Amigodzzz
Enthusiast
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When you enter a poker tournament, your goal will always be to win it. But to put yourself in a position to go all the way, you must negotiate the other phases of the tournament where the objectives will be more short-term. During a tournament, many things change: your opponents, stack sizes, blinds, etc., and these variable factors force you to readjust your strategy as you go.
At the start of the tournament, compared to the height of the blinds, you have a significant stack. In general, your stack and the average stack are well above the 50 big blinds. By mid-tournament, the blinds will have increased and you will often be between 15 and 20 blinds. Sometimes you'll even get less than that. The phase corresponding to the middle of the tournament comes to an end as the bubble approaches. For example, if there are 100 paid places in a tournament, the mid-tournament phase ends when there are between 120 and 150 players remaining. The phases following the middle of the tournament are that of the bubble and the paid places. If you are new to the tournament poker scene, you should first check out the articles covering Sit & Go tournament strategy. They will give you the optimal strategy for negotiating the early and mid-tournaments and you will also be able to apply in multi-table tournaments. You can use our Sit & Go strategy and continue to improve it with these articles.
Solid play at the start and middle of the tournament
The following three tips are essential for early and mid-tournament success: Avoid losing big pots with weak or marginal hands. Go for big pots if you are lucky enough to hit a good hand. Bet or raise hard. Try to win big pots cheaply with speculative hands. It is very important to understand all these points, keep them in mind while you play and put them into practice.
Here are some details on these concepts with examples:
Avoid getting into big pots with weak hands
At the start of the tournament, if we compare it to the height of the blinds, you have a big stack. It doesn't cost you much to fold mediocre hands and wait until you get good hands. Later in the tournament, you may find yourself with a short stack that will force you to play aggressively with very weak hands. This is simply not the case at the start of the tournament. If a hand looks dangerous, weak, or just mediocre, just pass. Don't follow up repeatedly to make the pot grow and find yourself faced with difficult decisions to make. If a hand is unfavorable or only slightly improves on the flop, you should limit losses by folding it as early as possible.
Engage in big pots with big hands
If you happen to have a very strong hand at the start of the tournament, you will have to play it really aggressively. Make big bets or big raises when you get the chance. Making big raises yourself often works better to grow the pot than underplaying your hand (slowplay). This is especially true if the pot is still small when you touch your hand. If you want to hide your hand, your opponent will have to be very aggressive for the pot to increase. He will not act this way if he does not have a monster in his hand (or if he is not what we call a "maniac" player, i.e. a player who plays wide and ultra-aggressive). Furthermore, if it is you who makes the big raises, your opponent will just have to follow them to increase the pot. Many players can do this with weak hands and therefore call you while they are far behind.
good luck for all players
At the start of the tournament, compared to the height of the blinds, you have a significant stack. In general, your stack and the average stack are well above the 50 big blinds. By mid-tournament, the blinds will have increased and you will often be between 15 and 20 blinds. Sometimes you'll even get less than that. The phase corresponding to the middle of the tournament comes to an end as the bubble approaches. For example, if there are 100 paid places in a tournament, the mid-tournament phase ends when there are between 120 and 150 players remaining. The phases following the middle of the tournament are that of the bubble and the paid places. If you are new to the tournament poker scene, you should first check out the articles covering Sit & Go tournament strategy. They will give you the optimal strategy for negotiating the early and mid-tournaments and you will also be able to apply in multi-table tournaments. You can use our Sit & Go strategy and continue to improve it with these articles.
Solid play at the start and middle of the tournament
The following three tips are essential for early and mid-tournament success: Avoid losing big pots with weak or marginal hands. Go for big pots if you are lucky enough to hit a good hand. Bet or raise hard. Try to win big pots cheaply with speculative hands. It is very important to understand all these points, keep them in mind while you play and put them into practice.
Here are some details on these concepts with examples:
Avoid getting into big pots with weak hands
At the start of the tournament, if we compare it to the height of the blinds, you have a big stack. It doesn't cost you much to fold mediocre hands and wait until you get good hands. Later in the tournament, you may find yourself with a short stack that will force you to play aggressively with very weak hands. This is simply not the case at the start of the tournament. If a hand looks dangerous, weak, or just mediocre, just pass. Don't follow up repeatedly to make the pot grow and find yourself faced with difficult decisions to make. If a hand is unfavorable or only slightly improves on the flop, you should limit losses by folding it as early as possible.
Engage in big pots with big hands
If you happen to have a very strong hand at the start of the tournament, you will have to play it really aggressively. Make big bets or big raises when you get the chance. Making big raises yourself often works better to grow the pot than underplaying your hand (slowplay). This is especially true if the pot is still small when you touch your hand. If you want to hide your hand, your opponent will have to be very aggressive for the pot to increase. He will not act this way if he does not have a monster in his hand (or if he is not what we call a "maniac" player, i.e. a player who plays wide and ultra-aggressive). Furthermore, if it is you who makes the big raises, your opponent will just have to follow them to increase the pot. Many players can do this with weak hands and therefore call you while they are far behind.
good luck for all players
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