A Big Mistake - No Limit Holdem Tournaments

One huge mistake that I see time and again in No Limit Holdem Tournaments (Online) is the following..........player A takes a tough beat and loses 1100 of his 1500 chips in the first level, so now player A has only 400 chips and is at the bottom of the tournament standings. Inevitably, the majority of players play this situation horribly, they end up jamming it all in over a raiser with a hand like KJ or Q10................this play is unacceptable if you want to win, even at the lower levels. Contextually, falling down to 400 chips is not the end of the world when the 1st level is 10/20 (on Pokerstars) or 15/30 (on Full Tilt), you still have between 13 and 20 big blinds which means you have some maneuverability. You can still open a pot normally and you can still wait for a premium hand...........often for a few orbits.

Another factor that players seem to forget especially in these situations in micro or low stakes online is that the poor players at your table see you as a tiny stack and will often take outrageous gambles to eliminate you (although eliminating anyone this early in a tournament is of little consequence). If you wait for a premium hand you can often get your money in really, really good, and possibly vs more than one opponent.............I can't tell you how many times I have gotten in this spot, jammed with AK and found A5 and A7 willing to gamble with me.........a big edge indeed.

So the next time you find yourself in a situation in which you lose 60% or more of your stack early in a tournament, relax, gather yourself and remember this article. Revert to your short stack strategy and try to chip up as you normally would at the end of a tournament. It could mean much profit in the end.