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The Ultimate Tournament System
The game “Texas No Limit
Hold’em” in a tournament format is played differently
than in a single table group format (or ring game). The reason
for the difference in play is due to the risk of losing all
your chips and being eliminated from play permanently. It
is this risk that makes the “all in” play so effective
in pre flop betting. The risk of losing all your money prior
to seeing the cards on the table is the ultimate risk in Texas
No Limit Hold’em. Knowing this makes the “all
in” move so powerful in tournament play. In David Sklansky’s
“Tournament Poker for Advanced Players” he elaborates
on a simple system that he claims could do well against top
professional poker players since they will hesitate to go
“all in” pre flop unless they have one of the
most dominant hands in Texas Hold’em (A, A). Since you
can expect the hand (A, A) or pocket aces only once every
two hundred and twenty hands it goes to reason that when you
have it you want to make the most of it. Brunson (in his book
Super System) suggests three different strategies for playing
pocket aces that depend on your position at the table as follows:
Early
Position – limp in (just call the bet) and hope
that someone raises the bet so that you could re-raise thereafter.
Middle
Position – limp in if nobody came in otherwise
raise the size of the pot.
Late
Position – raise and re-raise at will.
According to Brunson the flop
is the key and depending on how the players react to it you
should play accordingly. IE raise it if nobody bets to you
and lay down your aces if you see three of the same suit or
three cards in a row with a couple of keen players betting
into you. You should not be afraid to discard pocket aces
when your senses are telling you to do exactly that.
Online Texas Hold’em does
not have the interpersonal aspect so all you can do is guess
at what the other players have based on their speed of play,
their knowledge of the game (based on your observations on
how they play and what they play with), and the relative size
of their balance of chips in relation to who is playing in
the hand and where they are positioned around the table for
a given hand. There is no doubt that the style of play in
an online Texas Holdem Tournament will be looser than the
equivalent in a land based casino poker room. This is especially
true early in an online Texas Hold’em Tournament where
many players want to go all in and get an early chip lead.
For this reason we advocate watching the play for at least
thirty hands and to go into a hand only with the strongest
of hands (A, A or K, K). While you wait for the blinds to
increase you should have ample opportunity to take notes on
your competitors and watch for any signal of how they play.
You will note that many players use the automatic betting
option to their detriment. In other words if you see someone
check and then immediately thereafter you see three quick
checks in a row you can assume that those people have weak
hands. Likewise if someone calls and then two people call
very quickly then you know that these players were planning
to call the hand and you can often put them on small pocket
pairs or on suited connectors or an ace with a poor kicker.
You should try to focus on getting information on how the
other players act and how they try to hide their good hands
while they remain in a hand. Pay particular attention to where
people are positioned on the table when they play certain
hands. This information will give you a good idea of the quality
of their poker skills. Another indicator is how they bet with
good hands vs how willing they are to lay down questionable
hands. Whenever you get a read on this you should immediately
note it down in the player notes for that player. Also you
must always be careful if a pair hits the board and a player
who was previously betting suddenly checks and then raises
all in either later in that betting round or in subsequent
betting rounds. That is a sign of tremendous strength and
you better have a really good hand to go in at that point.
In addition watch how players react when they get taken for
a large chunk of their chips in a hand where the river card
cost them the hand. There is a high probability that they
will play the next hand and that they will be acting irrationally
(or on tilt). If you happen to lose a close hand on the river
be sure to fold the next hand unless you get pocket aces or
pocket kings. Folding right after a bad beat will save you
a lot of money in the long run.
We have taken parts of Sklansky’s
simple system and his improved system as well as various ideas
formulated through experience playing in online Texas Hold’em
Tournaments and created what we believe is a dynamic Online
Texas Hold’em Tournament system with ten or nine players
at the table.
You are in position
3 – 4 – 5 and...
1 - nobody has raised
the pot:
Bet two times max bet on AA
or KK, AK (suited)
Bet one times max bet on QQ, JJ
Call with 10 10, 99, 88, AQ (suited), AJ (suited), KQ (suited)
Otherwise fold. If someone raises more than one bet behind
you fold with anything but AA or KK.
When the flop comes check it
unless your hand improves (then continue to bet it) or unless
the flop is completely useless to any combination of good
cards then bet it as well – use your experience here
and your knowledge of your competitors to bet accordingly
or to check raise. If you flopped a monster hand then you
can check and let someone else bet into you – if this
is the case then take your time calling and check as fast
as you can into the other players. Wait until the turn or
the river to start betting back.
2 – someone has
raised the pot:
Match their bet if you have
AA.
Call their bet (providing it was not an all in) if you have
KK, AK (suited)
If they bet the minimum call with TT, 99, 88, AQ (suited),
AJ (suited), KQ (suited)
Otherwise fold.
You are in position
6 – 7 and...
1 - nobody has raised
the pot:
Bet two times max bet on AA
or KK, AK (suited), QQ
Bet one times max bet on JJ, TT
Call with 99, 88, 77, 66, AQ (suited), AJ (suited), AT (suited),
KQ (suited), KJ (suited)
Otherwise fold. If someone raises more than one bet behind
you fold with anything but AA, KK, AK (suited), QQ, KQ (suited).
Depending on how many players
remain in the game you can bet if there are only two players
active otherwise you will become a calling station or you
will fold (if three or more players are still active). In
this position if you flopped a monster hand then you will
bet one times the maximum unit and hope that someone raises
back to you – if they do you call them. Same tactic
on fourth street you bet one unit into them and call their
raise back to you. On the river if you have the absolute nut
then you can bet as much as you think your opponent will call
or raise back with or you can just wait a long time and then
go all in.
2 – someone has
raised the pot:
Match their bet (unless it was
an all in) if you have AA, KK (if they re-raise call) –
if they go all in after your raise then call with AA only
unless you feel that they may have QQ. It depends on how they
have been playing and how you feel and how much of your stack
of chips are about to be risked – but as long as it
is less than 30% of your total then you can risk it.
If they bet the minimum call
their bet with QQ, JJ, TT, 99, 88, 77, 66, AK (suited), AQ
(suited), AJ (suited), AT (suited), A9 (suited), A8 (suited),
KQ (suited), KJ (suited), KT (suited).
You are in position
8 – D or 8 – 9 – D and...
1 - nobody has raised
the pot:
Bet two times max bet on AA
or KK, AK (suited), QQ, JJ
Bet one times max bet on TT, 99, 88, 77, 66, 55, 44, 33, 22,
AQ (suited), AJ (suited), AT (suited), KQ (suited), KJ (suited).
Call with A 9 (suited), A 8 (suited), A 7 (suited), A 6 (suited),
A 5 (suited), A 4 (suited), A 3 (suited), A 2 (suited), KT
(suited), K 9 (suited), Q J (suited), Q T (suited), J T (suited),
T 9 (suited), 9 8 (suited), 8 7 (suited), 7 6 (suited), 6
5 (suited), AK (not suited), AQ (not suited), AJ (not suited),
AT (not suited), KQ (not suited), KJ (not suited), KT (not
suited), QJ (not suited), QT (not suited).
Otherwise fold.
If someone raises more than
one bet after you or from the SB or BB you fold with anything
but AA, KK, AK (suited), QQ, KQ (suited), call any single
raise with any of the above. Be careful if someone bets heavily
from the BB – it indicates AA or KK or AK (suited) so
fold accordingly vs big bets pre-flop from the BB.
Depending on how many players
remain in the game you can bet if there are only two players
active otherwise you will become a calling station or you
will fold (if three or more players are still active). In
this position if you flopped a monster hand then you will
bet one times the maximum unit and hope that someone raises
back to you – if they do you call them. Same tactic
on fourth street you bet one unit into them and call their
raise back to you. On the river if you have the absolute nut
then you can bet as much as you think your opponent will call
or raise back with or you can just wait a long time and then
go all in.
2 – someone has
raised the pot:
Match their bet (unless it was
an all in) if you have AA, KK (if they re-raise call) –
if they go all in after your raise then call with AA only
unless you feel that they may have QQ. It depends on how they
have been playing and how you feel and how much of your stack
of chips are about to be risked – but as long as it
is less than 30% of your total then you can risk it.
If they bet the minimum call
their bet with QQ, JJ, TT, 99, 88, 77, 66, AK (suited), AQ
(suited), AJ (suited), AT (suited), A9 (suited), A8 (suited),
KQ (suited), KJ (suited), K 10 (suited).
You are in position
SB or BB and...
Someone has bet into
you:
... hopefully on the dealer
button - trying to steal the blinds:
Do not be fooled into playing
average hands just because you were forced to bet from these
very weak positions. In either case unless you have AA or
KK or AK or QQ or AQ or KQ just lay it down - in the long
run it is not worth betting or playing from either of these
positions.
Once the flop hits always assume
the worst and go into a defensive checking mode if you are
afraid of someone who could be slow playing you. If there
is a straight or flush materializing on the board and you
have the nut otherwise then bet the equivalent of the pot
to eliminate pot odds and to scare potential callers away.
If you have the nut at the river
and you have been slow playing – letting someone else
bet into you then do the same and this time when they bet
you come back over the top with an all in. You better have
the nut in this case or else you can get eliminated from the
tournament.
Always remember to check your
position relative to other players and relative to the average
player. Do not get drawn into a sense of panic if your chip
stack has fallen by 20% or more as a result of no play –
stay the course until the cards come back your way. It is
not unusual to go 20 hands without playing a hand. It happens
to everyone. The really great players use this time to watch
their opponents and to study their betting patterns and their
mannerisms and their style of play. This is as important as
actually playing the cards when you have good cards to play.
Remember if you have won a bunch of hands in a short period
of time you can expect junk for at least 20 to 30 hands in
a row. It is in this time frame that you can try to bluff
at a pot in a strong position vs a player on a short stack
or a player who is ultra tight. At some point you have to
imagine what your opponents are playing during the play of
hands and not to focus on your hand all the time. If they
are good players then they will follow the above guideline
given a certain variance. Play a game trying to pick who will
win a pot and with what hand (while you are out of a pot)
and if you are correct you can reward yourself by playing
a normally folded hand (like two small suited connectors)
in an early position – as a reward to yourself.
If you do get into a situation
that you regret fold as soon as you can or if you decide to
play it out make sure you have at least one out that will
save you from elimination. You never know when that out will
hit the board and save your existence in the tournament.
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