Texas Holdem Tournaments

Here you can find a simple, quick guide, for playing at the poker tournaments.
This guide is a general guideline for playing at the tournaments which mainly guidesthrough the different stages.  Nothing world-shaking does is  told in this guide and professional players probably won't benefit of it.

Strategically tournaments are a very different from normal game. In normal table games, you can decide when to quit and you can play only the hands you feel sure about.
To succeed in tournaments, on the other hand, you have to win good part of the dealings and you have to come by with quite bad hands and often bluff your way to victory.

You must strive to build up your game cahs rapidly from the very start of the game

The first phase of the tournament
In the middle
Ending the tournament

Starting texas holdem tournament

Before the tournament, you must be aware of the size of blinds, re-purchase opportunities, and how the winnings are distributed.
Remember that tournaments are played quickly, so it is important to track how many blinds  your cash balance can take, and when the blinds increase.

As long as the blinds are low you can play a lot more hands than normally. It's worth to gamble a small sum of your cash to see a flop with low pairs and other weak hands, if you are lucky, you may double your cash. Before the flop you should play a "tough" game even with strong hands.

If you have AK in the late position and there still are a lot of players in the game its often best to just call or raise substantially, so that the unnecessary half-free flop checkers will be dropped out of the game. You can either begin to build your game aggressively, or you can try to take it safe and see your balance grow.

Either way is acceptable, and will depend on how you like to play and what's your ideal style of game. At this stage it is not worth to use your energy on eliminating other players from the tournament. The main purpose is simply to keep your funds growing.

In the middle of the tournament

At this stage the blinds will increase and the main purpose is to win the blinds for yourself.

If it's your turn to bet, it is recommended that you raise your bet even with the average hand, as it very likely that no-one will call your raise and even if someone does, you have made the first step and know that the other player has a worthy hand. This gives you an opportunity to 'steal' the blinds, and so slowly build up your stack.

At the same time you have to keep sharp when it's your turn to call.
Take an aggressive style when fighting for the pot. Try to win the blinds when it is possible.

If your cash balance falls lower than 10 times big-blind your place is the tournament in great danger. Plain calling recommended only in the late position, as calling generally eats up your cash. Taking into account that your cash balance at this stage is no longer sufficient deterrent for other players, it is wise for you to wait for any strong kind of hand before you risk the tournament. At this stage, the other players will know that you can only play the good hands.
 
When you get a good hand raise well and throw away the bad hands. If you're on to opponent weaknesses and find yourself in the situation favorable to you, you should not wast a chance to steal the blinds from passive players.

If you have two times higher than the average fund in mid-part of the tournament, you are well placed. But be careful because this could change suddenly, as the blinds will rise throughout the tournament.  Continue to play aggressively against the players, however, do not unnecessarily double their stacks with your own follish moves.

Be careful not toget face-to-face against those players who have a lot of cash without very strong hands, because they can suddenly take all your game cash.

Last stage of the tournament

At this stage blinds are so big that if you can not win the blinds, your cash will last only for a few rounds. See the tournament information on how many players are still involved, and the size of their stack.

Usually 10% of the best players share the prize pool, so it's best to struggle as long as possible, even if victory is not longer possible.

If you have a lot of chips you should play very aggressively when raising, but with caution when calling.

If you have fewer chips than other players, on average, it is smarter to take more cautious line and wait for them to make a mistake.

When you receive a good hand, raise large and try to get a new upswing.

To win the tournament, the winner requires skill in addition to a bit of good luck.

Best results can be achieved, however, by examining the playing styles of the opponents, analysing their weaknesses, maximizing the size of the pots you win and using all available information as a tool to win the tournament.