Monday
Dec292008
No Limit Texas Hold'em Tournament Strategy
Monday, December 29, 2008
Depending on the size of the field playing in a NL Hold'em tournament, I like to vary my style of play to differ from what the other players are doing. Sometimes by doing this, you can get a head start on the rest of the decent players.
Standard wisdom says that you can't win the tournament in the first hour. I agree with this. However, there are generally 2 types of players that you will be up against in a large field tournament: the types who know what they are doing and lay back waiting for the perfect situation, and the iditios who play way too loose from the start, trying to double up or bust.
Many times, if you can adjust your play to be somewhere in the middle of these two extremes, you can build your chip stack quickly, early on, thereby not having to push later in the middle rounds where you have to make a move or become irrelevant.
What I like to do early on in a NL tournament is get a little bit loose until I get caught. Here is a rule of thumb, I will play a variety of hands and take some chances until I have lost maybe $500-$800 out of a $3000 chip stack. Of course, ideally I will win and be up around $5000 or so from my original $3000, but if I lose around 1/4 of my stack, then the kidding around is pretty much over and I am waiting for perfect cards in the perfect spot. What I am saying is that you can afford to be a bit loose and take some chances trying for that early gain as long as it is not for all your chips.
You also have to know where to draw the line. If you lose $500 early on, don't press your luck trying to get it back. Just tighten up and wait for a good spot. Otherwise, a little bad luck, and you can find yourself down to $1000 or less very quickly. Don't let that happen. Have the sense to play around a bit while you can afford it, but know when to stop.
Hands I will look to play early on that I may not play if I tighten up later would be hands like suited connectors, A-T from position, small pairs trying to hit trips, etc. These hands can become pretty marginal plays later on when the blinds and antes are high. Try and get them out of your system when it doesn't cost you much. By doing this and catching a little luck, you might find yourself with a leg up on the other "good" players in the tournament. This will also enable you to tighten up for those early rounds if you hit something big to double up your stack. At that point, you can let the cards come to you.
Standard wisdom says that you can't win the tournament in the first hour. I agree with this. However, there are generally 2 types of players that you will be up against in a large field tournament: the types who know what they are doing and lay back waiting for the perfect situation, and the iditios who play way too loose from the start, trying to double up or bust.
Many times, if you can adjust your play to be somewhere in the middle of these two extremes, you can build your chip stack quickly, early on, thereby not having to push later in the middle rounds where you have to make a move or become irrelevant.
What I like to do early on in a NL tournament is get a little bit loose until I get caught. Here is a rule of thumb, I will play a variety of hands and take some chances until I have lost maybe $500-$800 out of a $3000 chip stack. Of course, ideally I will win and be up around $5000 or so from my original $3000, but if I lose around 1/4 of my stack, then the kidding around is pretty much over and I am waiting for perfect cards in the perfect spot. What I am saying is that you can afford to be a bit loose and take some chances trying for that early gain as long as it is not for all your chips.
You also have to know where to draw the line. If you lose $500 early on, don't press your luck trying to get it back. Just tighten up and wait for a good spot. Otherwise, a little bad luck, and you can find yourself down to $1000 or less very quickly. Don't let that happen. Have the sense to play around a bit while you can afford it, but know when to stop.
Hands I will look to play early on that I may not play if I tighten up later would be hands like suited connectors, A-T from position, small pairs trying to hit trips, etc. These hands can become pretty marginal plays later on when the blinds and antes are high. Try and get them out of your system when it doesn't cost you much. By doing this and catching a little luck, you might find yourself with a leg up on the other "good" players in the tournament. This will also enable you to tighten up for those early rounds if you hit something big to double up your stack. At that point, you can let the cards come to you.
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Reader Comments (2)
Good read, interesting stuff.
I've been surfing around reading various poker articles and I must say your blog is top notch!