Poker Tournament Strategy
Poker Tournament Strategy - Should You SlowPlay Pocket Aces
By Mitchell Cogert
There are time you should consider the slowplay in a poker tournament. The most obvious hand to slowplay is pocket Aces. The Pros can slowplay a hand, can you?
Here are times you should consider slowplaying your Aces:
1. Early in the event. Your goal is NOT to just win the blinds. The blinds are too small to make a difference to the size of your chip stack. You’re goal is to maximize your return with pocket Aces, while minimizing your risk.
2. When you are below average in chips. Here you want to find a way to win a big pot to get you back into the hunt to win.
3. When you can trap a player with a big chip stack. For this play to work your opponent has raised pre-flop and you just call his bet.
The key is to manage your pre-flop action so you’ll be against one or two players on the flop. And, you also need to know which players are aggressive on the flop.
Most players are not willing to take a chance when they get a premium pair. They hope their opponent has a big hand, so they can re-raise and take down the pot.
You can also slowplay weaker starting hands as well. Of course, your risk increases as your hand weakens. For perspective, if you have pocket Queens, the flop will have an Ace or King almost 40% of the time.
Tip: If You Are Not Confident in Your Hand Reading Ability, Don’t Limp with Pocket Aces or Kings
It takes time and experience to read your opponents. If you are not confident in your ability, don’t limp with these hands. It will get you into trouble if a player raises you on the flop.
Instead, you should raise and re-raise with these premium hands. The fewer the number of opponents seeing the flop, the easier your decision will be on the flop.
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You can find out if you know how to play like a pro by taking the Free Poker Evaluation at http://www.apokerexpert.com Mitchell Cogert is the author of "Tournament Poker: 101 Winning Moves." After reviewing over 20 years worth of poker materials with heads-up battles against poker pros, he has identified the top 101 expert plays used by the pros. His other poker book "Play Razz Poker to Win" was selected by PokerStars IntelliPoker to be used on their site and translated for their international website. For more information http://www.apokerexpert.com |
