Small-Tournament Roundup

There is something present in every poker tournament that causes you to lose. The more of it you have, the more apt you are to lose. What is this illusive element? Its name is fear. How do you define fear? Zig Ziglar, one of the best motivational speakers in the country, says, "Fear is False Evidence Appearing Real." You, and only you, control the amount of fear you experience during a tournament. If you act in a timid manner, you will play too conservatively and ultimately lose all of your chips, slowly but surely. Fear will cause you to limp in with good hands when you should be raising. Fear will cause you to fold under the pressure of more aggressive and fearless players.

What exactly do you have to fear? What is the worst thing that can happen to you in a tournament? Will you lose your life? Will your world come to an end? No, none of these dire things will happen to you. You will not even lose any money, because you have already invested your tournament entry fee. You must think of this entry fee the same way that you would think of a blind or an ante in any poker game. Once the blind or ante is posted, it is no longer yours – it belongs to the pot. Once your entry fee is posted, it belongs to the entire pool of tournament players. You have nothing further to lose. You are now playing for tournament chips, and they have no real value. Since these chips have no real value, you should not fear losing them. The worst thing that could happen to you in a poker tournament is that you could lose all of your "no value" tournament chips and get busted out of the tournament.

You must force yourself to play without fear. Leave this evil element at home when you leave the house to enter a poker tournament. Act without fear and you may be totally surprised by your results. Raise more often and with more hands. When you are contemplating calling a raise, do not call it. Instead, reraise the raiser. Make him think about calling you. Take fear out of yourself and put it into your opponents.

When you act boldly and fearlessly, the other players will start to fear and respect you. You will keep them guessing and force them to make decisions that may be the wrong ones for them but the right ones for you. Their fear and respect for you will cause your behavior to change even more. They will actually feed you with positive reinforcement for your bold behavior. This positive reinforcement from them will, in turn, cause your behavior to become even bolder. You will also receive more positive reinforcement by winning more pots. By winning more pots and building up your chips, you will win more tournaments and more prize money. This is all great positive reinforcement to encourage you to become a bolder and more fearless tournament poker player.

It has been said that those who act boldly have unseen forces that will come to their aid. This is not just a fable, it's a fact. Have you ever noticed how very aggressive players raise and reraise with the worst hand and then catch their miracle card on the river to win the pot? Those unseen forces aided them for their bold actions and awarded them the pot. If these players had not been acting boldly and fearlessly, they probably would not have been there at the river to collect the fruits of their labor.

The next time that you enter a poker tournament, try leaving fear somewhere else. Do not bring it through the door of that poker room. Raise more, and reraise more. Act boldly and fearlessly, and I hope that those unseen forces will come to your aid. Good luck at your next tournament!

If you would like to E-mail me concerning any questions, comments, or experiences, please address it to my attention (Rick Young) at [email protected].