A Different Animal Texas Holdem Tournaments
Texas holdem tournaments are a different animal. Here, every
pays an entrance fee, then gets a number of chips (which don’t
correspond to money in the way they do in “ring games”). For
instance, a buy-in for a texas holdem tournament may be only
$50, but a player might get $5,000 in chips. This is because
texas holdem tournaments are decided by when players go out, or
lose their stack.
The last person standing wins the texas holdem tournament grand
prize, which is not equal to the money he has in chips, but a
portion of the pool funded by the buy-in. Thus a winning player
might end up with $4 million worth of chips, but only win a
first-place prize of $40,000. Places in hold ‘em tournaments are
decided by the order in which players lose their stack. The last
player to lose her stack, for instance, finishes second, and
often wins a big prize (let’s say $10,000, for the sake of
argument). The player who went out before her finishes third,
and so on. In big texas holdem tournaments like the main event
of the WSOP, tournament payouts may go hundreds of players deep.
(The man who finishes 162nd might win $500, for instance.)
Obviously, because players are playing to stay in, tournament
games are a bit different than casino or online ring games.
First, to discourage overly tight play, the blinds are increased
at intervals, to hundreds or even thousands of dollars. What’s
more, here there is no refreshing your stack with the cashier.
This leads players to be more careful, but, as the only way to
eliminate other players (and keep the blinds from killing you)
is to take their stack, it also leads to dramatic all-in moves.
Many texas holdem tournament participants thrive on this kind of
action–they often bet wildly (all they have to lose in their
tournament fee–the thousands of dollars of chips in front of
them mean nothing). These aggressive players must be approached
carefully–on some hands they will be holding good cards, or
even the nuts. One of the best ways to win in tournament hold
‘em, especially for players just starting out, is to take
careful aim at these aggressive players, setting them up with a
semi-bluff here or there, then capitalizing on big pocket hands.
Separating over-betting players from their stack is one of the
best ways to build up your stack for the later rounds of a
tournament, where you’ll meet up with some truly skillful
opponents.
As texas holdem tournament play continues, the number of tables
(which may be in the hundreds) is slowly reduced over the course
of a day or days, until there is only one table left. Action at
the final table is magnified, amplified, and intense. Just to
reach it is an honor and a big success. Remember, only one
person will walk away a winner, but generally everyone at the
table will walk away with a nice monetary prize.
