Winning Poker Tournaments Key 2 – Know your opposition

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.