Poker Tournament Variations

Title: Poker Tournament Variations

Author: Jay Scott

Article:
Most poker tournaments are played along the same lines --
players begins with a uniform amount of chips, the blinds
gradually increase as the tourney moves on and players are
eliminated along the way until only one person ends up with all
of the tournament chips. A large part of the cash prize pool in
these tournaments goes to the top finishers but, typically, the
top 10% of entrants finish in the money. Hence, if the
tournament you are joining has 500 participants, you are likely
to place in the money if you finish among the top 50. As a rule,
most tournaments are "freezeouts," which means that any player
who loses all his chips cannot return to the tournament.

There are many tournament variants as well and the type of
variant will alter the basic strategy of the tournament. Some
tournaments junk the freezeout structure, escalate the blinds
more quickly, introduce re-buys or have a winner-take-all
structure.

The larger tournaments that have 500 or more players are usually
turbo tournaments, steps tournaments or shootouts. The following
are the strategies for each.

Turbo Tournaments The turbo tournament is very fast and the
blinds escalate quickly, usually after every five minutes. There
have even been some turbo tourneys where the blinds rise every
two minutes. Luck tends to play a larger role in this tournament
than in others. There will be minimal post-flop play since
players tend to be forced to go all-in pre-flop or fold. It is
important to be aggressive in this type of tournament. If you
are passive, the blinds will quickly use up your stack. The best
strategy is to try to steal a lot of blinds and hope that Lady
Luck is on your side.

Steps Tournaments The steps tournament usually involves five
steps. Winners of the early steps advance to the later rounds
while losers move back a step or have to pay a new entry fee.
Prizes are only awarded at the final step.

For these tournaments, it's important to note the prize
structure because some online poker rooms try to extract a lot
of entry fees from participants in these steps tournaments. Look
for a steps tournament that rewards players by advancing them to
the next step or penalizes players by eliminating them
altogether without further buy-ins. Otherwise, assume the
strategy of a single-table tourney.

When about 30% of players advance to the next level, you should
play a selectively aggressive game. Try to steal blinds and keep
your stack above average. Remember, it's not the guy with the
most chips that advances. But you do have to retain a large chip
stack to discourage others from trying to knock you out. If you
succeed in stealing blinds, you will have an above-average stack
and, as a result, fewer confrontations. When you reach the final
step, revert back to you normal single-table tournament strategy.

Shootouts In shootouts, which are similar to steps tournaments
except that shootouts are a single event unlike steps tourneys
where players that advance can decide to play the next step at a
later date. The strategy in shootouts depends on the tournament
structure. If only a single player advances to the next round,
you must be very aggressive in your play and take plenty of
risks. If several players advance, adopt a selective aggressive
approach. Try to maintain a decent-size stack to discourage
attacks from opponents and try to steal as many blinds as
possible.

About the author:


If you are interested in playing free online poker games
come to hotpokerbonus.com. We have online poker
reviews and feature many poker
bonus codes.