You may have guessed by now that I am a huge fan of deep stacks Texas Hold’em poker tournaments. The reason is because it gives me a considerable edge over most of my opponents. Why is that? Because deep stacks tournaments with long levels and lots of chips lend themselves to a lot more skill than the poker tournaments that have a fast structure and everyone is chasing flush draws from the first card that hits the felt.

Small pot Poker

Unlike the hyper-aggressive fast structure poker tournaments you will see none of the pre-flop all-in moves early in this kind of poker tournament. Deep stacks tournaments require you to play small pots and play them well. One thing that I have noticed is that many of the internet players struggle in these kinds of tournaments because they are so used to just shoving their chips in the middle when they pick up a big hand. Value betting is key in a deep stacks tourney and if it bothers you to play small ball then you are not very likely to do well in these.

Patience

These tournaments are becoming more and more popular in poker rooms around the country. Everyone loves to have a truck load of chips, usually $10k or more. In any event you are not going to win this kind of tournament with just a couple of double ups and cruising to the final table. If you are not getting much value out of your hands you will have very little chance of being successful. You need to be involved in hands and remain patient. You do not have to play every single hand but you do need to play speculative hands from time to time. You can afford to wait for good hands and stay away from marginal confrontations when you don’t have to be involved in them.

Flat Calling

In a deep stacks tournament flat calling is extremely powerful. The reason is that you will not be able to make a raise large enough to push anyone that wants to play a hand out of the pot. At least not early in the tournament you won’t. This means that the person that is flat calling will have a tremendous opportunity to pick up a lot of chips with small pairs and suited connectors when the flop hits them right. These are the kinds of hands that end up making those large pots. Sure, you are going to win some of those pots when holding the big premium hands but cracking those hands is where the most profit lies if you can be patient enough to wait for the game to come to you and not attempt to force the action when it isn’t there.