Playing a Texas Holdem Tournament from Start to Finish
Because of the fact that Texas Holdem is the most popular online poker variation in the world, this is where you’ll find the most competition. It is also where the most money is too so it’s definitely worth learning how to play Holdem. But only the top 10%-15% of people who play in poker tournaments actually cash so you need to know how to play a Holdem tourney from the start to finish. With that in mind, here’s a look at how to play a tournament from the early stages to the later parts.
Early Stages
The early stages of poker tournaments are fast-paced and frenetic. You’ll see a lot of maniacs trying to make bold moves at this juncture in an effort to double up their stack. This especially holds true in online poker! But tournaments aren’t won in the first few hands so there’s no point in joining the maniacs. In fact, you don’t want to be anywhere near the maniacs during the early stages so play as conservatively as possible during the beginning. If great cards fall into your lap, don’t be afraid to play them because you might be able to get an overly-aggressive player to call you. However, the main thing is to survive the early stages of a Texas Holdem tournament.
Middle Stages
Once you’ve made it past the first few tables of an online poker tourney, you can play a little more aggressively. This means you should be looking to steal blinds and trying to semi-bluff tight/passive players whenever the opportunity arises. This is the point when you really need to build your stack in an effort to make the final table. If your stack is low, you should wait for the perfect chance to double up against someone after you’ve had time to observe the table. The blinds will be increasing so you have to make a move before it’s too late and the blinds are taking a significant portion of your stack.
Late Stages
As you move towards the final few tables of poker tournaments and into the money, you’ll be in one of three positions: 1. A big stack who can control pots and dictate the action; 2. A medium stack who is sitting comfortably, yet needs to get more chips in order to make a big cash; 3. A small stack that is in danger of being blinded out. If you’re fortunate enough to be a big stack, you can bluff people out of pots quite easily and steal blinds since you can force people all-in at any point. As a medium stack you are still in a good spot, but have to look for a chance to double up through one of the bigger stacks. And as a small stack, you have to make moves fast whenever you get any hand of value. Even a pair of 2’s is worthy of going all-in since taking a chance is better than being blinded out.
