Tournament Strategy For Texas Holdem

Posted on 4/13/2022 by admin

PokerNews Staff

Here are some simply poker tips from Texas Hold 'em legend Phil Hellmuth. Getting together with your buddies (or strangers) for a night of poker can be a lot of fun. But its considerably more. The truth is that you don't have to spend hours and hours studying advanced poker strategy in order to turn big profits in today's Texas Holdem games, whether it is 6max, Zoom or tournaments. However, I do recommend that you always remember to keep learning and practicing.

The 6-max no-limit hold’em format is gaining immense popularity among online poker players, sometimes even overrunning the full-ring games. If you’re in the mood for more action-packed poker,here are a few poker tips on basic 6-max strategy.

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Those who have already played 6-max cash games know that they’re faster, more intense, and more aggressive than what is typically the case at the regular nine-handed tables. More often than not, the 6-max battles are won and lost in position as the shorter-handed table means you’re going to spend more time in the blinds and playing from late positions.

It’s only natural that the game logic of 6-max NLHE suggests greater success will be enjoyed by the more aggressive players. However, you should still keep your head clear as even here too much does not necessarily mean good play. If you wish to try playing 6-max and stay on the winning side, here are five rather simple strategy tips to consider.

1. Play Tight

No Limit Holdem Tournament Strategy

Aggressive play is often the right play from late positions. However, you should really know what you’re doing as it’s going to be really hard to keep up the same level of aggression when playing from the blinds and early positions.

Many new 6-max players tend to start out playing too many hands and playing them too aggressively. You should still fold around two-thirds or even three-fourths of your hands and not get involved in the pot. This means that any suited-ace or suited connectors should be returned to the dealer before the flop if it costs more than one big blind to continue, unless you’re on the button. This might sound boring, but when playing from out of position at the 6-max table, tight often means right.

By not playing too many hands you will not only save your chips, but will also have more time to study and get to know your opponents which is also very important.

2. Don’t Forget to Be Aggressive

That said, aggression is the key to success in all poker disciplines and 6-max NLHE cash games are no exception. Aggressive players can win with the best hand as well as make their opponents fold. Aggression is such a powerful weapon that a number of pros have built their entire careers on its foundation.

This means you should raise almost every hand you decide to play. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing a mediocre hand from the button or a monster from the blinds — take the initiative before the flop and oftentimes keep it up afterwards.

3. Play in Position

At the 6-max tables, do try to play the maximum number of hands from favorable positions. This concept is as important as playing aggressive.

Poker is a game of information which can be best obtained by playing in position. Because of this, you should play stronger hands from the early positions and a more wide range of hands from the late positions. In this way before making hard decisions you will be able to observe and better read your opponents.

From the early positions you should narrow your hand range to middle and higher pairs, strong aces, and suited kings and queens. Meanwhile let yourself improvise when on the button.

4. Believe in Your Opponents

Another golden poker rule is that even the weakest players can have a good hand — don’t forget that. If your opponent is playing solidly and responsibly, take that player’s raises or reraises as a reliable sign and retreat.

If in such situation you’re not sure whether you’re winning, just fold and move on. This is the right move. Smart bets by your opponents indicate they’re looking for value.

5. Isolate the Limpers

There are few pieces of poker advice that begin “never” or “always,” but it is more or less the case that in 6-max games it makes sense never ever to let your opponents see a free flop. Don’t limp yourself and don’t let others do it.

Tournament Strategy For Texas Holdem Odds

Limpers are usually weak players looking for value with small hands. Don’t let them do it even if you have a monster and are looking for easy profit yourself. By leaving the limper in the pot, you will only have yourself to blame.

If you’re seriously into poker, these strategy tips should not be entirely new to you. However, some basics are always good to remember.

And if you’re looking for a good place to try 6-max NLHE cash games, we recommend an up-and-coming independent site Tonybet Poker. One huge advantage to playing at Tonybet Poker is that the site charges zero rake from its hold’em and PLO cash game tables. What’s more is that being a rather new site it has a solid population of weak players driven by the overwhelming amount of freerolls being offered, which means you’ll have plenty of room for learning and putting these tips to a good use.

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cash game strategy6-max strategyshort-handed strategyno-limit hold’emonline pokerlive pokeraggressionpositionstarting hand selectionTonybet Poker

PokerNews Staff

No-limit hold'em tournaments not only challenge players to discover the best ways to play particular hands, they also require them constantly to keep in mind the broader perspective imposed by the tournament format. In other words, while it's great to have a solid understanding of NLHE fundamentals, in tournaments you always also have to remain aware of the constantly changing contexts for individual hands.

Popular Twitch streamer Evan 'Gripsed' Jarvis identifies three key ingredients that he believes can help you maintain a dynamic strategy to maximize your expectation in poker tournaments no matter what the situation.

Those three ingredients are:

Look at the big picture
Know how to play various stack sizes
Understand the effects of the payout structure

Texas Holdem Tournament Tips

In the video below, Jarvis explores each of these three ingredients in more detail.

Under the heading of looking at the big picture, he explains how even the best players only cash a small percentage of tournaments, making the deep run (and big cash) an important goal upon which to focus. Meanwhile knowing how to play various stack sizes represents a skill that distinguishes tournaments (somewhat) from cash games — especially deep-stacked games — since stacks are changing so frequently in tournaments. Finally, understanding payout structures can have a big effect on how much risk you take on in the effort to make that deep run and finish in the highest-paying spots.

Take a look:

With the 2016 World Series of Poker getting underway this week, Jarvis will be back at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino where among other goals he'll try to tie Ronnie Bardah's record by cashing in a fifth-straight WSOP Main Event.

To mark the start of the series, Jarvis is hosting a couple of free webinars this weekend along with fellow poker pro and coach Nicholas Verkaik.

Strategy For Texas Holdem

The first, titled 'How to Win Consistently at the WSOP,' happens Saturday, June 4 at 1:00 p.m. ET and will cover planning for the series, maximizing expectations, deciding when and where to play, managing your time, energy, and emotions, and more. The second follows on Sunday, June 5 at 1:00 p.m. ET, covers 'How to Sell Action & Play More Events,' and will discuss the process of selling action, putting together packages, finding investors, record-keeping tips, among other related topics.

You can find out more about the free webinars at Gripsed Poker.