There is certainly no shortage of poker tournaments to choose from these days, and I’m not simply referring to whether you should go to Atlantic City for the Borgata Poker Open or head to Foxwoods for the Foxwoods Poker Open. What I’m talking about is the games, stakes, structures, and yes even venues (but more a case of online versus live) available to the modern poker player. In this column I’ll try to make some sense of it all, give you some direction on what types of games may best fit into your schedule, bankroll, and skill-set, and hopefully help you decide if your best option is grinding $10 HORSE Turbo S&G’s online, or if playing $1,500 events on the WSOPC is right for you.
Before I get into the meat of this column just remember that if you make a decision to play MTT’s this doesn’t mean you can’t play S&G’s as well, or change your mind and make the switch at a later time.
What Stakes to Play
Aside from the simple question of where to play (online or live, the Bellagio or the Venetian) which is usually a matter of convenience, the first decision you have to consider is what stakes you should be playing. You might think this is merely a function of your current bankroll, and while this is almost completely true, it isn’t the entire story. In addition to being properly rolled you should also take into account the following two factors:
- What your goals as a poker player are
If you’re using poker to unwind after a day at work you don’t need to be playing the $215 buy-in online tournaments, even if you may technically be bankrolled for it; a $20 event will accomplish the same thing, and likely be a better fit into your budget and skill level. By all means, if you have the bankroll then go ahead and play them, but don’t think you have to play at certain stakes based solely on your bankroll.
On the other hand, if you are using poker tournaments as a way to put a little more money in your pocket than you need to consider both your bankroll and your tilt number – which I’ll explain in the next bullet—as you are trying to maximize your time at the tables.
- Your tilt number
Your tilt number refers to the amount of money you can lose before you go on tilt. This is a different number for everyone, and you may find a person with $1,000 to their name has the same tilt number as a millionaire, so while bankroll is important, it isn’t the only factor. If you know being eliminated from a $200 event will send you on tilt it really doesn’t do you much good to have a $50,000 bankroll.
Knowing your own tilt number should help you determine what stakes you should be playing, and what stakes you should be avoiding for the time being. At least until you solve your tilt issue.
S&G’s or MTT’s
Once you’ve come up with a general idea of the stakes you are going to play (and whether online or live tournaments are a better fit for you) your next goal should be to figure out whether you’ll be better served playing Sit & Go tournaments or Multi-Table Tournaments.
Sit & Go’s tend to appeal to players who like quick, structured, events, and are the perfect game for players who are playing under specific time constraints. Since they can be played in anywhere from a 10 minutes, for a heads-up hyper turbo, to an hour for a standard full ring game, S&G players have a better approximation of the time they will be online and the number of games they can play in that time.
Conversely, MTT’s require a longer time commitment, as a deep run in a Sunday major could eat up eight hours of your day. Even a standard $10 tournament will take somewhere from three to four hours to complete if you make the final table, but you could also be bounced on the second hand.
Another key difference is in the prize distribution. S&G’s offer smaller paydays, but you’ll make the money and win them far more often. MTTs’ have a ton of variance and while your wins and final tables will be few and far between, the reward is much higher when you do make a deep run.
There is also the fun factor, and whether you personally enjoy S&G’s or MTT’s should be a major factor in your decision as well.
What Variants to Play
Ok, so by now you’ve probably determined the stakes you will play and whether you will be focusing on S&G’s or MTT’s, which means it’s time to move on to what types of poker variants you will be best served playing.
A lot of this will be determined by your experience, but don’t write off learning some of the less popular variants like Stud or Limit Holdem because the fields are small and everyone in the event must be a specialist. My opinion is that everyone should learn to play No Limit Holdem tournaments, but it’s also good to dabble in some of the other structures available to see if you can find 1) weak fields or 2) a format you like and excel in.
If you prefer smaller field tournaments you’ll likely enjoy Omaha 8, Limit Holdem, Stud, and Badugi tournaments as the field size tends to be much smaller. If your thing is big prize-pools then you’ll be better off sticking to NLHE, and to a lesser extent, PLO tournaments. Again, a lot of this will have to do with your level of enjoyment as well.
What Structures to Play
Our final question is what type of structures should you be playing? By structure I am referring to Freezeouts, Bounty events, 6-Max, Heads-Up, Turbos, Hyper-Turbos, Double or Nothing, and so on. This decision is probably the most dependent on your style of play, but don’t forget the fun factor either!
Here are a few generalities about a few of the more popular structures:
- Turbos – A lot of people think Turbos decrease the skill of a tournament but what they really do is test your short-stack game. If you are a good short-stacker Turbos should be your bread and butter. Turbos also shorten the time a tournament takes to play, which is beneficial to players with certain restrictions or players looking to put in a lot of volume.
- Hyper-Turbos –Hypers take the turbo to a new level and are essentially an exercise in push/fold strategies. If this is a strong-suit of yours you may want to devote quite a bit of time to playing Hypers.
- Bounties – If you are one of the players that likes to build a big stack early on than bounties should be a good fit for you, as they reward players who have a “Go big or go home” attitude towards tournament poker.
- Double or Nothings – DoN’s are a new S&G variant and they seem to attract a lot of nitty players; Fish avoid them because you can’t win more than a buy-in. Players who are adept at ICM calculations and playing a push/fold game near the bubble tend to do well in these games.
- Reentries/Rebuys – Reentry and rebuy tournaments favor players who are willing to take early risks (but not –EV risks), but can also adjust on a dime and revert back to their normal style of play when the reentry period ends or when they have surged up the leader-board. The reason I say this is that tight players are generally better served playing in a standard freezeout tournament as their slow, prodding, style of play is not rewarded in an event where accumulating chips in the early levels is the top priority.