"Poker Tournament Structure: Adjust Your Strategy Accordingly"Every poker tournament features a different poker tournament structure. Strategies that work for one may not work for another. But what strategies work best for which structures? I’ll discuss three common structures and winning strategies to each. Fast poker tournament structure starts with very few chips, has fast levels or is a combination of both. Few chips in no-limit and pot limit format is 30 big blinds or less. In limit format 20 big bets or less makes a fast structure. Fast levels online are 5 minutes or less. Live they are 20 minutes or less. PLAY OF FAST STRUCTURES In any fast structure you’ll have to win pots your cards wouldn’t allow you to. Basically you’ll have to bluff MORE than in “normal” tournament poker. The skillful art of bluffing takes much poker play to hone. Play most hands from late positions aggressively. Playing from late position allows you to gain information on your opponents (weather they’re strong or weak) so you can play accordingly. When you feel opponents are weak, play strong and your more likely to win. When opponents are strong sit back and wait for a better situation to play, like when opponents show weakness! Variance is large in fast structures. But if you wait for big hands aware players and quickly rising blinds will eat away at your chip stack. So when you find that “big hand” and move all-in the big blind is forced to call because you have such a small amount of chips. It’s best to get knocked out early attempting to accumulate chips than make it far and not have enough chips to force players to fold. Fast structures call for fast play. Medium poker tournament structure features a 30-50 big blind starting chip stack in no-limit and pot limit formats. In limit format a 20-40 big bet starting stack is medium. Online levels of 5-10 minutes are medium. Live is 20-40 minutes. PLAY OF MEDIUM STRUCTURES In a medium structure you can play more selectively. It’s still best to play from late positions but if you get a top five hand (A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J, A-K) in early position you should still play. Save bluffs for when you FEEL 100% sure your opponent will fold. Players are more likely to have a hand in this structure. Attack opponents whom have smaller stacks and look like they’re playing too tight. These players are easy to steal chips from with little resistance, unless they have a hand!
50 big blinds in no-limit or pot limit is considered a big stack. In limit a 40 big bet stack or more is a big stack. Online levels of 10 minutes or more make a slow structure. Live levels of 45 minutes or more make a slow structure.
Slow structures with big stacks feature much more play than any other structure. Big hands drop in value. The big stack size makes marginal hands go up in value. Many chips are lost with top pair and over pair hands than anything else. The reason marginal hands’ value goes up is because you’ll lose less chips when you don’t make a hand and make more when you do. All-in situations should be avoided unless you have the nuts. You’ll have SO MANY CHIPS that putting them all at risk in one hand is unnecessary. The only time you should risk all your chips is when you’re severely short stacked. Short stack in no-limit and pot limit is 8 big blinds or less. In limit 5 big bets or less is a short stack. When you have a short stack look to get all your chips in the pot. You have just enough chips to force opponents to fold and pick up some chips. At worst you’ll get called. This gives you a chance to at least double your chips or get knocked out. Take more risks when you have little to lose and less risk when you have more to lose. Play a poker tournament structure that suits your style of play. Adjusting style to fit the tournament is tough for some players to do. With enough practice it becomes natural. Good luck! |
