EARLY TOURNAMENT PLAY

EARLY TOURNAMENT PLAY

Tournament play has become very popular in poker, especially online. There are several keys to successfully playing in a tournament.

In most cases, roughly 10-15 percent of the players will get paid in a tournament, with the returns getting significantly higher the better you finish.

While finishing in the money is a priority, finishing high enough to get a good return should be a bigger one.

Early in a tournament, when the blinds are small, here is a strategy to consider: limp with marginal hands in hopes of catching a monster flop against a player slow-playing a better pre-flop hand. Most of the hands you want to get involved with early in a tournament are hands where you can double up or get huge returns. These kinds of hands will help you do that.

It is important to remember not to get too deep too early with a marginal hand in a tournament, especially if you are a player who expects to go deep. A tournament is like a major golf tournament; you can lose it early, but you can’t win it.

Chip values increase as the blinds go up; it is import to stockpile chips so you have room to take some losses when the blinds and antes start taking painful bites out of your chip stack.

Try these strategies and maybe you will not just avoid losing it early, but position yourself to win it late.

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