It has been some time since Max wrote his Sit&Go Strategy articles and they have been valuable information for quite a few of our visitors. And now the time has come to finally talk about strategy for multi table tournaments.
The beginning of a poker tournament depends a lot on what is already going on at the table. For instance, if you’ve sat down to a multi table tournament online where many players are all in every hand, you probably want to just sit back and watch the show for awhile. Even if you’re dealt pocket aces, you want to fold here.
I know that seems like crazy advice, but the fact of the matter is that if you’re playing at a table where maniac fever has taken over, you need to preserve your tournament life. That usually is only the case in micro stakes game and free poker games.
If you’re playing at a bit higher stakes, you will still want to take it a bit easier during the lower blind rounds, getting in as many hands as possible, for the cheap price, but really playing the other players, paying attention to tells (there ARE tells whether you’re playing live or an online tournament). A big part of these early rounds includes either drawing to the nuts and getting paid off big, or picking off some small pots and keeping your blinds plaid up.
This is also the portion of the tournament where you can really start observing other players. Be on the look out for players that make unusual bets, not the normal 3/4 times the blind amounts, as that’s one sign of an inexperienced poker player. Also, pick out the rocks from the calling stations. Rocks play the big big hands, and often use the chat box to talk badly about players that call a raise with anything less than big slick.
It’s really easy to put these guys on a hand when you’re involved in a hand with them, and it’s generally easier yet to bet them off a hand when they miss the flop. But we’ll get into that later on.
The loose players or calling stations are easily identifiable as the guys that tend to see every flop, or even a large percentage of flops. Another player to look out for is a player that shows his hand, that’s (1) a sign of inexperience and (2) free information for you.
Early Tournament Play – Hand Selection
During the first 3 levels of a tournament, you want to play very strong hands, as well as experimenting with some drawing hands when you’re in a good position. At this point for instance, a suited 9T would be a decent hand to play from the button as well as from the blinds. I wouldn’t recommend raising under the gun with it, however, as long as you’re in a late position and the tables been playing pretty ‘friendly’ (i.e. more calling than betting going on) go ahead and give those smaller suited connectors a shot.
Now this is not the time in the game to do much bluffing, or even semi bluffing. When making a flop you want to have at the very least top pair, preferably two pair. Remember, at this stage of the game it’s not uncommon to have four guys call with nothing, meaning if you bet a pair of 8’s, there’s a pretty good chance there’s going to be a few overcards left in the hand.
Early Tournament Play – Betting The Flop
When you do have a strong hand, dig in. Bet it, and bet it big. Early in the tournament as a rule of thumb, bet 1/2 the pot, to all of it. If there’s a good draw on the table, and I’m not drawing for it (for instance if you hit to pair, but there are two spades on the table, and your cards are not spades) bet the whole pot.
Remember, you’re still watching your opponents, look for the ‘sheriff’, the guy that likes to pay off his opponent at showdown with ace high “Just to See”. The new players can double you up, or with dumb luck alone, they can take you out. If someone’s brand new, you’re not going to bet them off a draw, or a hand if you’re hugely over-betting, and they’re calling. Back off a bit if you’re vulnerable.
Play strong when you play, and coast your way into the bigger blind levels, which… we’ll talk about in a future article here on Max Poker Bonus.