Multi-Table No-Limit Tournaments
The popularity of no-limit hold'em tournaments is booming. Fueled by
the
WSOP
(World Series of Poker) and the World Poker Tour, many people are
intrigued by these competitions and enter for a chance to win a 'big
score.' In fact, most no-limit hold'em is played in poker tournament
form nowadays.
No-limit hold'em tournaments have crazy
variance, more than no-limit ring games. This is because all the money
gets shoved in preflop on near coin-flip odds at the end of the
tournament. For example, AK versus a pocket pair is a very, very
common battle late in a no-limit tournament.
I'm not saying
you shouldn't play no-limit tournaments, but please don't think that
these tournaments are all skill and no luck. The famous quote from the
movie Rounders, "The same five guys make it to the final table every
year at the WSOP," is the opposite of the truth. You must be lucky to
win a no-limit tournament because you must win more than your fair
share of coin-flip battles.
That's enough preaching about no-limit tournaments. In terms of
strategy, no-limit tournaments are very different from no-limit ring
games. You simply can't bluff as much because people's stacks tend to
be smaller in relation to the size of the pot. Also, since the amount
of chips you win from a bluff is worth less than the amount you stand
to lose, bluffing loses a lot of 'value.'
Now, many of you
may be confused. Suppose you bluff 1,000 chips at a 1,000 pot and
figure you have a 50-60% chance of taking it down. Many of you would
think it's worth it to take that risk. However, those 1,000 chips you
win are worth less than those 1,000 chips you stand to lose. If you
have a 2,000 stack, getting knocked down to 1,000 has much more
negative value than the positive value of getting up to 3,000. The
1,000 chips do not represent money. The only monetary value in the
tournament is either losing all of your chips or winning them all (and
losing them all is more important because you do get a prize if you
lose them all in the late stages of the tournament). Losing those
1,000 chips knocks you half the way out, but winning those 1,000
doesn't do squat for winning.
This is not to imply that you
can simply fold your way into the money. The blinds will eat you
alive. You must win pots so you don't get knocked out most of the
time. Towards the end of the tournament, you can think of winning pots
to win the whole tournament. However, most of the time you must win
pots simply so you don't lose!
Thus, in the early stages of
the tournament, you should avoid gambling much. Generally, the amount
you win isn't worth the gamble. If you can see the flop for cheap with
a suited connector or someone goes all-in preflop and you have
A A, by all means go for it. However, I wouldn't suggest bluffing
all-in. In the early stages, you want to win a huge pot here and there
because you hold the nuts. Target a bad player and make him pay you
off.
Towards the middle of the tournament, you need to switch gears.
Since the blinds get bigger, stealing the blinds will help you stay
alive. Here, the 'gap' concept becomes more important. It takes a much
weaker hand than usual to raise to steal the blind, but a stronger
hand than usual to call a raise. The middle rounds introduce the
'survival mode' concept.
Again, most of the time you will
be looking just to survive and increase your stack bit by bit in the
middle rounds. You want to avoid confrontation without the nuts and
just take down some small pots without controversy.
However,
if you are a large chip stack, you should take advantage of this
survival mode. Take control of the game by raising and frequently
putting other people at a decision for all of their chips. After all,
if they go all-in, they're risking it all but you aren't because you
can lose the pot and still keep on fighting. However, don't do this
too much. Steal some pots, but don't be so obvious that people will
call you all-in with top or even second pair. Also, don't do this
against very bad players. They will call everything.
Towards the end of the tournament is when the coin-flip
decisions become very important. Frequently, the blinds are so high it
makes sense for a player with a low or moderate stack to go all-in
preflop. Generally, when you go all-in you want to have Ace and good
kicker or a pocket pair. If you have Ace and good kicker you are an
advantage against all unpaired hands and may even have someone
dominated. If you have a pocket pair, you are a small advantage
against all unpaired hands and at a huge advantage or disadvantage
against other pocket pairs (depending on who has the bigger one).
Generally,
if you have one of these marginal hands, it's best to just shove all
of your chips in preflop. When you are a low stack, you cannot afford
to be blinded away anymore. Once the flop comes, chances are it's not
going to be perfect. By shoving in all of your chips preflop, you have
the added chance of stealing the blinds and can avoid being bluffed
out.
Next Article:
Multi-Table Limit Tournaments