So, we have all seen the big shots and high rollers on the final tables of major tournaments, and online, there is an abundance of tournaments with big cash prizes for the winners. Tournament poker on TV is one of the main causes of the poker boom of recent years. A tournament win in a bigger event has been the start of many a successful poker career.

Tournament poker as a game differs from cash games since all players start with the same amount of chips, and unlike a cash game, the blinds are not fixed, but increase as the tournament progresses. Therefore, tournament strategy changes over time - employing the same strategy in the latter phases as in the early is just plain suicidal. This article will cover the first three or four levels, when the average stack compared to the size of the blinds is still comparatively large.

There are basically two viable general strategies for the early phases - loose and tight.
If we decide to play a loose early game, we will play quite the same way as we would in a cash game. We will call with marginal holdings like suited one-gappers and the like, when in position. When first in the pot, we will raise any hand that we are going to play. If it is folded to us in late position, we sometimes open very loose, with perhaps something as bad as 64o. We will play our draws aggressively and we won’t mind gambling for our whole stack when having just a slight edge.

If we play it tight, we are waiting for good cards. Sure, we will still play suited connectors and small-medium pocket pairs when in position, but our main goal is to just sit tight, observe the opposition and strike when we have a premium holding. A lot of hands will be thrown away preflop, but when we do play a hand, we will play it aggressively. We try to avoid big coin flips and unnecessary gambles in order to survive.
The loose strategy, logically, leads to busting out earlier more often, but when we do make it deeper into the tournament, we will often have a big stack. The tight strategy, which is more focused on survival, will take us to the middle stages of the tournament more often, albeit often with a comparatively much smaller stack.

So - which way to go, loose or tight?
It is all a matter of personal choice. Find out which playing style yields the more success for you, and then work on optimizing it. However, do keep a close watch on your table. For example, even if we like to play loose early on, should it turn out that the whole table is full of maniacs pushing preflop every hand - well, then we just have to sit tight and wait for a premium holding.
That’s poker!

Written by Andris Kangeris for 24hPoker.com