How to win poker Tournament strategy

Winning poker tournaments is always fun. Tournaments are Fun and profitable, though cash games are alot profitable. Tournaments prove you that you have patience, most often when you get deep in a tournament.

So; there are 3 levels, Early, Middle, and Late.

1:Early stage: In the first stage; i suggest you play tight. Playing tight will move you ahead of the tournament while donkeys/fishes bust before you. How i play my tournaments is; For early, my Starting hand selection is (99-AA)AQs-AKs. Playing all other hands gives you more chance to bust. More often playing these hands; you have alot better chance to get more chips. So; playing tight will move yo onto the next level, MIDDLE STAGE.

2: Mid stage: Here; you loosen up. By loosing up here; you get to grab alot more chips than you did in the early stage. This is where i loosen up because their are no more Donkey's and fishes. All the great players remain. So; i suggest you loosen up. No loose as a fish though. I play atleast 30-50 % of my hands dealt at this stage.

3: Late stages: In the late stages of a tournament; you have to Play your 'A' game. Playing your A game will help you win. Just because you went this deep into a tournament, doesnt mean you have to play anyhow. Remember; the longer you last; the better you are. Dont play for the money, test your game. If you think about the money too much, you end up Leaving the tournament. Cause you weren't paying attention to your players.


Its time to play a tournament on pokerstars. $200 Canadian players only lol

Im going to use this strategy ofcourse and win. Rail me in 1 hr 35 minutes to see if i win. PotOdds198 on pokerstars.



niceflopAA

I've been messing around with my tournament style - I've always been a good SnG player (9-10 handed). My strategy has always been to play real tight to start, and loosen up a bit.

I've been told by a few local players, which I respect, that my game is strong -- but I'm constantly losing a lot of chips in "nothing pots". I need to learn what it is I'm doing wrong and correct it.

I was just at a cash game, (.10/.25) sat down with $25, chipped my way up to $50, and then get dealt 10-10, I raise to $1.25, get a caller, flop comes up Q K 8 -- The kid bets more than the pot, I've got a feel for how this kid plays.. I'm thinking "He's either got an A8 or a weak K or Q"
so I re-raise, he calls.. bets out again on the turn, which is a blank, he bets, I raise, he goes all in for $5 more, by this point I'm pot comited to call... He ended up having K-4, I was absolutely right -- but it didn't matter he had me beat, and even though he's a donk for calling the bet pre-flop, and calling the raises post-flop -- I really didn't need to get involved in the pot... when he raised post-flop I should have just folded... right? Even though I KNOW he has a weak hand.

... Or am I right and I should go off of my tells?

.... or maybe I'm kind of right but I shouldn't go after it in $2.75 pots.

What? if you put him on a weak King then why RR???? If you are going to chase your set, then call through - but tbh if he is donkish to call your PR with K4 then why would he fold the top pair ?

If you ask me, your RR's on the Flop and Turn were just as donkish as his play.

You got too involved in this pot and too keen to take it down - and ended up loosing alot - you should have figured on the flop he had you beat.

Yeah, these are growing pains you have to get accustomed with. You followed your read and played this fine on the flop, villain certainly should have folded with his weak K, but unfortunately its very hard to get some people to fold, and plays like this one, that should work, end up costing you more. Its ok though because you learn, and most of all this type of opponent will pay you off when he calls your raises with weak A's and K's and you both hit with you having the stronger kicker. That's the upside with this type of player. So with patience you'll get your money back from him + more in time.

To answer your question "should I go off of my tells?", I guess this hand showed you that against a guy like this who won't fold top pair no matter what, you have to give up and exploit him in other ways. The fact he won't fold is the BIGGEST tell you now have on him and its not that hard to take advantage of it. I'm sure you realized all this on your own anyway.

i agree.. if you know he had u beat u have to lay it down. Just because you play good poker or "fundamental poker" doesnt mean everyone around u is going to do so. Maybe understanding what type of player he is will help, but also play at this micro limits u are gonna get a range of callers just do to the fact that u dont know how much 25 dollars means to that character. Where in high stakes cames or higher level, ur play probably would of work because obviously u are not gonna get a call with a weak kicker in that spot at a higher limit. U just have to deal with those things at the lower limits. it sucks, but like the famouse quote says " its poker".

I hate this post, its soo weak tight. How can you give a basic strategy like this?

early play tight
middle loosen up
late play A game


wow that should help a lot of people out now


No mention of position or anything else, This looks like it was copied right out of a begginers guide to tourney play.

had to go see, good strategy.

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Agreed. It was a donk play on my part. You're absolutely right. I already saw him call threw with a bad hand before - I should have known he would do it again here and just got rid of the hand... The great thing is it was like a $10 lesson, I've learned a lot from it... and I ended up busting him back any way.

I really love this site, and all of you guys for your input.

Hey, i sat out, Was that hard to answer?

hey even better strategy lol.

no no no no, heres the only way it gets done

1. Make NO mistakes

2 Make sure the poker gods are in your pocket.

All other ways are doomed..........

Just recently i read a blog of a player who has won 133k in tourney play.His advice was the exact opposite.In the beginning of tourney when blinds are low is when he said to explore with suited connectors and other hands.Then late in tourney tighten up a lot because it is more profitable because you are going up in money with everyone getting eliminated.Of course scenarios may change depending if table is loose or tight.As always it comes down to individual situations.

very nice post and very accurate especially in cash games. IN freerolls I am a very loose play in the begginning because most likely their will be a lot of donkeys calling on nothing so I will just outplay them. However, I agree with your post whole-heartedly.