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Tournament Discussions "101" Part II
by Al Spath

In Part I, I discussed playing in a one table limit Sit N Go tournament and now I want to briefly compare it to playing in a NL Sit n Go's as well as playing in a full limit tournament.

One Table No Limit Tournament

This type of tournament will have a faster pace than the limit one table tournaments, mainly due to the ability to knock other players out from as early as the first round. One mistake here and you will be looking for another convenient sit n'go to start in a minute or two later. Like the limit tournament, protecting your chips early is vital to allow you a chance to win the event or place in the money. Electing to pass on many hands (saving chips) should be your early plan and when the blind levels increase to (a minimum) of 50/100, you should then start to attempt steals. Early on I'd pass on those good looking AJ, small pairs and Axs hands once again. They are trouble without a very favorable flop.

I do however; believe it's critical for you to move all-in when you do decide to enter a pot. Make your opponents realize that calling you could jeopardize their continuance in the tournament, or at best, leave them chip wounded. By raising this way, you will cause the pressure needed to convince them to lay down small to medium pairs, as well as marginal hands that they might play if you allow them to get in cheaply. They will then chase you down if you let them. You should notice that several players have already been eliminated early, so your task is to finish ahead of the remaining 5 or 6 players. Don't get cute with AA or KK. Stick all your money into the pot and if some yahoo wants to call with AQs or TT, let them. Take your chances every time with that scenario. If you think by going all-in with AA or KK your opponents will muck their hands, think again. Today's player pays little or no respect to your all-in bet in these tournaments, and won't hesitate to call you with a variety of weaker hands. You will be faced with difficult decisions early on, like mucking hands like 88 and 99 under the gun. Don't waver, stick them in the muck, and don't think twice about folding. What you don't need is to bet a few hundred and to be called, raised, or put all-in by a player who acts after you. Avoid those situations by just not playing those cards early in the match. If faced with an all-in bet to you while holding a small pair, a medium pair, or some upper connectors, give that player a wide berth to avoid the confrontation. Try to be the aggressor and first in for all your chips and put the decision and pressure on the caller. Your goal is to double up often and to do this you want to have premium cards against an isolated player. Eliminating others from the hand will greatly increase your opportunities to win those hands when you have the best hand or when you steal a pot.

Once you have successfully made it into the money spots, you can take a few more chances (you can play a wider range of hands against 2 opponents), and continue to pressure your opponents. There is no sense getting involved in a hand where your two opponents have bet and raised the pot prior to you acting, unless you have a huge holding. Allow them to battle and eliminate each other. Once the match becomes heads up, you must see just about every flop. Don't be afraid to raise every time from the button and don't be afraid to reraise every time from the blind. Let your opponent realize you cannot be bullied and in fact, appear to be the bully yourself. You will have significant chip swings, however, but if your opponent is weaker than you, you will pick up many pots while eventually forcing your opponents into making a costly mistake.

Major Limit Tournaments

If you read one of my lessons at the Poker School Online classroom, you will note that I believe discipline and patience are the keys to winning these types of events, as well as winning at anything you play. You will be playing for hours; tedious amounts of time to make it to the payout spots and you cannot afford to invest money (entry and admin fees) and all that time without getting paid off. Your first goal is to survive the early rounds and once again, save your chips for when the betting limits go up (third round or so), unless you pick up a huge pair and can add some chips to your stack. Once you reach a level where your raise can impact your opponent, you should start to attack, steal, and occasionally bluff your way to victory. Note: Bluffing in limit tournaments rarely works, especially at the lower limits. Towards the end of the event, when chip stack disparities are greater and the blinds are huge, bluffs can indeed be made successfully. In summary, in a limit tournament, early attempts at bluffing will give you an early exit. It's just not a good idea and should be avoided.

Limping into pots is totally unacceptable, unless several favorable conditions exist. You must be in late position (preferably on the button), or in one of the blinds, in an unraised pot, with a good number of limpers already in before it is your time to act, and you are holding a hand that plays well against a large numbers of players. Small and medium pairs play well in this spot, along with suited connectors. If these conditions exist, you are getting the right pot odds to limp. So raise if you are first to play with premium cards, avoid calling other raises, and just about eliminate calling two or three bets cold. You will notice as play continues, those who do not show the discipline and patience you show, will play small pairs and other hands like ace/suited in early position and have early exits.

Many players insist luck has everything to do with sustained success in these multi-table events, and I would agree that the element of luck would play a part at several junctures along the way. Lee Trevino once said: "The more I practice, the luckier I seem to get." So, there will be a few coin toss decisions along the way and luck may indeed play a factor in you surviving or not. Don't discount it; you need all the advantages that can come your way.

As the tournament enters the final phase of the event, chip stack size (who said size doesn't count) will factor in greatly. The advantage of having a great deal of ammunition allows you to attack smaller stacks and those playing extremely tight (in hopes of making it off the bubble). You should not allow a blind hand to see a flop without calling a raise if you can help it, nor should anyone else at your table. An added plus with a big stack is that you can also wait for a hand and you don't have to make a stand or squander any chips when you don't have the cards to enter a pot.

Once the table becomes short-handed, switch gears and play even more aggressively. Your ability to evaluate your holding and take the proper action is critical in defeating those opponents at the table with lesser skills. Hand values continue to increase as the number of players decrease. Be at ease if knocked out when you are betting, and be bitter if you are eliminated when you are just a calling station. Be the aggressor, apply relentless pressure, make quick, sound decisions, and you will find yourself in the money more often than otherwise. If you don't make it to the top, finishing second, third, or fourth is good money too, but set your goal at winning it all, and do not just settle for second best.

Finally, those who settle for just competing, having fun, expecting to make some money, are long term losing players. Don't set your expectations low, think winning it all, ensure you make it into the money spots every time, and don't let a bad beat along the way change your determination and commitment to play with discipline and patience in every event you enter.