Tournament Strategy

In this column, I am going to use a technique that will improve your tournament play. I'll ask a few questions, and then answer them for you.



Question No. 1: Under what conditions does it make sense to play a coin-flip hand in a tournament, and when should you avoid doing so? (A coin flip is having a pair against two overcards, or vice versa. The pair is usually a slight favorite heads up.)



There is more than one answer to this question, based on the situation. Whenever you're in danger of being blinded out of a tournament, that is the time to take a stand with a hand that you might have folded earlier. I will give you an example with pocket sevens. This is usually a hand that is considered vulnerable, because it falls in the small-pair category. This hand usually should be folded in early position or played for a small price in late position. The only exception to playing it cheaply or not at all is when you make a late-position raise and are just trying to win the blinds.



Now, let's consider a different set of circumstances. You're three hands away from the big blind. You have 1,600 in chips and the big blind is 400. You're not in the best of shape. You look down and see those pocket sevens. This is clearly the time to take a stand with them, especially if you're the first player to enter the pot. You expect to get called, but playing a coin-flip hand in this spot is far better than waiting for the blinds to eat you up. Your chip count is clearly the main factor in determining whether or not you should play the hand. What happens if a short-stacked opponent moves in for about four or five times the size of the big blind in front of you, and you have a big stack and little reason to think your opponent is exceptionally strong? As long as you think you can play the hand heads up, and have a medium or large stack, this is a good time to gamble and try to bust your opponent without putting your tournament life on the line. The time to avoid a coin flip is when you have a medium or large stack and are up against another medium or large stack. This is not the time to gamble. Wait for a better opportunity.



Question No. 2: At what point in a tourney should you make a continuation-bet, and how often should you do it?



You should make continuation-bets throughout a tournament, as long as your opponents don't play back at you and let you get away with it. This is especially true against tight opponents who have checked to you. If you meet resistance, back off unless you have a strong hand. Just remember one very important thing about continuation-bets: Thanks to the many fine books by Dan Harrington, a lot of players are quite familiar with them. Don't overdo making these bets against aggressive opponents who will start playing back at you with weak hands just because they think you're trying to steal the pot.



Question No. 3: How should you play small pairs in a tournament?



Small pairs are some of the toughest hands to play. I will call small pairs anything from deuces to sevens. In the early stage of a tournament, I want to play them cheaply from late position, preferably with several players in the pot. The reason that I like multiway action is that if I hit my set, I want to win a big pot. A pot with lots of players usually means that somebody hit some kind of hand and can give me some action. A flopped set will win about 80 percent of the time, and that's pretty good. I usually avoid playing small pairs when I'm in early position, because they can become chip burners if I am constantly being raised by players behind me, and oftentimes the raises are big enough to force me to fold. In late position, I am willing to call a modest raise to see the flop, especially if it's early in the tournament and everybody has a deep stack. In the later stages of the tournament, I play small pairs as I described in Question No. 1.



Question No. 4: How should you play medium pairs in a tournament?



I will call medium pairs eights, nines, and tens. I usually will be more aggressive with medium pairs. They have a much better chance of winning the pot if I'm up against only one opponent. I will bring it in for a standard raise if I am the first player into the pot, or raise against a lone opponent who has limped in. I am trying to isolate him and have position on him. If he calls my raise, I can decide what to do after the flop. If somebody cold-calls behind me, that makes it more difficult. If I have an overpair to the flop, I will make about a pot-sized bet and see what develops. If I get raised, I am put to a tough test. I might fold in the early stages of a tournament, and probably call in the later stages if I think my opponent does not have the hand value he is representing. I may have to go all in with my medium pair, depending on my chip position and my opponent's chip position.



Well, if you win your fair share of coin flips and your small and medium pairs hold up, I hope to meet you in the winner's circle soon — preferably at the World Series of Poker.



Tom McEvoy is a representative of PokerStars.com. He can be found playing under his own name on PokerStars, and is happy to chat when he can.