I’ve been playing some multi-stage Texas Hold’em shoot-out poker tournaments lately. More importantly, I’ve been winning many of them! It occurred to me that the reason I was doing so well at these tournaments was that I was employing different strategies and altering my game play accordingly to adjust to the new playing environment. I also have a strange warm-up regimen that ignores online poker altogether! Read on…
For those of you who don’t know, a “Shoot-out” tournament is a table of usually 6 or 10 players who play until there is one winner. As players lose out, the number of players dwindles at the table without being replaced. Once there is a winner for the table, the winner (or top two at the table) wins the tournament or moves on to “Round 2”. The Round 2 table follows the same format except that every player at the Round 2 table was a Round 1 winner at various shoot-out tables.
Again, the last player left either wins the whole thing (if it’s a 2-round tournament) or moves on to Round 3 (and so on). Some shoot-out tournaments are one round, while most are three or even five rounds. Usually, there is some sort of buy-in at Round 1 for the shoot-out tournament to secure your spot at the table. Players who lose all their money (set at the start of the shoot-out) are eliminated regardless of what round they are in.
There are several important aspects to a shoot-out that you must understand and master in order to do well and hopefully win your tourney! Let’s use the example of a 10-player, 3-round, shoot-out tournament.
Here would be some tips to keep in mind:
- In multi-round shoot-outs, there is always a flow of “recklessness” to “caution” as you go from Round 1 to Round 3 (using our example). That means that in Round 1, you’ll see half the table or more go All-In on the very first hand with no correlation to the strength of their hands. It’s just a dumb luck play to win to have the biggest pot at the start of the game and coast to Round 2. You see this a lot in the free-money/play chips shoot-out tournaments. Prepare for this. As a rule, I NEVER go All-in, even if I have A A, since it’s inevitable that someone with a 2 3 will catch an unlikely straight or a flush and as quickly as I’ve entered the tournament I’m eliminated.
- The only exception to the above would be if I was in the big blind position and of a 10 person table only 1 or 2 players called the All-in. If I have very strong pocket cards, then I might take the chance and go All-in as well. But if half the table or more are calling the All-in bet, it’s best to stay out. The advantage for you is that half the players or more will be immediately eliminated as there will likely be only one hand winner.
- In later rounds, you won’t see a lot of players going All-in. Why? Because it’s harder to win Round 2 and Round 3. Use this knowledge to your advantage. I often correctly estimate that my Round 2/3 opponents are playing conservatively so I press them with higher bets on so-so hands only to watch them fold while I steal the pot. And when an opponent plays his/her hand strongly right out of the gate in later rounds, it’s extremely likely that it’s a powerful hand, so be cautious!
- Finally, restraint is your friend. I often win at these because I’m intentionally slow. I play conservatively at first and let others get eliminated in the initial frenzy (seen in the beginning of all rounds really). Sometimes, when I’m at heads-up play (ie. only me and another player left at the table), I’ll play a really weak hand right to the end just to throw my opponent off that I’m a bluffer. Then I wallop him/her when a strong hand emerges.
Last, I mentioned my unorthodox prep for a shoot-out tournament. The pace of a shoot-out is pretty fast. I said it requires a different style of play. In order to adjust to and dominate shoot-outs, I almost never play poker immediately beforehand. It’s true. Instead, I’ll go to a favourite online casino sites like partycasino.com – a place with a ton of various casino games in addition to poker. It’s critical to shift your mind away from the game right before you jump into it. I happen to love slots, so I’ll play some intense coin for awhile on online slots and maybe finish up with some Blackjack or other table games.
Then, I play the shoot-out. And I usually win.
