Winning Your First Poker Tournament

Winning a tournament with hundreds or thousands of other participants can seem like a daunting task. Here are some quick tips on making your next multi-table tournament a success.

Early on:

If you don’t go crazy early on, you should be able to pick up a pot here or there to survive.

1. Play tight at the beginning while learning about your fellow players. You don’t know who’s wild and who’s insanely tight yet, so don’t get involved in too many big pots until you’ve got a few players figured out.

2. Be aggressive when you have good cards. Make the most of your premium hands when you get them, but don’t take any unnecessary risks. Do not pay to see if another player might be bluffing, and avoid making too many bluffs yourself.

3. In the early round, do not go all-in pre-flop. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got A-A, K-K or 7-2 don’t make an all-in pre-flop at this stage of the tournament. The field will be pretty watered down early on and there’s likely at least one maniac out there ready to call you with 8-4 and luck out a winner.

4. If the bet has been raised pre-flop only call if you’re holding one of these hands – A-A, K-K, Q-Q, A-K or A-K to A-10 suited.

Middle of the road:

When you hit the middle rounds of the tourney, bear down, because you’ve still got a long way to go before you hit the big-money positions. Hopefully, most of the maniacs and fish should have been hooked by now, so the play should level off.

1. Don’t be too worried about chip counts. With the blinds increasing, there can be huge chip swings from hand to hand. Keep your cool if your stack isn’t huge and wait for a mammoth win to bump you up among the leaders.

2. The blinds are getting up there, so make sure to stay aggressive and go after the pot or blinds more often since they actually have value now. Use your position to your advantage.

3. Keep your bluffs to a minimum (also see Top 5 Rookie Mistakes). Look for prime opportunities to bluff, and avoid bluffing when it might be a suspect play. A lot of hands still go to the showdown at this stage, so a successful bluff is still difficult to pull off.

4. If the flop doesn’t help your hand, your best move is almost always to fold. Only stick around if you have great odds on a draw or if you think the flop did nothing for your opponent’s hand and you can beat them down the line or make them fold

The final table:

You’ve made it. You played it smart and grinded it out and made it to the final table.

1. If you’re in the chip lead, don’t play too loose because the blinds alone can hurt your stack if your big bets keep getting called or raised.

2. If you’ve got good cards pre-flop, make an attempt at the blinds with a solid raise. Stay aggressive and try to rule the table. However, if the cards aren’t there, don’t be afraid to fold.

3. If you’re a short stack, try to wait for premium cards and push all of your chips in. If you don’t make a play with good cards the blinds will catch up to you quickly and you could be forced all-in with nothing. If you get knocked out go out swinging on your own terms.

4. Chip stacks are very important now. If you have more chips than your opponents, make them pay to stay in the hand. If you have a hand, bet the amount of the lowest stack at the table.