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Subject: GCA "Win a MAJOR Limit Holdem Tourney" Theory View: Complete Thread (50 articles)
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Newsgroups: rec.gambling.poker
Date: 2003-02-17 13:55:30 PST
How to win a MAJOR LIMIT HOLDEM TOURNAMENT
Many factors are involved with winning a major tournament. Luck, discipline and aggressiveness being among the most prevalent. Remember one thing about tournaments, they are the short run in the game called poker. Definitely poker skills exist in tournament play, yet you don't have to be a World Class Player to be a successful tournament player. You don't have to be a WCP to win a major tournament. The number one prerequisite for tournament play and continued tournament success (if there really is such a thing) is discipline. The number one prerequisite for winning a major tournament is luck.

DISCIPLINE
To be a successful limit holdem tournament player, you must have the discipline to maintain an approach to tournaments where you continue to play only premium hands. This is a very difficult factor in itself, since most people don't play for a living. Approaching a tournament like it is going to be FUN, is definitely the wrong approach if you play tournaments for a living. Tournament winning or placing is a very hard thing to continue to do successfully over periods of years. Unlike cash or money games, tournaments have much more luck involved. Poker skill is also limited since winning a pot is almost mandatory on every round, exception being the early rounds. While it is impossible for a professional cash player to have a losing year, many professional tournament players experience this.
Playing only premium hands may sound easy, but the true fact is most players, including cash players, can't limit themselves to doing this. You may say playing only premium hands will handicap you because players will be able to read you. This is as far from the truth as any statement ever made. Here is where the skill in tournaments comes in. The way you bet, follow through on your betting and the way you play position and read players. Learning and proper betting execution will conceal your holding to one of a coin flip. Do you hold an AK or do you have a large pair? This is the position you put people in when raising and playing premium hands with position.

High stakes limit holdem has much in common with tournament play. The main factor being mainly one on one play as you get to the latter stages of a tournament. The same as in most high stakes cash games. Limit yourself to playing premium hands, the exception being the blinds and the button. You will shine the longer you play.
Obviously there will come many opportunities where you will play QJ, K10 and such. Don't be playing these when the game is full, exceptions being your blinds or in a last ditch effort to stay in the tournament. Obviously you may opt to play hands like these when holding a chip advantage against some of the blinds. Playing hands like these continuously will catch up to you very soon, in tournaments and full cash games.
PLAYING BADLY
Limping into a pot is not acceptable in tournaments or high stakes poker games. If you enter the pot, raise or throw your hand away, the exception being the blinds. The same thing applies when you enter behind a person who has just entered the pot and raised. Raise or throw your hand away. Three bet the pot when coming in, NO CALLING behind the OPENER. Because the opposition chooses to limp into the pot, does not mean it gives you the right to limp in also with a small pair or suited connectors. Because you think you may get value or proper odds, this is a bad concept. You get these approaches from bad players and bad playing, the same way you do in small stakes poker games.
The main difference in these approaches are the quality of the players. You have the California (action value) and Nevada (isolation) approaches. Believe me, the Nevada approach works far better in tournaments. Right away I am going to hear, "how do I isolate, when many players keep coming into the pot?". The answer is, sooner or later the field thins down, reality will set in and most people will realize REAL MONEY is at stake. The trick is to maintain your discipline until you enter reality.

Watching players play small pairs in the early positions, you will realize it is only a matter of time until players like this are eradicated. The California approach to holdem will sooner or later become the Nevada approach to the game, more one on one with position. This will eventually eliminate those who play less than the premium hands, the same way the bad players lose their money at higher limits.

LUCKMost people don't realize how much luck there really is in tournament poker. While cash players can expect a reward for every hour they put into the game, the same is not true for tournament players. Tournament players win rate can fluctuate from a winning year to a losing year, something impossible for a cash player. While professional cash players can't have a losing year, many professional tournament players do. While cash players have to manage their money and play mostly at their own levels for endless periods, tournament play is not even remotely the same.

Sucking out or making a big hand early in a tournament can never have the same impact as sucking out or making a big hand at the final table, provided you have adequate chips, something you always have in cash games. In cash games, you are always playing close to the same level, so making a big hand doesn't have much of an impact. It really doesn't matter if you make a big hand early or late, since you can quit whenever you like.

When playing in tournaments you must win many coin flip decisions. It is an essential part of the game when you play the premium hands to win the coin flips in a tournament. Taking an AK against a JJ is what I am talking about. You have to win more of these decisions than you lose or win them at the key times. This is essentially what limit tournament poker is about. Premium hand over premium hand, with luck being the most important factor in the short periods of time tournament take. Limit holdem dictates you must make a few of your flush draws, in order to win. So act accordingly and mechanically, something like a betting machine with an on-off switch.
The person who played best does not usually win the tournament. Have you ever given this point any thought? This is not duplicate bridge. Have you ever thought about what percentage of the tournament players depend on the income derived from tournament poker to survive? Do you understand the mass publicity campaigns to get fresh people into the game? Do you understand tournament play is just a crap shoot if all people just played the premium hands? The need for new players without discipline is essential to the food chain, if these tournament players hope to survive.

Thus promotional income is vastly needed by almost all of these tournament players. This is where Card Player Mag and the Travel Channel do their jobs, putting the bait out and serving it to you, so you will fall into the deceit of the truth about the reality of tournaments.

CHIP ADVANTAGES
Obviously there are some advantages to take when having a big stack. These include attacking the smaller stack blinds ( with less than premium hands ), both of you knowing that if they don't win that hand they are out of the tournament while you still remain. This makes small stacks think twice, usually letting go of the blinds, since randomly they shouldn't have too much to call with. The reverse side is you double them up with a bad hand, when they turn out to have a good hand.
Having a big stack enables you to be able to wait longer between hands, giving you more opportunity to pick up a good hand. This is an advantage you should not throw away, if you get into the position. With limits going up on every time period, if you must lose, do so with a hand worthy of it.

SHORT HANDED
This is a problem many novice limit holdem players have. Short handed playing experience is an essential part of winning a tournament. Obviously it can be done without it, though to win one of these tournaments, this is the KEY part. Knowing how to accelerate into another gear is something many don't have when the game gets short. This is the ability to steal and read the players who don't know how to execute betting properly. Hand values go up as the number of players at the table go down. The ability to evaluate the strength of a hand in a short game becomes very important in order to win. Otherwise you will be blinded and anteed off, waiting for a hand. Smaller pairs become playable, but raise with them, rather than call.
THE BEGINNING
When entering one of these tournaments, be prepared mentally. Patience is the key here, don't can't get caught up in the bad playing of others. Realize the way to get the money is through the PREMIUM HANDS. Hold this course, don't waiver. Because others play a losing style, doesn't mean you can join in. Doing this only helps the inferior players, as they need more value on their small pairs and small suited A's ( suited A with a small kicker ). Hell with value, win the pot. This is more important than anything.

You will win your chips through rushes with premium hands at times. Hold onto these chips and maintain discipline. Remember the tournament moves one level at a time and like anything else, take it one step at a time.

FINISHING
This is where you are in the money or close to the money. Know who has what size stack and how long you can last before the next level. Know what happens when each player is eliminated. Proceed one step at a time, just as they deal one hand at a time when getting into that position. Know when you will be forced to make your last stand and think ahead. If you have to lose, do so by betting rather than calling, if the option is available. This allows you the opportunity of deciding your destiny. Think quickly but rationally. Put yourself into the stack position of the other person opposing you in the pot. Think what you would do if in that position, then act accordingly.

SUMMARY
Be mentally prepared when starting a tournament. You may only last a couple of levels, yet you may be there all day. Forget about playing anything but premium hands at the beginning. If you have to choose, play tighter than looser, but play aggressively. Be aware of your opposition. Watch players you don't know, all the time remembering they don't know you either. Use the discipline you will need to become a successful player, for without it you won't make it. Be prepared to make your last stand when you have to. Better to bet yourself loser than call yourself loser.
Obviously many will deviate from this path of only playing premium hands. Playing the premium hands is hard and tedious, it also takes much of the thrill away from playing. The less you deviate from this path, the better your results will be. Playing this way and adjusting for short handed play, gives you a far better chance of winning a MAJOR tournament. Remember anyone can win on any given day, since LUCK is such a big factor in this game.

Russ Georgiev
www.pokermafia.com