Multi Table Tournament Strategy

If you know how the size of the forced bets (blinds or antes) in relation to the size of an average future bet influences the pot odds you get and implicitly your decision making process, you’ll find optimal Multi Table Tournament (MTT) strategy quite logical and obvious.

Let’s see what all this mumbo-jumbo about the size of the blinds is supposed to mean. According to Sklansky (and to common sense too) the smaller the blinds are in comparison to the size of an average future bet, the tighter you should play. The bigger the blinds, the looser you should be. If you take a closer look at the problem, you’ll see that it makes perfect mathematical sense. Your decisions are (or at least should be) the result of a comparison of your pot odds and chances to make your hand (which can be calculated using your number of outs). As long as your pot odds are better than the chance of your hand not coming together, you should make the call.

Obviously, the better the pot odds are, the bigger the adverse odds they can tackle. Big blinds give your pot odds an excellent boost. Smaller blinds do not. This is why your tournament strategy should feature a gradual loosening as the blinds escalate.

In the opening stages of an MTT, you should play tight aggressive poker. On one hand, the size of your stack allows you to go after the implied odds undisturbed. On the other hand, the small blinds do not justify calling on anything but the most solid of starting hands. Add to this the fact that usually there’s a lot of chaotic play early on and you have a pretty nice set of reasons to be tight but in the same time aggressive (you need to be aggressive so that you can exploit the implied odds).

The middle stages of an MTT (or an STT for that matter) are the most delicate to navigate. This is when it becomes imperative that you dust off those blinds-stealing skills. In order to successfully attack your opponents’ blinds, you will of course need to take some chances, so you’ll need to broaden your starting hand selection. Make sure you launch your attack from late position as that will give you a good opportunity to acquire reads on your opponents. It will also boost the odds on your hands if several of your opponents fold before you. The bubble can also be included in the middle-to-late stages of a tourney and it is certainly a turning point in the game. Players usually turn unnecessarily tight on the bubble waiting for it to burst. At this stage, the right kind of aggression can yield huge dividends for a savvy player. Be careful though, once the bubble’s burst, play will loosen right back up.

The late stages of an MTT can be characterized through one word: aggression. The blinds are usually so big at this stage calling becomes a correct decision on just about any starting hand. If you’re aggressive, you will give yourself a better chance to survive to a deep cash position or even to first place, however as much as I hate to admit it, luck takes on a much bigger role at this level.

You may have heard well established poker professionals talking about how the short-handed stage of a MTT final table has a tendency to become a crapshoot. Being aggressive will offer you an edge over your competitors, although – between two similarly skilled opponents- it’s usually Lady Luck who makes the difference here.

Make signing up to a rakeback deal a part of your MTT strategy. You don’t just generate rake in cash games (although you produce it much faster there) you also pay a fee for every tournament you enter, and aiming for a rakeback on those fees makes perfect sense.