BONUS Installment

Play more conservatively in freeze-out tournaments

Play solid poker in low-limit tournaments

	You’ve probably heard that playing deceptively is a good idea – and it often is in cash games and big buy-in tournaments. But be aware that the value of deception decreases in low-limit tournaments for several reasons. First, many players (especially new players) do not pay attention to their opponents. Therefore any deceptive plays you try probably will go right over their heads. For example, suppose you’ve been playing tight as a drum and decide to take advantage of your tight table image by raising under the gun with a mediocre hand. Your bluff probably will backfire because many of your opponents will not have noticed that you haven’t played a hand for a long time. Second, the players at your table change frequently as people go broke and are replaced by new opponents. There is an inverse ratio between deceptive value and the number of times players are rotated to your table. Many times, too, your table will be broken down and you will be moved to a table where you must play against opponents who don’t know you. Since you probably don’t know them, either, you must start from ground zero. Slow-playing your solid hands in order to get more value for them usually is not a good idea in low buy-in tournaments. This deceptive move usually doesn’t work because the pace is fast and you often will get plenty of callers even if you bet a good hand strongly, especially in the early rounds when most of your opponents are playing loose poker. Continue playing solid poker throughout the tournament rather than falling into the trap of playing loose just because you can rebuy if you go broke. You don’t have to play like a maniac to win a tournament. Sure, maniacs will win once in a while, but it is usually the solid, selectively aggressive players who wind up in the winners’ circle.

Be Aware of Your Stack Status

	Always be aware of your stack’s status relative to the size of your opponents’ stacks, and your playing position at the table. For example, if you have a very low stack with an average hand in middle position, be more inclined to throw away your hand. Save your dwindling chips for a stronger hand in a later, and therefore better, position. When have a big stack and good position at the table, play opportunistically—you may attack the small stacks with a raise when you have a playable hand, especially against very tight players. And late in the tournament, especially at the final table, use your big stack as a weapon of mass destruction. If your stack looks more like an ant hill than the Andes, get ready to start using survival tactics, rather than going up against a tall stack that could knock you out of the tournament. It’s those pesky middle-size stacks that cause you grief if you play incorrectly. Usually you want to be more aggressive when you can play against a short stack because he can’t eliminate you even if he wins the pot. But sometimes you’ll just have to gamble against a big stack and risk bombing out of action. The upside is that you can double up against a big stack, but you can’t always double up against a short stack.

Watch the clock

	Most casino tournaments have a tournament clock somewhere in the room, and virtually all online events keep you posted with the latest information. The clock tells you what the current limits are, what time the next increase in limits will take place, and how much time is left in the round. It often will also note how many players started the tournament and how many are still left. Sometimes the clock will determine your strategy, just like it does in a football game. With 45 seconds remaining in the first half, a team might try an onside kick designed to steal the football from the enemy. Similarly, with only two minutes left in the betting round, you might raise from the button with a medium-strength hand to try to steal the blinds or build the pot, hoping that other players call and you get lucky on the flop. Think of the tournament as an apple pie that is divided into as many pieces as there are betting rounds. You sometimes need to time your moves according to the number of remaining pieces in the pie. When you are in favorable position late in the betting round, for example, you may decide to play a reasonable drawing hand more aggressively than you would otherwise play it. You can do this because the betting limits will double within the next two hands, making such a draw twice as expensive to take. If you can win just one pot at each level of tournament play, you will go a long way in the tournament – and maybe even make it to the winner’s circle, where I hope to meet you one day soon.