Texas Holdem Poker

Tournament Texas Holdem is a battle of attrition. Deep field tournaments are a grind that will test your mental game as well as your physical stamina. Most people don’t realize what a grind it is to play a full day of Texas Holdem Poker. It will drain you, and you will never know what it is like unless you sit at a table and play for 10 plus hours.

Recently the final table of the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event lasted 22 hours, almost an entire day of No Limit Holdem. Every hand could be your last, and one little mistake can cost you a lot of money. To survive in big tournaments you need to stay on point for long periods of time, you need to remain focused on the task at hand. You never know when you are going to get the hand that will either bust you, or propel you further into the event. I am going to try and set up a few things for you that will help you survive and make some money in deep fields.

Research - Before you put a large sum of money down to play in a big tournament you need to know what you are getting in to. Check out the blind structures, sometimes overlooked structures have a major impact on tournaments. Depends on what kind of Poker player you are, but for the most part the slower the blinds increase the better chance the best players will emerge in the end. Quicker blind structures will force you to gamble earlier in tournaments and might not allow you to play your game. With slower structures (ex. 1 hour blinds), you can take your time, get your reads and play the game that best fits you.

Another thing to research is the payout structures, how many players and how much money will be awarded. Once again it depends on what kind of player you are, some people like when the winner takes a large portion of the money, while others like a safer structure where more people will make a smaller amounts of money. You need to know yourself and pick the payout structures that will best fit your game. If you are a win or bust player, feel free go for the payout structure that will pay the winners 40% or more.

Patience - There is no need to gamble early on in Texas Holdem tournaments, especially when there are a lot of players. Take your time when you get started, feel out your table and set up a game plan that you think will help you win. I am not saying sit there and don’t play, I am saying you need to manage your risk and pick and choose your spots. As an example if you start a tournament with starting stakes of 20 000 and the blinds starting at 25 – 50, there is no reason for you to go broke early in the event. The only reason you should go broke in the first few blind levels is if you take a horrible beat (ex Royal vs Quads).

Once you feel comfortable with the game and you have a good plan it is time to exploit what you have learned. There will become a time when you need to gamble and the better reads and information you have the better chances that you make the right decision.

Stay Ahead of the Binds - The worst thing you can do in a Texas Holdem Tournament is get blinded out. No one wants to go down without a fight, and if the blinds are high in comparison to your stack, its time to gamble. A good rule of thumb is if you have 10 big blinds or less left in your stack, its time to find a hand a go with it. Even if you don’t get any action when shoving your stack in, stealing blinds can buy you some time to find the hand you truly want to get your money in with. If you are low on chips you need to force people to lay down decent hands and take your chances of coming up against a monster. Take advantage of position, if you have a chance to pick up loose pots do it.

Get Lucky - Can’t really control this, but to win big Holdem tournaments you will have to get lucky. Luck is a big part of poker tournaments, and you don’t get any it will be tough to come away with the title. In addition to that you need to stay composed when you get unlucky, and it will happen. Control your emotions, stay focused on your goals and do your best to avoid tilt.

It’s a Team Game? – There will be a point in all tournaments where eliminating players is the most important thing. You need to move yourself up the pay scale and this might mean that you need to give up some value in individual hands in order to bust another player. This might mean you need to check down, slow play and play some hands you usually wouldn’t. I have seen it many times, when a player doesn’t check down, and the all in player survives and busts that same player later in the tournament. Its not a team game, but sometimes helping others, in order to improve your chances to win is the best thing to do.

The draw of the big cash, the glory and respect is why people play big field tournaments. These events can be time consuming, and very frustrating, anyone who has ever finished “on the bubble” knows what I mean. If you do your research, be patient, stay ahead of the blinds and get lucky you might be the next big winner. Tournaments with big fields will test every aspect of your game, mental and physical. Don’t get discouraged you cannot expect to win every tournament you play in, play your best and give yourself a chance.