Basic strategy for playing tournament poker

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The strategy of profitable tournament poker is based on understanding many different topics. 

In order to be unreadable to opponents, the novice player first of all needs to learn the basic principles of a profitable game:

• Tight-agressive style of preflop games;
• A basic understanding of the 4 types of post-flop games;
• Play of hands of different strengths in a similar way.

1. tight-aggressive style is the best strategy in MTT poker for beginners

The concept of a secret-aggressive poker strategy in MTT is simple: play few hands, but play them aggressively. At the initial stage, it is extremely important not to deviate from the selected preflop hand ranges, even if you really want to participate in the hand. This will reduce the number of difficult decisions and unnecessary expensive mistakes. The general strategic concept of all beginners is to play more beautiful hands and try to collect something. This concept is fundamentally wrong, and the sooner you understand the strict limitations of the hands that are worth playing (and even more so to play passively, i.e. limp and call), the better for you. 

One of the loyalty program bonuses with the possibility of free training from Exan13 is access to preflop charts for novice players. Learn more about how to get them using the link below.

The passive player has only one way to win the pot – to show the best pot at the autopsy, and the aggressive one has two: the best hand or forcing the opponent to fold. By forcing opponents to respond to our actions (for example, competently selecting the size of bets, thin value bets and bluff with large bets), we increase the likelihood of serious mistakes on the part of opponents. And the mistakes of rivals are profit for us. An aggressive approach to poker is preferable because aggression helps tip the scales in our favor even in situations where neither side has an obvious advantage. Enter the game with an open-raise, not a limp, use 3-bet, not cold-call, save and seize the initiative on the post-flop. 

2. What is balance in the game

Balance usually means that you play both strong and weak hands equally in each specific situation to avoid the predictability of your actions. For example, if a player raises preflop only when they have pocket Queens or their hands are older, they become unbalanced and their opponents can confidently drop their hands worse each time they raise. But if the same player does a preflop raise also with speculative hands and hands of medium strength, he will be balanced, and therefore it will be more difficult to play against him. The same logic applies to the value of bet and raises. One of your primary tasks is to become as unreadable as possible for your opponents.

In the first stages, the balance is needed mainly in the following places of the MTT strategy:

1. The sizes of the raises and 3-bets on the preflop are the same with all hands;
2. The absence of a lima, so as not to break the range into parts;
3. The extended bet is not more than 50% of the pot on the flop. 

3. Features of playing in multi-table tournaments

Types of stacks

Depending on the size, stacks are divided into several categories:

Tournament Stages

Depending on the structure of payments and the depth of stacks in tournaments, there are several stages:

​​​​The game at each stage of the tournament has its own characteristics. This is mainly due to the change in the size of the average stack in the tournament, but not only this. It is also important to change the strategy of our rivals. The longer the tournament goes on, the more players begin to hold on to it and reduce the number of hands played. That is, the poker tournament strategy of the field changes from stage to stage.

Early Stage

This is the very beginning of the tournament, when you have a lot of chips in your hands, and the size of the blinds is quite small.

In the very early stages of a poker tournament, the stack size is many times the size of the blinds, which makes the game very similar to cash games. The effect of the ICM factor is minimal. In such a situation, there is a great temptation to start playing trash, marginal and border starters. However, it is better to abandon this idea, since you will quickly give away your entire stack to rivals. In the first stages of my poker career, I recommend playing as carefully as possible, without coming up with difficult pranks for yourself. This is possible when you choose only the top of the range. Try not to inflate the pot with medium strength hands and enter into pranks for the most part against weak rivals.

Middle stage

After several levels that you have spent at the table, the size of the starting stack in the big blinds decreases.

A few small losses or even one unsuccessful large pot, and you will be forced to fight for survival or even be eliminated from the tournament. The main task at this stage is to keep your stack in working condition (around 30-50 big blinds). It is possible that this will have to be doubled periodically. In the middle stage, the stacks are no longer so deep. At this stage, there is a struggle for getting into the prize zone. The game becomes more creative, depending on the image at the table and the skills of playing with different stacks. Medium stacks predominate at this stage. It is important to give up tempting thoughts to watch the flop cheaply with weak hands. It won't lead to anything good.

Bubble and late stage

A bubble in poker is a situation when, after the departure of one or more players, all the remaining poker players in the game fall into the prize zone (ITM). Bust at this stage is one of the most offensive, since a long way has been made, and only one step was not enough to get into the money. 

Usually the game here follows the following rules:

1. Players with large stacks actively press on the table. 
   They open almost every first hand through the raise, because they understand that the "shorties" and poker players with medium stacks play much more carefully.
2. Players with medium stacks attack the shorts. 
   It is not profitable for them to get involved in large hands against opponents with the same or large stacks, since no one wants to fly out.
3. Short stacks outlast each other. 
   Now it is important for everyone to recapture their participation in the tournament and win at least the minimum prize money. And you can think about doubling it later.

Late Stage 

It is characterized by an increase in prize money and an increase in the influence of the ICM factor, which forces many players to change their strategy. The actions at this stage of the game largely depend on your result at the the long run. Most players pass this stage worse than others, because under the influence of fear, they cling strongly to the prize money and begin to play too secretly. This is a big mistake. In an environment where everyone is afraid, on the contrary, we need to increase aggression and take more pots with styles and bluffs. 

Final table

The final table stage resembles bubble in many respects only with the exception that the cost of the error here becomes even more tangible, since the difference between the payouts is significant. The final stage is characterized by a rapid increase in prize money and the maximum impact of ICM on the mathematics of the decisions made. In many ways, our strategy begins to depend on the presence of short stacks at the table, amateur players and their position, the position of the chip leader, your image, etc. For a successful game at the finals, it is important to regularly gain experience of being on them. Therefore, I recommend my students to choose small poker rooms where there are no kilopoles. 

• For example, PokerKing. You will often get to the final tables with different stacks and eventually learn how to successfully resist even experienced opponents. 

This is a key stage in the game that needs to be played very focused and carefully. Here we can become even more aggressive or lay low and wait for good hands. Our actions strongly depend on various circumstances, the understanding of which will come with the experience of the game. 

Read more about the impact of the ICM factor in the following articles: What is the ICM Factor, bubble factor, FGS factor in tournament poker, How to take into account ICM during preflop all-in in poker and what are markups, ICM Part 3: features of the game with a chiplider stack, in the late stages of tournaments and at the tables with hobby players, ICM Part 4 Features of the game of poker at the final tables.

Heads-up

The fewer opponents remain at the table, the more the game will differ from the usual one.

At the beginning or middle of the tournament, you play at a table against 6-9 opponents. When someone flies out, a new member is hooked up with you. In the final stage, for obvious reasons, this will not happen. And the most difficult part of the final table is a one-on-one game (heads-up). You will have to play almost every hand. And to achieve the result, you will need the experience of playing heads-up. I recommend that my students periodically open XA tables and train against random opponents. This will give you the necessary experience to make positive decisions in the later stages of MTT.

4. Summary

Tournament poker is the most popular type of Texas holdem game. He received such recognition thanks to the incredible atmosphere and excitement in the struggle for the opportunity to receive large prize money, which even a novice player can win.Different stages of the tournament and game stacks do not allow players to get bored, there is a constant change of scenery, players are transplanted to new tables, blinds grow, and since 2016 new tournaments with progressive knockouts have appeared and quickly captured the hearts of MTT players. Tournament poker is the most creative and diverse, but to be a plus player, you have to know a lot of different little things.