learn · tournament
Tournament.
In a tournament you cannot top up and the forced bets keep rising. As a result your stack shrinks even when you do nothing wrong, and the game changes character twice along the way: first when your stack becomes too small to manoeuvre after the flop, and again when the prize money comes into view.
count your stack in big blinds
The number of chips in front of you says nothing. Twenty thousand chips is a large stack when the big blind is two hundred, and a short one when it is two thousand. So convert again after every level: stack divided by the big blind, and that number decides how you play. What the blinds are doing to you is the whole clock of a tournament.
What counts on top of that is the smaller of the two stacks in a pot, because no more than that can be won. That is the effective stack. Sit with a hundred big blinds against someone with twelve and you play that hand with twelve. The same idea measured against the pot rather than the opponent is the stack to pot ratio.
More than 25 big blinds
Ordinary poker
You have enough left to manoeuvre after the flop. Everything you learned across the four betting rounds applies here without exception.
15 to 25 big blinds
Transition
Some play after the flop is still possible, but moving all in already comes into view from the late seats and against whoever is going after your blinds.
8 to 15 big blinds
All or nothing
Mostly moving everything in at once, or folding. A small raise leaves too little behind and removes the chance that everyone folds immediately.
Fewer than 8 big blinds
Purely all or nothing
Waiting for a pretty hand costs you the tournament here: the forced bets eat your stack, and at some point everyone calls you.
all or nothing
With a short stack you win most pots without any cards being shown: you move all in and everyone folds. That weapon works as long as your stack is big enough to hurt. Drop far below that and calling becomes so cheap for your opponents that they almost always do it, and your advantage is gone. So you move in on time and with more hands than you would think, rather than waiting until you have hardly any chips left.
With twelve big blinds on the button, is an easy all in, while the same hand goes into the muck from the first seat: the fewer people who decide after you, the more hands you can play. That is the same rule as position at a full table, only sharper. The complete lists per stack size sit in the free push fold calculator, from eight to twenty big blinds and with a separate version for the bubble.
just before the money
When one more player has to go out before the prize money begins, you are on the bubble. The maths changes there. A chip you win is worth less than a chip you lose, because busting pays nothing while one place further does pay. The consequence: you call an all in more tightly than the chip count would suggest, and with a big stack you put pressure on everyone who does not dare. How the whole structure of a multi table event leads up to that point is set out in the page on multi table tournaments.
That conversion from chips to money is called ICM, and once you are in the money it keeps counting, because every place you move up is worth money again. At the final table it matters most, and that is also where it returns when the remaining players want to split the prize pool; the deal calculator works that out per player.
next step
The ICM tool: what is your stack really worth.
Enter the stacks and the prize pool and you see what each player's position is worth in money. That number is what steers your decision on the bubble, and it nearly always differs from what the chip count whispers to you. Free, no account.
questions about tournaments
What is the difference between a tournament and a cash game?
In a cash game your chips stand for real money and you can get up at any moment. In a tournament you buy in once, the forced bets keep rising, and you play until your stack is gone. Only those who get far enough are paid anything.
What does counting your stack in big blinds mean?
It is the only measure that says anything in a tournament. Twenty thousand chips sounds like a lot, but if the big blind is a thousand you have twenty big blinds, and then you have only a few hands of room. Recalculate after every level.
When do you go all in in a tournament?
Below roughly fifteen big blinds, moving everything in or folding becomes the standard choice. A small raise commits you to the pot anyway and at the same time removes the chance that everyone folds, and with a short stack that last thing is your most important weapon.
What is the bubble?
The moment just before the prize money starts. Whoever busts there gets nothing, while the next player to survive is paid. Because of that many players play far more cautiously than is sensible, and that is exactly what someone with a big stack can exploit.
What is ICM in poker?
A method that converts your stack into an expected amount of money instead of an amount of chips. Winning chips is worth less than losing chips costs: doubling up rarely makes you twice as valuable, but losing everything means zero. That is why you call an all in more tightly near the money than the chip count alone would suggest.
What is a final table deal?
An agreement in which the remaining players split the prize money among themselves instead of playing it out. That can be done by the ratio of the stacks or by ICM, and those two give different amounts. Work it out before you agree to anything.
Back to the overview of learning poker, or read why a long run of tournaments without a result says nothing about your play in the lesson on variance.