament, but does that mean I push QJs in MP against a loose BB?
Hobbes
I'd have to be pretty short stacked to "push" QJs in MP.