How to Improve Your Chances of Winning a No Limit Poker Tournament
What really sets apart the winning players in no limit poker tournaments?
Here is a list of 20 key areas that sets apart the winning players from the rest.
You should review each of these areas, evaluate yourself on a scale from 1 to 5 (with 5 being the highest)
and work on improving your game for 2009.
1. Entering an event with the right mental approach-playing to win and not just to cash
2. Entering an event with a plan–when will you play tight, loose, aggressive, solid, etc
3. Embracing the risk in the game and realizing that you can’t beat the luck inherent in poker
4. Identifying betting patterns of your opponents
5. Identifying tells of your opponents
6. Identifying your own betting patterns
7. Identifying the tells in your own game
8. Your skill at how to play pre-flop based on the strength of your hand
9. Knowing the importance of chips stack sizes on your decisions
10. Knowing how to adjust your game based on your position
11. Knowing how to make plays when you are card dead
12. Realizing the importance of and frequency to bluff successfully
13. Knowing the right time to push all-in
14. Knowing the right time to fold and realizing that sometimes it s right to fold when you are ahead.
15. Accumulating enough chips so you can survive at least one bad beat
16. Knowing how to play at the final table
17. Knowing how to play heads-up poker
18. Knowing the 101 winning moves you can use in a no limit tournament
19. Not letting your emotions influence your decisions and not going on tilt.
20. Making the best decision for every situation that comes up in a poker tournament
If you scored each area, what is your total score? Which areas do you feel you are weak and which ones do you feel you are strong? Now take your total score and reduce it by 20%. Why? You are not as good as you think. Almost every player over rates their own abilities.
In the coming weeks, I will write articles that will address each area with the objective of
helping you improve your poker game in 2009. Happy New Year!
Mitchell Cogert is the author of “Tournament Poker: 101 Winning Moves.” Called “the best poker book published in 2008,” it is the only reference book to reveal the plays the Pros use to win a poker tournament. These plays are based on reviewing 20 years worth of tournament poker strategies and by actual play against Daniel Negreanu, Erick Lindgren, David Pham and other top pros. The book is highly rated with 5 out of 5 stars on amazon.
For more information go to Tournament Poker. The web site address is http://www.APokerExpert.com