Poker Tournament Tips to Play Deep

Do you want to learn some of the most crucial aspects of poker tournament strategy? Whether you are playing at your local casino weekly tourneys, small stakes at online poker sites, or testing skills at international live tournaments,  you have come to the right place.

If your dream is playing more advanced poker, then tournaments are the answer.. They not only give you a title but also provide life-changing sums of money. However, there are many people who become dead money in poker games. They have very little to no chance of making the final table or winning.

Here are a few tips for playing a poker tournament that can be used at all skill levels:

  1. a)      Getting through the beginning, middle, and the late stages

All tournaments have a beginning, middle and late stage. However, players just play each stage the same way. According to the rule of thumb, you must play the tournament’s late stages much more aggressively than the earlier ones.

One reason for that is that the blinds are the smallest at the earliest stages. Therefore, there is no point in taking big risks in order to get some extra chips, and on top of that, you can create the image of a tight player, which will help you gain more respect when you open up your game.

After few players are eliminated, and during the middle stages, you must start getting busy. The button then becomes your best friend. When you are more aggressive, try to build bigger stacks because the weaker will be folding their way to the money. So, when you see the chance, pounce on it! Use their fear to your advantage, and then you are in a position to steal blinds.

In the later stages of tournaments, the blinds become much bigger, and the overall risk will be worth all of it. Remember that chip preservation is key in the later stages. Building your stack becomes important.

If you are a new tournament player, then the good strategy is to start tightly during the first few levels. Then as the tourney continues, open up your ranges by doubling during each phase of the game.

  1. b)      How to make the final table at tournaments

The first rule of making it to the final table is don’t ever commit the cardinal sin of assuming that you own the chips in your stack while playing real money games. It is not a cash game; you cannot just get up and cash them in. Tournament chips do not have the same value as cash chips. Not all players can win 100% of the prize pool at the end.

In poker tournaments, the final table is where all big money is. To reach their takes a lot of focus as well as hard work. Even if you are a chip leader, use this opportunity to take advantage of players who are tightening up their game.

Here are a few tips to make the final table more often:

  1.     Stay aggressive in late events: Your opponents might be trying to hold onto their chips, so use yours to get more. You can see that medium-stacked players always fold their buttons to the blinds. But, when you are in a late position, use that knowledge in order to raise your button at every opportunity. If they are not concerned about putting pressure on the blinds, then you should be.
  2.     Keep the pressure up on shirt-stacks: Players who are late into tourneys are short-stacked players, and they get that way for several reasons, but mostly it is from a bad beat or tight-passive play. However, the good news is that you take advantage of this in order to get you to the final table.
  3.     Look for players who are playing tight: when you are close to the final table, there will be a lot more players who are afraid to lose their chips, but they are hard to find. They are mostly the ones who went from raising every button to folding the BB to a SB min-raise! So, get on the action they don’t want you to have and steal as many blinds and orphaned pots from them.

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