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Poker Tournament Traps

• 28.06.2025 10:25 am
• headhunter
• 0 Comments

Tournament poker is not all rosy as is usually seen as a tricky proposition. One should always be vigilant when playing it since a simple mistake can blow your entire tournament up in smoke. You can easily find yourself being the chip leader in the one round only to be busted in the next round. As a player, you need to play well and stay super lucky for a number of hours to be able to win the tournament. You can do this by learning how to avoid a couple of tournament traps as you play.

Know how to Play Trouble Hands

A K or K T are also known as trouble hands. These hands are called trouble hands because they are more likely to make the second best hand when they are hit. With heavy betting against you, it is difficult for you as a player to get away from these hands especially if a king or ace comes on the flop. You should avoid playing these hands especially if you ate in an early position. Playing these hands in an early position, bets are flat called, which will make it hard for you to know where exactly you are the hand. Acting on them later makes it easy for you to gauge whether your hand is good or bad depending on the way your opponent acts. You can tell the difference between professionals and the amateur players in a tournament from the way they are able to get away from trouble hands. You should always remember to have bigger stacks compared to the blinds early in the tournament. You should also learn to wait for spots that you feel confident enough to play.

Avoid letting Your Stack from Getting Too Low

Letting your stack get too low in comparison to your blind or the average stack can put you in an impossible position. This is because you will not have enough chips to get another person to fold when you move-in, which is what you need to do to be able to win the pot. Doubling up with a little amount of chips will put you at a disadvantage since you won't be threatening anyone. Avoid letting your stack get 5X below the amount of blinds and antes in a round. If you suspect you are in danger of this, you should radically loosen up your starting requirements, and try moving along with any two cards as long as you are in the right position. Make sure you are not eaten up with the blinds. Some players try anything to hang to the game when they see themselves closer to the money. You are better served by taking on a chance to move up the ladder by getting some chips. This is unless the minimum cashing prize is a substantial amount of money.

The above examples are some of the traps you may encounter at a poker tournament. It is good to learn and navigate ways of rooting out others to be able to find yourself at the final table.