Five Tips to Find the Money in Single Table Tournaments

Play Tight Early

There’s an old tournament saying “you can lose a tournament on the first hand but you can’t win it.” A key feature of the single table tournament is that you only have to defeat seven other players to make a profit. In addition, relative to the structure of multi-table tournaments the payout structure is relatively flat. Because of this, the optimum strategy is often to play conservatively in the opening rounds of the tourney. When you hold a medium pair and can see the flop cheaply, go ahead and try to flop a set in hopes of doubling up. But early on, when it’s folded to you on the button, don’t bother trying to steal the blinds since they don’t add a significant amount to your stack.

Patience Isn’t Always a Virtue

On the other hand, when the blinds get big and start eating away at your stack, you often cannot sit and wait for a premium hand. Once you have less than 3x the blind, it’s impossible to steal with an all-in raise because the player who posts the big blind is pot committed. No one likes risking all their chips with a marginal holding, but it’s better than simply getting blinded out and hoping you can win a showdown. There’s great value in being the first one to raise, and if the situation is correct, the right play can be to move all in with any two cards. Remember, when you raise, there are two ways to win – making the best hand and making your opponent fold.

Know Your Opponent’s Defense

Stealing blinds is essential to maintaining your stack, but depending on your opponent, the type of hand you prefer to steal with changes. If you have a tight opponent who generally only calls with big aces and decent-sized pairs, stealing with a hand like ten-nine suited can be quite profitable. Most times your opponent will fold, and the times when he has a hand like ace-king and ace-queen you’re not a huge underdog. On the other hand, if you have a loose caller who will call with a wide range of hands that includes hands like two cards bigger than ten, you fold suited connectors because you’ll be called too often when you’re behind. However, you would play weak aces because you’ll be ahead a good amount of the time when the loose player calls you.

Be Committed

The game of Holdem is such that preflop, you are rarely more then a 3:1 underdog. Because of this, the situation often arises where you must call a raise regardless of what you hold. When an all-in raise or reraise is less than double the size of your bet, you must call with any two cards. For example, if you raise to 100 chips and another player reraises all in to 200, you call without a second thought. The reason is a simple mathematical problem. Disregarding any blind money that is involved, you are risking 100 chips to win 300 chips. As said earlier, you are almost never that much of an underdog.

Another situation where this frequently occurs is when you’ve posted the big blind. If someone raises all in to an amount less than double the size of the big blind, you must call with any two cards.

Play For First

When only one or two players need to be eliminated before everyone’s in the money, players often tighten up to avoid the possibility of being eliminated. However, since the profit for first is four times the payout for third, amassing a big chip stack and playing for first is often the correct strategy. Players fear you, knowing that a single mistake against you eliminates them. Because of this, the chances that a preflop raise will win the pot for you uncontested increases substantially. However, this strategy cannot be applied in every tournament. If you find yourself against a bunch of calling stations, your best strategy is to sit back and let them battle against each other.

Adjust to the Head Count

One of the unique features of single-table tournaments is the speed by which you go from having a full table to a shorthanded table. As the number of players dwindles, suited connectors plummet in value and pocket pairs become valuable for their pair value, not their ability to flop a set. Hands like top pair and, at times even less, are good enough to back with all your chips. Aggression is the key and any time you have a chance, you should be betting and raising, especially when you find a timid opponent.