Tournament Play

If the structures are the same as last year, starting chips will be double the buy in, so for the $1,500 events you will start with 3,000 in chip. Blinds will begin at 25-50 and increase faster than you can say Scooby Doobie Doo. So the sit back and play tight style will only work for so long, you need to start playing hands and seeing flops. I may be somewhat repetitive with this but your range of starting hands should take into account several variables; position, table image, the tables aggressiveness, read on players acting after you, whether the pot is opened yet, and position to name a few. You may have noticed I said position twice, that's because it's that important and many players don't really think about it.

Position is one of the most important factors in how a hand can be played. Even when you have a big hand, how you choose to play it should be greatly influenced by your position. For instance big pairs in early position in an unopened pot present many options. Keep in mind variability in your play and choosing different options for different situations, or even randomly is absolutely something you should do. So your UTG +1 and you look down and AA and even though there not suited you decide to play them, limping, min raising, average raising and over raising are all possible options which are not necessarily right or wrong, but should be applied to the situation. What I mean by that is let's say you notice a player to your left getting a bet ready which looks to be a raise, something you've noticed before, your best option might be a lazy limp looking like a small suited ace or small pair or the like. When they do raise you can base your next move on the action of the whole table when the action gets back to you. There is the reverse of that situation like when you see someone in early position who limps, but looks like they wanted to raise and is sitting up and carefully following the action. So let's say you have a mid suited connector and might have wanted to raise, but not to avoid a re-raise you only call. I always say where you can make the most money in poker is busting a big pair after the flop when someone falls in love with it and doesn't know they are beat.

So try and carefully watch the players when they look at their cards, particularly when they do it out of turn and you can pick up a tell indicating whether their upcoming action is call, raise, or fold. If you can do this effectively you in fact can shift your position to your left a few spots. By this I mean if you know the action of the 2 or 3 players to your left your are in fact acting after them even know you are in front of them. Position is all about being able to make a better decision based on more complete information. Poker, being a game of incomplete information, becomes easier as your information improves. That's what reads and tells are all about, more information. Some players are what I refer to as "card players" in that they are playing their cards almost in a vacuum. Even when you are very strong or have the nuts, knowing where your opponent is can make a huge difference. Let's say it is one of those great moments in poker when you have the unbreakable nuts and you know your opponent is strong, you can value bet much more aggressively, and perhaps get their whole stack, versus when you know they have a little something and might call a small value bet. Knowing your opponents strength will dramatically help you win the most possible. There are also the times when you can avoid losing more and avoid a bad call or worse a bad bluff when they have checked to you and you know they are strong and have set a trap.

Now let's turn to that inevitable thing that at one time or another happens to all of us, and often times too soon, we go card and situation dead. I find that I don't need cards to stay alive in a tournament, but I do need some, what I call, positive situations. Simply put, positive situations are as the name implies, just that. That's where you are in late position with a marginal hand and you can steal, or you get called with your 64 off suit and flop two 4's and get action, or you miss and continue and your opponent folds. A positive situation ends with you dragging in the pot, and ultimately that's what makes it positive. Try as you might sometimes positive situations just can't be created, and cards, you got to take what you get. To paraphrase Martha Stewart, (I'm not sure she envisioned poker with this phrase, but it works) when poker gives you lemons, you have to make lemonade. When you are getting unplayable hands you have to learn how to make them work. Like I said earlier, much of it has to do with reading your opponents and looking for good situations. When you can reliably put your opponent on a narrow range of hands, you can then outplay them with a wide range of hands. Of course, if you can learn how to pick up AA after your opponent has pushed all in pre-flop, then you are truly gifted, but for the rest of us finding positive situations is what separates the men from the boys. Some days it all goes bad, unlucky, bad cards and alas no positive situations, but on those days when most of it works the feeling is truly magnificent. Okay now back to poker.

Keep in mind the task of winning a poker tournament, or even making the final table is daunting. At this year's smaller buy in no limit events there may be 2,000 to 4,000 players all with the same ambition or dream; to win. If everyone were of equal ability it would be easy to say your chances would be slim, so we must do all that we can to shift the odds in our favor. Chance favors the prepared mind, so to sit back and wait for hands and play your cards you will be drawing almost dead.

The process begins as soon as you sit down, even before the first card is dealt. Size up your opponents, look at them in their relaxed state, watch them breath, look at their neck and see if you can get a sense of their pulse. Watch their posture in their chair, see if their legs or feet move around, watch them play with their chips. Learn as much as you can about them before the first card goes in the air. When the action begins, watch them even more closely. Many players plug into their IPod and tune out all that is around them. I am not against listening to music while you play, but to not be able to pick up all the clues around you puts you at a disadvantage. True, sometimes in a loud and noisy room the noise cancelling effect of a Bose type headset can relax you at relieve some strain, but make sure you can still hear your opponent and the dealer so you don't make any mistakes or miss anything. We have all seen a player that misses an early position raise or throws in the wrong amount of chips thinking they are opening the pot, all it takes is one mistake like this at the wrong time to adversely affect your chances of winning.

The next thing is to watch hands when you are not involved. See how your opponents look when they are involved in a hand, and how that differs when they are weak versus strong, or when they make the rookie error of needlessly showing you a hand. I know I have said this many times before, but I'm always amazed at the number of players who show hands unnecessarily and allow players such as myself to gain an advantage. I guess I should stay quiet and not share this information, but the majority of players won't learn, which is good news for those of us that do. As you learn the players at your table it will allow you to operate more confidently and play a wider range of hands. Like I said, the narrower a range of hands you can put your opponent on the wider range of hands you can beat them with.