04-14-05, LearnTexasHoldem:
Final Table Tournament Strategy
My question is concerning $5-$30 buy-in tournaments on the internet. I have done fairly well in these tournaments but have been running into problems lately when the table gets down to four people and i'm middle of the road or small stack. I have found that even a loose game becomes very very tight as soon as their are only four players because the top three are in the money.
From playing and reading on your site, i realize that with this many people at the table, you have to play face cards a little stronger than normal. My problem is that I seem to get pulled into a lot of all-in draws and finishing fourth is really frustrating when a draw at this point seems to be a crap shot at best (unless you get blessed with a high pair or something).
I have also tried playing very tight but when you are not high stack, you tend to get blinded out or forced to bid on something (small stack) because some players will just wait you out. I have found some success with tight play waiting for other players to become impatient but I have found this will only work when the big stack is willing to push the action. How do you play these type of scenarios?
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Answer: The first point I want to make is that in tournament play, since you have a limited amount of time and money, you are forced to make moves that may not lead to winning; there is comfort and frustration because of this. What you do is try to make the best choices you can, and there will always be a "best" course of action given the circumstances, but that road won't always lead to success. When you have a lot of time and a lot of chips, you have the freedom to play whatever style of poker you like.
You can wait people out and play tight, or you can bully the small stacks. The fewer the chips you have the less options you have. Going along with this thinking, let's make a distinction: There is a difference between trying to get "in the money" and trying to come in first place. If you are just trying to get 3rd or 2nd, then the best option in a lot of hands may to play conservatively and hopefully not get into an all-in situation.
On other hand if you are looking to win, you push every hand that you think you have an edge in. In either case though, it is important to realize when your time is coming and when you need to start moving in. Let me give an example: Say you have 72off in the big blind and in the big blind is half your chips. You know that if you call the raise with the rest of your chips, you'll be an underdog, but notice that you are getting 2:1 on the remaining call money, so you should call. This can be taken even farther.
Let's say you have a hand like K7 and aren't in a blind, but in 2 hands you will be and when you are blinded, it will take a third of your chips. I think an all-in raise here is a good move; one, the blind may fold not wanting to double you up; two, a king hand may be a favorite over a lot of random hands; three, even if you are an underdog with the hand, if you win you'll actually have some chips to work with.
The point is that you don't want to play too tight with your remaining chips because even if you do win a pot, it won't be for much. Get your money in earlier, gamble a bit and I think you'll have more first place positions. Consider the first part of a tournament the time when you'll play well and not intentionally gamble, in hopes to use skills to amass chips. Later in the tournament if you have a lot of chips you can continue this pace. If you don't have many chips left, gamble with them and hopefully get back in the game. There is no point in getting blinded to death, you'll never win that way.
Point number two is that when there are only four people at a table, your relative hand strength doesn't have to be as high. I noticed you wrote the opposite. When you are a small stack you want hands that will do well heads up. Your first choice is any pocket pair. After that, an Ace in your hand is preferable. Next, you have King high hands, Queen high, then any hand that can make a straight or flush. If everyone at your table is not adjusting to the action being shorthanded (not a full table), then you should do well by raising more hands preflop and stealing the blinds.
Notice how I used the word "comfort" above. You shouldn't fear losing in a tournament when you don't have many chips. It isn't as though you are risking much, you've already been mortally wounded and it is just a matter of time. The brightside is that by trying to go out in a blaze of glory, you can actually sometimes save yourself. The hardest part is to realize when to start gambling; it will come with experience. Lastly, if you have to gamble, there is value in being the person who is doing the raising instead of calling -- so always keep that in the back of your head.
The third and final point is that you should look at your chips differently than you would in a cash game. Your chips should be seen, and only seen, as a tool to winning the tournament, not as inherently valuable like in a cash game. By thinking like this, you free yourself up a bit. The chips are worthless to me unless they get me in the winner's seat.
Let me give a quick example illustrating the difference: In a cash game if you had a hand like TT and three people went all-in before you or raised and reraised, you wouldn't want to call since it is likely you are the underdog and would lose a bunch of money if you didn't win. On the other hand in a tournament, you may actually make the play sometimes since if you did end up winning, you would have a huge chip lead.
Notice the difference. In a cash game, recklessness is rewarded with calling the chip runner. In a tournament, recklessness is relatively rewarded because remember, if you don't win, what difference does it make if you bust out 1st or 100th place?
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