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Poker Tournaments: What are Poker Tournaments?
“To everything there is a season...
A time to seek, and a time to lose
A time to keep, and a time to throw away...”
-- Ecclesiastes
Poker tournaments are structured
competitions where players compete against each other to accumulate all the
chips in play. In "normal" casino games, each hand is unrelated to any other.
Players can quit whenever they want. In tournaments, players can not quit and
cash out their chips. Play continues until there is a winner.
There are different types of poker tournaments: "Elimination" tournaments are
the most common type. In this structure all players begin with the same amount
of chips, and play continues until one player has accumulated all the chips. As
players are eliminated, the active players are re-seated at fewer and fewer
tables. While the winner of the tournament is the player who accumulates all the
chips, the payout structure rewards several players. For example, if ninety-five
players start a tournament, commonly the "final table" of nine players would
receive prize money -- with eighth getting a larger prize than ninth, seventh
getting more than eighth, etc.
"Rebuy tournaments" have structures where for an initial period of time players
who lose all their chips are allowed to "rebuy" more chips and continue to play.
Rebuy tournaments generally feature more aggressive play earlier on as players
do not face the prospect of elimination if they lose all their chips. Rebuys
often lead to larger total prize pools being played for than would be standard
for the initial entry cost.
In "shootout tournaments" tables are not combined as players are eliminated.
Rather, each table plays down to a single winner. Then table winners proceed to
a finals portion of the event. So, if a tournament starts with sixteen tables,
the sixteen table winners then compete elimination style until there is a
winner. Shootout tournaments normally last several hours less than elimination
events.
"Satellites" are preliminary, "mini" tournaments. For example, prior to a
tournament costing $1000 to enter, ten players each put up $100, with the winner
advancing to the main event.
Even 2300 years ago, Ecclesiastes knew there was "a time to hold'em, and a time
to fold'em." But there is another poker lesson to get from reading Ecclesiastes.
An incredibly silly controversy that rages in poker circles is the issue of
tournament versus ring game play. I couldn’t care less about who is "best" in
poker. I’m only concerned with getting the money -- playing winning poker, in
whatever your circumstances.
Tournaments are different than ring games. They require different strategies.
Some players who win in one lose in the other because they don’t see and adapt
to the differences. A very successful ring game player once told me he plays
Stud8 exactly the same in a tournament as in a ring game. If ever there was a
game that should be played differently in the two forms, it is Stud8. (See
Tournament Seven Card Stud High Low) But he played them the same -- and won big
in the ring games and stunk in tournaments. This inability to adapt is what
keeps a lot of winning ring game players from winning in tournaments.
One bedrock principle of winning ring game play is that you need to be properly
bankrolled. If you have the bankroll, correct play will win out in the long run
(barring super-extreme bad luck). But nobody is ever adequately bankrolled in a
tournament. When you play 15-30, you never have $10,000 in chips. More likely
you have $800. That surely is not an adequate bankroll to absorb normal
fluctuations. You should not play like you do have an adequate bankroll. You
have to adjust. Adapt, or die.
At the same time, some winning tournament players lose in ring games... often
because they can’t stand to lose a pot. In the critical stages of tournaments,
you have to win a high percentage of your pots. You have to try really, really
hard to win many of the pots you are in. But in ring games, the ability to
sensibly surrender pots is a great skill.
Ring game poker versus tournament poker is the difference between dedication and
inspiration. Ring game play values steadiness, repetition, an even keel,
consistently making the mathematically correct play, showing up day after day
and playing better than your opponents. Tournaments value "seizing the day." The
ability to inspirationally find a successful play in critical situations is far
more valuable in a tournament. The General you want running your army during
peacetime will not necessarily be the best General in the heat of battle. The
best movie director of a tender love scene may not be the best to blow up Mars.
Different skills are required.
To think that a person who excels in one arena is "better" than a person who
excels in another is hopelessly missing the point of the game. Who is "better":
Michael Johnson (a sprinter) or Lasse Viren (a distance runner)? Is winning a
gold medal in the 100-yard dash "better" (or worse) than winning a gold medal in
the marathon? The whole notion is just nonsense.
Truly outstanding players will adapt to whatever circumstance they play in.
Great players can win tournaments and win in ring game play by understanding the
differences and adapting.
The majority of successful tournament players are successful ring game players
who put in more hours at ring games than tournaments (though less time in ring
games than professional ring game players.) Many players who play primarily in
ring games are very successful when they do play tournaments. Annie Duke,
Jennifer Harman and Howard Lederer are examples of very successful tournament
players who spend much more time playing ring games than tournaments, but when
they do play tournaments, they play properly. The idea is to play good, play
correctly, any time you play poker. But sometimes the correct play will be very
different depending on whether you are in a tournament or in a ring game.
Winners in ring games win most days. Winners in tournaments lose 75% (or so) of
the time. A definite tournament skill that many ring game players simply can't
master is the ability to lose most days. They can't see the long run of
tournaments, so they avoid them. But there is just as much of a long run in
tournament poker as there is in ring game poker. It merely takes different
psychological attitudes to excel at each. There is no reason at all that one
person cannot succeed at both. You just have to see the differences, understand
and accept the different ways money comes in, and then play correctly in the
different situations.
The secret to winning at tournaments and at ring games is simple: play good.
Just don’t always play the same. To everything there is a season.
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