Tournament Strategy For The New Year

There is tons of poker tournament strategy out there for a poker player to read to improve their game. Tournaments continue to grow in popularity, and that means that a skilled player will hold an edge over most of the action. The game is ever evolving and there are so many different types of tournaments to play now that a proper strategy is dependent on the type of tournament you’re playing. Turbo events are played much differently than a deep stack event, and each strategy has its own guidelines to follow to maximize your chances of going deep into the event.

When playing in turbo events a good portion of your decisions and aggression will be made pre-flop. As blind levels rise, which happens quickly in these events, taking down pots pre-flop (or getting your chips in with a coin toss chance) is something that you’ll have to do numerous times during play. Limping into a hand in a turbo event is never a good idea because the pre-flop action is so aggressive that you usually end up leaving the chips out there after having to fold to the pre-flop aggression that follows you. When you get a big hand don’t try to slow play it, bet it out because the action you’re looking for is far more likely to be there in a turbo event.

A re-buy event strategy should include consideration for bankroll before anything else. If you don’t have the cash to re-buy into the event a few times you should not be playing in it. If you only buy-in once you’ll be giving up an edge to the opponents that can afford to play aggressive to build a stack. If you bust out, re-buy and then re-buy again right after so you have a stack that’s twice the size. And remember to cut back the aggression after the re-buy period is over and things start to settle down.

Deep stack events require one thing more than anything else; patience. With so many chips and slow elevating blind levels, it will pay for you to wait for big hands to trap aggressive opponents. Make the most you can with your big hands and go back to a tight style of play until the tournament advances enough for the blinds to matter. Keep pots small in the early going and wait for opponents to make mistakes that cost them their chips.

If you plan on playing satellite action, make sure that you play in ones that you can afford. Wagering too much of your bankroll on a satellite chance is not a wise way to play the game, so keep these opportunities to a level that your bankroll can handle. The same goes for guaranteed events with big playing fields. Don’t make this action all that you play because the big fields make the event a longshot to go deep in. Keep your tournament buy-ins to less than 5% of your playing bankroll.

Whatever tournaments you choose to play in the New Year, take the time to learn which strategy is best for that particular action. If there’s one type that you have more success playing at than others you should concentrate most of your playing time in that setting.