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Mistakes Tournament Players Make

Anybody starting to play small stakes tournaments online will find them both exciting and challenging. You quickly learn that tournaments and cash games are very different, and it's normally a matter of time until you really figure out what you prefer.

Sylvester Suzuki in his poker book 'Poker Tournament Strategies' lists the most common mistakes made by players in small stakes Freezeout tournaments.

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This tournament will only be open for 100 players and all places will be paid.

1. Playing too loosely in the early stage of the tournament because the blinds seem insignificant in relation to the size of the initial stack.

2. Not properly adjusting starting hand requirements as the number of players at the table declines.

3. Not taking full advantage of the tight play of players who have short (but not tiny) stacks near the end of the tournament.

4. Failing to avoid a confrontation with another player who has a large stack in the late stages of the tournament. This is, without a doubt, the most expensive single mistake that a player can make and it is sometimes made even by seasoned professionals. Usually this mistake is the result of a player thinking he has an overwhelming advantage that he loses sight of the fact that he is not playing at an open table, but in a tournament. If you have a large stack in the late stages of a tournament, never get into a raising war with another player with a large stack unless you are virtually certain you have the winning hand. The fact that you think you have the best hand going to the river is usually not adequate. You must have the 'virtual nuts.'

5. Not properly considering the small incremental cost of making a call in an unraised pot from the small blind. In most cases, the small blind is one-half the big blind. In some cases the however, the small blind is two-thirds the big blind (with a big blind of $15, the small blind is $10). Many small tournament players fail to recognise the significance of this difference. For example, in the standard structure where the small blind is one-half the big blind, you would frequently call an unraised pot from the small blind with a hand as weak as 8c, 5h but nothing weaker. In the other structure, where the small blind is two-thirds the size of the big blind, an 8c,3h could suffice in the same situation. Against only the big blind, if you are in small blind position, which requires you to double the amount of the small blind in order to call, you will be getting 3-to-1 odds on your call. If it is necessary to put in only an additional 50% of the small blind, you will be getting odds of 5-to-1 on your call. So call liberally here unless the player in the big blind is prone to raise. In a multiway hand that has not been raised and with a player in the big blind who rarely raises, it is highly unlikely that you will have cards that would not justify a call if all you needed to do is add 50% of your small blind. Yet, many players in this situation fold their hands.

6. Failing to recognize the importance of position at the last table when many players are playing short stacks.

7. Slowplaying friends at the table. (Not only is this bad strategy, its also very poor poker etiquette.)

8. Failing to put an opponent all-in in the late stages of a tournament due to not being aware of that player's chip position.

Source: Suzuki, S. (2004) Poker Tournament Strategies, Nevada, Two Plus Two Publishing LLC.

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