Tournament versus Ring Game Approach

[Insidestr8]

Some may well disagree with this, but I approach tournament play very differently then when I play ring games.

The way I look at it, in ring games the objective is to try and win money on a hand by hand basis. If you have a small pocket pair and you think the other person has two over cards, it is mathematically correct to call the other person. You are a slight favorite, and in the long run you will make money by making that call.

In tournament play, my objective is to stay alive early in the tournament and then to try and finish with the most chips at the end. If I care about the tournament that I’m in, then I do not want to risk all my chips where I am only a slight favorite in a hand.

Even if I think I’m likely a 60% favorite to win a hand, I try not to risk all my chips early in a tournament. Why would I do this in a ring game but not in a tournament?

Well for starters, I think I’m a good player. So I do not want to risk being knocked out of the tournament 40% of the time early in the game. That would leave me with zero chance of winning the tournament or making the money. On the other hand if I do double up early I really don’t feel that I’ve improved my chances all that much. To me the risk of guaranteeing that I won’t make the money 40% of the time, is not worth the risk of only improving my chances somewhat by double up early 60% of the time.

Now as the tournament plays on and chip stacks vary then my approach changes. If I have a chip stack twice the size of my opponent then you bet I’ll push against that person if I think that I’m a slight favorite. Well at that point I care more about the pot odds since I will make money on that bet most of the time, and worse case, even if I do lose I’m not really getting hurt all that much since my stack is much bigger then theirs. Also, if they are a fairly good player, they will likely not wish to risk their tournament life at that point and they are more likely to lay down the hand so my odds are even better.

Another thing to keep in mind is that in a 50/50 coin toss you win half the time and lose half the time. Obvious huh? Well, in a ring game, that means that you’ll break even in the long run on coin tosses. In tournaments though, if you are all in on two coin tosses in the tournament, the odds are that you will not win both, and you will be out of the tournament. So again I try to avoid coin tosses in a tournament much more so than in a ring game.

Also to state the obvious, it is much better to make an all in bet then to call an all in bet if you have a marginal hand like small pairs or A-J. By making the all in bet, there is a very good chance that you will win because the other person will fold. So even though you would have likely been in a coin toss, your odds are better since you bet first because of the many times that you win the hand just by having the other person fold. If on the other hand you make the call with that marginal hand, then likely you are at best in a coin toss, or your could be dominated by a larger pocket pair then yours, or by the other person having AK to your AJ. The way I see it, the call is the donkey play, and the bet is the smart aggressive play.

Str8

[EnrgizrBunny]

Great article St8. I think it's too often that players forget.... in a ring-game, you can put more money on the table and start over. In a tournament, it's over when you lose that all-in.

Bunny