The All In Tournament Strategy For Beginners

Aug. 9, 2011

When I first read about this tournament strategy for no limit Texas holdem I was skeptical about how it would work. I started investigating it and then tried it in a few tournaments and found that it was an excellent strategy for beginning players. The system was designed to be simple to learn and give a player who didn't know much about tournament poker the best chance to place in the money. It is important to note that this system is not the best strategy to win tournaments. Better poker players still win the majority of tournaments. This system should only be used until you develop the skills required to be a consistent winner.

The all in tournament strategy says that you fold every hand except the following. AA, AKs, AK, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, 99 and 88. With these hands you move all in. Some players don't include the 99 and 88 and some players add 77. There are even a few players who add all pairs. You can see that you will be folding most of the time. However, think about how the best tournament players play. They also fold most of the time.

This systems power is in the ability to take all of the most difficult decisions away from the beginning player. For example, you raise from early position with QQ and have one caller. You make a continuation bet on the flop and the original caller then moves all in. This is a tough situation for even the best players and a beginning player is likely to make a mistake. With this system the player avoids these types of situations.

The best poker players force their opponents to make decisions because every time their opponent has to make a decision he or she has the opportunity to make a mistake. This is the type of player that you need to try to become. You need to learn enough about the game of poker and your opponents to help them make mistakes as often as possible.

This system has a few problems that make it vulnerable. They are also the reason it is not the system used by the best tournament poker players. Many times you won't get enough of the all in hands to stay afloat in the tournament. You may also have situations where when you move all in, all you win are the blinds. This means that you will eventually run out of chips. The other problem with this system is once you get to the final table (or in the money depending on the size of the field) you have to change your play or you have almost no chance to win. This system gives the beginning poker player the best chance to finish in the money but it does not give them the best chance to win.

Feel free to try the all in tournament strategy but always work toward improving your game so that you don't have to use it in the future. If you have a friend who doesn't play much but wants to enter a tournament, it should only take you a few minutes to teach them this system.