Ok, enough fluff - let's get right into our top ten tips for No Limit Hold'em tournament players: Tournament Tip #1 - Play Tight in the Early Stages. The small blinds in the early stages of poker tournaments tempt many players to play a loose game. Don’t let yourself fall into the same trap. The early stage of a poker tournament. Here are some simply poker tips from Texas Hold 'em legend Phil Hellmuth. Getting together with your buddies (or strangers) for a night of poker can be a lot of fun. But its considerably more. Going head-to-head in Texas Hold’em is not the same as playing against multiple opponents. One of the most challenging forms of poker in the world is, without a doubt, heads-up No-Limit Texas Hold’em. Besides a little luck, it demands players to have a set of skills that are different from those seen when playing a table full of opponents. Jul 06, 2018 Tip #1: Play Fewer Hands And Play Them Aggressively. There is a limit on how many starting hands you can play before the flop in No Limit Texas Hold’em, even for the world’s best players. If you try to play too many hands, you’ll bleed away your chip stack (unless lady luck is on your side).

Everyday players are sitting down at the tables and consistently making fundamental mistakes because of lack of knowledge, misinformation or failing to maintain focus.

Even just a small strategical adjustment in poker can potentially save you a huge amount in the long run.

In this article we will point out some of the best live and online poker tournament strategy tips you can use to improve your game as quickly as possible.

Tip 1: Play The Right Starting Hands

Whether it be lack of patience, or an unfamiliarity with opening ranges, many tournament poker players still open too wide. This is especially true when it comes to early and middle position opens, where there are still many opponents left to act behind who can be dealt a strong hand.

The problem is when called, wide openers are often at a range disadvantage. Often being dominated by their opponents, they are vulnerable to 3 bets since they frequently won't have a holding strong enough to continue under pressure.

Furthermore, although opening a hand like 7 ♠ 5♠ might at times not be a terrible strategy from early or middle position, speculative hands like suited connectors and gappers, as well as small pairs, work best with deep stacks behind.

These speculative hand types infrequently connect strongly with the flop, so those times they do you want to have deep stakes behind to have the potential to win a huge pot. Modern day tournament structures often only see deep stack play occur during the first few levels of play. This leads us into the next tournament poker tip, being stack size aware.

Learn which hands to open raise in MTT's - Watch lesson 6.1 from the Road to Success MTT Course. A power-packed 50 minute video below, just use one of the button options to unlock it and get instant access.

Tip 2: Be Stack Size Aware

Effective stack size plays a critical role in a tournament players success.

Having a deep stack, and therefore expanding an opening range to include a lot of speculative suited hands and small pairs is a tournament strategy that is going to be punished if a number of short stacks are yet to act behind. This most notably occurs in turbo tournaments where the average stack size is quite short.

Short stacks will be in push-or-fold mode. Being short, they don't have time to wait and will be looking to take any opportunity they can to move all-in. This high rate of all-ins will leave wide openers frequently being forced to relinquish their hands, without even having the opportunity to try to hit a nice flop. Problematic hands often include; J8s , KTo and weak Ax hands.

It's not just short-stacks that can cause a problem, aggressive players will be looking to attack wide-openers. This is especially true when a player opens with a vulnerable M8-M14 (20bb-35bb) stack. 3 bets get good leverage against this stack size, since continuing in the pot represents committing a significant portion of a players stack.

Wide openers would be wise not to commit a large percentage of their stack with marginal holdings, and so will be forced to fold, or face being in a high-risk situation. Staying aware of your own stacks utility, as well as anticipating how opponents will utilize their stacks, is an important tournament poker tip to keep in mind.

POKER TIP: If you are currently using BB to calculate stack size, here's a look at why using 'M' is a better MTT strategy.

Tip 3: Be Careful Overplaying In The Early Stages

As a stack gets deeper, the less willing a competent player will be to put their entire stack at risk since they have more to lose. It's rare to see good players all-in during the early stages of a tournament with hands like AKo or JJ preflop.

Live Texas Holdem Poker Tournaments

Smart players recognize that their counterparts aren't going to be risking their entire stack with weaker hands like AQo . Therefore, even a strong hand like AK could be at a significant equity disadvantage facing a deep stacked opponents all-in range. Could you fold QQ here?

Rather than putting in an extra raise, often times just calling with even very strong hands in the early stage of a poker tournament has great benefits.

• Allows your opponents to continue with hands they were folding to a re-raise that you have crushed.
• Disguises the strength of your hand and keeps you unpredictable.
• Prevents you from getting all-in facing a super strong range where often times you're crushed.

Tip 4: Continuation Bet Aggressively But Not Always

Players have learnt the value of c-betting, but it's a strategy that is often misapplied. Being the preflop aggressor shouldn't lead to a mandatory c-bet and double barrels.

This is especially true in multi-way pots yet players continue to make fruitless c-bets with weak holdings into multiple opponents.

Even in heads-up situations, key factors to consider include;

• How does the flop texture interact with players ranges?
• Who has the strongest range?
• Who has nut advantage (the biggest share of super strong hands)?
• How passive or aggressive is the opponent we're facing?
• How does the stack size/SPR allow us to operate on the flop and future streets?

The following hand illustrates the effect nut advantage can have on profitable continuation betting and how it applies to this tournament poker tip:

Tip 5: Be ICM Aware

The Independent Chip Model or ICM, is a great model players use to make more profitable decisions when deep in a tournament and especially at a final table.

Unlike in cash games, chip values fluctuate depending on the stage of the tournament and the competing opponents stack sizes. At it's most extreme, ICM strategy can make A♠A♣: an easy fold preflop.

Imagine a situation in a satellite where 9 players get a World Series of Poker entry and there's 10 remaining. The action folds around to a player with 100,000 in tournament chips who moves all in from the small blind. You're sitting in the big blind with A♠A♣: and also 100,000 in chips. You look around and see a few opponents with only 1000 chips left, which is the size of the current big blind. Obviously one of these short stacks is likely to bust very soon.

Obviously one of these short stacks is likely to bust very soon. Moreover the chance that they collectively out survive your 100,000 stack is extremely remote. You'd likely be a 99% chance to get a WSOP entry, so why would you call with your A♠A♣ and risk busting next around 20% of the time?

Aside from calling too wide in spots when the most profitable strategy is to proceed tightly, the opposite can also be true when it comes to pressuring your opponents. ICM allows players when they have the opportunity to assert pressure on there opponents stacks, to go ahead and do so liberally, since thinking opponents counter-strategy is to play a tight range of hands.

Here's an example of how drastically a hand range can change when the opportunity to assert pressure at a final table exists. 5 of the 6 remaining players at the Pokerstars Sunday Millions have 15bb's, whilst the UTG player has a short 2bb stack. Since the 15bb stacks wants to avoid busting out next and missing out on a large pay jump before the immanent bust out of the 2bb stack, the small blind can adjust their all-in range. Instead of the profitably 57% all-in range in normal play, they can move all-in with 100% of hands to apply pressure on the big blind.

Whilst the big blind should adjust their calling range from the regular 36% to just 10% of hands to account for the ICM effect in play.

The PokerNerve Road to Success course teaches players how to master ICM situations, which is key to tournament poker success since ICM comes into play as the prizes become significant. If there was only one tournament poker tip that you take away from this article, it's that you need to know ICM!

Tip 6: Bet The Appropriate Size

Strong players are capitalizing on their opponents tendencies to bet too big or too small in a number of different situations. With some similar considerations to that of continuation betting, when selecting a bet size important aspects include;

• Which player's range does the board texture favor?
• Who has the greatest nut saturation?
• How does SPR influence our betting strategy

There are many great articles online about bet sizing. You should be sure to check out ThePokerBank's and the Pokerology's to learn more about this tournament tip.

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Texas Hold'em Tournament Tips

Tip 7: Take Equity Realization Into Account

Possibly due to the popularity growth of Twitch, many poker players approach to big blind play has evolved. The current trend is to defend the big blind with virtually any 2 cards, as some top pros elect to do, and the justification for this is taking advantage of the excellent pot odds being offered.

While the inclusion of antes combined with commonly seeing a small open raise size does offer the big blind generous pot odds, this has led to a fundamental flaw in the way many players approach big blind play in poker tournaments. The key concept overlooked, is equity realization.

Equity realization reflects a players ability to take a certain hand, and win their share of the pot, frequently enough, to make it profitable in the long-term. Although some top pros have the ability to win their equity share of the pot even out of position, less skilled players rarely do. This leads to a large chip loss in the long run.

It is quite difficult to realize of your equity when out of position, with no initiative and a weak range. This means them glorious odds you are being offered aren't quite as good as you think!

The following article explains this crucial tournament poker tip in more detail; Equity Realization.

Tip 8: Don't Miss Double And Triple Barrel Opportunities

'One and done' is the plight of many aspiring tournament poker players. Everyday at the tables I see players missing profitable opportunities to double, or even triple barrel. Understanding what turn and river cards are advantageous to a players range, along with opponent tendencies, are crucial parts of a winning barreling formula.

The most common scenario at the table, is a heads-up pot where the big blind calls an open-raise. And this happens to be a great spot to barrel. Big blind defenders have a wide range, and it's important to pressure this wide range, especially on only partially connected board textures with one or multiple high cards.

RedChipPoker has a great article on spotting profitable double barrel opportunities which you can read here: THE +EV DOUBLE BARREL GUIDE

Tip 9: Check-Raise More Flops

The biggest difference between the current tournament population, and the future generation, will likely be their approach to check-raising the flop. This opportunity typically occurs in a heads-up pot, after defending the big blind verse an opponents raise.

Currently, MTT players only check-raise the flop in this situation around 7-8% of the time, when closer to 20% is a more optimal strategy. On certain flop textures, check-raising close to 25% of the time is an extremely profitable strategy. And if players are getting out of line with their c-bets, then check-raising at an even higher frequency could be a profitable exploit.

By giving up too easily on a wide range of board textures, or taking a more passive approach and simply calling, c-betting can be done with reckless abandon. However, by selecting a nice mix of check-raising hands, combining some strong hands with some good semi-bluffing candidates, a check-raiser can become tricky to play against and exploit the average players tendency to over c-bet.

POKER TIP: Applied correctly and check-raising becomes a super powerful weapon in your arsenal leading to more profitable poker results. But also think beyond the flop, there's plenty of check-raising opportunities you may be missing. This video demonstrates an interesting turn check-raise situation.

We discuss check raising strategy in more detail in our post over on unfeltedpoker.com.

Tip 10: Develop A Good 3betting Strategy

Whilst 3 betting aggressively is a strategy many players employ, especially in online poker circles, failure to apply optimal 3 betting strategies has certainly led to a lot of spewy poker. Simply attacking opponents who are suspected of opening wide doesn't cut it in the modern poker world.

Players have learnt to deal with 3 bets more profitably, by mixing in some calls with timely 4 bets. Moreover, the role stack size plays when it comes to 3 betting it still largely misunderstood by much of the poker community.

Sure there are certain stack sizes where 3 bets gain a lot of leverage, but how about the role blockers play? And when is 9♦7♦ a better 3 bet candidate than K♦T♠ ? These are just some of the considerations when it comes to a profitable 3 betting strategy. See how to design strong 3betting ranges in this article by Donkr.

Bonus Poker Strategy Tip: Avoid and Deal with Downswings

As a poker player you want to earn your money as easily and as stress-free as possible right? Well, understanding ROI, variance and bankroll management can help (see TopPokerValue's article on bankroll management).

All poker players at some point experience downswings. In some cases, this can affect their play, volume or state of mind.

You'll be miserable, hating poker, playing less and earning less per tournament as your play will suffer.

Along with finding ways that work for you to keep a positive mindset, taking pro-active steps can help keep you confident by knowing you are dealing with the situation like a professional whilst at the same time taking positive action to get back on track and winning.

What is ROI and variance?

Every tournament you enter has an EV associated with it. So if you enter a $10 tourney, as a good player maybe you have a 30% ROI, so you make $3. So it doesn't matter whether you brick that tourney or win it for $5000, you make $3 in the long run.

Now, of course, you don't make $3 each time. 80-85% of the time you lose that $10, some percentage of the time you win a little bit, and some very small percentage of the time you win a lot. How small those ‘small percentages’ are primarily depends on not only your skill edge, but also the field size which is an extremely important concept that is often ignored.

Variance is a factor of two things:

1) Your edge

2) The field size

Example 1)

You play the Hot $55 which has $30K guaranteed, every day for a year on Pokerstars. It has 1600 runners and you have a 5% ROI, because turbo ROIs are small. Your average yearly profit is $605 however you will lose money on the year 55% of the time.

Example 2)

You play a $20 tourney with $3K guaranteed on a softer site every day for a year. It has 200 runners and you have a 30% ROI, because it's a normal speed tourney and you’re against an easier field. Your average yearly profit is $2400 and in this case you lose money only 12% of the time.

A lot of people would look at those two tournaments and make a decision based on the buy-in and 1st place prize money as to which was better to play, and it would be grossly wrong. Once you accept all the above, you realise that the 'up top' number is largely meaningless.

Yes, on the same site bigger fields may mean a lot of fish have registered to play, but you'll find a lot of small field, soft, non-peak hour tournaments have a great pro-to-fish ratio and hence are great value. Of course once you consider other sites that have smaller fields, you'll often find they are a better choice than what might be running on Pokerstars.

So what can you do?

When players start losing money and along with that, confidence, not only does their game deteriorate but they often compound that problem by failing to make rational decisions. Often losing players, or players on a downswing, go 'bink chasing' and decide to take a shot to win all their money back in one tourney. Or load up some quick $82 hyper-turbos to try to turn it all around quickly.

People get overly fixated on what's 'up top' and wanting to score big in one tournament. That’s a sure-fire strategy to fuel a down swing. If your house got knocked down would you try to slap it back up in a week? Take that opportunity to rebuild a better, stronger house.

Make sure you're adding in some study and keep focused (see Sky's Matsuhashi How To Study Poker series), and stay fresh and positive as you approach each session. Be smart and get back into profit quicker instead of enduring a 6-12 month variance rollercoaster!

Closing Words On Tournament Poker Tips

Poker is a multi-faceted game which makes it fun but challenging. Challenge yourself to factor in the relevant concepts, and make more profitable decisions. Tighten up from the big blind, and in general around the table. This tip often quickly improves a new players results, or those that have a got a little sloppy with their play.

Calculate stack size using 'M'. Always be aware of your own, and your opponents stack sizes so you don't get yourself caught in awkward situations. One awkward situation that often comes up is when you hold an overpair to the board and an opponent puts the heat on you. Don't be afraid to make big lay downs to preserve your stack, especially in the early levels.

Be aware of your cbetting frequency. There's no need to waste tournament poker chips cbetting every time, especially when the pot is multi-way. Pick your spots to make profitable plays. Remember when it comes to the final table, regularly profitable playing ranges might alter due to the payouts. ICM is the key when it comes to those final big decisions.

Another key to success is knowing when to fire multiple bullets at your opponents. Barreling, especially against a wide big blind range can really help increase your non-showdown winnings. Finding ways to accumulate chips without always having the best hand is what top players do. This is why check-raising and having a good 3 betting strategy is so important. Correct use of these strategical concepts and the other tips outlines will get you winning more at the tables.

Now that you've acquired some great holdem tournament strategy tips to help you achieve MTT success, go out there an implement them!

One of the quickest way to improve your poker game is to take on a poker coaching, a course or join a poker training site; if that is something that interests you be sure to check out the PokerNerve road to Success Course for some advanced poker tournament strategy or you can check out HowToPlayPokerInfo's guide on poker training & poker courses to find the right option for you.

Any other poker tournament strategy tips? Leave them below in the comments, we would love to hear them!

Tournament poker remains one of the most popular formats of the game, mainly because it is through the heavily televised World Series of Poker (WSOP) that many new players are introduced to it.

When Chris Moneymaker – considered an “outsider” at the time due to his qualifying for the WSOP by winning his entry on an online poker site – won the prestigious competition’s main event in 2003, tournament poker was thrust into the global community’s consciousness, and it immediately became the most visible format of poker.

While the fundamental principles of No Limit Hold’em are shared between cash/ring games and tournament poker, there are certain strategies that are more effective in one than the other.

In this article, we take an in-depth look at tactics that are important to understand and implement if you want to achieve success in tournament poker. While our focus will be on tournaments, we’ll also be touching on certain principles that apply to both formats.

Before we begin, let’s quickly list the major differences between cash and tournament poker.

A note before we begin, this piece focuses on freezeout No Limit Texas Hold’em tournaments.

(Source: Beatthefish.com)

Tournament vs Cash – the Main Differences

• A player can enter and exit a cash game whenever they want while a tournament has a fixed start and end.
• In a cash game, the blinds remain fixed, while the blind levels in a tournament increase at a predefined frequency (typically 15 – 25 minutes).
• The purpose of a tournament is not to run out of chips. When you do, you are eliminated from the game and cannot re-enter, although some tournaments do allow players to buy back in.
• When a predetermined number of players are eliminated from the tournament, the remaining players all share the prize pool. Making it to this part of the tournament is called being “in the money.”
• The tournament ends when all but one player has been eliminated. That player is the tournament winner and receives the bulk of the prize pool.
• In cash games, chips are an exact representation of their monetary value, while tournament players “buy” their chip stack with a fixed buy-in amount. For instance, a tournament buy-in of $5.00 can see you start the tournament with a stack of $1500 in chips.

Tip #1: Start Conservatively

One of the most important principles to success at tournament poker is in monitoring the ratio between how much it will cost to play a hand (blinds + antes) and your chip stack. This is referred to as the M ratio, and we’ll be referencing it throughout the piece.

At the start of the tournament when you have a healthy M Ratio (over 25), getting involved in a hand with medium-strength cards is not a good strategy. When you’re still sitting comfortably, only play a hand when you have exceptionally strong cards or have position on your opponents.

Don’t be tempted to steal or protect blinds. These are tactics that should only be employed later in the tournament when the blinds represent a large portion of your stack size.

Survival is everything in the early stages. Building a healthy chip-stack should also be an objective, but not at the cost of your place in the tournament.

Tip #2: Be Aware of Opponent Stack Sizes

Texas Holdem Tournament Tips

Once you’ve emerged from the early stages of the tournament and the table is seeing some more action, it’s important to bear your opponents’ stack sizes in relation to yours in mind before getting involved in very specific scenarios – specifically when it comes to going all-in.

• A player that has you comfortably covered (has a significantly larger stack size than you) is going to call your all-in with a wide range of cards since you don’t represent a big risk to his chip stack. Don’t bluff against such a player.
• A short-stacked player (especially one with an M Ratio below 10) will typically play extremely aggressively post-flop. While pushing these players around and bullying them pre-flop is an essential strategy, when the flop comes you can expect extreme aggression from them since they will regularly be pot-committed. Don’t expect them to fold to your light c-bet. Expect a shove in this scenario and unless you’ve hit the flop, you don’t want to be calling it and doubling them up.
• In the latter stages of a tournament, a player that has a chip stack roughly similar to yours is not going to get involved in a hand with you unless they want to protect their blinds or if they have an excellent hand. Be cautious when faced with aggression from a similarly-stacked opponent.

Tip #3: Employ the Push/Fold Strategy

In a nutshell, push/fold strategy is an “all or nothing” pre-flop approach that a player adopts when their chip-stack is depleted to the point where they can only see another ten hands, in other words, their M Ratio is less than 10.

When the blind levels are 75/150, and you only have $1,870 in chips, forget about limping, calling, or 3-betting preflop and consider each decision as either a fold or a shove.

The main reason for doing this is that you are maximizing your chances of picking up the blinds by getting all your opponents to fold to your extreme aggression and while your chip stack still represents a threat.

In the Poker Copilot blog, we recently published an in-depth look at how to employ this strategy to its maximum effect. Click here to read our the post titled: Essential No Limit Holdem Strategy: Push/Fold.

(Source: stock.adobe.com)

Tip #4: Steal and Protect Blinds

When the blinds get to a level where they represent a large portion of your chip stack, picking them up without seeing the flop is one of the most important strategies in tournament poker. In fact, there are certain conditions under which you needn’t even consider your cards when attempting this tactic.

If you are in late position, all the players have folded to you, and the two or three players who are going to act after you are all short-stacked, you can profitably raise with any two cards, provided you have the discipline to lay them down if you’re faced with a three-bet.

Conversely, when you are in the small or big blinds and have a relatively healthy stack (your M ratio is above 20), don’t be afraid to three-bet when faced with a raise from the dealer. In many cases they are betting very wide simply to steal your blinds and will lay down their cards. In this scenario, when your M Ratio is below 10, and you have decent cards, don’t bother three-betting – simply go all-in.

Tip #5: Think of the Greater Good

This is a relatively complex meta-game concept that has little to do with cards and more about getting closer to the money.

Consider this scenario.

There are seven players left in the tournament and the top six get paid. This scenario is also referred to as being “on the bubble.”

You are in mid position with A9s and your M Ratio is very healthy (20+). Under the Gun is short-stacked and goes all in. You call. There is another call from the dealer, who is also deep-stacked. So the short-stacked player now has the possibility of being eliminated by two players rather than one.

The flop comes K49.

You’ve made mid pair, which, if you were only in the hand against the other deep-stacked player, would have been a good spot for a bet. But if you do bet in this scenario, you run the risk of having the dealer fold, meaning that you will be the only player who can eliminate the short-stack.

Let’s say you do make a bet and the dealer folds his pocket 8s. You and the short stack flip your cards over, and he shows KT.

The turn and river come 8 and 3, and you double up the short-stack and everyone at the table hates you since the dealer would have made his set and gotten you all into the money.

(Source: stock.adobe.com)

A much better play here would have been for you and the dealer to simply check all the way down to the river to ensure that there is an extra chance of the short-stacked player being eliminated.

Tip #6: Take Advantage of the Bubble

Closer to the bubble, most of your opponents, except for those that are deep and short-stacked, are going to tighten up. No one wants to go home empty-handed, and most players in this scenario will simply wait for the short and deep-stacks to duke it out.

Ncaa Tournament Tips

This is where a smart player will start picking up blinds. By paying attention to your opponents’ stack sizes and their playing style, this could be a very profitable period of the tournament for you.

When you are in position, don’t be afraid to show pre and post-flop aggression, but be careful on the turn and heed the advice given in tip #2 above (“Be Aware of Opponent Stack Sizes”).

Your goal here is to take down pots by taking advantage of the fear that will dominate the table, not to outplay your opponents with your advanced moves. Take risks here but be disciplined about laying down your cards when faced with aggression. Good players are going to see through this tactic and protect their blinds. Respect them.

Tip #7: Dominate When You’re Leading

If you’re the chip leader, it’s essential to bully the short and medium-stacked players. While the temptation may be strong to sit back and watch them eliminate each other, you need to acknowledge the immensely important role you can play in bringing this about. This is doubly effective as you near the bubble.

Your goal is to take advantage of the fear that your opponents have of your stack and pick up as many blinds as you can. Medium stacked players will be extremely hesitant to get involved in a hand with you and will lay down medium strength hands regularly. They do not want to get in a hand unless they know they are ahead.

It is vital that you take advantage of this scenario so that when it comes to the heads-up part of the tournament (only two players left), you are comfortably ahead.

Tip #8: Don’t Get Complacent When Playing Heads-Up

So you’re one of the final two players in the tournament. Now it’s important to face your biggest enemy: your own complacency.

That’s right, your biggest challenge when playing heads-up is the sense of security that accompanies making it this far. Yes, you’re already winning a large sum of money, but if you stay focused and spend some time learning about the nuances of heads-up play, you can win so much more.

In fact, simply by acknowledging this and remaining hungry to win it all, you are already in a better position than many of your heads-up opponents will be. You’ll be surprised how many of them simply “tune out” at this point and think of this stage of the tournament as a lottery.

It’s not. There is a lot of skill involved in playing heads up, and if you do the research necessary to improve this aspect of your game, the return on your investment will get a massive boost.

Read our recent post on training sites that will help you improve your poker and find the sections dealing with heads-up strategy.

In Closing

Tournament poker is accessible, fun and full of new players who aren’t as dedicated as you in improving their poker skills.

By applying these tips and doing further reading and training, you are sure to find them the ideal space to build your bankroll.

Keep training. Keep reading. Keep improving.

See you at the tables!