Sun Tzu Tournament Poker

Cards are easiy. In my opinion, there is a whole other realm to tournament poker of just deciding how to fight, when to fight, and who to fight against.

I believe Sun Tzu once said that if overtaking a city would have no great benefit, but defeat in trying to take a city would be detrimental, than the city should be left untouched.

I once heard Phil Helmuth say that he is capable of getting to a final table without ever being all-in in a tournament. this is really a style of play where you are choosing your battles very carefully. Just because you can win something doesn't mean that it is proper to try to do so all of the time.

So where does this come into play? If the only hands you can put your opponent on are flush draws and other even-money type hands, then its ok to fold and let someone get the best of you in that hand, even if maybe they are bluffing. If your opponent is forcing you to coinflip for an unnecessarily large pot, again, its ok to let him get the best of you there.

there are better places to fight, and more advantageous situations for you to use your chips.

I've done so well in the Harrah's 8PM tournaments because so many people panic early. This is a tournament where you get $10K chips to start and even if your sitting late when the blinds are $2K/$4K with a 1K ante and you got $20K chips it really doesn't matter that much - well yes it does matter but your never going to be stacked enough to be comfortable anyways. I've found the trick to winning these is just always make sure your around to win them.

I see so many people start to panic when the blinds make there first significant jump. Level 8 is 500/1000 and Level 9 is 1000/2000. Here you'll find so many players suddenly lose there mind as the entire tables M just cut in half. The trick is to sit back and wait hoping to get lucky.

I can't tell you how many AK, 88 etc I've folded to a push from a players whose range is nothing more than an average hand. The reason is: come this stage, I always want to be first in. I rarely ever want to be calling if It can hurt me. Now if its for less than 50% of my chips and I'm in late position I grunt my teeth cross my fingers and call. If its for all or most of my chips I give my hand a quick peak for Aces and Kings and if I don't see them they go right in the muck.

there are better places to fight, and more advantageous situations for you to use your chips.

^

Key to winning tournament imo

It might sound odd: but seriously this is one of the few tournaments in Vegas where a good player does not need cards to win. Not even kidding you can almost play the game completely blind till approaching the bubble. So in that spot why take unnecessary risks pushing small edges?

I know I'm on to something with winning these tournaments so often (I mean its more than just running good when your winning first at 30% clip with over 100 played now), I just need now to learn how to translate this into bigger tournaments where I still believe cards are needed. Maybe I'm wrong I just haven't cracked them yet (in fact I'm almost certainly wrong)

I should note though I am over exaggerating the circumstances. I've been all in late in a tournament with A3 more times than I can count and quite often its me making the call. There comes a time towards the end where you can no longer wait and you pick something up on an opponent where you know your a slight favorite and when the table has gotten tough your going to need to win a race or have a hand hold up. I can't say how many times I've had guys I play with stare at me with the wtf is that look, when I table A3o against KQ or 9T etc.

side note: Generally when making these calls the average might be $80K and I have $50K and my opponent $30K and the blinds are becoming so huge I need that person gone and I need chips, if I'm wrong or unlucky I have on last gamble left to get back to where I just was.