Today’s Winning Poker Tournament key is discipline. In order to play successful tournament poker, one must demonstrate discipline at the table.  Before we get to far into this poker tournament topic, let’s recap.

Keys to Poker Tournament Success:

1.  Know the poker tournament’s structure – draft and study the poker tournament road map before starting your journey.

2.  Know how your opposition plays – get to know the “locals” on this journey

3.  Know when to push and when to fold – wisdom at the poker table – “timing” is everything.

4.  Courage to execute on your knowledge and wisdom – trust your instincts.

5.  Discipline to stay the course and adjust as necessary (stay off tilt) – remain focused.

Put it all together and demonstrate discipline

I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I have found myself in a live poker tournament in the following situation:

I’ve registered for the poker tournament and studied the blind structure.  I get my seating assignment and walk over to my table.  To my pleasant surprise, I see some familiar faces, as I’ve played with several of these tournament players before.

I absolutely love my seating assignment!  I have tells on the guy to my right, as we’ve played together a dozen times.  He’s the player who will checks the flop to me when he misses, bet it when he hits.  He value bets the river when he thinks he has a great hand, and makes huge pushes on the river when he was drawing and missed.  I read him clear as day.  I own him – he knows it, I know it.

Not only is this guy sitting to my right, but I’m twice as excited as there’s an older guy sitting across the table from me.  I know the more I bet, the more likely he is to call.  He’s that guy who will make off the wall calls or plays and have some sort of off the wall explanation for everything, yet he’s the first to go on a tilting rant when someone plays a greasy hand against him or shows a bluff.

I look around the table and identify one or two tough players.    I decide I’m going to get paid by the old call station across from me and additionally I’m going to let the guy on my right bluff into me all day long.  Because I historically own these guys, my hope is that they stay around as long as possible in the tournament, as they have the ability to take chips from other people, and then they will pay me off.  So, my strategy in this poker tournament is to get involved with them, while avoiding getting too wrapped up with anyone else.  I also commit myself to avoiding the tough players at the table when I’m out of position and the timing is not right.

Remain focused – stick to the plan

I’ve got my tournament road map, I know the players involved.  I have a plan.  I intend to be fearless, calculating and relentless in my plan’s execution.  And then, “it” happens…  I lose focus.

I have all this going for me at the table, my plan’s going off without a hitch.  And then, for whatever reason, I decide to limp under the gun with 3-2 suited.  I’m pretty certain that the tough player is going to raise it up pre-flop, as he’s in late position.  I even think that to myself as I’m limping.  Sure enough, he puts in a raise.  My plan tells me to fold, however I find myself calling after the guy to my right calls from the big blind (he loves to play out of the blinds and the tough player knows it).

We’re three handed going into the flop, to which I hit bottom pair and have backdoor flush and straight possibilities.  My favorite river bluffer checks, which tells me based on his past play, he missed.  I decide to push a bet out there, as I’m wanting to steal the pot.  I bet 3/4 pot on the flop.  The tough player calls cleanly after giving my bet some thought.  The bluffer folds.  I’m now heads up with the guy I vowed to avoid without a substantial hand.

The turn gives me a gut shot straight draw, yet eliminates my backdoor flush possibility.  I convince myself of two things.  First, this guy was making a move.  He sees what I see (the bluffer loves to play out of the blinds) – so obviously he’s trying to isolate him.  Second, the tough player has a hand like A-K. A-Q, A-J.  It seems as if everyone wants to put someone on a hand like that when they’ve raised preflop from late position – weird…  So anyway, I’ve convinced myself this guy has shit.

I’ve also conveniently forgotten that I’m not supposed to play against this guy out of position.  I’ve increased the value of my gutshot, and feel like bottom pair is the stone cold nuts, for some strange reason.  I check.  The tough guy thinks for a bit, and he pushes out a pot sized turn bet.  I know this bet commits him to the pot.  I’m also aware that he knows it, and knows I know it.  In the back of my mind, I hear myself calling for a situational fold.  I can lay down here and be just fine.  I’m off the road map, lost in an off limits area.  Simply folding here is the right move – and I know it.

For some odd reason, I call with intentions of jamming it on the river no matter what.  The river is a blank and I shove, only to find out I was against pocket aces.  A short while later, I give the remaining tournament chips to the guy playing to my right when he bets the flop and I jam it all-in, even though my notes told me he only bets the flop when he hits – and I had nothing.

I got way off course there.  I didn’t follow my road map.  I didn’t exercise prudent judgement in my timing.  I failed to execute on my plans.  How can this be?  I made it a priority to map my tournament out, yet I decided to travel way off the course?  It all boils down to the fact that I had a lapse of discipline.

Nothing will derail your poker tournament faster than a lapse in discipline

When playing a poker tournament, you must remain disciplined.  Stay the course, make adjustments when necessary, however – stick to your plan.  Remaining focused and disciplined is something one must constantly work on.  If you’ve taken the time to map out your tournament, familiarize yourself with your opposition, and to draft a plan of action, you owe it to yourself – I owe it to myself to stick to the game plan!

~ imjusthere4thebeer writes articles discussing poker strategy, poker tournament strategy, and poker cash game strategy for the Online Poker Circuit.  He also contributes editorial commentary on the world of poker to the OPC via his Poker Pub blog, and discusses news from the poker world via the State of Poker News.

Playing winning tournament poker keys to success recap:

1.  Know the poker tournament’s structure.

2.  Know poker player’s tendencies your opposition

3.  Know when to push and when to fold – wisdom at the poker table.

4.  Courage to execute on your knowledge and wisdom.

5.  Discipline to stay the course and adjust as necessary (stay off tilt).

Today, we’ll discuss having the courage to execute on your plan.

Brave, courageous poker play

Its no easy task pushing your poker chips in the center when you find yourself two off the bubble, action has folded around to you in middle position while you’re holding A-6 suited and short stacked.  You’ve noticed the table is somewhat passive, and often players have taken the pot uncontested preflop.  You know the time is right to push.  You’re aware the table conditions are correct for a push.  Your cards are push-worthy – capable of holding their own in a race, and your stack needs the blinds and antes.  What do you do?

You move all-in!  Don’t fret the bubble.  It’s time to push.  When the time and conditions are right, have the courage to make the correct play.  It may be scary, you may feel like you have a suckout you’re due.  Put that all out of your mind and make the right play.  Have the courage to make your move.

This less comfortable, the more correct

In a poker tournament, often the correct play is not comfortable.  Its sometimes scary making a push when you should, or making that sick call on the river with the ace high.  I assure you, despite the plays being most uncomfortable, more often than not – they are the right plays.

Do you think its comfortable to play dead when a bear attacks?  Its not comfortable, but in the situation, its the most correct move.  Reach deep down, muster up the courage to play poker to win.  When you’re sure you have the right move in mind, and you have evidence to back it up – make the move.  Push your chips all-in, make the call – play winning tournament poker.

~ imjusthere4thebeer writes articles discussing poker strategy, poker tournament strategy, and poker cash game strategy for the Online Poker Circuit.  He also contributes editorial commentary on the world of poker to the OPC via his Poker Pub blog, and discusses news from the poker world via the State of Poker News.

I listed the five things I feel are the most important keys in winning poker tournament play and playing winning tournament poker In the Introduction to Keys to Winning a Poker Tournament.

To recap, those 5 poker tourney keys are as follows:

1.  Knowledge the poker tournament’s structure.

2.  Knowledge of each poker player’s tendencies.

3.  Wisdom to identify the proper time and place to push or fold.

4.  Courage to execute on your knowledge and wisdom.

5.  Discipline to stay the course and adjust as necessary (stay off tilt).

Today, we shall discuss winning poker tournament key #3 -

Knowing when to make a move…  or not

We’ve obtained knowledge about the poker tournament structure, so we’re now acutely aware of how the blind structure looks – we know where the stress points of the tournament will be, as well as the various chip counts we will ideally possess at said pressure points.  We know the amount of poker tournament chips we start with, we know how long each level of the poker tournament shall last.  We also know how many poker players in our poker tournament get paid.

We’ve already gathered a great deal of information.  Some of this information came to us without our knowledge.  The first order of advice, or key to winning tournament poker play is to trust your gut.

Gut check – Know who to move on and who not to

Calling on our poker wisdom starts with trusting our gut.  Far too often, we’ve all made a move early in a poker tournament, knowing all the while deep down that we’re going to get caught.  And of course, the fish in seat 6 makes the big call on the flop, which commits the both of us.  That feeling we got…  the one that told us deep down that if we push, we’re getting caught – it’s your gut telling you the time is not right or the situation is not suitable to make a move.  For many of us, our “gut” is our internal thoughts.  Its a feeling based on past experiences at the poker table.  It knows stuff that our conscious mind does not know.  This happens because the conscious mind processes a bit more slowly than that of the subconscious mind.  The more experienced players will have many things (i.e. – tells from their opposition, villain’s betting patterns, etc) internalized.

That being said, do a quick gut check before pushing your chips to the center of the table, as trusting our gut feelings is part of that wisdom key I speak of. We commit to trusting our judgment on who to make moves against.   We listen to ourselves when it comes to making the big, yet painful lay down when seat 4 is betting out.  We know he isn’t the guy who leads when he’s behind.  Trusting our poker instincts in these situations is imperative to poker tournament success.

Time check – know when to move and when not to

We also obtained information about the tournament structure.  We will use this information to know what types of hands to play, when to play them, as well as how to play them.  Knowing where we are on the poker tourney map is very important.  When faced with a decision, and after consulting my gut, I consult the tournament structure.  I determine whether or not I can continue if I lose or forfeit the hand, and act accordingly.

Putting it all together

The blinds are 15-30 ante 5.  I’ve flopped middle pair with an overcard to the board.  There are 2 clubs on the board, to which I am lacking a club.  The pot contains roughly 200 tournament chips, my chip stack is 3000, which is the amount of chips we started with 4 rounds ago.  The players check to me.  Last to act, I bet 150, which is 3/4 of the pot.  Seat 2 calls me, seat 4 folds, seat 7, the short stack at the table raises all-in for 1000.  What do I do?

My gut tells me that the short stack flopped anything from an over pair, top pair, a set to a flush draw.  Assigning probability quickly to their hand range, I’m associating their play with a flush draw as the highest probability.  My gut tells me that the player left to act behind me is going to fold.  I’ve done my gut check and am pretty certain I’m ahead.  Let’s assume this player has flashed me his cards, so I know with absolute certainty that I am ahead in the hand.  We’ll also assume my math is there to justify a call based on pot-odds alone.  I have the poker math going for me, as well as my gut telling me I’m ahead.

Do I make the call?  Not until I check my poker tournament road map.  I’m at a 9 handed table, blinds are 15-30, ante of 5.  Each round costs me 90 tournament chips.  I have 3000 tournament chips, less the 150 I bet now giving me 2850 in poker chips.  If I make this call and the villain completes his flush or runners me for two pair, I will be down to 2100 in tournament chips.

I calculate my M for folding right now, which gives me an M of over 30.  Those who have read the endgame poker tournament strategy guide know that I’m in the green zone.  Thus, I have all my tools available to me and can make the call here.  However,we need to see where I’d be if I lose.  If I lose the hand, I’d have an M of over 23, which is still in the green zone.  Additionally, I know that the next level is 20-40, ante of 5, which puts me in the green zone still – even if I lose the hand.

My gut says go, the math says call, the tournament map says I’m ready for take-off, so I make the call.  This poses a question.  What if the tournament map suggests I fold?  Under the same set of circumstances, with the same action, knowing I am ahead and have the pot-odds, if the tournament map tells me that I’d be relegated to the red zone, I make what I call the “situational fold.”

Situational, structural folding in poker tournaments

We make situational folds under the following circumstances:

• we know or believe with great certainty we are ahead
• by folding, we can continue in the poker tournament with all of our weapons (read: we can smartly compete in the poker tournament)
• we cannot afford our read to be wrong or to get sucked-out on, as we’d be crippled or far worse off than we would be by calling (the negative impact by losing the hand far outweighs the benefit of winning the hand)

I place the greatest amount of emphasis on understanding and appropriately making the structural fold (or call, or push) in Texas hold em poker tournaments.  Let me say that again, playing within the design of the tournament structure is the single greatest factor in poker tournament success.  Phil Hellmuth utilizes and understands the concept of structural poker tournament play perhaps better than anyone playing tournament poker.  This is supported by the number of WSOP bracelets he has won in no limit Texas Hold em poker tournaments.  When he makes his the majority of his moves, or makes the big lay down, he’s doing so at the discretion of the structure of the tournament, because he understands and embraces structural poker tournament play.

~ imjusthere4thebeer writes articles discussing poker strategy, poker tournament strategy, and poker cash game strategy for the Online Poker Circuit.  He also contributes editorial commentary on the world of poker to the OPC via his Poker Pub blog, and discusses news from the poker world via the State of Poker News.

Continuing in the Keys to Poker Tournament Success series… Today you will find out what you should learn about your opposing players in the poker tournament.

To recap, those 5 poker tourney keys are as follows:

1.  Knowledge the poker tournament’s structure.

2.  Knowledge of each opposing player’s tendencies.

3.  Wisdom to identify the proper time and place to push or fold.

4.  Courage to execute on your knowledge and wisdom.

5.  Discipline to stay the course and adjust as necessary (stay off tilt).

Know your opposition

From a social standpoint, it’s important to learn things about the people you spend time with.  You want to get to know their name, where they’re from, what they do…  And, when you meet a new person, you typically find these things out (or attempt to do so) sooner rather than later.  You should be seeking similar information at the poker table.

Study opposition’s poker play

The moment I get my tournament table assignment, I enter a state of hyper-awareness.  I am looking to identify and categorize my fellow poker tournament players.  I’m very judgmental in my state of awareness, as I’m going to stereotype early and often, and then I’m looking to either confirm or refute the judgment I’ve passed on my opponents, while exploiting the weak spots when I can.  Let me further explain.

Observations begin before you take your seat

I am at the local casino for their monthly poker tournament, and get my table assignment.  I stand back for a moment, not yet taking my seat watching how the players are interacting with one another.  It’s important to me as to who is looking nervous.  It’s imperative for me to observe which guy is positioning himself as a know it all, I want to know which player “is just there to learn as he goes and donate his buy-in.”  And I want to know which players know each other.  All this information is important to how I am going to employ my poker tournament strategy.

I gather this information before I have even sat down at the table.  And believe me, at the local casino, as with many local casinos, people playing in poker tournaments LOVE to talk before the tournament starts.  By nature, poker is somewhat of a social sport for many players.  When I take my seat, I’ve been able to make some prejudgments on 3 or 4 players.  This gives me an edge when the poker tournament begins.

Pay attention whether folded or in a hand

When tournament play begins, I’m continuing to observe the mannerisms and playing tendencies of those around me.  More specifically, in the early rounds of play, I am attempting to identify the people who will most likely overplay their hand.  Usually, this would be either the guy who is the know it all that limps with K-7 suited from under the gun, or the player who doesn’t understand position and has limped early position with a hand that draws strength from connectivity, hits middle pair and leads out the whole way through.  And because I’m committing to becoming acutely aware of my surroundings, I generally pick these things up, and am in a position to exploit their playing habits.

The key here is to gather knowledge of your opponents.  Figure out what tells each player is giving off, decide which players you need to avoid for now, determine who will overplay their hands, as well as who will make the big lay downs.  Understand what you have working for you, and additionally what you have working against you.  Knowing who you’re playing poker against in a poker tournament will help you to win your poker tournament.

~ imjusthere4thebeer writes articles discussing poker strategy, poker tournament strategy, and poker cash game strategy for the Online Poker Circuit.  He also contributes editorial commentary on the world of poker to the OPC via his Poker Pub Blog, and discusses news from the poker world via the State of Poker News.

In the Introduction to Keys to Winning a Poker Tournament, I listed the five things I feel are the most important factors in winning poker tournament play and playing winning tournament poker.

5 poker tourney nuggets of advice

1.  Knowledge of the poker tournament’s structure.

2.  Knowledge of each opposing player’s tendencies.

3.  Wisdom to identify the proper time and place to push or fold.

4.  Courage to execute on your knowledge and wisdom.

5.  Discipline to stay the course and adjust as necessary (stay off tilt).

Today, we shall discuss winning poker tournament key #1.

Knowledge of the poker tournament’s structure

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Whether playing a home poker tournament, a back-room poker tournament, an online poker tourney, or playing live at a big casino’s poker tournament, you must become intimately familiar with your poker tournament’s structure.  The first question I ask the tournament director or host is a very general “what can you tell me about this tournament?”  It sounds like a very general question.  Rest assured, I am really asking several very specific questions.

I want to know from the tournament director how much the buy-in will cost (I also ask whether or not there is juice paid for entry to the tournament, as I want to know the total cost).  I also want to know if the poker tournament allows for rebuys or add-ons.  I want the tournament director to tell me how many chips we start with.

Get a copy of the tournament structure

Additionally, I ask for a copy of the blind structure.  The blind structure serves as my road map in the tournament, and allows me to plan my trip. I study the blind structure because I want to know what the blinds start out at, and how they progress.  I’m specifically looking to size up my starting chip stack, relative to the blinds.

This poker tournament information is important to me because as a poker tournament craftsman, I want to know where the poker tournament’s pressure points are, I want to know how fast or slow I have to play.  I also want to know where I can logically shift gears, as well as where other people are likely to shift gears.  The poker tournament’s blind structure gives me so much information, which is why I always ask the tourney host or tournament director for my own personal copy.

Finally, in knowing my poker tournament’s blind structure, considering we are playing poker tournaments to make money, it’s important to find out how the tournament is paid out, so be sure to ask for the payout structure as well.

imjusthere4thebeer

~ imjusthere4thebeer writes articles discussing poker strategy, poker tournament strategy, and cash game strategy for the Online Poker Circuit.  He also contributes editorial commentary on the world of poker to the OPC via his Poker Pub blog, and the State of Poker News.