Beating Texas Holdem Tournaments

Texas Holdem tournaments are one of the most popular and potentially profitable formats of poker. They are appealing to rank amateurs and professional players alike thanks in part to the possibility of turning a relatively small investment into a large sum of money. As an example, the World Series of Poker Main Event attracts an entry fee of $10,000 but awards a first place prize of more than $8,000,000 ($8,711,956 in the case of the 2011 Main Event).

In order to be successful in Texas Holdem tournament the player must be aware of some of the subtle differences that separate Texas Holdem tournaments from cash games. Although both use the same rules for hand rankings, there are many nuances between the two formats, some of which turn a play that may be deemed standard call in a cash game become an easy fold when participating in Texas Holdem tournaments.

Texas Holdem tournament strategy

The single largest difference between a cash game and a Texas Holdem tournament is the fact the player can always reload, assuming they have available funds to do so, their stack if they lose a hand but someone playing in a Texas Holdem tournament cannot (unless the tournament allows rebuys, but that is a different article completely). This very fact creates a number of fascinating aspects to tournament play.

One of which is the principle of a player's tournament life, which then leads onto the subject of fold equity. Whilst both cash game players and tournament players can crate fold equity for themselves by better, those participating in a Texas Holdem tournament will often have greater fold equity when they make a play die to the fact if their opponent calls and loses they will often be eliminated from the said tournament so their risk is larger.

Another is the fact that in Texas Holdem tournaments the blinds and antes, if they are in play, are continually increases in order to force the action and bring the tournament to a conclusion. This means tournament players have to be comfortable playing less than premium holdings, especially in the latter stages of a tournament. Compare this to an equivalent cash game where the blinds are constant throughout the session so players can and do sit for hours on end waiting to be dealt a premium starting hand. Should a tournament player attempt to adopt this strategy they would not last very long as the blinds and antes would decimate their stack.