ow to Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone in Poker

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Poker How To...

101 Tournament Poker Strategies

9. How to Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

You are a good poker player. You have read excellent poker books from winning poker pros and noted poker authors. These books tell you that their way is the right poker strategy to win a tournament.

You pay your money and enter a poker tournament thinking this time will be different. This time you'll win.

But, despite how good you think you are, and the great poker strategies you have learned from these poker books, you get your butt kicked again. Why?

The first reason is that much of what is written is not aimed at helping you play winning tournament poker. Think about it. If you were a Professional poker player and your livelihood is based on winning money from your opponents, are you going to reveal your secrets to your opponents?

In fact, many of the books authored by the Pros seem to want to make it easier for them to beat you, since if you follow their strategies they will know the cards you hold.

The second reason is that the other tournament poker books that are written by famous poker authors focus on playing smart. Playing smart is about playing based on the math. These authors tell you the best starting hands given your position in relationship to the blinds. They tell you which hands do better heads-up. They talk pot odds, pot equity, range of hands, etc. This information is important to know, but guess what? These books only make your game so predictable that your play is transparent to your opponents.

The third reason is that you have not experimented with better ways to play poker. When is the last time you re-raised a pre-flop raise without holding a premium hand? When is the last time you fired the third barrel? When is the last time you floated a player?

To get better you need to work harder at your poker.

10. Allocate 20% of your stack for playing speculative hands at the start of a poker tournament.

You sit down to play a multiple table tournament. You are playing no limit hold em poker. You know how to play the game. And, you know which hands are premium hands, which hands are good hands, and which hands are rag hands. You even understand the power of position at the poker table.

There are over 100 players and you get $1,500 in chips. The starting level has the small blind at $10 and the big blind at $25. Each round is 30 minutes. You are seated on the button as the first hand is dealt.

Do you have a strategy?

Actually most players do have a strategy, and you may have a similar one. In the early stages of a tournament, the usual strategy is to play tight and wait for a big, premium hand.

How many tournaments have you won playing this strategy?

Why not try to improve your winning percentage? Consider allocating at least 20% of your starting stack for the early rounds in order to allow play of speculative hands.

For example, let's say you have a two gap suited connector in the big blind like 7-4 suited. A rag hand, right?

There is a raise and two callers. In all likelihood, you will be getting great odds to call with this hand. For example, there may be $235 in the pot, and it will only cost you $50 to call. That's 4.7 to 1 to call. Give it a shot. Call. If you hit your hand right, you can win a big hand.

Recently, I was in the big blind and a player under the gun raised the pot two times my big blind. There was one caller. I had 5-3 offsuit but the odds were too good to fold. The flop was 6-4-2. The raiser had pocket Kings and lost almost all his chips to me.

If I miss my 5-3 offsuit on the flop, it is easy to get away from. I fold.

It is true that sometimes you may put yourself in a tough situation when you hit good but not perfect on the flop.

But, you know what?

That's how you become a better player. Learning to play in tough situations on the flop.

Overall, the next time you play in a poker tournament. Allocate 20% of your stack for playing speculative hands.

Give it a shot. Try it, you may like it.