Sports Articles Johnson

Early Stages of a Tournament

When you first start a tournament, how do you play? Do you play tightly and pick favorable spots or do you take advantage of small bind structures and play lots of hands? Different players have different opinions about which is best and I’m going to tell you about it.

Patience, patience, patience. With this strategy, you are figuring that some of your opponents aren’t very good. So you can sit back and wait to prey on these targets. These players play too many hands and call too much. To play aggressively against a calling station is a stupid strategy. Try to make a hand and get it paid off. Give the blinds a chance to go up and the weak players a chance to go broke before you start fooling around or playing aggressively.

Playing like a madman. Like the patient approach, you still want to target weak players but you want their chips before someone else gets them so you are more aggressive about it. Taking their chips early and often can help you get farther in the tournament as the blinds go up.

Which kind of player are you? Well, there is a good side to each. Before I give you my opinion, I must ask a couple questions. First, what kind of tournament is it? If it’s a big live event with friendly blind structures, I say go with the patient approach. Increasing blinds won’t be a concern to you for a long time so there’s no need to get involved early in borderline situations. In shorter events, with rapid blinds, perhaps being aggressive to accumulate chips might be the way to go.

Are your cards running hot or cold? If the cards are hot, be aggressive and take advantage of your edge while you have it. If the cards aren’t being kind, you may want to ease off the gas a bit.

Like with everything else in poker, a lot depends on your particular sit
I read somewhere the following about a tournament: "Every time a player leaves the table, a player comes to the table, the blinds go up, or someone loses a big pot, the character of the game changes. Pick up on the change and adjust accordingly." So even though I advocate having a game plan that should guide you, yo should be able to adjust on the fly. That is the best advice I can give you.

Until next time, may the chips fall your way.



by Johnson