How Many Chips You have
Throughout the tournament the number of chips you have helps determine your strategy. Since the biggest payoffs in the tournament are the top three places, even the bigger stacks need to keep accumulating chips so they can reach one of those coveted positions.
Some players with a super-aggressive style will take a lot more chances to get a holdem poker game of chips early in the tournament. If the tournament allows unlimited rebuys for the first hour, these players will rebuy time and again until they win some pots and get some chips. They will gambling game with the worst of it during the rebuy period and often beyond. Even though this is a viable strategy hand it is an expensive one. Quite often super-aggressive "kamikazes" will cash and burn early in the tournament, especially if they don't slow down a bit after the rebuy period is over.
We recommend a more conservative approach. We suggest that you wait for better hands and try to pick off these very fast action players. You need to be patient and recognize when you have an opportunity to strike. Knowing when those opportunities arise is part of the reason you bought this Book and we're here to teach you.
No matter what your chip count, you're almost always going to pay big pairs, A-K and often A-Q. There are times to fold these hands, but for the most part, you are going to play them, at least before the flop. The bigger the blinds and the shorter your stack, the more likely you are to simply move in with these premium hands Before the flop.
The bigger your stack, the more likely you are to put your opponent(s) all in before or on the flop with these same hands. The medium stacks have a more difficult decision to make. Sometimes it is okay to commit all your chips, but at other times you need to at least see the flop before doing so. This requires judgment.
Always keep in mind that the bigger the blinds, the more risk you and your opponents must take to stay alive. One of the main points in Tournament Poker about is that you have to survive long enough to give yourself a chance to get lucky. And sometimes you just have to take a few more risks to survive.
The Size of the Blinds
Even thoughts playing poker you're playing with small blinds in the early rounds, you can still get broke on the first hand you play, in contrast to no limit holdem where you are protected by the prescribed amount of the bets. In no-limit holdem, you can move in your whole stack at any time, no matter how small the blinds are. A lot of times you'll see several players go out during the first level of play, which virtually never happens in limit holdem tournaments.
In the early stages of No-limit holdem tournaments, you have far less reason to attack the blind without a premium hand because the reward of picking up the blinds is not worth the risk of losing a lot of chips. This especially applies to tournaments that have no rebuys. If you are in a small tournament with multiple rebuys and are prepared to rebuy when needed, then it is okay to take a few more risks and mix it up a little more to try to win some bigger pots and accumulate chips. Once the rebuy period is over- which usually lasts for about an hour, sometimes a little longer-the tournament starts in earnest. By then the blinds are higher and there is more money in the pot limit holdem to go after.
Also, many no-limit tournaments start having an ante in addition to the blinds around the fifth or sixth level of play. when that happens, just sitting on your stack and playing very conservatively will cause your stack and playing very conservatively will cause your stack to start shrinking, thus eroding your chip position. Therefore you need to take a few more calculated risks to maintain and improve your chip position. Naturally, in the latter stages of the tournament the blinds and antes get quite large and people start moving in more and more. They don't always have premium hands when this happens play holdem.
How Soon the Limits Are Going to Rise
The rate the blinds go up is more of a factor in the middle stages and later stages of the tournament than it is in the early poker strategy rounds. The further you are into the tournament, the timing of increases in the blinds and antes Becomes more important. If you have a large stack of chips, the bigger blinds are less important. It is the medium and short stacks that are in greater danger from the ever increasing blinds. When you realize that the limits are going to rise before you can take the blinds at their current, smaller amounts you know that you will have to go through higher blinds in a very short time your strategy may be affected.
For example, you might play a marginal hand like K-J before the blind gets to you just because it figures to be better than a random blind hand. Remember that everyone, including the big stack, is always fighting the clock.
A similar thing happens in football games. The team with the lead is trying to protect that lead while the team that is trailing has to take more chances to catch up. That is what the big and little stacks are trying to do. The big stacks want to protect their chip position, while the medium and small stacks want to catch up. All this is going on while the clock is ticking and the blinds and antes are continually increasing until the tournament is over. The big stacks also want to increase their chips just as football teams want to increase their lead. When the gun goes off in a football game, the team with the lead is declared the winner. In poker the poker winner is declared only when usually several money payoffs in poker rather than just one winner, as there is in football.
On the following pages, you will find a Betting Chart that we have prepared especially as a betting guide for new no-limit Texas holdem players. We hope that it helps you become a winning poker player.