Are you ready to get involved with your first live tournament? The following advice is a quick overview of surviving that first tournament and increasing your chances of winning.
Check out our two part article on how to feel comfortable when you visit a card room or casino for the first time. Getting comfortable with the environment is a great first step to feeling confident at your first live tournament.
Every year in Las Vegas, both professional and amateur poker players come together for the largest poker tournament in the world: The World Series of Poker (WSOP). Every poker player, from the guy down the street who has his buddies over once a week to people who make their living at the cards, dreams of taking part in this competition. Not only it is the place where the most poker players and fans come together, but there are massive prizes to be won. Perhaps the best opportunity at the WSOP is the chance to go face to face with the superstars of the world poker scene. If you want a part of this exciting event, you need to sign up and qualify.
1. The number one tip for improving your poker tournament game is to focus on position. Ideally, the vast majority of your poker hands should be played in position and the number played out of position should be extremely low.
2. The beginning of the tournament is the best time to change things up a bit and play low pocket pairs, suited connectors and creatively attack opponents who prefer not to fold overpairs.
If you have read the first part of this article How to Evaluate a Craps Tournament (part 2) you are now wondering how you can avoid the same mistake I made. I’d start with asking the following questions about every tournament you consider entering and demanding to know the answers before you get on a plane or hop in the car to travel to the location.
What are the rules?
Insist on knowing all the rules, preferably in writing, before you journey to wherever the craps tournament will be held. Who owes money will you use to participate? What are the requirements during the playing time? Are certain minimum bets required? Any tournament organizer or promoter who is hesitant to reveal details may be hiding something.