Beginner Strategy For Tournament Poker – Early Stages
Playing poker tournaments online can be a lot of fun even if you are just learning how to play poker, and you can win huge prizes too! When I teach aspiring poker players, I always suggest they learn how to play solid tournament poker online vs. live because they will not feel the pressure to “stay alive” as they would in a live tournament situation. Instead, learning tournament poker online is a great way to practice different strategies and explore making a few moves (and mistakes). The buy-ins can be as low as you like (even free), and the prizes can still be substantial. If you bust out of the tournament with a beginner mistake there is always a new tournament starting literally this second, most likely at the same buy-in!
In this article we will talk about strategies for beginner poker players in the early stages of a poker tournament. When the blinds are relatively small and we are playing comfortably with 30 or more big blinds and no pressure from our stack size, it affords you plenty of time to wait for premium starting hands and watch the other players tendencies.
If beginner poker players or players new to playing poker tournaments are to gain one thing from this article, it is that tight poker is winning poker. Let me say that again, tight poker = winning poker. Winning poker players simply make fewer mistakes than their opponents do, and playing tight poker early on in a tournament gives you less chances to make those mistakes!
Proper Strategy For Early Tournament Play
Fold To Raises
Fold most of your starting hands, and fold all holdings but Aces or Kings to a big raise or re-raise in front of you. Hands like Ace Jack, Ace Queen, even a pocket pair of Jacks look better than they really are once you consider the types of hands you might be facing from a raise in front of you! Pocket Jacks might be up against QQ, KK, or even Pocket Aces – making you a huge underdog (about 4 to 1) to win the pot. Hands like Ace Queen are just a coinflip versus any pocket pair, and around 60/40 when facing an opponent that will overplay a hand like King Jack – and you might be completely dominated by Ace King!
I might not recommend folding these hands later in a poker tournament, depending on your stack size, but here it is an easy fold. Avoiding 50/50 situations or marginal edges is how you survive the early levels in poker tournaments.
Play Aggressive With Aces And Kings
Don’t be afraid to telegraph the strength of your hand, one of the objectives in playing tight poker early on is to build a good table image you can use in later levels to steal blinds and antes. When you have big hands like pocket Aces or Kings make a substantial raise pre-flop. If a player has entered the pot in front of you, or there is a raise, make a big re-raise or even move all in. As a new tournament player just learning the ropes we want to avoid playing post flop poker against better opponents whenever possible, get as many chips into the pot as possible when you know you are ahead. If you are called by one or more opponents go ahead and move all in once you see the flop, regardless of the board texture.
Play Pocket Pairs For Set Value
Playing pocket pairs 88-QQ can sometimes be difficult and confusing, especially for beginners. In the early levels of a poker tournament, I recommend a big starting raise of 4 big blinds (plus one for every limper) with QQ and JJ only. If the flop hits with over cards, simply be done with the hand, check it down, and fold to any player representing a hand.
I love to see new players set mine with all other pairs deuces through pocket tens, limp into multi-way pots and hope to catch a set. If you don’t hit it on the flop, don’t call any bets if there is overcards. If your pair is higher than the board, make a big bet or even re-raise. When holding a pocket pair, you will flop a set about one in eleven times, so when you do flop a big hand, try to make it a big pot! Lead out, raise, even re-raise whenever you flop a set – there is often very little benefit in getting overly creative in beginner level poker tournaments.
Playing Suited Connectors
Playing suited connectors can often be very tempting in hold’em, but don’t overvalue these cards or overplay your hand. I only recommend you play them in late position, with multiple opponents who have limped in. If you flop two pair, a pair and a flush draw, an open ended straight draw with a flush draw – bet, raise, and re-raise or even go all in. If you flop something like an open ended straight draw only, I only recommend you call bets that will leave you highly valuable odds (like 4 to 1 or better). If action is checked to you, check behind. Many new players will overvalue this position, when in fact you are only drawing to 8 outs to make your hand. I don’t like seeing new players going broke on this type of draw, it generally isn’t worth it.
Practice, Exercise Patience, Learn By Watching Other Players
I can’t stress these three points enough as a strategy for playing early stages of poker tournaments. Practice by being patient at the table. Get used to folding most of your hands and watch how others play their cards, making mental notes of whether they bet or raise their draws and whether they slow-play made hands or not. Patient poker players don’t just survive the early levels, they also learn how to pick better spots later on when the pots become bigger.
Use good judgment with your bankroll and only play a tournament that you can afford to play 50 times or more. That way, you can play and learn comfortably before moving up to bigger buy-ins (and bigger payouts) once you have become a more experienced tournament player. Before long, you’ll be a shark amongst the fish!
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