Poker Strategy Today

Poker Strategy Today

Strategic advice for beginning and intermediate level players on how to win a no limit poker tournament.

How to Win Your Next Poker Tournament

When was the last time you won a poker tournament? Have you ever

won a poker tournament?

If you are not a winning poker tournament player, there is a reason.

And it's not about bad luck, bad beats or bad cards. It's about the

way you approach the game.

The theory on playing poker tournaments is often that you have to get

to the final table to win. As a result, players will play to survive.

They wait for premium hands like pocket Aces, pocket Kings and

pocket Queens and hope to win big pots. These players avoid taking chances and play predictable poker.

The problem with that approach is that their opponents notice that

they are tight and will often fold against their raises. As a result,

the predictable player gets no action, no big pots and slowly get

blinded and anted off as the event continues.

The way to play to win a poker tournament is to play to accumulate

chips. It means that you have to learn to play a range of hands in

many different situations. You have to learn how and when to bluff.

You have to learn to read your opponents. You have to learn the plays

that the Poker Pros use to win.

First, while many players believe in playing tight early in the event,

this is simply wrong. Put aside about 20% of your starting stack and

take risks to win a big hand with suited connectors or calling in the

big blind when getting 2-1 or better on your call.

Second, attack blinds when you are on the button, the cutoff (one to

the right of the button) and the power position (two to the right of

the button). You have position, so use it to accumulate chips by

attacking the blinds.

Third, learn to re-raise a late position raiser when you are on the

button or in the blinds. Late position raisers are often stealing, so

play back against these opponents to win a bigger pot.

To win a poker tournament be aggressive, be smart and be on the

look-out for opportunities to accumulate chips.

Fix These 10 Tournament Mistakes And

And You Are On Your Way to Win

There are ten common mistakes that players make in poker tournaments. Stop making these mistakes and you will be on your way to becoming a winning player.

Mistake #1. Playing a poker tournament not to lose or playing a poker

tournament to survive.

Play a poker tournament to win by accumulating chips. Take chances. Risk is good.

Mistake #2. Not knowing the right time to move all-in as the first

pre-flop raiser.

Move all-in when your chips are nine times or less the big blind.

Mistake #3. Not knowing when to move all-in after a pre-flop raiser.

Move all-in when your chips are eight times or less the initial raisers chip total and you have a medium pocket pairs, or A-J suited

or better.

Mistake #4. Not respecting raises from players in the first three

positions after the big blind.

Upfront raises tend to mean premium hands. Be careful if you plan to

be in the hand.

Mistake #5. Giving too much respect to players who raise on the cutoff (one right of the button) or on the button.

Raises from these positions are often based on position and not the strength of their hands.

Mistake #6. Not understanding your table image or the table image of

your opponents.

Get a read on how your opponents play their hands. Get a read on how they think you play your hands. Often playing the opposite of your table image is a winning approach.

Mistake #7. Catching the FPS poker disease.

FPS=Fancy Play Syndrome. Don't get fancy and try to show how smart you are by playing the opposite. Play straight forward poker.

Mistake #8. Not knowing how to semi-bluff.

A semi-bluff is a bet where you think your opponent will fold to your

bet but if he does call you have outs to win. If you know he won't

fold, it is not a semi-bluff. It is simply a bad play.

Mistake #9. Pre-flop, never re-raising a player who raises.

If you are not willing to re-raise a pre-flop raiser without having

the nuts (pocket Aces), you will never win.

Mistake #10. Pre-flop when everyone folds to you, raising on the

button with a good hand, and then calling an all-in move by one of the

players in the blinds.

If you are going to call the all-in move by a player in the blind, you

should move all-in on the button. It puts the pressure on your

opponents.

How to Stop Getting Your Butt Kicked

You are a good poker player. You have read excellent poker books

from winning poker pros and noted poker authors. These books tell

you that their way is the right poker strategy to win a tournament.

You pay your money and enter a poker tournament thinking this time

will be different. This time you'll win.

But, despite how good you think you are, and the great poker

strategies you have learned from these poker books, you get your butt

kicked again. Why?

The first reason is that much of what is written is not aimed at

helping you play winning tournament poker. Think about it. If you were

a Professional poker player and your livelihood is based on winning

money from your opponents, are you going to reveal your secrets to

your opponents?

In fact, many of the books authored by the Pros seem to want to make

it easier for them to beat you, since if you follow their strategies

they will know the cards you hold.

The second reason is that the other tournament poker books that are

written by famous poker authors focus on playing smart. Playing smart

is about playing based on the math. These authors tell you the best

starting hands given your position in relationship to the blinds. They

tell you which hands do better heads-up. They talk pot odds, pot

equity, range of hands, etc. This information is important to know,

but guess what? These books only make your game so predictable that

your play is transparent to your opponents.

The third reason is that you have not experimented with better ways to

play poker. When is the last time you re-raised a pre-flop raise

without holding a premium hand? When is the last time you fired the

third barrel? When is the last time you floated a player?

To get better you need to work harder at your poker.

Here is the Simple Secret to Winning a Poker Tournament

Here is the secret: Raise. It's that simple. Raise, raise & raise again.

If you are not raising, you are not winning.

In a poker tournament there are opportunities starting from the middle

of the tournament to accumulate chips by simply raising without big

hands. One reason is that many players want to survive and play it

safe. Another reason is that after a long time period, players who

know winning poker is aggressive poker, revert back to their comfort

zone of playing a smart, cautious style.

When you notice you have fallen into the trap of playing it safe for a

long time period, you have an opportunity to raise and steal pots.

When you notice that your opponents have fallen back into this style,

you have an opportunity to raise and steal pots. You need to

accumulate chips, and you can't do that by folding.

Remember that tight, safe play gives you the right to raise and

accumulate chips because you have a tight table image. So raise and

accumulate chips with a wide range of starting hands.

What about your opponents? Have they tightened up their play? A clear

signal of a tight table is when most hands are won without ever seeing

the flop. If so, that is another signal for you to raise with a wider

range of starting hand.

It takes courage to raise without premium hands but that is exactly

what the poker pros do to win a poker tournament.

The 3 Most Popular Poker Strategies You Must Avoid

There are three accepted poker strategies that you simply most avoid

if you want to win a poker tournament. I am sure you have read each

one of the following poker gems many times, and now believe them to be

poker truths. Unfortunately they are just plain wrong if you want to

win.

Poker Strategy #1: "Play tight early in a no limit poker tournament."

There are many ways to play in the early rounds of a poker tournament,

yet you may have read this poker strategy most often. Why is this

poker strategy so popular?

Think about it. If you got knocked out early, would you trust this

guy's opinion?

Unfortunately, the worst poker advice for no limit tournaments is to

play tight early. Poker is about gambling. Poker tournaments are about

winning. Embrace the risk in the game because you need chips to

survive those bad beats. You are not going to outplay the luck in the

game.

The right strategy early in a no limit tournament is to put at least

20% of your chips at risk with drawing hands like suited connectors,

so you can win big pots.

Remember this: No one has ever folded their way to victory. Never.

Poker Strategy #2: "You need to be selectively aggressive to win a

poker tournament."

Oh my, is this nonsense or what? Being aggressive is bad, but being

selectively aggressive is good.

I guess that key word "selectively" means that if you are aggressive

and win you are being selective. But if you are aggressive and lose

you are not being selective enough.

What if you go card dead for an hour and are bleeding out your chips?

Are you being too selective by not being aggressive?

Forget this nonsense strategy. You need to be aggressive to win a

poker tournament. You need to accumulate chips. Raise and re-raise by

making the right plays.

Poker Strategy #3: "It depends."

This has got to be the biggest joke of poker advice ever. It depends

is so popular it's become a pseudo strategy.

But what's the winning play in a given situation? It depends...

I think we should put "it depends" next to "Depends" diapers..it's all wet.

The leaking is over! Make the right play at the right time.

Of course sometimes in poker you make the right play at the wrong

time. Yeah, you take a bad beat. But other times you will be wrong and

make the wrong play at the right time. Yeah, you put a bad beat on

your opponent.

Don't think "it depends." Ask yourself what is the right play at that

moment. And if you still are not sure, err on the side of being

aggressive by asking yourself the following:

"What move will put fear in the heart and mind of my opponent?"

"I hope this information improves your game and helps you to win your next poker tournament," Mitchell Cogert author of Tournament Poker: 101 Winning Moves.