Plan Your Tournament

"The better your are are at determining how things around you affect your chances, the more successes you'll enjoy"...Mike Caro.

In poker, according to Caro, the key element of success is knowing what your chances are and then planning your strategy. This idea seems to seperate good poker players from mediocre ones. Many players understand solid and fundemental poker play, but fail to have a plan for winning.

A personal example of this idea took place in last night's Oasis weekly poker tournament. Fifty players began the tournament. Some among them were excellent players with years of experience. Time after time, I watched players eliminated because of poor decisions, like all-in moves with an A-10 offsuit; calling too much with weak draws, and playing small pairs to the River, out of position. Some bluffed with nothing, while others played tightly and timidly trying to survive. Many were easy to exploit because they would over-commit their hands and over-bet. Almost all of these players appeared to rely on luck and play without a strategy to win. Following T.J Cloutier's advice from his book "Championship Pot-Limit and No-Limit Holdem" I luckily reached the final table, and eventually finished 2nd place, because I had a plan and my hands held up. I was able to pick up small pots throughout the tournament and gradually increase my chip size. Changing gears at various stages of the tournament, made it difficult for opponents to read me well and they often guessed wrong about the strength of my hands. It's very satisfying when one's plan works and success ensues. As Caro says, "Among similarly skilled opponents, the player with the most discipline is the favorite". Discipline played a major role in last nights game plan. The next time you enter a poker tournament, have a plan and the discipline to work the plan. Maybe this will give you the winning edge.

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