Multi Table Tournaments,
Hand Selection
April 27 2008
When you’re playing in a multi-table tournament you should always consider what state the tournament is in. The later the tournament goes, the more aggressive you should play. That means that the early part of a tournament should be played with caution. There’s no reason to be in a hurry at the beginning. Many players start a tournament with the sole purpose of doubling through right away, so they can start to play a bully style with a chip lead. Chip leads are nice, but busting out because you were too aggressive early on isn’t good poker.
So you want to play tight at the start of a tournament. You do this for three reasons. First, the blinds are very small and being aggressive will only win you small pots. You’re risking large amounts of your stack for minimal gain. Being a bully for small blinds is not smart play. It’s only a matter of time before you run into a premium hand and get busted. Yes, there will be the odd time that you get lucky and double through, but if you start tracking your results in this situation, you will quickly realize what a low-percentage play this is for you.
The second reason is that you want to take the time and learn a bit about your opponents. Playing tight for a couple of rounds will allow you to study your opponents and learn what they’re capable of doing in a hand. Then you know what you’re up against once you do get in hand with them.
And the third reason to play tight early in a tournament is to establish a table image. Sitting and watching at first makes the other players think that you are very tight. That will afford you the ability to toss in the odd bluff, or make the odd blind steal uncontested.
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