Introduction 

There are many poker disciplines out there, and the poker tournament is one of them. You may be wondering what the differences are between tournament poker and cash games. Well, the most obvious difference is that in tournament games, it’s an endless battle to the death. This means that as the blinds continue to grow, you have to be continuously trying to survive.

Although there are no actual ways that provide you with the certainty of a profit, there are various techniques that you can implement when gaming to help you boost your earnings and winnings in the grand scheme of things. As a starter tip, Americas Cardroom suggests you use a promo code to increase your winnings. Now, let’s get on with the rest of the article.

The different varieties of poker games

There are actually many different forms of poker tournaments out there, and how it works is that participants will have to pay a specific buy-in fee, and then be able to claim their allocated chips for the poker game. The format of the poker tournament would determine the number of blinds, and the amount that was collected from each of the participants would be the prize pool, which is then split among the different players who eventually end up in the prize zone.

Now that we have given you a brief introduction to what poker tournaments are, we will now give you a rundown of each of the different strategies employed for the different varieties of poker games.

MTT strategy

MTT is a huge tournament, which attracts all sorts of different players due to its potentially huge rewards that can really make a world of a difference in a person’s life. There is a multitude of variations in the strategy, such as differences in variation in its early and middle stages, while it’s on the bubble, as well as its final table!

Sit&Go strategy

You may be wondering, how different can the Sit&Go strategies be from MTT? Well, its main differences lie in that there is actually an implementation of a mathematical element when it comes to making decisions in Sit&Go which does not occur in MTT. Hence, the player would have to be able to pick up and have a good knowledge of the fold or push strategy, as well as the ICM-factor.

Spin&Go strategy

Another strategy in place would be the Spin&Go strategy. This format is well appreciated by players who play poker recreationally more so than the experienced ones. For many of the more beginner-level players of poker, the idea of making big earnings is so glamourized. However, you should know that if you are intending to participate in these tournaments on the regular, then you should definitely get a detailed sense of the mathematics behind poker as well as how short stack play works. 

Fifty50/DoN strategy (Double or Nothing)

The Fifty50 strategy is similar to the format of Sit&Go and Spin&Go tournaments, whereby half of the registered players take some part in a prize pool. The goal of this tournament poker strategy is to know the top half of the players so as to be able to multiply your buy-in by two. The prize pool can then be separated into equal portions or based on how many chips players have left.

All these different tournaments can be divided into a few stages, and each stage also has its own different tactics.

Early tournament stage

So, you just got your stack after making payment for your buy-in. What do you do next? Following the rule of having the first stack in MTT being 100 big blinds and up, how should such deep stacks be played? 

Be patient

When you are playing MTTs, you should always use the early stage to get hold of as much information as you can about your opponents, and you definitely should not attempt to enter the more tricky and deeper hands when you are in such an early stage. This is because you will be at risk of losing a huge part of the stack you are just starting with.

Don’t steal the blinds

You should definitely not start stealing blinds in these early stages, as you won’t be able to build your stack very much at that stage. Let’s give an example. During the levels 25/50, you would have to put 100 to 125 chips so that you can win 75. In this case, attempting to steal blinds with such a marginal hand could actually result in you losing more money after the flop.

Middle tournament stage

It is time to steal the blinds

This is an important stage of the tournament, where mathematics starts to come into play. It shows that the coefficient of your risk in regards to the potential earnings you receive would increase and that the various tactics’ goals of being in the trajectory of aiming towards blinds stealing become all the more profitable.

Set the traps and make the non-standard decisions

When you are still in your early stages, the MTT tournament strategy would mean that you would have to make decisions that do not follow the usual standard if you want to maximize the value you get. If you are playing with many aggressive players, then you should think of having a counter-strategy, to give them the opportunity to hand over their chips to you.

Late-stage and play on the bubble

Aggression 

The late-stage is when the term aggression might come to mind, especially when the sign “Hand-for-hand” has been hung on the table. If you have managed to build a large stack at this point, then you should definitely play aggressively. However, if you only have a limited number of blinds left and are currently trying to gain entry to the prize zone, then using the ICM-model may be more beneficial for you

Don’t endanger your tournament life

Once you are able to obtain a worthy stack that is eligible to enter the prize zone, you should not try to prove yourself against the pressure of the chip leader. There are going to be many other aggressive players at your table, and hence you should instead focus on getting into the money. The bubble strategy should only be approached if you have a big-chip stack, and not if you are short-stacked.

Conclusion

Here are the various strategies and stages of a poker game. Have fun playing your next game!