Tournament strategy

Full Tilt Poker offers 90 player $10+1 sit and go tournaments which payout $2 for every player you knock out. This tournament structure offers a good value for a low buy-in tournament. Each player starts with 3000 chips and the blinds go up every 5 minutes. Full Tilt pays out 10% of the field (9 players). The 1st place finisher receives $230, 2nd place gets $140 and 3rd pays $100.

I really enjoy the action in Full Tilt’s knockout (KO) tournaments. Players are willing to gamble their entire stack for a $2 KO.

Many players in low buy-in tournaments have trouble folding pocket pairs, draws or over cards and these are the players you target going in. I like to try to see a lot of flops when the blinds are low. While I may bleed off some chips in the process, I don’t mind risking a few chips to try and stack another player.

Also, I rarely slow play in low buy-in tournaments. I continue betting out my hand if I think I’m ahead even if I flop a monster, like a set, straight or flush. Some players have a difficult time believing you flopped a straight on a 7-8-9 board. They think you might be bluffing and may just call you down with a pair or draw. Consider it from their perspective. If they flopped a straight would they be betting it that hard? Most of the time they’d slow play it. This is why you should bet your monsters in low buy-in tournaments like it’s your job.

About half-way through the field I’ve bled off 650 chips and pick up K♥-J♥ under the gun.

How would you play this hand?

The blinds are at 60/120 (level 7) and we’re seven handed. Here are the player’s starting stacks going into the hand.

MP: 4,080
CO: 5,345
BTN: 2,490
SB: 4,845
BB: 4,940
UTG: 2,640
Hero (UTG+1): 2,350

As you can see, I’m the shortest stack at the table. A few players have already picked up knockouts. There are a couple of tight players but generally, the play is pretty loose.

I come out with a standard 3x raise under the gun with K♥-J♥. The action folds around to the player in the big blind who just smooth calls.

The flop comes: J♣-5♠-4♠ (pot 780)

He checks and I bet out approximately 2/3rd’s the pot hoping to get a call or a raise. My flop bet looks like a standard continuation bet. At this point in the tournament, I’m willing to get all-in on the flop with this hand. If I get raised, I’m shoving.

He cold calls another 600 chips and the turn brings:

Turn: 2♣ (pot 1,980)

He checks again. There are only a few hands that are ahead of me here. If he had 5-6 and completed his straight so be it. I really don’t think many players are going to call a 3x pre-flop with 5-6 from the big blind. The pot is big enough now that I have to get all my chips in and either take it down right here or double up. I shove and he calls.

River: 7♥ (pot 4,760)

This is a very good card for me. None of the over cards hit and if he was chasing the spade draw, he missed. What do you think he had?

Results: 4,760 Pot
BB showed K♣-A♠ (Ace King high) and LOST (-2,350 NET)
Hero showed K♥-J♥ (a pair of Jacks) and WON 4,760 (+2,410 NET)

I don’t think you can play A-K any worse. He should have re-raised me BIG pre-flop and maybe even tried to push me off my hand on the flop instead of just calling me down. This is a perfect example of the type of players you will find in low buy-in tournaments. Take advantage of them. But, keep in mind they’re difficult to bluff off a hand. Make sure you’re not bluffing into a player who can’t fold.

Good luck at the tables.