Tournament Poker Basics and Advanced Strategies (cont)

Another advanced strategy that most experienced tournament participants understand is the gap concept. The basic principle with this strategy is that it usually takes a much stronger hand to call a raise than it does to make the initial raise. This adage holds true no matter what kind of poker game the player is participating in. But it is more important in a poker tournament because of the closed nature of the games – you obviously cannot pull out more money and use it if you lose all of your chips (especially if the rebuy period is over).

Poker tournaments actually play in a much tighter manner. The pots have a tendency to be against a few opponents or heads for the most part. In a tournament the poker players possess a small stack in relation to the ever growing blinds. What this means is that hands that are normally playable in a loose limit ring game are basically a bad position to be in when in a tournament. A player just cannot possibly get the right odds in order to get a flush or straight unless they have other workable outs.

For example, if one had a plain jane flush draw like a Jc and 10c and the board has Ad – 3c – 6c, it is most probably a better idea to not draw if one is in a heads up pot. Even in the big blind, the pot odds are not enough to actually bring a call on the flow because of the risks of losing at least 1.5 more big bets. A strong opponent is most probably not going to call a bet if the flush comes on the turn. Therefore, the risks of playing the generic draw is really not worth losing a big chunk of the player’s chips for. This fact is especially true when in the more advanced stages of the tournament when an average stack may only be enough to just play one and half hands on the river. If the player has been thinking of playing a flush draw he will need to have two overcards to the flop, a pair and a flush draw, as well as a straight draw in order to play. Even gutshot – the terms used for an inside straight draw – will add three more possible outs. Adding the deceptive factor of hitting this draw and you can have a significant chance to win several more bets in a limit game.

The strategies used for poker tournaments are also different depending on the structure. In limit holdem, the players do not often have pot odds to play small pairs and suited connectors. Pot limit poker actually adds the mentioned hands in to the fray. No / pot limit adds implied odds to the game of poker. Even though a player may have implied odds in a limit game, it is still a relatively small factor. A player may be able to get an additional bet or two out of the opponents. No / pot limit has implied odds that can be more lucrative.