"Poker Tournament Format: Play All Or Just One?"The three poker tournament formats require a general strategy to each for success. The general strategy for one cannot be used in another. We’ll go over the three formats… · Limit · No-limit · Pot limit And discuss what makes each one different. Plus relevant tournament poker strategies. By the end of this page you should have an idea of what format best suits you! Bet any amount of chips in no-limit poker tournament formats. The minimum bet is the amount of the big blind, the maximum is all the chips you have. The fact that players can lose all their chips in any given hand, sets this format apart from others. It also requires the use of different strategies. Your overall strategy to the no-limit format: PLAY THE PLAYER. If opponents play tight (few starting hands), you can play more hands and bluff more. If opponents play loose (many starting hands), you should play slightly fewer hands and call a loose players’ bets with marginal cards. Finding “tells” on players is huge in no-limit formats, IF you act on them. There is no use in having a tell on a player, as to the strength of their cards, unless you act on that information. When you feel a player is strong fold! If you feel they’re weak and will fold to a raise DO IT! This will also let you know if your read of an opponent is correct or not, which you can then fine tune until most reads are accurate. One rule that is vital to no-limit poker tournament formats: either make your bet with ONE forward motion or STATE THE AMOUNT you’d like to bet. Here is an example, say the min bet is 200. You want to bet 800 but don’t state that amount you place the 200 min bet on the table and reach back to your stack of chips for 600 more. In this situation you will only be allowed to bet 200. Once you release the chips, your bet is made. This applies to live game situations, you can never string bet online. Remember this rule and you’ll do fine. In pot limit poker tournament formats players can bet any amount between the min bet and the amount of the pot. Lets say the min bet is $1 and the pot has $11, your bet can be anywhere from $1 to $11. This format is the happy medium of no-limit and limit formats. A tough part of this format is when you want to raise, you’ll want to know how much you can make it to play. Here is a simple trick: after you put the amount it costs to call, add all bets together and that’s the amount you can bet. Lets say on the flop you’re heads up with an opponent. There is $20 in the pot and your opponent bets the pot, $20. Now you state “RAISE”, how much can you raise to? First take the amount it costs to call, $20, add that to the $20 pot and the $20 your opponent bet and you get $60. Add the $60 dollars to your $20 call and you have $80, you can raise to a total of $80! With practice and the use of some math, you’ll have it in no time. The one-forward-motion rule applies to pot limit poker tournament formats too. In this format your main strategy is to control the size of the pot. When you have a big hand make the pot as large as possible. When you have a marginal hand try to keep the pot small. Reading your opponent is still important, but when you can only bet the size of the pot, situations arise where you cant bet enough to make your opponent fold when you think they have a weak hand. In limit poker tournament formats the amount you can bet and raise is set in stone. If your playing 10-20 limit bets and raises pre-flop and on the flop are in increments of 10. On the turn and river they’re in increments of 20. There is also a maximum amount of raises in the limit format. One bet and three to four raises (depending on the poker room) is standard. In limit the one-forward-motion rule applies when you want to raise. Or state raise when you want to raise. Your main strategy in limit poker tournament formats is to save bets when you have the worst hand and get the most bets possible when you have the best hand. Reading opponents is still important, but bluffing should be saved for the VERY TIGHTEST of players. Specialize in one format or play all? If you’ve played poker for a while and have played various poker tournament formats, you probably know which one you do best at. Stick to the one you play best. However if your new to tournament poker, you should get a feel for all formats until you know which you like best. More than likely you’ll do well in the format that YOU like best. Once you’ve found the format you excel in, stick to that one. Also play the one that suits your style of play. If you read people correctly no-limit is your game. If you know when to fold a hand limit suits you best. If you do both well pot limit may be for you. With all tournaments an “active” style does best, if this is your style tournament poker is for you! Good luck! |
