Have you ever kept yourself from attempting to steal the
blinds, even though you normally would, because you know the
player in the big blind could put all his chips in on any
hand? Have you ever folded a medium strength hand to a bet on
the flop because you know that if you call you’ll very likely be
faced with another large bet on the turn? Fear is a powerful
tool in No Limit Hold’em tournaments, and you need to make sure
you’re the one creating it, not suffering from it, when playing
for real money at
tournament online poker sites.
There are a number of reasons that players may be fearful of playing hands against one another, including previous encounters against each other, notoriety, or sheer fist pounding aggression. Since the first two can only be achieved through time and lots of play, let’s concentrate on the aggression.
Showing your opposition that you are fearless, and can make big bets whether you have the nuts, complete air, or a decent draw, is essential. Constant aggression is by far the easiest way to make them think twice about stealing your blinds, or calling your continuation bets. Your opponents with similar or smaller chip stacks will become fearful of playing in hands you are involved with, since they know that you could put them to a decision for all their chips at any time. Once you have your opponents shaking in their boots, you can take advantage of them by betting at more flops, betting at scare cards, and stealing blinds more often.
Aggressive, big bet play creates the most fear in weak-tight players, who will often allow you to just run over them. These players value their tournament life to the point that they will often deviate from proper pot odds plays to avoid having to push it all in when there is a chance they could be behind. Weak-tight players are fairly predictable in that they will usually bet when they hit a flop, and usually check/fold when they miss. Many of these players won’t continue past the flop without at least top pair, and by simply being aggressive and betting big at most flops you will find that they will fold a large percentage of the time. When they know you aren’t afraid of going broke, you can steal their blinds at will, and watch them check/fold to you at every opportunity.
The greatest advantage to this aggressive, fearless type of play is that once you are able to start running over a table, or at least part of one, it becomes easier and easier. Your chip stack grows and your opponents become more reluctant to play hands against you, so you are able to become more aggressive. As inflection points in the tournament occur you can become still more aggressive, since you know that your risk-averse opponents certainly don’t want to put all their chips at risk right before they get to the money or a significant pay increase.
Stop playing in fear of going broke, and start making your opponents think long and hard before getting involved in hands against you!