5 Things You Need To Know When Choosing a Tourney to Play
Posted: 2008-03-03 12:28:33
There are many important factors in deciding on which tourney to play. You need to ask yourself a few key questions before just sitting down at any tourney.
First of all you need to know what level of buy-in you should be playing. Trust me the higher the buy-in usually the better players you will be playing against. If playing live the under $200 buy-in tourneys usually don't have a very good structure and they try to get them over in a few hours and you will not be seeing very many top poker players in them. These might be easier to do well in being you will be up against many bad players but near the end of the tournament the structure is so bad that it turns into a luckfest.
Second, You need to know your own limitations, I am not talking about what you can afford, but what skill level you are at.
You should not be playing in expensive tourneys if you are not yet at that skill level. Most everyone has their own poker game overrated. The true test is results, Are you winning the lower buy-in tourneys and doing extremely well? If so move up to the next level, You results might not be as good at first but if you are paying attention to the winning players and notice that they seem to be doing things a little different than yourself. You might want to try and copy what is working for them. Playing live I have really improved my poker game. I am always trying to put people on their hand and always paying attention. This list is very long on things I have learned in recent years such as noticing when a player acts strong by slamming his chips in, they are usually weak and when they try and act weak when they are calling a double raised pot, Watch out they are usually super strong. Also another big one is when someone is usually talking is a sign of defense and usually weak. An exception to this rule is when they seem very comfortable when they are talking. This means they have no worries because they have already made their hand and they really like the results so far. But back to the main point, I don't care how rich you are and what you can afford, you should not be playing in $1000 plus buy-in tourneys if you have not earned your way into playing in them or you are truly wasting your money.
Third, Look for tourneys with good value. It's aways nice to find a tournament that has on overlay, by That I mean they are paying out more money than they are taking in. These are rare to find now a days but many tourneys do have guarantees that don't always make their guarantee. Satellites are often super value because you are usually playing against weaker playing trying to get lucky to win their seat into a bigger buy-in tourney. Once your win your way in at a cheap price you are getting a super value for the upcoming tourney. You have very little invested and if you barely make the money you are not just breaking even you are adding a lot to your bankroll. I am not saying you should ever just play a tourney just to try and make the money, because most of the money is paid to the top 3 spots and you should always try, if possible, to give yourself the best chance to win the tournament. But getting into the money is a factor for many players and later on when you see these players trying to barely make the money. I hope you can take advantage of them and take their chips and help them barely make it with little or no chips left as you are well on your way to the final table with a monster chip lead.
Forth, You should know the time frame of the tourney. Some can take only a few hours and some can take days. Manage your time so when you play you can give it 100% and all of your focus. This is very important as if you have many other things going on whether it be live or online you probably won't do as well, I know when I am playing online, I like very little distractions. No phone calls, No bothering me as I try my very best to focus and keep a very positive attitude. It's kinda like boxing. You need to be in that ring with all the confidence in the world or you will get knocked out and never know what hit you.
Last but never least KEEP IT FUN. Tourneys are very hard to be successful at because only 10% of the players will cash and most of them are not making very much more than their buy-in and usually half the money going to the top three spots. So don't get down on yourself for not cashing or not winning. Everyone will be upset with their results but one player. Your goal should be to always play as good as you could possibly play and try and learn things that will make your game better. In the long run this is what will have you making many more final tables and and more skillful.
Proud UB Team Member
Shawn Rice
