learning tournaments

trying to learn to be a better tournament player would like any help on starting hands how to bet before and after flop

WOW, such an open question. I suggest you go to your local library and check out a few poker books and begin there. Way too many variables to cover in a string without more specific questions.

Please take advantage of the strategy articles posted here and some of the sticky posts at the top of a few of the different forums.

Check out Harrington on Hold Em tournament edition. Very helpful.

Before the flop i bet in multiples of the big blind, some of the factors to take into account are my hole cards ( is this a calling or raising hand ), my position, how many other callers are in the hand, has the hand been raised and by whom. The amount i bet varies from hand to hand even if i have the same cards because other factors will be different and i want to disguise my hands.
After the flop i bet in terms of the pot and the number of factors involved has probably increased, this is so dependant on the individual situation that advice is almost meaningless. The best i can think of is that your reads on the other players will give you the biggest chance of making the "correct" sized bet.

You should read a few books about tournaments.
I've read Harrington on Holdem books that have been very useful for me.

We can't answer quickly to your question, because there are so much different parameters that change all the time, depending on your opponents, your stack size, other players stack size...

I suggest go play freerolls, if you get to mid - end of tournament, the game there will be reasonable enough for a start. Also, as others suggested, read some books and see odds tables

Patience and well timed agression is the key to mtts.My motto is there is only two ways to go out of a tourney and that is to commit all of ur chips or get blinded out.I wont commit all my chips unless im holdin bullets or hit a staright with no other draws ,high fkushes,and sets depending on draw.

I would say if you are starting out stick to good hands and good situations. (position, the action before you). What I like to do when you can read situations better and players better is to play in a few more cheap pots with good drawing hands. When one of them hits I usually get paid off pretty good based on the caliber of players you are playing with. But as stated before there is so much in poker that it does take a book and hours of play to learn the ins and outs.

Yah,.. I'd say grab a book and read it too. Harrington On Holdem or Phil Gordon's Little Green Book is a good place to start.

Real general answer to a real general question. If you're first into the pot and it's in the early levels, raise to approx. 3x bb. For betting out on the flop,... it depends on sooooooo many things. To keep it real simple, a bet of approx. 1/2 to 3/4 pot would be about right (there are just so many variables though that this is a totally vague answer for you).

Let's say I'm playing the FR's to build a bankroll... how big should it be before I start SNG's?

Everybody seems to want to refer you to books and videos. Not bad advise but I would add this. Most players starting out tend to play far too many hands. My advise would be sit back and watch and only play hands such as high pockets and AK, AQ, AJ preferably suited but unsuited is okay. When you do bet on these hands make sure you raise. The ampunt of raise will depend on your position and also how many have already come in. This gets you to the flop with a potential good hand. After that the flop will determine what you do. If the other players are any good they will realise that you are playing tight and you are likely to have good pocket cards. Use that to your advantage. If you win a few hands like this throw in a call or slight raise with a lessor hand. Do not do this too often. Finally please stay away from A rag even if they are suited unless you are in a late position with no takers so far.

here are books which people mentioned a lot about tournament:
1.Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a 1.Time Volume I (by Eric 'Rizen' Lynch, Jon 'Pearljammer' Turner, and Jon 'Apestyles' Van Fleet )
2.Tournament Poker for Advanced Players: Expanded Edition (by David Sklansky)
3.The Poker Tournament Formula (by Arnold Snyder)
4.The Poker Tournament Formula II: Advanced Strategies (by Arnold Snyder)
5.Tournament Poker: 101 Winning Moves: Expert Plays for No-Limit Tournaments (by Mitchell Cogert)
6.Harrington on Hold 'em Vol.1-Vol.3
7.Every Hand Revealed (by Gus Hansen)

play lots of freeroll to get a feel for how people bet and on what they bet and try to play solid hands thru out the tourneys keep track of were u finish and then in the next one try to finish better and the books above are all good . and try stayin away from all in in 1 whole tourney it will be tough but u will be suprized its a tough task.

BR management advice varies widely, but here a few key points from Chris Ferguson's $0-$10k challenge. I use a version I personalized for myself, but still use 'the basics' of it.

He never bought into a cash game or a Sit & Go for more than 5 percent of his total bankroll; the only exception was at the lowest limits: he was allowed to buy into any game with a buy-in of $2.50 or less.

He didn’t buy into any multi-table tournaments for more than 2 percent of his total bankroll; the only exception was $1 MTTs.

If at any time during a No-Limit or Pot-Limit cash-game session the money on the table represented more than 10 percent of his total bankroll, he had to leave the game when the blinds reached him.

If you to read the whole article, see >> http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/chris-ferguson-challenge

Check this out:

http://www.cardschat.com/poker-strategy.php

Play a lot of Free Rolls.

When you start cashing on a regular basis you will have the answers to most of your questions.


Watch what the wining players do.
Learn from there play.
Do as they do.

Everything in Hold em is Situational and in a way it's almost an Art.
At some point you will paint the right picture and begin to reap the rewards.


Good Luck

Tight early, at least until you know your table. If table is tight open up a bit try aggression.

They key is knowing the table in my mind.