Texas Holdem Poker

Tournament Texas Holdem is one of the most popular forms of poker in the world.  Every poker player imagines making the final table and winning it all.  One way to get final table experience without having to plan an entire tournament is Sit-n-Go tournaments.  Today, we will look at some basic strategies for both live and online Sit-n-Go tournaments.

Sit-n-go tournaments are single table tournaments that are played with either nine or ten players.  Each player starts with the same amount of chips, which is usually equivalent to 30 big blinds.  Most online poker rooms will pay the top three players in a sit-n-go.  Live Sit-N-Go tournaments pay either two or three players.

The early stages for most sit-and-go tournaments you want to play extremely tight.  The blind are low and all players are still involved.  You have no reason to try and steal blinds at these levels.  The risk to reward ratio is too high. Sit back and play strong starting hand.  Weaker and looser players will tend to gamble big in the early stages to try and amass a large amount of chips.  Sometimes you will even see players move all-in pre-flop or on the flop when the pot is very small.  You want to only play the strongest starting hands during this stage.   Weaker hands should only be played from the blinds in an unraised pot.  The early stage of a sit-n-go last typically the first four levels or until you are down to 6 players.

The middle stage of the tournament comes around the 75-150 or the 100 – 200 blind level.  At this point, if you have not won any pots, you only have around 7 to 10 big blinds.  Stealing blinds starts to become important.  Players that are short will begin to push on a wide array of hands at this level.  You can loosen up your raising requirements from late position at this level.   A well timed bluff or two may be beneficial against overly tight players.

The middle stage of the tournament is when we arrive to the bubble period.  The bubble period occurs in a sit-n-go with 4 players remaining.  Only three players will receive a payday, and nobody wants to go home empty handed.  If you have fewer than three sets of blinds left in your stack, you need to find a hand to move in with.  A couple of big cards or even any ace would be a hand to take a chance.  Sometimes you can play a couple of small cards and the cards will be very live.  A player is said to have live cards if he is facing a non paired hand and the other player has not paired yet.

Middle stacks need to be careful at this point.  You don’t want to get into too many pots with the chip leader without the goods and you do not want to tangle with too many short stacks and risk not only doubling them up, but making yourself a short stack in the process.  Sit back and play strong hands.   Only take on short stacks in cases where either doubling them up will not cost a significant portion of your stack, or when you have a strong holding.   Chip leaders should use their chips as a weapon.  Put the short stacks at risk.  Put pressure on the middle stacks that are just trying to hold on to their chips.  Chip leaders can open up their play quite a bit.  In some cases regarding short stacks, you may want to take them one with any two cards.   Be careful not to go overboard with this strategy or you may end up giving your chips to the other players.

After you get to three players, it is time to try and win the tournament.  If you are short, make a stand and try and pick up chips.  You will make a profit, so you have nothing to lose.  If you are a medium stack, try and make some moves to challenge for the chip lead or knock out the short stack to get to heads-up.  If you are the chip leader, continue to attack the short stack.  Be careful not to get too aggressive against the medium stack as now that everyone is in the money, they may play back at you.

Once you reach heads up, your style of play will vary greatly on your other opponent and how you are perceived.   Is your opponent very aggressive?  If so, tighten up a bit and play strong to mediocre hands.  Are you perceived as being tight?  If so, make a few plays at the pot in situations that makes you look strong.  One thing I do is keep close watch on how I play various types of board and also how I am betting my strong hands.  I will then mix up my play to give off strength tells when I am on bluffs.

You will also see many more hands heads up than any other time in the tournament.  Big cards, suited connectors, any ace, and many suited hands are playable.   You will want to raise with a wider range of large cards and most any ace.  You will want to raise all pair, even deuces.  A pair is very strong heads up.  Heads up requires several adjustments and even readjustments on in order to stay ahead of your opponent.

One difference you will notice in live sit-n-go tournament that you will not find online is that many players will want to make deals to chop up the prize pool once you get heads-up and in some cases when you are three handed.  There are many ways to make a deal, but typically the fairest way to make a deal is by a chip count percentage.  For example, if you have 60% of the chips and your opponent 40%, then you will receive 60% of the prize pool.  Deals in tournaments are entirely voluntary and if you do not feel a deal is fair, do not accept it.  You can always play it out for the full prize amount.

Sit-n-Go tournaments are great practice for the final table end game.  You get the feel of the final table and are allowed the chance to experience the different scenarios that can arise as you work your way to heads-up and finally the win.  If you want to win in tournament poker, then start playing Sit-n-Gos.  They are great experience and in the end, they are also highly profitable.

Most of online poker rooms offer sit-n-go tournaments. Visit poker reviews website to find out your choice of online poker room to play sit-n-go tournament.

Holdem Poker has been popularized by television, you can watch pros and amateurs alike playing at any given. time Some beginners don’t realize that you can play different styles of the game online or at casinos. Most often on television you will see no limit Hold’em, but you can also play limit, pot limit or mixed Hold’em..All this means is there is a different way the game and the bets are structured. Basically rules on how much you can bet on any given street.

No Limit Texas Hold’em

Playing no limit is the game that most players learned how to play. No limit is most common in home games on and television. Basically when you play no limit you reserve the right to go all in when it is your turn to bet, no matter the size of the pot or what street you are on. When playing no limit you can be creative and the structure makes it easier to bluff or play big pots. The ability to go all in can force your opponents off a hand, therefore bluffing becomes easier if you are willing to make that bold move. The problem with no limit especially with inexperienced players is that they will lean to much on the all in bet. The reason less experienced players in this day and age will do that is because that is what they see on television, it is important to note that most often on televised games there edited to show you the most exciting hands. No limit Hold’em is a game that forces you to be on your toes at all times, you never know when you will have to decide to put all your money in the pot.

Limit Texas Hold’em

When playing limit Hold’em the all in bet is taken away from you. The game is structured to limit the action, with maximum bets and a maximum amount of raises. Limit Hold’em is common in online rooms and in casinos. Basically if you are playing limit at one / two dollar blinds, the small blind is fifty cents and the big blind is a dollar. For the first two rounds of betting you can only raise a maximum of one dollar, no more, no less. On fourth and fifth street the limit goes up and you can bet in increments of two dollars. If you are a mathematical no limit Hold’em Poker player you will find that the odds are in your favor to make a lot of calls playing limit. As an example if you are playing $1/$2 in a four way pot from the button with two bets per round the pot will be approx. $42 when it is your turn to make your final decision in the hand. You have to call four dollars and you have top pair, can you lay down top pair getting a price of 10.5 – 1 even though you think your beat? Those are the questions you are going to have to deal with to become a good limit Hold’em player.

Pot Limit Texas Hold’em

Pot limit is exactly as it sounds, the maximum amount you can bet is the size of the pot. Pot limit works the same as no limit, but once again your all in bet is taken away from you unless the pot is bigger then your stack. The minimum bets are the same, the size of the big blind or equal to a raise in front of you (min raise). When playing online the software will do all the calculating for you, but it can be frustrating to add the pots up all the time if you are playing a home game. Its important to remember that you should include a call in the size of a pot size bet before you calculate the final total. For example if its your turn to act and a guy in front of you bets $5 into a $20 ($25) and you raise pot, add the $5 call and the $25 pot making your raise $30. You will find that the play in pot limit is very similar to that of no limit, the only difference is the restriction on the all in bet.

Mixed Texas Hold’em

Mixed Hold’em is when you combine two game limits into one. For example you would play no limit Hold’em for a specified amount of time and then switch games and play limit Hold’em for the same amount of time and the cycle continues. Playing mixed Hold’em can be interesting depending on which game you are better at. If you feel you are above average in both limit and no limit this can be the game for you. The key to the game is be able to switch gears between both disciplines. You can be playing a great limit game, but if you are struggling at no limit, all the hard work you did playing limit will evaporate and vice versa.

No matter what style of Texas Hold’em you play I suggest giving the other games a try. Playing limit can help your no limit game and vice versa. Have an open mind expand your poker portfolio it will make it easier to find games that you can make some money and have fun at. Remember the games look the same, but they are very different. For all you no limit bluffers out there, you will not be able to force people to lay down hands with an all in bet playing limit. For all you min raising limit players, those bets will not scare a no limit player pre flop. Learn the different styles, become good at them and have fun playing Texas Hold’em.

Most of online poker rooms offer texas holdem poker games in Limit, Pot Limit, No Limit and mixed versions o. Visit poker reviews website to find out your choice of online poker room to play texas holdem poker.