Strategy with Sushi: Part IV – Play Poker Tournaments Like a Pro

Poker-Strategy-Aditya-SushantOnlinePokerNews (OPN) presents an exclusive column of poker strategies with Adda52 Team Spades pro Aditya Sushant in which he’ll share his views on several strategy questions. With over 5 years of experience at live as well as online poker games, Aditya is one of the most successful professional poker players in India. In this weekly strategy column, he will share his thoughts on a number of poker strategy topics and give a detailed insight of this game of skill.

Winning a poker tournament is the biggest dream of any poker player. Tournaments are the biggest platforms to win huge prize money with nominal investment in buy-ins as well as get recognition in the poker community. Poker Tournaments have a variety of events with ever increasing blind levels which requires a different set of strategy making them more thrilling than normal cash games. In the 4th chapter of “Strategy With Sushi”, Aditya Sushant talks about how to play tournaments like a pro.

Q1. With what mindset one should go for poker tournaments?

Sushi – A player should obviously go with an aim to win the title in tournaments. There are several events in a tournament with different structures and buy-ins. So, a player should choose his game as per his/her playing style and aim for the Top 3 places.

Q2. How a player needs to vary his poker strategy as per the size of the field?

Sushi – Big field tournaments are like a marathon run. So one needs to start slowly and play a little conservatively to build a good stack. However, in small field tournaments, one can play aggressively to chip up faster.

Q3. How should a player change his strategy from initial level to the later stages of a tournament?

Sushi – Although it depends on individual’s gameplay style, one can play tight-aggressive in the initial stage and start putting pressure on the opponents with a good stack in later stages. I’ll suggest to stick with the strategy you’re comfortable with.

Q4. What will you suggest for playing deepstack and turbo tournaments?

Sushi – In deepstack tournaments, you get much time. So you should play slowly and smartly pick your spots. In the turbo events, you need to take chances to chip-up and push your opponents aggressively.

Q5. How should a short stack player play on the final table to earn more?

Sushi – The final table gameplay for a short stack player depends upon how big the payouts are. If the payouts are flat, one should be aggressive on final tables. In an event with steep payouts, one should target other short stack players and trying chipping up to finish in a better position.

Strategy with Sushi’ is an attempt to help the amateur poker player to understand his poker path. We start with elementary poker questions and gradually tread the unchartered territory. If you have a question to ask or a topic to discuss then email us at editor@onlinepokernews.in and we will surely take it up with the Pro.