How this Pro Wins Money in Texas Hold'em Poker Tournaments

I have personally won several Texas Hold'em poker tournaments. It took me a while to come up with a strategy that actually works. Of course neither I nor anyone else can go into a Texas Hold'em money tournament against 300 to 5,000 entrants and always expect to win. That just won't happen. However, using the following strategy, and bright and disciplined player can expect win enough money to make a comfortable living.

How Does A Person Enter A Tournament?

Most poker tournaments work in the following manner. First there is the buy-in in which each entrant pays a specified amount of money to buy a seat at a starting table. Sometimes, the amount is large as in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. This is currently $10,000 and last year had over 6,000 people buy a seat or win one in a satellite tournament on the Internet, or a feeder Hotel's pre-WSOP event tournament. On the Internet or even a brick and mortar casino satellite tournament you may be able to win a $10,000 ticket for the WSOP main event for as little as $35 depending on the number of player participating and the number of tickets being awarded to the tournament's top finishers.

There are many other tournaments which you can enter with fewer competitors and a lower buy-in amount. The prize money is proportionally lower as would be expected. For example The Mandalay Bay Casino usually runs tournaments several times a week. The buy-in might be $50 and 30 people might be allowed to buy-in making the prize pool $1,500 with only the top six winners receiving prize money. The first prize in a small tournament like this is about $700. I suggest making your first few tournaments this size. Most people can afford to lose $50 in Las Vegas as they learn to play better poker.

Some tournaments have gimmicks known as re-buys. This allows you to buy more chips during the game. I suggest not playing in those tournaments. If you lose your buy-in there is no good reason to increase your loss. Your money would be better spent purchasing one of the numerous books on tournament play and playing in additional practice tournaments.

Basic Strategy for Winning Tournaments

Many people believe winning a tournament means coming in first place only. A person who lives near me won $3,200,000 coming in 5th place in the WSOP main event. I would be hard pressed to say that this person was a loser. Therefore, let me say that that there are two goals which a person can set for themselves. The first is the make a comfortable living playing tournament poker. Winning tournament money in a place less that first place is called being "in-the-money". The second goal is to come in first place in the tournament. Either way you will never go broke making a profit.

I define winning in tournament poker as either goal. I personally would rather come in 5th place in a large event and win $3.2 million than come in first place in a small one where the top prize is $700. I think most people probably would agree with me.

How to Increase Your Probability of Finishing In-The-Money

There are several important factors to increase your early tournament performance. First, the blinds are very low at the beginning of a tournament. You can afford to fold hands easier without the fear of getting blinded out. Second, there are many overly aggressive players who go all in with nothing early in the game to try to steal the meager blinds.

Let them do this without getting involved. Approximately 2/3rds of the starters are generally eliminated in the first third of the total tournament play time. By playing a little tighter than usual at this stage of the game you can make it to the top 1/3 of the remaining players. Since the usual payment point of an average tournament is the top 15% of remaining players you are almost at this junction already.

This is not to say you shouldn't bet aggressively on hands you are likely to win even if it is early in a tournament. However, play those draw hand conservatively (read my articles on how to play flush and straight draw hands). Also don't bet excessively high on the first two cards even if they are a medium pair or a suited Ace King combo unless you are in great position and sense weakness all around the table. If several players see your bet you may be in a world of trouble. Wait until after the flop before risking a large portion of your money and then only if you improve.

Worthwhile Early Tournament Risk

Once you believe you have a probable winner, even if early in the tournament, you should try to maximize your winning. A good example of this is if you flop a set with a pocket pair. Unless the flop produced three cards to a flush or straight you have to odds greatly in your favor. However, bet very high to get any draw hands to fold.

This is almost the opposite of what I said in the previous paragraph. The rational for this is while you do not have to gamble to get the top stack (the most chips) early in the contest, you want to have at least a moderate stack when you reach the later stages of the game with higher blinds.

In-The-Money Play

Unlike early tournament play, once you have reached a point where you are in the money, your strategy must change. First of all the blinds become very large quickly and you do not want to be blinded out or have the blind affect the way you play.

Play hands when you are in good table position even if they are only moderately likely to win with a descent flop . This should include suited connectors, say 10 & J of spades. While I would not play these early in the tournament, it is worth while seeing the flop late tournament provided no other player raised enough to indicate they have a very superior hand. If they do, drop out with suited connectors.

It is of primary importance at the later stage of the tournament to try to get a large stack of chips in front of you. They not only intimidate the remaining players, but allow you to semi-bluff a player with a small stack.

End Game Play

The blinds are so high during last table play, that you have to become very aggressive. A single ace with a 10 or above becomes a hot property and should be played as such. Any pair is also playable. Just make sure you can fold without crippling yourself if it becomes obvious that you have a losing hand. Do not play into a person who raises your raise with an all-in bet if you believe he is the probable winner. He almost surely will be.

Read my articles on Texas Hold'em Poker - How to Read a Person Like a Book and my other articles on tells to determine if a player really does have you beat or is just bluffing.

The final hand usually occurs when the last two players both have a picture card, an ace, or a pair. This will result in an all-in bet and in all probability will end of the tournament.