Multi-Table Texas Holdem Poker Tournament Tips for Different Stages
by Jason Green of Predictem.com
Multi-table Texas Holdem tournaments can have many tables and hundreds or thousands of players. They can take hours to complete.
Tips for the Early Stage of a Tournament
The first tip is to play tight at the early stages of the tournament. You should only play the best starting hands and use your position at the table to your advantage. Unless you have a killer hand, such as Ace/Ace, King/King, Queen/Queen or Ace/King, never go all in the early stages of a tournament.
Another tip is to use televised tournaments to your advantage. You can pick out beginning tournament players, as you can tell if they go all in or bluff a lot during early stages. In televised poker tournaments they usually only show the final table, where there a lot of all ins or bluffs. Look out for players that do these actions early and you should continue to play tight in order to take them out or simply watch them take each other out. You can also protect your chip stack by doing this.
Tips for Mid Stages of a Tournament
As the tournament goes on and you get to the mid stages you can play a little looser. At this point in the tournament your opponents may know when you have something, as they have been playing with you for some time. The can be afraid to call your raises and it will allow you to make them fold more often. At this point dont play too many hands and never play junk hands, you should protect your chip stack.
Obviously, you will still play killer hands, but you can add other starting hands to play, such as Ace/Queen, Pocket Jacks, Pocket 10s, and Ace/Jack. If you are dealt one of these hands betting on them will depend on your table position. In early position you can fold and in the later position you will play them. In the middle it will depend on the actions of the other players. You have to think how strong the other players hands are before you decide to play these types of hands. Try to read your opponents from the very beginning when you all sit down at the table.
Once you have a decent chip stack you keep playing semi-tight and when the chance comes up you can look to steal the blinds. Many players tighten up at this point in the mid stages of a tournament. When you steal blinds you can add to your stack and then start to be more aggressive because of it.
Tips for the Final Table at a Tournament
When you progress to the final table you have to know that your position at the table is key. Play good starting hands, but you need to play loose and add more starting hands to play with, but not too many. When the players begin to drop out the value, blinds, will go up and you have to try to win or steal them when possible. You have to play aggressive. This is the case if you have a big chip stack, as you can bully other players, or if you have a small chip stack, as you cant afford to keep losing your blinds.