Tournament Tips

by Mike Sexton | Published: Feb 11, 2005

Tournament poker has taken the country by storm. Tournaments are fun, exciting, and challenging, and they enable us to fulfill our competitive instincts. The multimillion-dollar prize pools we see weekly on the World Poker Tour are attractive to the players who enter and the TV viewers. Whether you're an amateur or a professional, if you're at all serious about poker, chances are that you want to be at the final table of a WPT event, with a chance to compete for millions of dollars and prove your mettle as a player.

The WPT is in its third season, and its theme this year is: "We create a millionaire a week." In addition to the WPT, other big-time and made-for-TV poker events are also appearing on the scene now. And how can you blame them? Everyone has seen the success and ratings of the World Poker Tour. ESPN has vastly expanded its coverage of the World Series of Poker. Harrah's WSOP five-stop circuit made its debut in Atlantic City in January, FoxSportsNet (FSN) will be showing the Poker Superstars program throughout the year, and I'm sure we'll see other events appearing on various networks. Who would have thought a few years ago that dozens of players annually would become millionaires by playing tournament poker?

And the tournament craze is not limited to just big-time poker events. Every poker room has increased its number of daily and weekly tournaments. In addition, tournaments are being played in home games and fraternity houses across the nation on a regular basis. And, of course, online poker tournaments are booming! The bottom line is that players love tournaments!

I am asked all the time, "How can I improve my tournament play?" Well, I believe there are some fundamental concepts that you must understand to be a winner in tournament poker. First, recognize this: Tight players don't win tournaments. It's very rare that you see a tight player win a tournament. Just look at the guys winning on the WPT and you will see that they are not sitting back waiting for aces or kings. They are in there picking up pots without a hand. Tight players might make it to the money, but they don't win, place, or show very often – and that's where the money is!

In cash games (at least in low-limit cash games), tight play will probably enable you to be a small winner. That's because the blinds and antes don't increase, and you can quit when you want. In tournaments, that's not the case. Because the stakes continually get higher and you can't quit until you win all the chips or go broke, you can't sit back and play tight and expect to be successful.

I like what Max Stern says about tournaments: "To live, you must be willing to die." You have to win pots to win a tournament, and you must learn to get value out of your good hands. Don't be afraid to play a pot. To get to the victory stand, you must be willing to take chances.

You've probably heard the phrase, "Chips are power." Understand why. When you have them, besides being feared because you can take an opponent out, you can do so much more at the table. You can pick up blinds and antes, gamble against the short stacks, run over the table, come over the top and take pots away from your opponents, and, simply put, just make plays. When you are short-stacked, your hands are tied. Basically, you must wait for a hand and hope to double up.

The fault of most tournament players is that they play too tight. Nobody wants to go out, so conservative play is the norm. Because the blinds and antes continue to increase, those who sit back and wait for a hand are continually short-stacked. And if you're a tight player, chances are that you won't get any action even when you do pick up a hand. Doyle Brunson says, "To get action, you must give action."

Most players think "survival" is the most important thing in tournaments. (I used to think so.) It is important, but so is increasing your chip stack. Obviously, you can't win a tournament unless you make it to the final table, but you'll discover that there's a big difference between getting there with chips and being on the short stack. The top players get there with chips.

The point is that you should not underestimate the importance of accumulating chips. Someone once said, "You don't have to reinvent the wheel to be successful. Just watch successful people and do what they do." Well, the players who are winning all the money in tournaments are those who are aggressive and accumulating chips from the get-go.

Take care.