Tournament Strategy

As you’ll know, playing winning poker takes practice, patience, skill and quick wits. Finding that perfect combination can seem like a never-ending task and, much as it pains us to say it, not everyone will release their inner professional. But there are some things you can concentrate on to up the ante in your live game. If you’ve been immersed in online poker, it’s a good idea to brush up on the skills and psychology that’s likely to face you as you face up to your opponent.

 

Tournament tactics

Since you decided to invest and bet on a tournament, then you might as well take risks all the way to be able to win. A suggestion is to put aside 20% of your starting stack and bet 80% of it for you to be able to win a big hand. If you got 2-1 on your call, then you should call in the big blind. It is best to attack the blinds when you are on the button, cut off, and the power positions. You should take advantage of this by using it to gather a lot of chips. Now, you must also try to re-raise a late position if you’re on the button. This is a great way to be able to steal chips from your opponents.

One of the things that you must always keep in mind is to avoid being predictable. There are a lot of players who are always look out for the actions, habits, and mannerisms of their opponents. This makes the difference between an OK poker player and a great poker player – observation and empathy is key. A way to win a game or a tournament is to master playing different types of hands in different instances, even if that involves purposely losing to throw a player off your scent. However, you should control your bluffing as that in itself can become predictable. Regulating all actions i.e. how long it takes you to act, what you do with your hands, how you interact with your cards and so on. This way you can avoid leaking any tells as the game progresses.

Inducing Tilt

As you sit squirming at the table, restraining yourself from all emotions and frustrations caused by that aggressive player opposite, a thought will no doubt occur to you: how on earth do I tilt these guys back?

Tilting your opponents may not be an instantly rewarding strategy, but with time and practice, pulling out the poker face will be second-nature, and, yes, sweet. Call it sci-fi, but there are, indeed, ways where you can “force” your opponents to tilt, almost as if controlling their emotions. The secret is to play goofy. Trash talking, chattering, singing an annoying song – anything to make the others lose their concentration. These are some of the most common “antics” one can use to put them on tilt (while you, of course, have fun):

  • You can either play hands that have a lower chance of winning, just for the sake of intently losing and also for the fun of it; or you can bluff the opponent off a better hand.
  • Victimise other players at the table. Mike Matusow, also known as “The Mouth,” is known to be a very talkative player; each time somebody loses a big pot, he goes very talkative and verbally taunts the others. Others know him as a very bad player, but his techniques are known to be very effective. No one likes to be mocked while in the table. Mike knows this and uses it to his advantages.
  • Pretending to be drunk is also an effective way, though this technique can be considered as cheating.
  • You can also resort to making weird noises, motions and constant chattering whenever you win a hand, or other erratic and seemingly desperate behavior. However, this is not only annoying but you could give yourself away if your bluffs are becoming standardised themselves.
  • Consider slow rolling at the showdown. Take a considerably deliberate or inappropriate amount of time before showing your hand, so others have to expose theirs first. This can, however, cause a delay in play and would, thus limit the earnings of the expert player. Such tactics are mostly associated with novices. But when done with a good hand, it will give other players false hopes that their hand might win before you reveal yours. This is considered as poor etiquette while playing but is generally guaranteed to put your opponents on tilt.

It should be noted, that all the above are considered pretty poor etiquette at the poker table and that a good player shouldn’t have to resort to such tactics. In order to pull off an aggressive tilting strategy you have to deal with the fact that people aren’t going to like you very much. If you prefer not to indulge in such tactics, it is still worth being aware of them as it is very likely that you will come across a number of players in live poker who try this on you. Get wise and ignore them if you think you’re being played.