First Time Poker Tournament Tips

First Tournament Tips

What do we need to be thinking about on the morning of our first live poker tournament? It's a daunting prospect for a novice player.

With little to no experience to draw upon, you'd be forgiven for being more than a little nervous. Maybe you haven't played any poker outside of your regular home game with your friends. Are there rules you don't know? Is there a code of etiquette?

These are just some of the questions that might be going through your head leading up to the big day. Are all the usual fears justified, or is it much ado about nothing?

Choose the Right Tournament For You

A reality check might be needed for some of you when deciding which event to go and play. You might decide that the smallest buy-in tournament available will do just fine as a learning experience, others may let bravado get the better of them and jump for something filled with professionals and old hands.

The idea here, is to go out there and learn something, not to impress your mates in a vain hope of cashing an amount close to six figures. It all comes down to what you can afford to comfortably lose, and you should be expecting to lose on your first time out. But don't let that put you off, it's just the first step on your poker journey.

Other than choosing the most suitable buy in, there can be a choice of different formats available alongside the normal freeze-outs, such as rebuy tournaments. There are strategy considerations to be aware of when playing rebuys, but if you're a novice just looking to enjoy yourself, then there is nothing wrong with giving them a try, as you effectively get two bites at the cherry on the same day. Variations such as bounty tournaments, shootouts, and satellites are all popular these days. Make sure that you understand the rules of what you're getting into before you pay your money to enter.

If you're a seasoned online player, then it's just a case of sticking to your bankroll requirements and making the move to live play. You're biggest concern is probably going to be the idea of sitting down to play little more than twenty hands per hour when you are likely used to hundreds.

What Are the Usual Errors?

Time and time again you will see the same errors in live play. Some are more serious than others, but we should always be paying maximum attention to avoid them as often as possible. Some errors are really just breaches of etiquette rather than technical fouls, but this type of error will probably ruin your day just as much if you start to annoy the other players at your table and things escalate.

Acting out of turn is one of the biggest bugbears in live poker. The fact that it is caused by the player simply not paying close attention to the action is what annoys people most. You should be concentrating on everything going on at the table. If you are running well and manage a deep run, acting out of turn can not only change the outcome of a hand, but can have the knock on effect of seriously changing the outcome of another player's tournament. A lot of bad feeling can come from this, and if you want to become a regular at your casino or card room, it's always a good idea to stay on the right side of your fellow competitors.

Talking about a hand that you're not involved in is the other error for which you will almost certainly incur the wrath of the other players. Never do this, it's considered to be bad manners. You could also totally ruin a hand by telling everybody that you already folded a significant card for that board. The safest course of action is to refrain from talking while any hand is being played. At least this way you will avoid upsetting any other players, and you will also avoid giving out any unintended physical tells. As you gain experience, you will realise just how much some players give away because they can't keep their mouth shut.

Protect your cards at ALL times! Buy a card protector or put a chip on top of them, or else the dealer will scoop them up, and into the muck they will go. Until you have the pot in hand, do not give up your cards to the muck. it's so easy in the heat of battle, when you're tired, to miss that another player was left in the hand. Once your cards touch the muck they are gone forever.

I am always reminded of this hand from a WSOP:

Finally, be wary of angle shooters who might notice that you're a novice player, and try to trick you by saying something like “okay, you win this one”, to wait until you muck your cards, then they will claim the pot as they haven't folded yet, and your cards are now dead.

The Single Chip Rule

Imagine a scenario where somehow you have managed to dodge all the bullets in your first tournament, and are just a few players away from the final table. You're heads up in position, and have flopped top set on the wettest board imaginable. If you can get all of your stack in, and win the pot, you will be the chip leader! The villain appears to like their hand, and makes a normal size continuation bet. In your excitement you decide that rather than counting out your smaller denomination chips, and risking your hands shaking, you pick up a single chip of high value and toss it out to make a raise. Your action here must stand as a call. This is obviously a disaster if you are holding the nuts and stand to get all the chips in on the flop as a huge favourite. If you try to explain that you wanted to raise, the other player will realise that you are strong, but you didn't get the value you wanted.

If you wish to make a raise with a single chip you must verbally announce “raise”. To repeat: If you wish to make a raise with a single chip you MUST verbally announce “raise."

A Few More Bits and Pieces

A similar rule to this one is about what we call a “string bet”. When you decide how much you wish to bet, you must slide the chips over the line in a single motion. Or as before, make a verbal announcement indicating the size of your bet or raise. If you remain silent and move a single stack of chips towards the centre, then return your hands to grab another stack the dealer or another player will announce “string bet”, and only the first stack of chips will be accepted. This is to prevent you from gauging a player's reaction when the first stack crosses the line.

Being able to see mucked cards is something online players are used to. In some casinos there is not a rule about this, but it is frowned upon by most players to ask what somebody mucked. Don't let anybody try and bully you into showing what you had when you don't have to.

Finally, I want to mention the etiquette of stacking your chips. Some of you might have been worried about how on earth are you going to be able to know how many chips each player has just by looking at the whole pile they have in front of them.

The more sneakily inclined amongst you will have no doubt realised that it is possible to bury the high denomination chips at the bottom and rear of your whole stack. This is considered to be bad form. Not only will you slow the game down by doing this, because the dealer will have to make a count if another player requests it, but the other players will think that you're angle shooting. Keep your chips stacked neatly in stacks of round numbers, twenty chips in a stack is probably the most common size, and keep the big ones at the front.

These few pointers should keep you out of any major trouble. Don't be over awed, and remember to go out and enjoy your tournament, because that's what it's all about, isn't it? Live poker is more than just about making money, it's a social event.