New to Casino Poker? Try a Low-Limit Tournament First

By Shane Smith, Guest Columnist

My good friend, poker cartoonist Ralph E. Wheeler, called from Ohio to arrange dinner during his biannual trek to Las Vegas, where he plays small tournaments around-the-clock during the week that he's in Neon City. "I'm bringing my cousin, Fred Krider, with me," he added, "and he's never played poker in a casino – just the usual home games, hold'em deuces wild, high spade in the hole, seven-card stud one-eyed jacks wild. You know, all the fun stuff!"

I knew that cousin Fred was better than Ralph let on, because the two of them had been working on a poker book for low-limit players for nigh on to a year. Fred just needed some casino experience to round out his perspective on playing poker for real money against people he'd never met in a bona fide casino setting. Those "Las Vegas Nights" back home just didn't cut the mustard.

Tom McEvoy joined us for dinner – I knew that he couldn't turn down my offer of free Chinese food. "Wait till the guys back home hear that I had dinner with a world poker champion!" Fred gushed over won-ton soup. And further fueled by the house chardonnay, "Will you autograph your business card for me?" Basking in the adulation of an adoring new fan, McEvoy paused from gnawing his spare ribs to graciously grant cousin Fred his signature and a few pointers on playing poker in casinos. "Why don't you play one of the little tournaments around town for starters?" the tournament top pin suggested. "You can learn a lot about how casino poker is played without having to risk a lot of money, and who knows, you might win a buck or two." Cousin Fred could hardly wait for the waitress to finish packing all the leftovers into a humongous doggie bag for Tom before he raced out the door to try his hand at a tournament.

And what a hand he played! Two weeks later, I received a letter from Fred: "Here I was visiting Las Vegas for the first time and sitting next to a world poker champion!" he began. And then he moved on to the good stuff: "I wish to stress a point that we touched on at dinner – how important it can be for a first-time poker player in a casino to play in a tournament or two prior to sitting down in a live game. A casino novice such as myself gained valuable experience at the tournament table. For a $20 buy-in, that's a pretty cheap lesson. I even managed to finish at the final table at the Luxor in my first poker tournament and win my buy-in back."

If you're new to casino poker, here are a few more tips on playing your first tournament. First, the tournament buy-in is the basic fee that the casino charges you to participate in the event. If the buy-in is $20, the casino usually keeps about $5 to cover its expenses and puts the remaining $15 into the prize pool. You will receive an entry card with your assigned table and seat number on it. When the event begins, report to your battle station, where you will find a stack of chips with which to fight. Each of your opponents will receive the same number of "bullets."

Second, many low-limit tournaments are structured with 20-minute rounds. This means that for 20 minutes, the betting limits will be $10-$20 (for example), and at the end of the first 20-minute round, the limits will increase, often to double the amount of the starting round. Every 20 minutes thereafter, the limits will increase again.

Third, most low-limit tournaments are rebuy events, which means that if you run out of chips, or if your stack falls below a designated amount, you may buy another stack of chips. However, most tournaments allow you to rebuy only during the first three rounds (referred to as "the rebuy period"), not throughout the entire tournament. At the end of the rebuy period, you usually can make one final rebuy to add to your stack. After that, it's do or die with the chips that you have in front of you.

Most small tournaments last between three and four hours, so you should have plenty of time at the table to get your feet wet at casino poker before you buy in to your first cash game. And when you do, you'll probably feel much more comfortable in handling casino chips, placing the correct bets, acting in turn, and all those things that more experienced casino players take for granted.

"I also want to emphasize how friendly and tolerant the casino dealers were when they realized that I was a first-timer in a casino," Fred added. "It really put me much more at ease when I made some silly mistake, such as forgetting to post a blind or putting the wrong amount of chips in the pot. Some of the dealers enjoyed chatting with the players, and that's how I found out about Robert, a dealer at The Orleans. He had been a helicopter pilot in Vietnam who had been shot down on more than one occasion. After I had been bumped out of the tournament, I talked with Robert, and it turned out that we both went to Vietnam in the same month and year (March 1968), and had both been stationed at Cam Ranh Bay. Small world!"

Tom and Fred's advice for newcomers to casino poker is sound: Play a small tournament to get some mileage under your belt, and it will help you get past the intimidation of playing in cash games with the "pros" – all of whom were once novices just like you. And who knows, with a little luck, maybe McEvoy and you and I will meet one day soon in the winner's circle of the small world of tournament poker.

Editor's note: Shane Smith is the author of Poker Tournament Tips From the Pros, How to Win at Low-Limit Casino Poker, and Omaha Hi-Lo Poker, all of which are available through Card Player. Visit the web at www.pokerbooks.com for more information.