No-Limit Texas Hold'em Tournament Strategy
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No-Limit Texas Hold'em Tournament Strategy
No-Limit Texas Hold'em is a game unlike any other game you have played in your life. The skill required to be average is relatively simple. Taking your game to the next level requires to you unlearn all of the established strategy at the previous level. Starting hand requirements and pot odds literally go out the window when you are at the higher level. Most books will never detail higher level poker because most people simply won't understand it. In order to become a great player, you have to take a lot more chances than the average tight-aggressisve tournament player. It is possible to win tournaments by playing tight conservative poker, but this is not the optimal strategy. The players who have the most success are picking up many uncontested pots. The best players play loose aggressive and could have any two cards at any time. They will call out of position with cards the books tell you is trash. They will raise with any two cards and win many pots. The higher level of poker requires that you forget about your own cards. Rather than knowing how to play each hand, you are trying to figure out how to play each opponent.
When you can play your opponent, your hand doesn't really matter. You are trying to find weaknesses within your opponent's strategy that you can exploit. Against a calling station, you simply play tight aggressive poker. Against a good player, you can find spots where it is tough for him to make a call. Many players are unable to make tough calls for the remainder of their chips. Your willingness to push your opponent off marginal hands is an extra edge that you can exploit. Focusing on your opponent's tendencies may take some time to get used to. It is very mentally draining at first and requires a lot of trust in your reads. At first, you will be losing a lot of pots but stick with it. Eventually your reads will be automatic and it will be like playing your opponents with their hands face up.
Napoleon Will is a self-published author and semi-professional poker player. He updates the poker review and strategy site http://www.mypokerstart.com
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