No Limit Texas Hold’em Strategy 2
Pre Flop Decisions – Late Tournament Play
As the tournament progresses two things start to happen; players get eliminated and the blinds go up. This is a double whammy, because with fewer players, the growing blinds come around quicker. In other words, the later it gets in the tournament, the more expensive playing tight becomes. At this point, playing the tight hold’em strategy I outlined in my last post will probably start to cost you money. We need to make a few adjustments!
In late tournament play we’ll start aggressively playing any hand that includes an Ace or King. At a full table, simply having an Ace in your hand doesn’t really mean that much (even though many loose players feel otherwise). However, when there are fewer players at the table, the odds of pairing an ace or king or even hitting a set greatly improve. Plus, fewer players at the table mean less of a chance that someone else is holding a better hand. These rules become even more pronounced in head’s up play.
Betting
Late tourney play is also a good time to consider moving all in before the flop if you’re dealt a big pocket pair (Aces or Kings). This is especially useful if you’re short stacked as it will probably scare off the other players and you’ll win the blinds. If you are called, you’ll at least get all of your money in with a strong hand. Remember, position is everything; a move like this doesn’t make sense if you’re in the big blind, but makes perfect sense if you’re on the button.
Bluffing
I do occasionally bluff, however, I almost always wait until late in the tournament. I like to establish myself as a tight player, maybe even showing a few strong hands that I don’t have to simply to let my opponents see that I went in with good cards. I also consider who I’m playing against before I bluff. There’s no sense in trying to bluff a “calling station”. Note, bluffing is an art in itself and I’ll expand more on that in a separate post.
That’s about it for pre-flop strategy when it’s late in a tournament. Next I’ll talk about what to do after the flop and beyond.
Read about a Texas Hold’em Online Poker Tournament Right Here!
poker strategy poker tournament Texas Holdem Strategy tournament strategyTags: Texas Hold'em Strategy
July 17th, 2006 at 3:29 pm
[…] That’s about it. Remember this strategy assumes it’s early in the tournament and the table is full or almost full. Things change later on, when there are fewer players and the blinds are higher. Read about that in the next installment of the Texas Hold’em Pre-flop Strategy. […]
July 28th, 2006 at 3:12 pm
[…] If you’re playing single table sit and go tournaments you must finish in the first three to get a return on your entry fee. We all know that the great starting hands don’t come along too often and when they do, a lot of players become married to the hand and can’t put it down under any circumstances. […]