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A Featured Texas Hold Em Article

To go or not to go all in ? that is the question


By Johnny Kampis

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. So goes a Chinese proverb that is also an apt description of the beginning of a poker tournament.

Consider starting with 1,500 chips in a tournament with 100 people. In order to win the tournament, you must have 150,000 chips in the end. When you think about it like that it seems almost an unfathomable task, an attempt to climb Mt. Everest. But somebody?s got to do it.

I?ve found over time that I tend to do better at live tournaments than those I play online. At first, I thought it was maybe because I was good at reading people, which is impossible to do online, but then I realized it was something else. When you play online, it?s always easy to see what the average chip count is among the players remaining in the tournament and it can be easy to panic if you are far below the average. I tend to start pushing all in with hands I shouldn?t play or in situations in which I should probably fold.

But when you?re playing live, there is no screen to tell you where you stand against the rest of the field. You can do some calculations in your head to figure out about where you stand, but there?s no number constantly in front of you telling you that.

Just as patience is key in a regular ring game of poker, it?s also key when you have a below average stack in a tournament. Consider that the average stack in a tournament you are playing is 10,000. You have 5,000 and the blinds are 200 and 400. You are well below average, but you aren?t a short stack yet. You don?t have to push all in when you raise. It gives you time to wait on a quality hand before making a move, and if you can double up once you are back to average.

I played a tournament at Binion?s in Las Vegas this summer in which I was a below average stack nearly the entire event, but I stayed patient and was able to get good hands on which to double up on. Finally, when I got to the final table I caught hand after hand and ended up winning the tournament. Had I hurriedly pushed all in earlier in the affair with a less than premium hand and lost I wouldn?t have given myself a chance to catch the hands I was dealt later.

It?s better to pass up a so-so opportunity now in order to get a much better opportunity later. Otherwise, you?ll never get to climb Mt. Everest.

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