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TOURNAMENT TIPS
One of the best ways of getting your feet wet in Texas Hold'em tournaments is to play quick 10-person tournaments, usually called "Sit and Go" tournaments
due to the fact that they start as soon as the table fills. All of the online poker sites which we review in our Play Online Poker section offer these types of poker tournaments, and
and you can play for buy-ins of $5 or less.
A short strategy guide has been floating around the internet, attributed
to Chris Moneymaker-- 2003 World Series of Poker champion, and we have
posted it below:
Sit & Go Strategy Poker Tournament Strategy by Chris Moneymaker
1. Early in the tournament, don't gamble. You'll see other
people around you gambling, but you shouldn't get involved unless you have
a big hand. Big hands are AA, KK, QQ, AK. For the first 3-4 blind levels,
you shouldn't be playing any other hands except these (with one exception,
listed next). If you have AA, KK, or QQ, try to get all-in before the flop.
Your preferred plan with AK is to re-raise a raiser all-in and have him
fold. If you see a flop with AK and you didn't hit a pair, you probably
need to get out.
2. You can call with a pocket pair (e.g., 88) if what
it costs you to call is less than about 1/15th of your chips. For instance,
if you have 1000 chips, if you can call for less than 60-70 chips, do
so. Your plan is to flop a set or an overpair. If you don't flop a set
or an overpair, you get out. If you flop a set, try to get all your chips
in the middle. If you flop an overpair, you may be willing to get all-in
- you may not. Tread carefully.
3. If you're the second person to put in a raise, it's
usually not correct to raise the minimum amount. A good rule of thumb
is to raise about the size of the pot. For instance, suppose everybody
has 1000 chips, and it's 20 to go. One person calls, the next makes it
40. If you have KK, you should not raise to 60. There are a few options
here:
Raise the pot. That would be a raise of about 130 chips (including the
10 and 20 chips blinds that are already in).
Raise a large amount that will really commit your opponent to the pot
after the flop. For instance a raise to 400-500. When the flop comes down,
if there's no dreaded ace, then move the rest of your chips in.
Raise all-in right there. If somebody wants to call you with AJ or QQ,
fine.
4. When betting after the flop, your bet must be some reasonable
fraction (perhaps not less than 1/3 or 1/2) of the pot. Otherwise, you are
giving drawing hands the correct pot odds to call. If they hit their draw,
they can now put you all-in. Unless you have an unbeatable monster (for
instance, you flopped a full house), it's rarely correct to "suck people
in." You want them out.
5. When you make a bet with what you believe to be the
best hand, bet enough so that an opponent with the most obvious draw would
be making a mistake to call. For instance, suppose you have QQ, and the
flop is J-7-3 with two spades. You are concerned about the possibility
of a spade flush draw being out against you. The probability of that person
hitting a flush is about 20% (one in five times) on the turn card. Make
sure you bet more than 1/5th of what somebody could win from you if he
hits his flush on the turn.
6. Conversely, don't call with a draw unless you can
get the right pot odds. Suppose there are 100 chips in the pot on the
flop. You and your opponent each have 800 chips. If he bets 400 chips
on the flop and all you have is a flush draw, you can't call - you're
not getting the right price.
7. It is almost always better to be the bettor or raiser
than the caller. Particularly in all-in situations, you would much prefer
to have "fold equity" - that is, your opponent folds and you
don't have to have a showdown. So in general, you need a much stronger
hand to call all-in than you do to bet (or raise) all-in.
8. If you're going to make a bet or raise, and you will
be "committed" to the pot after that bet or raise, then go ahead
and put all of your chips in. That is, suppose you and your opponent have
1000 chips each. If you bet 900 before the flop and he calls, there will
be (at least) 1800 chips in the pot after he calls. There is virtually
no flop that would make it correct to fold for your last 100 chips. So
go ahead and bet all 1000 right now. The only time this might be correct
is if your opponent will make the analogous mistake. That is, he won't
call all 1000 chips right now. But he will call 800 chips now, and then
feel obliged to call his last 200 after the flop. If he's that kind of
player, it might be a correct play with a huge hand like AA.
9. As you get near the cash, and particularly on the
bubble (one more player to bust out before everybody is in the money),
many players will become extremely tight and play very conservatively,
unwilling to be the last one to bust out before the money. Take advantage
of this - you should be able to steal blinds frequently. This will set
you up with a good stack once you've gotten into the money.
Chris Moneymaker
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