- Build Your Stack Early
- Play Tight in Early Rounds
- Be Aggressive Near the Bubble
- Preserve Your Stack
- Make Calculated Risks
Build Your Stack Early
Key learning: Starting out with aggression can get you a big chip lead and also helps with the next three skills as you will have a stack when you have to win some pots during tight play later on.
Take Advantage of Loose Play
Take Advantage of Loose Players: In the early stages of tournaments, some of the players tend to be really loose and will make loose calls by underestimating their hands. Attack these players with good value hands. For instance, if you hold A♠ K♠ and the flop comes K♦ 7♣ 3♥ — bet large on flops where you will be able to build a multi-street pot with weaker kings and draws.
Casino Poker for Beginners: This Time the Staff Plays Aggressively with Premium Hands.
Raise Pre-Flop: Pre-flop raises are essential. Raise with premium hands to add weight to the pot and reduce the number of players. Get 3x the big blind with J♣ J♦ to put pressure on weak ranges and to avoid going multiway with a one-pair hand.
C-bet Continuation Bets: When you raise pre-flop and hit the flop, another bet should be made (c-bet) to continue the pressure. Example: If you have Q♠ Q♦ on board 10♠ 7♣ 2♠, bet 50-70% of the pot to protect your hand and get chips in the pot.
Identify Good Bluff Spots
Bluffing: Bluff on dry flops where your opponent is unlikely to have caught anything. For example, if you elevated pre-flop with A♣ K♣ and the flop came 9♦ 5♠ 2♣, a c-bet typically takes it down right there.
Semi-Bluffs: Bluff with draws to give you extra outs if you get called. For example, holding 8♠ 7♠ on a board of 9♠ 6♦ 2♣, betting leverages your open-ended straight draw plus you can win the pot right there.
Adjust to Table Dynamics
Your Table Image: If you’ve been tight, use your tight image to take more pots. Open up your raising range in later position to accumulate chips through aggression without needing many showdowns.
Adapting to Your Opponents: If you notice that some of the players are folding a lot to aggression, start bigger raising and c-betting to increase your chip stack.
Example Hands
First hand: A♥ Q♥ 50% of the time, you raise 3BB. Two players call. The flop comes Q♠ 8♣ 4♦. You c-bet 60% for 2/3 of the pot and both players fold, giving you a solid early pot.
Hand 2: 6♠ 6♦ in the big blind. Cutoff raises, you call. The flop is 9♠ 6♣ 3♠. You check, the Cutoff fires for half-pot, and you c/r to 3x their bet. They fold, and you rake a big pot with a set.
Leverage Position
Late Position Strong: Use late position to open a wider range and put pressure on opponents. For instance, if you raise with K♣ 10♣ on the button when folded to you, you’ll often collect the blinds and antes.
Steal and Re-Steal: From late position, give raising the blinds a shot, especially if the players in the blinds are nits. Identify overaggressive stealers and 3-bet light (with hands like A♦ 5♦) as a re-steal.
Play Tight in Early Rounds
Playing only good hands, you can avoid risks and prevent yourself from losing the hands you should be winning.
Focus on Premium Hands
How to Choose Opening Hands: Only play top hands like A♠ A♦, K♣ K♥, Q♠ Q♦, A♣ K♣, A♠ Q♠. They have the most equity before the flop and give you high chances after the flop.
Avoid Marginal Hands: In the early rounds, there is no need to play K♦ 10♠ or Q♣ 9♣ or small suited connectors e.g., 6♥ 5♥. Those can be tough hands to play, and you may end up losing some of them.
Bet Sizing and Aggression
Raises Pre-Flop: If you decide to play a pot, do it in a big way. Normally a 3-4x the big blind raise is a good amount to get rid of the ranks on junk hands pre-flop.
Post-Flop Play: If you hit the flop, bet out hard. If you have A♠ K♠ on a K♦ 8♣ 3♥ flop, for instance, betting approximately 70% of the pot on the flop allows you to both get value and safeguard your hand.
Positional Awareness
From early positions, tighten your playing range even further. Just get in pots with your highest hands: AKo, KK, and QQ.
Late Position: You can open up your range a bit with hands like J♠ J♦ and 10♣ 10♥ if the action has folded to you.
Example Hands
Hand 1: A♠ A♦ — seated in early position. You raise 4x the big blind. One player calls. The flop comes K♣ 7♠ 2♥. You bet 70% of the pot, opponent folds, and you win a nice pot.
Hand 2: You are on the button holding Q♠ Q♦. Several players limp in. You isolate by raising 5x the big blind. Two players call. The flop is J♣ 9♠ 4♣. A flop c-bet of 60% of the pot. Both players fold, more chips for you to add to your stack.
Reading Opponents
Spot Loose Players: While the tournament is early on, take note of players that are playing too many hands. They are the ones you want to stab at when you have it.
How to play vs tight players: Most fish are loose passive, so they won’t apply much pressure until they have a strong hand. In which case, you are either beat or drawing thin.
Avoiding Traps
Do Not Chase Draws: Early on, avoid chasing draws unless you have the correct pot odds. For example, folding to a big bet works best with 9♣ 8♣ on Q♠ J♠ 5♣ board, and so forth.
Reduce Bluffs: If no one has shown strength, concentrate on betting for value rather than bluffing early in tournaments. Others are more apt to call down with thin hands, which diminishes the effectiveness of bluffs.
Be Aggressive Near the Bubble
It is the time to turn up the heat and collect the ones that have gone into lockdown mode to survive the final two tables.
Recognize Bubble Dynamics
Opponents Playing Tight: With the bubble approaching, many players drastically tighten up to ensure they get into the money. This gives you a lot more chances to take down some blinds and antes.
Shoving Short Stack: This occurrence is most common during the bubble as the short stacks are the most wary of the bubble. Go after these players most since they are most likely to fold to aggression.
Increase Stealing Frequency
Take the Blinds and Antes: If you are in a late position, take advantage of it and raise more often to take down the blinds and antes. This may even work well with A♣ 5♠, K♥ 7♥, and maybe even suited connectors such as 9♦ 8♦.
Exploit Tight Players: Look for players who are obviously playing tight to try and last the bubble and raise on them. If they call, play a post-flop pot; if they 3-bet, you can steal $2.33 instead of the 2.01, increasing your profitability on the times you choose to steal as the pre-flop raiser.
Bet Sizing
Standard Raise Sizes: Being consistent and building pressure comes from continuing to adhere to standard raise sizes (2.5-3x big blind). This is frequently enough to cause folds from a player on the bubble looking to cash.
Short Stack: With a short stack, you can move all-in with maximum fold equity. All-In Moves: For example, open shoving with 15 big blinds from late position with A♠ J♦, K♠ Q♠, and pocket pairs are all candidates to take down the pot uncontested.
Example Hands
Hand 1: You have 10♣ 9♣ on the button. The action folds to you. This hand looks like it will be played a little bit deeper as both blinds have middle of the pack chip counts and are probably in survival mode. You raise 2.5x the big blind. Both fold, and you take the blinds and antes.
Hand 2: On the cutoff with A♦ 7♦. The short-stacked player limps from two seats to your right. You get desperate and shove all-in to apply maximum pressure on them. They fold, you scoop the pot.
Leveraging Stack Sizes
Big Stack Advantage: If you possess a huge stack, use it to hammer the smaller stacks. They are not playing crazy against you. Bully them with regular raises and re-raises.
Pressure Medium Stacks: Largest stacks are often weakest in this type of spot pre-bubble. Crush them under the weight of aggressive plays and take advantage of their fear of busting.
Position Matters
Diplomatic Post Aggression: Take those steals from late positions, where you have more credit and a better chance of success. This involves the cut-off, the button, and small blind.
Early Position Warning: Limit some of your early position aggression so you are less likely to be run down by having to commit before players behind yet to act.
Modification Against Reaction of Opponent
Fold to Aggression: If you are facing real aggression, like a 3-bet or a shove, until you have a better hand, the right play is to fold. You want to put pressure on your opponent without screwing yourself out of the tournament too early.
Revising Player Tendencies: Consider how the other players accommodate to your aggression. Should they begin to call or re-raise more often, then tighten it up a bit more to avoid losing chips unnecessarily.
Preserve Your Stack
You will be able to stay out of danger, and you will always have a good position for deep runs if you take care of your chips right.
Play Tight and Selective
Table Selection: Play at tables with weak players. Hand Selection: Concentrate on playing top-tier equity hands. Examples include hands like A♠ K♠ and Q♣ Q♦, J♠ J♠. Don’t even play speculative hands like small suited connectors unless they are on the button.
Play from Your Position: Play tight from your early positions and a little bit looser from your late positions where you have the advantage to see more action and play a controllable pot.
Avoid Unnecessary Risks
Fold Marginal Hands: When someone is aggressive against you, do not update marginal hands such as K♦ 10♠ or Q♥ J♣.
Pay Attention to Your Stack: Make sure to understand your stack size in relation to the blinds and antes. Medium Stack (20-40 big blinds): Do not play big pots outside of the top 5% of hands.
Example Hands
Hand 1: Raising 3x the big blind with A♣ K♣ from early position. Two players call. The flop comes 10♠ 8♦ 3♣. Continuation betting 50% of pot. One bets, the other, give up.
Hand 2: (You have 9♠ 9♣) SB. A cutoff raises who is a loose aggressive player. Rather than 3-betting, you opt to call and see the flop. The flop comes Q♦ 10♠ 4♣. You opt to check, your opponent bets and you call. You could be behind, so folding here will keep your stack alive.
Keep the Aggression on a Leash
Selective Aggression: Use your position as a form of pressure. If you’re on the button, for example, and it folds to you, stealing the blinds and antes with hands like A♠ 8♠ or K♣ 9♣ is a good play.
Do Not Gamble: Keep away from free bets with no or weak cards, save your chips for the premium ones, in-depth post-flop. For instance, you should steer clear of 3-betting light vs. tights with a 30bb stack, etc.
Monitoring Opponents
Find the Soft Player: Look for someone who plays too many hands or makes the same mistake over and over. Aim at those players to gather chips without significant danger.
Change Gears: Avoid speculative hands, be prepared to fold in the face of aggression, tighten up. Let them do the messing up and losing of chips.
Example of Stack Management
Hand 1: You have Q♠ Q♦ (40 big blinds). An early position player with a similar stack size makes it 3-times the big blind to go. Instead of 3-betting, you call to deflate the pot and reduce your risk. The flop comes 7♠ 5♠ 2♣. The opponent called your 50% bet. Turn: 3♥ and you check. Your opponent checks back. The river is 10♣. You make a false 60% pot size bet and your opponent folds, allowing you to GTO a pot small-ish without putting in too many chips into the pot.
Hand 2: You have A♦ Q♦ with 25 big blinds in middle position. A regular position player makes a raise and you call it. The flop comes K♠ J♠ 4♣. Your opponent leads for half a pot-sized bet. You could make an argument for calling here with two overcards and a gutshot straight draw, but folding here allows you to keep your stack for a better situation.
Make Calculated Risks
That way you can take advantage of spots without spewing too horribly, putting your stack at unnecessary risk.
Assess the Situation
Sizes: Reduce the size of your stacks or increase the size of the blinds and stacks of the enemies. In contrast, calling the all-in shove of a short-stacked player for 10 big blinds when you have 30 can be profitable with hands like A♠ 10♠ or K♣ Q♣.
Place: Your seat at the particular table has a big effect on what you should risk. Your range can be wider in later positions, and use standard bet sizings to apply more pressure with medium strength hands.
Evaluate Your Opponents
Identify Opponents: Determine if your opponents are tight or loose, passive or aggressive. It works to semi-bluff if against tight players.
Bluff Frequency: Notice how often your competition bluffs. If someone is a frequent bluffer, then you can call down lighter.
Example Hands
Hand 1: Cutoff/call with A♣ Q♠. Action now checks to you, and you raise 3x the big blind. The big blind, a tight player, calls. The flop comes 10♠ 8♦ 2♠. The big blind checks and you continuation bet 60% of the pot. They call. On the turn: J♠ — your gutshot straight draw just became a flush draw. The big blind checks again. So now we have 70% to the pot, which is a semi-bluff. In the first scenario, folding and showing our hand wins the pot right there. In the second, he calls us, now the pot is bigger, and if he checks, we should bet our last 12500 to try to make him fold.
Hand 2: You have 7♥ 6♥ on the button with 25 big blinds. LP: Aggressive, MP: Loose-aggressive raises 2.5bb in MP. You decide to call. This brought you an open-ended straight draw on the 9♣ 8♣ 5♠ flop. The opponent bets half the pot. Raising here to rep a strong hand can be a calculated risk, pushing the opponent to fold and setting up a beautiful pot if our straight completes.
Pot Odds and Expected Value
Pot Odds: Analyze how good the pot odds are compared to the odds of making your hand. For example, if you are on a flush draw and the pot is $100 and your opponent bets $25, you’re getting 5-to-1 on a call. If you are getting 4-to-1 and the chances of completing your flush are around 20%, then it is a good risk.
Expected Value (EV): Make good EV decisions. This is only really a concern if you take the time to calculate this risk another way and you think there is an edge to be exploited over the long run in a certain play. If your opponent folds 60% of the time in a certain spot, then by bluffing there you may be printing money.
Timing and Pressure
Using Tournament Stages: Play tightly in the earlier stages, raise your threshold (don’t be afraid to be more aggressive) as the tournament continues, especially as you get closer to the bubble and towards final stages to grow your chip stack. NOTE: You can also take some risks around the bubble (when near a pay jump but with a short stack), for example, pushing all-in with A♠ 9♠ from the small blind vs. a similar stack.
Apply Pressure: Put your stack to use and pressure opponents. Raise highly against medium stacks to quickly freeze them, and if you have a big stack, then just raise more in this situation.
Example of Calculated Risks
Hand 1: You have 9♠ 9♣ in the big blind with 40bb. A player in middle position with a comparable stack open raises 3x the big blind. They call. The flop is Q♣ 7♠ 4♠. You bet half the pot. They call. The turn is 2♦. You check, and they bet 60% of the pot. This is a situation where you should consider folding to preserve your stack.
Hand 2: You have K♣ Q♣ from the hijack with 20 big blinds. An early position player raises to 2.5 big blinds. You 3-bet all-in. The EP player folds, and just like that, you have won yourself a very healthy pot without seeing any other streets, thanks to a big pot that gives you more room to maneuver for the rest of the game.