Texas Holdem Tournament Strategy

Early Stages of a Texas Holdem Tourney

Simply, bluffing at the starting stages wouldn’t be a smart move because people’s stacks tend to be smaller in relation to the size of the pot. Since the amount of chips you win from a bluff is worth less than the amount you stand to lose, bluffing loses a lot of value. So instead, play your cards. Play your opponents. Do not try to force action simply because you think you need to have a certain number of chips to have a chance of winning. You should be thinking about accumulating more chips, while trying to conserve the chips you already have.

The early stages of a tournament is the best time to show off your poker image. Since most of the players may not know you or your style of play (unless you are a celebrity), how you’re perceived is crucial. I would suggest only moving in with strong hands (AK, AQ, KJ, etc) and aggressively bet and raise when necessary. When opponents recognize that you are only playing strong starting hands, they often fear your raises and only call if they have a strong hand (Unless they’re a Maniac).

Once you are recognized as a tight player, it would be good to shift gears once in a while to steal some pots. I like involving myself in pots with players who I think are weak or seem to be afraid, and I avoid pots with overly aggressive and maniac players (unless I’m holding the nuts). You can assume those weak-afraid players are betting with strong hands. So simply getting involved with a weak player in late position may be most profitable. No matter what the flop comes down as, unless there are many scare card possibilities, I’m betting or reraising the pot. It is better to bet or raise rather than just call.

Middle Stages of the Tourney

Towards the middle of the tournament, you need to switch gears. Since the blinds get bigger, stealing the blinds will help you stay alive. It takes a much weaker hand than usual to raise to steal the blind, but a stronger hand than usual to call a raise. Again, most of the time you will be looking just to survive and increase your stack bit by bit in the middle rounds. You want to avoid confrontation without the nuts and just take down some small pots without controversy.

However, if you are a large chip stack (or even just a medium one), you may want to take advantage of this survival mode. Take control of the game by raising and frequently putting other people at a decision for all of their chips. After all, if they go all-in, they're risking it all but you aren't because you can lose the pot and still keep on fighting. However, don't do this too much. Steal some pots, but don't be so obvious that people will call you all-in with top or even second pair. Also, don't do this against very bad players. They will call everything.

End Stages

Towards the end of the tournament is when the coin-flip decisions become very important. Frequently, the blinds are so high it makes sense for a player with a low or moderate stack to go all-in preflop. Generally, when you go all-in you want to have Ace and good kicker or a pocket pair. If you have Ace and good kicker you are an advantage against all unpaired hands and may even have someone dominated. If you have a pocket pair, you are a small advantage against all unpaired hands and at a huge advantage or disadvantage against other pocket pairs (depending on who has the bigger one).

Generally, if you have one of these marginal hands, it's best to just shove all of your chips in preflop. When you are a low stack, you cannot afford to be blinded away anymore. Once the flop comes, chances are it's not going to be perfect. By shoving in all of your chips preflop, you have the added chance of stealing the blinds and can avoid being bluffed out.