- Chips and Blinds -

In Poker Tournament strategy we talk about the considerations of Tournament play. Your stack position in the poker tournament and the Tournament status are initially determined by the starting stack, and how fast the blind levels increase. These structures vary greatly from poker site to poker site and from one type of poker tournament to the next. Here is a comparison I love -

Doyle's Poker Room :

Starting stack: 2000
Starting blinds: 20/40
Levels change every 10 minutes

Poker Room:

Starting stack: 1500
Starting blinds: 5/10
Levels change every 12 minutes

At Doyle's Poker Room, you get a larger stack but the bigger blinds and quicker level progression can quickly put your stack under blind pressure. Since that is the first consideration is tournament position, the ability to interpret the initial structure is an important consideration. At Doyle's room you must be prepared to gamble much sooner, as blind pressure increases. At Poker room on the other hand you should be inclined to sit and wait for a better hand.

The starting stacks will also vary by game and betting structure.

Limit Poker tournaments start with smaller stacks. 800 or 1000 instead of 1000 or 1500 depending upon the particular poker site. Since 7 Card Stud is usually Limit, almost all Stud tournaments have a smaller starting stack. In large freeroll poker tournaments the starting stack is also restricted and the level progression accelerated. Otherwise the tournaments could take forever. The World Series of Poker had 2500 entries it took 3 days. Generally the bigger the tournament the longer the levels. Many online poker tournaments will have 1800-3000 players. They have to speed things up so we can finish in an evening. Most people have real jobs.

One final note on the structure. "Re-buy and Add-on tournaments (R&A). These poker tournaments allow a player to buy more chips when he busts out or when he has the initial stack or less and then at some designated time, usually the first break, allow everyone to purchase additional chips. After that no re-buys are allowed and the poker tournament progresses normally. These re-buys and add-ons generate great prize pools. Yes, there is a specific re-buy strategy that can increase your expectations.

Re-buys No Limit:
If re-buys are only allowed if you're busted, I recommend not re-buying unless you feel you have a definite edge.

Otherwise: Re-buy before the game, giving you a double stack or as soon as possible. This gives you significant leverage over those players who do not re-buy.

If I bust out, I do not re-buy.

Re-buys Limit:
Since the re-buy does not give you any tactical advantage, don't. Generally never re-buy if you bust out, one exception might be. If it is near the end of the re-buy period, consider a re-buy, two if allowed and the add-on. This will usually give you a modest stack going into the second session. If this tactic would still leave you short stacked, don't re-buy.

Add-on:
There are times when it is not cost effective to add-on, and they all involve monstrous chip leads or your stack is so small you don't have a chance. Best rule is always add-on. When you enter the tournament just plan for one re-buy and add-on and consider it part of the entry fee.

Those are your modifications but the R&A structure also modifies the play of the others. Often even tight players will limp in with very marginal hands during the re-buy period. Since you can buy more chips many players consider flush draws profitable.

Sarge

Editors Note: jbharshaw has written articles for me for over two years now, and has his own poker information site at www.bestpokerguide.net