Everyday players are sitting down at the tables and consistently making fundamental mistakes because of lack of knowledge, misinformation or failing to maintain focus.
- No Limit Texas Holdem Poker Tournament Strategygy
- Free No Limit Hold'em Poker
- No Limit Texas Holdem Poker Tournament Strategy Against
- Texas Hold'em No Limit
Even just a small strategical adjustment in poker can potentially save you a huge amount in the long run.
Pick practically any online poker site and you’ll find no shortage of turbo or fast-structured tournaments from which to choose. Tournament strategy turbo tournaments no-limit hold'em. This is one of the most basic no limit Texas Holdem tips and the first advice that we give. Poker Tournament Strategy And Tips Kelvin 'Acesup' Beattie April 13, 2017 No Comments Everyday players are sitting down at the tables and consistently making fundamental mistakes because of lack of knowledge, misinformation or failing to maintain focus.
In this article we will point out some of the best live and online poker tournament strategy tips you can use to improve your game as quickly as possible.
Tip 1: Play The Right Starting Hands
Whether it be lack of patience, or an unfamiliarity with opening ranges, many tournament poker players still open too wide. This is especially true when it comes to early and middle position opens, where there are still many opponents left to act behind who can be dealt a strong hand.
The problem is when called, wide openers are often at a range disadvantage. Often being dominated by their opponents, they are vulnerable to 3 bets since they frequently won't have a holding strong enough to continue under pressure.
Furthermore, although opening a hand like 7 ♠ 5♠ might at times not be a terrible strategy from early or middle position, speculative hands like suited connectors and gappers, as well as small pairs, work best with deep stacks behind.
These speculative hand types infrequently connect strongly with the flop, so those times they do you want to have deep stakes behind to have the potential to win a huge pot. Modern day tournament structures often only see deep stack play occur during the first few levels of play. This leads us into the next tournament poker tip, being stack size aware.
Learn which hands to open raise in MTT's - Watch lesson 6.1 from the Road to Success MTT Course. A power-packed 50 minute video below, just use one of the button options to unlock it and get instant access.
Tip 2: Be Stack Size Aware
Effective stack size plays a critical role in a tournament players success.
Having a deep stack, and therefore expanding an opening range to include a lot of speculative suited hands and small pairs is a tournament strategy that is going to be punished if a number of short stacks are yet to act behind. This most notably occurs in turbo tournaments where the average stack size is quite short.
Short stacks will be in push-or-fold mode. Being short, they don't have time to wait and will be looking to take any opportunity they can to move all-in. This high rate of all-ins will leave wide openers frequently being forced to relinquish their hands, without even having the opportunity to try to hit a nice flop. Problematic hands often include; J8s , KTo and weak Ax hands.
It's not just short-stacks that can cause a problem, aggressive players will be looking to attack wide-openers. This is especially true when a player opens with a vulnerable M8-M14 (20bb-35bb) stack. 3 bets get good leverage against this stack size, since continuing in the pot represents committing a significant portion of a players stack.
Wide openers would be wise not to commit a large percentage of their stack with marginal holdings, and so will be forced to fold, or face being in a high-risk situation. Staying aware of your own stacks utility, as well as anticipating how opponents will utilize their stacks, is an important tournament poker tip to keep in mind.
POKER TIP: If you are currently using BB to calculate stack size, here's a look at why using 'M' is a better MTT strategy.
Tip 3: Be Careful Overplaying In The Early Stages
As a stack gets deeper, the less willing a competent player will be to put their entire stack at risk since they have more to lose. It's rare to see good players all-in during the early stages of a tournament with hands like AKo or JJ preflop.
Smart players recognize that their counterparts aren't going to be risking their entire stack with weaker hands like AQo . Therefore, even a strong hand like AK could be at a significant equity disadvantage facing a deep stacked opponents all-in range. Could you fold QQ here?
Rather than putting in an extra raise, often times just calling with even very strong hands in the early stage of a poker tournament has great benefits.
- Allows your opponents to continue with hands they were folding to a re-raise that you have crushed.
- Disguises the strength of your hand and keeps you unpredictable.
- Prevents you from getting all-in facing a super strong range where often times you're crushed.
Tip 4: Continuation Bet Aggressively But Not Always
Players have learnt the value of c-betting, but it's a strategy that is often misapplied. Being the preflop aggressor shouldn't lead to a mandatory c-bet and double barrels.
This is especially true in multi-way pots yet players continue to make fruitless c-bets with weak holdings into multiple opponents.
Even in heads-up situations, key factors to consider include;
- How does the flop texture interact with players ranges?
- Who has the strongest range?
- Who has nut advantage (the biggest share of super strong hands)?
- How passive or aggressive is the opponent we're facing?
- How does the stack size/SPR allow us to operate on the flop and future streets?
The following hand illustrates the effect nut advantage can have on profitable continuation betting and how it applies to this tournament poker tip:
Tip 5: Be ICM Aware
The Independent Chip Model or ICM, is a great model players use to make more profitable decisions when deep in a tournament and especially at a final table.
Unlike in cash games, chip values fluctuate depending on the stage of the tournament and the competing opponents stack sizes. At it's most extreme, ICM strategy can make A♠A♣: an easy fold preflop.
Imagine a situation in a satellite where 9 players get a World Series of Poker entry and there's 10 remaining. The action folds around to a player with 100,000 in tournament chips who moves all in from the small blind. You're sitting in the big blind with A♠A♣: and also 100,000 in chips. You look around and see a few opponents with only 1000 chips left, which is the size of the current big blind. Obviously one of these short stacks is likely to bust very soon.
Obviously one of these short stacks is likely to bust very soon. Moreover the chance that they collectively out survive your 100,000 stack is extremely remote. You'd likely be a 99% chance to get a WSOP entry, so why would you call with your A♠A♣ and risk busting next around 20% of the time?
Aside from calling too wide in spots when the most profitable strategy is to proceed tightly, the opposite can also be true when it comes to pressuring your opponents. ICM allows players when they have the opportunity to assert pressure on there opponents stacks, to go ahead and do so liberally, since thinking opponents counter-strategy is to play a tight range of hands.
Here's an example of how drastically a hand range can change when the opportunity to assert pressure at a final table exists. 5 of the 6 remaining players at the Pokerstars Sunday Millions have 15bb's, whilst the UTG player has a short 2bb stack. Since the 15bb stacks wants to avoid busting out next and missing out on a large pay jump before the immanent bust out of the 2bb stack, the small blind can adjust their all-in range. Instead of the profitably 57% all-in range in normal play, they can move all-in with 100% of hands to apply pressure on the big blind.
Whilst the big blind should adjust their calling range from the regular 36% to just 10% of hands to account for the ICM effect in play.
The PokerNerve Road to Success course teaches players how to master ICM situations, which is key to tournament poker success since ICM comes into play as the prizes become significant. If there was only one tournament poker tip that you take away from this article, it's that you need to know ICM!
Tip 6: Bet The Appropriate Size
Strong players are capitalizing on their opponents tendencies to bet too big or too small in a number of different situations. With some similar considerations to that of continuation betting, when selecting a bet size important aspects include;
- Which player's range does the board texture favor?
- Who has the greatest nut saturation?
- How does SPR influence our betting strategy
There are many great articles online about bet sizing. You should be sure to check out ThePokerBank's and the Pokerology's to learn more about this tournament tip.
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Tip 7: Take Equity Realization Into Account
Possibly due to the popularity growth of Twitch, many poker players approach to big blind play has evolved. The current trend is to defend the big blind with virtually any 2 cards, as some top pros elect to do, and the justification for this is taking advantage of the excellent pot odds being offered.
While the inclusion of antes combined with commonly seeing a small open raise size does offer the big blind generous pot odds, this has led to a fundamental flaw in the way many players approach big blind play in poker tournaments. The key concept overlooked, is equity realization.
Equity realization reflects a players ability to take a certain hand, and win their share of the pot, frequently enough, to make it profitable in the long-term. Although some top pros have the ability to win their equity share of the pot even out of position, less skilled players rarely do. This leads to a large chip loss in the long run.
It is quite difficult to realize of your equity when out of position, with no initiative and a weak range. This means them glorious odds you are being offered aren't quite as good as you think!
The following article explains this crucial tournament poker tip in more detail; Equity Realization.
Tip 8: Don't Miss Double And Triple Barrel Opportunities
'One and done' is the plight of many aspiring tournament poker players. Everyday at the tables I see players missing profitable opportunities to double, or even triple barrel. Understanding what turn and river cards are advantageous to a players range, along with opponent tendencies, are crucial parts of a winning barreling formula.
The most common scenario at the table, is a heads-up pot where the big blind calls an open-raise. And this happens to be a great spot to barrel. Big blind defenders have a wide range, and it's important to pressure this wide range, especially on only partially connected board textures with one or multiple high cards.
RedChipPoker has a great article on spotting profitable double barrel opportunities which you can read here: THE +EV DOUBLE BARREL GUIDE
Tip 9: Check-Raise More Flops
The biggest difference between the current tournament population, and the future generation, will likely be their approach to check-raising the flop. This opportunity typically occurs in a heads-up pot, after defending the big blind verse an opponents raise.
Currently, MTT players only check-raise the flop in this situation around 7-8% of the time, when closer to 20% is a more optimal strategy. On certain flop textures, check-raising close to 25% of the time is an extremely profitable strategy. And if players are getting out of line with their c-bets, then check-raising at an even higher frequency could be a profitable exploit.
By giving up too easily on a wide range of board textures, or taking a more passive approach and simply calling, c-betting can be done with reckless abandon. However, by selecting a nice mix of check-raising hands, combining some strong hands with some good semi-bluffing candidates, a check-raiser can become tricky to play against and exploit the average players tendency to over c-bet.
POKER TIP: Applied correctly and check-raising becomes a super powerful weapon in your arsenal leading to more profitable poker results. But also think beyond the flop, there's plenty of check-raising opportunities you may be missing. This video demonstrates an interesting turn check-raise situation.
We discuss check raising strategy in more detail in our post over on unfeltedpoker.com.
Tip 10: Develop A Good 3betting Strategy
Whilst 3 betting aggressively is a strategy many players employ, especially in online poker circles, failure to apply optimal 3 betting strategies has certainly led to a lot of spewy poker. Simply attacking opponents who are suspected of opening wide doesn't cut it in the modern poker world.
Players have learnt to deal with 3 bets more profitably, by mixing in some calls with timely 4 bets. Moreover, the role stack size plays when it comes to 3 betting it still largely misunderstood by much of the poker community.
Sure there are certain stack sizes where 3 bets gain a lot of leverage, but how about the role blockers play? And when is 9♦7♦ a better 3 bet candidate than K♦T♠ ? These are just some of the considerations when it comes to a profitable 3 betting strategy. See how to design strong 3betting ranges in this article by Donkr.
Bonus Poker Strategy Tip: Avoid and Deal with Downswings
As a poker player you want to earn your money as easily and as stress-free as possible right? Well, understanding ROI, variance and bankroll management can help (see TopPokerValue's article on bankroll management).
All poker players at some point experience downswings. In some cases, this can affect their play, volume or state of mind.
You'll be miserable, hating poker, playing less and earning less per tournament as your play will suffer.
Along with finding ways that work for you to keep a positive mindset, taking pro-active steps can help keep you confident by knowing you are dealing with the situation like a professional whilst at the same time taking positive action to get back on track and winning.
What is ROI and variance?
Every tournament you enter has an EV associated with it. So if you enter a $10 tourney, as a good player maybe you have a 30% ROI, so you make $3. So it doesn't matter whether you brick that tourney or win it for $5000, you make $3 in the long run.
Now, of course, you don't make $3 each time. 80-85% of the time you lose that $10, some percentage of the time you win a little bit, and some very small percentage of the time you win a lot. How small those ‘small percentages’ are primarily depends on not only your skill edge, but also the field size which is an extremely important concept that is often ignored.
Variance is a factor of two things:
1) Your edge
2) The field size
Example 1)
You play the Hot $55 which has $30K guaranteed, every day for a year on Pokerstars. It has 1600 runners and you have a 5% ROI, because turbo ROIs are small. Your average yearly profit is $605 however you will lose money on the year 55% of the time.
Example 2)
You play a $20 tourney with $3K guaranteed on a softer site every day for a year. It has 200 runners and you have a 30% ROI, because it's a normal speed tourney and you’re against an easier field. Your average yearly profit is $2400 and in this case you lose money only 12% of the time.
A lot of people would look at those two tournaments and make a decision based on the buy-in and 1st place prize money as to which was better to play, and it would be grossly wrong. Once you accept all the above, you realise that the 'up top' number is largely meaningless.
Yes, on the same site bigger fields may mean a lot of fish have registered to play, but you'll find a lot of small field, soft, non-peak hour tournaments have a great pro-to-fish ratio and hence are great value. Of course once you consider other sites that have smaller fields, you'll often find they are a better choice than what might be running on Pokerstars.
So what can you do?
When players start losing money and along with that, confidence, not only does their game deteriorate but they often compound that problem by failing to make rational decisions. Often losing players, or players on a downswing, go 'bink chasing' and decide to take a shot to win all their money back in one tourney. Or load up some quick $82 hyper-turbos to try to turn it all around quickly.
People get overly fixated on what's 'up top' and wanting to score big in one tournament. That’s a sure-fire strategy to fuel a down swing. If your house got knocked down would you try to slap it back up in a week? Take that opportunity to rebuild a better, stronger house.
Make sure you're adding in some study and keep focused (see Sky's Matsuhashi How To Study Poker series), and stay fresh and positive as you approach each session. Be smart and get back into profit quicker instead of enduring a 6-12 month variance rollercoaster!
Closing Words On Tournament Poker Tips
Poker is a multi-faceted game which makes it fun but challenging. Challenge yourself to factor in the relevant concepts, and make more profitable decisions. Tighten up from the big blind, and in general around the table. This tip often quickly improves a new players results, or those that have a got a little sloppy with their play.
Calculate stack size using 'M'. Always be aware of your own, and your opponents stack sizes so you don't get yourself caught in awkward situations. One awkward situation that often comes up is when you hold an overpair to the board and an opponent puts the heat on you. Don't be afraid to make big lay downs to preserve your stack, especially in the early levels.
Be aware of your cbetting frequency. There's no need to waste tournament poker chips cbetting every time, especially when the pot is multi-way. Pick your spots to make profitable plays. Remember when it comes to the final table, regularly profitable playing ranges might alter due to the payouts. ICM is the key when it comes to those final big decisions.
Another key to success is knowing when to fire multiple bullets at your opponents. Barreling, especially against a wide big blind range can really help increase your non-showdown winnings. Finding ways to accumulate chips without always having the best hand is what top players do. This is why check-raising and having a good 3 betting strategy is so important. Correct use of these strategical concepts and the other tips outlines will get you winning more at the tables.
Now that you've acquired some great holdem tournament strategy tips to help you achieve MTT success, go out there an implement them!
One of the quickest way to improve your poker game is to take on a poker coaching, a course or join a poker training site; if that is something that interests you be sure to check out the PokerNerve road to Success Course for some advanced poker tournament strategy or you can check out HowToPlayPokerInfo's guide on poker training & poker courses to find the right option for you.
Any other poker tournament strategy tips? Leave them below in the comments, we would love to hear them!
Some of the top professional poker players are able to
consistently win while playing both Texas holdem ring games and
tournaments. But most players focus on one or the other to
maximize their skills and chances for overall profit.
While the basic game and rules are the same, the strategy and
skill set is slightly different between the two types of play.
You need to learn how to be a winning Texas holdem player by
studying the rules, learning starting hand strengths, learning
about pot odds and other basics before you should start trying
to use the advanced tournament tactics on this page.
But once you’re ready, the tips and tricks listed below can
help you transition from an average player to a consistent
winner.
Structure
In order to develop the best strategy for Texas holdem
tournament play you need to understand the structure of the
current tournament.
The structure includes the following details:
- How much it costs to buy in
- How many places get paid
- How many players are entered in the tournament
- The size of the starting chips stacks
- How big the blinds are and how often they go up
- How much each place gets paid once you get into the
money
How fast the blinds go up is one of the most important things
to keep an eye on. In tournaments where the blinds go up quickly
you’re often forced to take more chances early to avoid getting
into a position where the blinds are too high in comparison to
your stack.
One way players track their progress is by figuring out how
many big blinds or total blinds they have. Once you reach a
point where you only have enough for a few circuits you need to
start looking for an opportunity to get all your money in the
pot for a chance to double up.
On the other hand, tournaments with large starting stacks in
comparison to the blinds and a slow blind structure let you sit
back and play a slower game.
Your playing style and preferences may help you do better in
a fast tournament or a slow tournament, or maybe at this point
you don’t know. As you improve your skills you’ll be able to
play both types.
on the current situation.
Of course structure can also refer to no limit, pot limit,
and limit play, but the majority of Texas holdem tournaments are
no limit. For this reason most of the advice on this page is
designed for no limit poker players. Most of the same concepts
are easily adapted to limit play.
Small Pots
Texas holdem tournaments are made up of pots of all sizes.
Many small pots are spread between the big ones where player
push their chips all in.
One mistake that many inexperienced tournament players make
is focusing on small pots. While it’s true that many small pots
add up to the same amount as a big one, the amount you have to
risk is often not equal.
So to win
$1,000 you have to risk $1,000.
But in order to win a small pot you almost always have to
risk more than the amount you can win.
If you make a raise to steal the blinds you have to bet at
least twice the amount of the big blind, and usually more. So
you might have to bet $100 to win $45 in blinds.
Or you have to pay to see the flop and then fire a bet after
the flop. Even if everyone folds after the flop you risk a bet
half the size of the pot or higher.
From a simple risk versus reward ratio it often costs too
much in possible risk for the reward of a small pot in a
tournament. You have a limited number of chips and you only have
to lose a few of these situations before you end up losing more
than you hope to win.
You usually need to win some small pots along the way if you
hope to win a tournament, but you have to learn when to take a
shot at them and when to avoid the temptation of risking too
much.
You should only try to steal the blinds when you have a
decent hand that has a chance to win if it has to see the flop.
Hands like middle suited connectors and small pairs played from
late position when you’re the first one in the pot can be
profitable. But remember that the blinds have the same chance to
land a big hand as you do.
Another situation where small pots can be worth going after
is against individual players. It’s often hard to get a solid
read against opponents you don’t know, but sometimes pots are
ripe for picking.
Almost any hand where no one raised pre flop that has a
non-threatening board is worth considering making an aggressive
wager. Often the first player to show aggression takes down the
pot.
Doubling Up
No Limit Texas Holdem Poker Tournament Strategygy
How many times do you need to double up to get into the money
or reach the final table?
In order to answer questions like these you have to break out
your math skills. Don’t panic though. These are pretty simple
math problems, and you can use the calculator on your cell phone
to help.
It’s simple to calculate the average chip stack needed to get
into the money or to reach any other point in the tournament.
Here’s an example:
- If 100 players enter a tournament
- Rach player starts with $3,000 in chips
- The total amount of chips in play is $300,000.
Free No Limit Hold'em Poker
The next thing you need to know is how many players get paid.
- When 15 players get paid, the average chip stack will be
$20,000 when you reach the money. - If 10 players get paid the average chip stack will be
$30,000 at that time.
You can use the same method to calculate the average stack
size for any tournament and or reaching any point in a
tournament.
It’s the same simple process even if you’re playing in a huge
tournament.
Here’s an example:
- A tournament with 893 entrants pays out the top 80
entrants - Each player starts with $10,000 in chips.
You want to know what the average chip stack will be to get
into the money, to get in the top 20, the top 10, and the top 3.
The first thing you need to do is find out how much the total
amount of chips in play is. You multiply 893 entrant times
$10,000 each for a total of $8,930,000.
Then you divide this amount by the remaining number of
players at each point.
- $8,930,000 divided by 80 = $111,625
- $8,930,000 divided by 20 = $446,500
- $8,930,000 divided by 10 = $893,000
- $8,930,000 divided by 3 = $2,976,667
So why is this information important?
One of the key skills that winning Texas holdem tournament
players possess is the ability to understand where they are and
where they need to be at every point of the tournament.
If you know you need to double your starting chip stack eight
times to get in the money you might decide it’s not worth
risking 25% of your stack fighting over the blinds that
represent 3% of your stack. I realize that for the most part
this is good advice in any situation, but risking too much too
many times is a sure way to an early exit from the tournament.
This information also gives you a solid idea of where your
stack needs to be to reach any point. In the example above with
893 entrants, you need to have around $100,000 to feel pretty
safe of being in the money. You need almost a million to feel
safe about reaching the final table.
Harm’s Way
Most poker players have been taught that they need to get in
situations where they’re the favorite to win. If you do this
over and over you’ll win more than you lose in the long run.
But in Teas holdem tournaments there’s a dark side to this
that you have to understand if you’re going to be a long term
winner.
In a big tournament you’ll be forced to put your tournament
life at risk numerous times. Of course you always want to enter
these situations as a favorite, but even if you do eventually
the odds will bite you.
If you get all in before the flop you’re never a 100% lock to
win. Even pocket aces lose to any other random hand sometimes.
When you play pocket aces against a single opponent they win
around 85% of the time.
Do you see the problem with winning only 85% of your all in
decisions in a tournament?
Even with the best hand possible if you get all in 10 times
during a tournament the odds dictate that you’re going to lose
between one and two times.
the tournament.
No Limit Texas Holdem Poker Tournament Strategy Against
And the truth is that most of the time you’re going to be
required to get all in as a smaller favorite than pocket aces.
So how does anyone win a Texas holdem tournament? Is it all
luck after all?
If you ask most players if they’d call an all in bet with A A
pre flop 10 times in their next tournament they’d quickly say
yes. And the truth is you have to be willing to do this because
you know you have to double up numerous times to win and this is
one of the best opportunities to do so.
But if you want long term success you need to focus on
getting your money in when it won’t cost you your tournament
life if the odds catch up with you or in situations with
stronger chances of winning.
I know some of you are saying that there aren’t any
situations better than pocket aces. If you think about it for a
few minutes and take your blinders off you’ll start seeing what
I mean.
You won’t find a better situation pre flop than
getting all in with pocket aces against a single opponent, but
you can find numerous better situations later in a hand.
When you have a full house against an opponent’s flush you
might be able to get all your money in with 100% chance to win.
Other hands can play out where you might have over a 90% chance
to win.
Texas Hold'em No Limit
If you have a bad run of short term variance you won’t be
able to always avoid risking your entire stack, but the best
players do a good job of not getting in situations where they’re
forced to go all in against a bigger stack.
When you get heads up against a player with a smaller stack
even if your all in bet with the better hand loses you’ll still
have some chips.
Every Chip Is Important
Have you ever heard the saying a chip and a chair?
What it means is you still have a chance to win a Texas
holdem poker tournament as long as you have a single chip and a
seat in the tournament. You can probably even find a few stories
about players who’ve been able to come back and win a tournament
after being down to their last chip or few chips.
While it won’t happen often, you can go on a streak of
doubling up 8 or 10 straight times. If you double up 10 straight
times the single chip turns into over 1,000 chips. Most
tournaments don’t use $1 chips, so if your last chip is worth
$100, you’d go from $100 to $100,000.
you want to give yourself the best chance to win.
It’s not important that you ever get low on chips and hit a
lucky streak and get back in the tournament. What’s important is
that you never waste a single chip in tournament play.
In ring game play you might risk a chip in a poor situation
to set up future play or to keep an opponent honest. If you use
certain strategies correctly you’ll probably be able to get your
chip and more back in the future.
But a tournament has a limited future and most of the times
you can’t afford to build a long term play in a tournament.
I know this may sound opposite of the advice I gave you above
about not fighting for blinds and small pots, but it’s not. You
always have to weigh the risk versus the possible reward. It’s
true that the blinds you steal add a few chips to your stack,
but you only need to be called by a better hand every once in a
while to lose a large portion of your stack.
Exploiting the Bubble
When a tournament gets close to the cut off between finishing
out of the money and in the money aggressive players can often
take advantage of players who’re just trying to sneak into the
money.
In an average tournament when its gets close to the cut off
over half the players can probably fold every hand until they
reach the money. Many of them start playing this way, but the
truth is that almost no one can look down at pocket aces, kings,
or queens and fold them.
The big stacks can afford to play their good hands and some
of the smallest stacks are forced to play any decent hand
because the blinds are going to put them all in soon anyway. You
don’t want to pressure either the small or big stacks without a
good hand, but many of the medium sized stacks are in perfect
position for you to steal their blinds and small bets.
You still don’t want to have poor hands, but above average
hands are usually good enough to be played aggressively against
the medium stacks on the bubble.
It’s important that you get away from any hand where
an opponent plays back aggressively unless you have a real
chance to win the hand. Remember the reason you’re playing
aggressively. You want to take advantage of your opponent’s
desire to sneak into the money, not risk too much by fighting
with a less than stellar hand.
You also need to realize that there’s no reason to play
aggressively if you’re safe and can fold your way into the
money. Don’t take chances if you’re not comfortable. Sit back,
wait for your best hands, and take advantage of someone else’s
aggression if you land kings or aces.
Don’t make the mistake of assuming other players don’t have a
hand when they play aggressively on the bubble. It may seem like
they’re pushing you around, but just because they’re aggressive
doesn’t mean they have a poor hand. They might have a strong
hand.
Are you willing to bet your tournament life on an average
hand?
Should You Ever Fold Pocket Aces?
This is a common question when talking about getting into the
money in a tournament and it’s fairly easy to construct a
situation where folding them is the best play. The actual
question should be should you ever fold pocket aces pre flop?
I’ve never folded them pre flop and probably never will
because any situation I can come up with where the correct play
is to fold isn’t very realistic.
Usually if you finish just in the money you win somewhere
between one and three times your buy in. While this is much
better than a loss, if you’re able to win the entire tournament
you can win 100 times your buy in or more in a large tournament.
The prize money for winning, or even reaching the final table,
is often many multiples of your buy in.
The World Series of Poker main event is a good example. The
entry fee is $10,000 and most years if you reach the final table
you’re guarantee close to a million.
Folding aces pre flop isn’t the way to give yourself the best
chance to win. Even if it assures you sneak into the money, the
long term advantage of the times you’re able to double up
outweigh the reduced amount you get from just finishing in the
money.
at all?
Here are a couple situations where the correct play is to
fold pocket aces.
Scenario 1
The next player to exit the tournament won’t win anything but
after that everyone finishes in the money. An early player at
your table moves all in and a second player calls. Both of these
players have bigger stacks than you. In addition, you used your
mortgage payment to enter the tournament and you’ll lose your
house if you don’t finish in the money.
Your odds of winning against two random hands are less than
75%, so one out of four times your tournament life will end if
you call.
If the payout for finishing in the money is twice your buy
in, from a strictly pot odds type discussion you should call
every time. You double your money 3 out of 4 times is exactly
the type of math you’re usually looking for.
But what you’re ignoring is you have the chance to win much
more than twice your buy in if you move deeper into the money.
The best way to improve your chances to win the tournament is
triple up. This is an excellent chance to improve your chances
to win.
If you hadn’t done something foolish like risk your house for
a poker tournament you need to make the call in this situation.
The results will suck roughly one out of four times, but the
other three times will more than make up for it in long term
winnings.
Scenario 2
An actual straightforward situation where you’re
mathematically correct to fold pocket aces on the bubble is if
five or more opponents are all in. You’re no longer a favorite
with pocket aces against five opponents.
I’ve never seen this happen on the bubble in a tournament and
doubt I ever will.
But if I’m ever in this situation I’m going to call because
when I win my chip stack will put me in a strong position to win
the entire tournament.
Summary
Once you master the basics of solid Texas holdem play the
thing that sets you apart from most players is your ability to
add small things to your game and outthink your opponents.
Most of the details on this page involve outthinking your
opponents. Once you learn to play smarter than most of the other
players you’ll quickly see an improvement in your results. Focus
on what you’ve just learned and never stop looking for the extra
edge.