Playing tournaments CONTINUED
If you find yourself in a face off with a player who is almost all-in you should pressure him to commit their last few chips at the first opportunity. If you call a bet when they make one, you must bet in order to prevent them checking - knocking that player out will put you in a serious advantage position. But take note, play cautiously as no matter how few chips a player has left they can always turn things around and achieve a commanding position in just a few hands.
Final Stage - Making the money
If you have been playing well at the table you may have survived to the point where you're nearing the paying winning places. This is when you want to move in for the kill.
By now the blinds will be so high that almost all remaining players in the tournament will have stacks around or below the critical size (about 4 times the upper limit). The game will become increasingly short-handed so you will be able to see fewer hands before your stack starts to shrink due to the blinds.
Watch the tournament lobby closely to see exactly how many players are left on the other tables and how many chips they have. Usually it's the top 10% of tournament players who receive a share of the prize pool, so hanging in there a little longer can increase your chances of winning.
If you have an average or large stack you want to play extremely aggressively when raising but conservatively when calling. However when you have fewer than average chips it can be right to adopt a much more conservative strategy for the following two reasons:
1. Assume that there is only one more player to beat out before you increase your winnings and there is another player at your table without the chips to survive the next round of blinds. At this point it is advisable to fold any hand other than premium hands to try and last longer than the other opponent.
Play tight if you can survive longer than one or more of the other players left in the game. This will put pressure on them to try and win a pot before you - and if they lose you are one further step up the climb to the top and if they win you still have the chance to win another pot and be back in the same position as they are.
2. Assuming you have enough chips to see the next few hands playing tight also reduces the chance of immediate elimination and forces the other players to take each other out of the game which is also to your advantage.
Poker Information:
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