It never fails to amaze me how many people play in poker tournaments without knowing the blind structure or how often blinds will increase. How can they play their optimal poker and expect to maximize their chances of winning without knowing the speed of the tournament in which they are playing? Players are best served when they understand the speed of the tournament, know the amount of chips each round will cost them, and adjust their play accordingly.
There are two blind structure elements that should cause players to adjust their speed and style of play accordingly: structure speed and antes. Let’s take a look at both factors.
Structure speed refers to how quickly the blinds increase during a tournament. Tournaments can often fit into three major categories: fast, medium, and slow. Of course, tournaments can fall between categories and even exceed categories. For example, the World Series of Poker main event should be classified as “incredibly slow” while the local tournament at the pub will probably be lightning fast with blinds doubling every 15 minutes.
Let’s look at two examples of more realistic tournaments and determine how players should adjust their play. Both tournaments begin with 5,000 chips and start with blinds of 25/50. Therefore, all players begin each tournament with 100 big blinds; however, Tournament A has 25 minute blind levels and the blinds increase, on average, between 25% to 33% each time. In comparison, Tournament B has 15 minute blind levels and the blinds increase approximately 50% each time. Therefore, Tournament A would probably be classified as a medium speed tournament whereas Tournament B is definitely a fast tournament.
Obviously, a player can afford to be more patient with his starting hand selection in the medium-paced Tournament A than in fast-paced Tournament B. Conversely, players in Tournament B need to be willing to play more hands since they will not get the opportunity to see a great number of premium hands.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), time and time again, I see players who would play the beginning rounds of each of these tournaments with the exact same strategy, despite the vast difference in the structures.
Of course, this concept is nothing new. For example, Arnold Snyder recently wrote “The Poker Tournament Formula” and “The Poker Tournament 2“and goes into great detail on quantifying the speed of tournaments and assessing the skill levels needed (also quantified) to excel in the different types of tournaments. I found this very interesting and useful, but for the most part, this should be intuitive to good players. The additional information and quantification by Mr. Snyder should simply serve as a more finely tuned method for players to assess the speed in which they need to play.
Another factor for which players do not seem to adjust are antes. I recently wrote an article regarding antes, Tournament Structures: Misunderstanding The Impacts of Antes. While the focus of that article is how players misunderstand the purpose of antes and how it affects the skill level needed to excel in a tournament, it also accentuates the need to adjust your play when antes are introduced into a tournament.
Again, players do not understand the potential impact antes have on a tournament and fail to adjust their style of play. With more chips in the pot at the beginning of each hand, players need to be more willing to take a risk since the payoff for that risk is greater.
In addition, antes increase the speed of the tournament and players need to account for this factor by playing more hands. (NOTE: In Tournament Structures: Misunderstanding The Impacts of Antes, I discuss how antes do not necessarily increase the overall speed of the tournament; however, it can and does increase the speed of some tournaments. Knowing the difference can be a great asset to players.)
When players play a fast tournament too slowly, good players can take advantage by stealing their blinds and re-raising when they smell weakness. There simply is not time to wait around for premium hands and you can take advantage of those who are being too patient and waiting for their pocket rockets.
Conversely, players can play medium and slow tournaments too quickly. Good players will understand they can afford to be more patient in these situations and take better advantage of their premium hands by playing them appropriately against the reckless players. When you detect a player who is raising and limping a lot, you can wait for the appropriate time to come over the top or set a trap for them because it is more likely that a premium hand will arrive often enough to take a large portion of their chip stack.
Basically, it all comes down to one thing: Players should ensure they understand the blind structure and the impact it can have on their style of play before they sit down at their seat. Once they have this information in hand, they can formulate a style that will give them the best chance of winning the tournament. Not only should the strategy include selecting the speed at which they need to play, but identifying players who will not be playing the correct speed and taking advantage of them.
[thanks to waving at you and kc via cc]
There are two blind structure elements that should cause players to adjust their speed and style of play accordingly: structure speed and antes. Let’s take a look at both factors.
Structure Speed
Structure speed refers to how quickly the blinds increase during a tournament. Tournaments can often fit into three major categories: fast, medium, and slow. Of course, tournaments can fall between categories and even exceed categories. For example, the World Series of Poker main event should be classified as “incredibly slow” while the local tournament at the pub will probably be lightning fast with blinds doubling every 15 minutes.
Let’s look at two examples of more realistic tournaments and determine how players should adjust their play. Both tournaments begin with 5,000 chips and start with blinds of 25/50. Therefore, all players begin each tournament with 100 big blinds; however, Tournament A has 25 minute blind levels and the blinds increase, on average, between 25% to 33% each time. In comparison, Tournament B has 15 minute blind levels and the blinds increase approximately 50% each time. Therefore, Tournament A would probably be classified as a medium speed tournament whereas Tournament B is definitely a fast tournament.
Obviously, a player can afford to be more patient with his starting hand selection in the medium-paced Tournament A than in fast-paced Tournament B. Conversely, players in Tournament B need to be willing to play more hands since they will not get the opportunity to see a great number of premium hands.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), time and time again, I see players who would play the beginning rounds of each of these tournaments with the exact same strategy, despite the vast difference in the structures.
Of course, this concept is nothing new. For example, Arnold Snyder recently wrote “The Poker Tournament Formula” and “The Poker Tournament 2“and goes into great detail on quantifying the speed of tournaments and assessing the skill levels needed (also quantified) to excel in the different types of tournaments. I found this very interesting and useful, but for the most part, this should be intuitive to good players. The additional information and quantification by Mr. Snyder should simply serve as a more finely tuned method for players to assess the speed in which they need to play.
Antes
Another factor for which players do not seem to adjust are antes. I recently wrote an article regarding antes, Tournament Structures: Misunderstanding The Impacts of Antes. While the focus of that article is how players misunderstand the purpose of antes and how it affects the skill level needed to excel in a tournament, it also accentuates the need to adjust your play when antes are introduced into a tournament.
Again, players do not understand the potential impact antes have on a tournament and fail to adjust their style of play. With more chips in the pot at the beginning of each hand, players need to be more willing to take a risk since the payoff for that risk is greater.
In addition, antes increase the speed of the tournament and players need to account for this factor by playing more hands. (NOTE: In Tournament Structures: Misunderstanding The Impacts of Antes, I discuss how antes do not necessarily increase the overall speed of the tournament; however, it can and does increase the speed of some tournaments. Knowing the difference can be a great asset to players.)
When players play a fast tournament too slowly, good players can take advantage by stealing their blinds and re-raising when they smell weakness. There simply is not time to wait around for premium hands and you can take advantage of those who are being too patient and waiting for their pocket rockets.
Conversely, players can play medium and slow tournaments too quickly. Good players will understand they can afford to be more patient in these situations and take better advantage of their premium hands by playing them appropriately against the reckless players. When you detect a player who is raising and limping a lot, you can wait for the appropriate time to come over the top or set a trap for them because it is more likely that a premium hand will arrive often enough to take a large portion of their chip stack.
Basically, it all comes down to one thing: Players should ensure they understand the blind structure and the impact it can have on their style of play before they sit down at their seat. Once they have this information in hand, they can formulate a style that will give them the best chance of winning the tournament. Not only should the strategy include selecting the speed at which they need to play, but identifying players who will not be playing the correct speed and taking advantage of them.
[thanks to waving at you and kc via cc]