Styles of Play

 

An average group of players in a Limit Holdem tournament will play tight to begin with. Midway through the first limit level they will start to play as loose as a $20/$40 game.  The poorer players will bust and leave the game. As the tournament reaches its third limit level, play will tighten up again to be more like a $30/$60 game. By the fifth level play will have tightened up to be more like a $60/$120 game.
By the seventh level only around fifteen percent of players are still in the game, they will on average only have enough chips for five or six big bets. With only half of the players destined to end in the money and the rest of the competitors destined for a bus ride home the tension will start to tell and only the strong will cope with it.

Three quarters of those still in the tournament are just trying to end up in the money they are sometimes called farmers for trying to harvest a crop. The rest of the players are the foxes of the poker world. They are the crafty professionals out to steal pots form the farmers and other foxes.
The average tournament starts with only one in ten of the players a fox but these are the players who make it to the end stages on account of their skill and aggressive play.

This is where the pot stealing instincts of the foxes come into their own because the games become so tight that the vast majority of the hands never reach the flop and a blind is worth around three quarters of a large bet, remember that at this stage players only have enough chips for five or six big bets so the foxes who can consistently steal the most pots will steadily gain ground on the other players.

The final cut is made at around the 9th level and anyone still playing is in the money. The farmers are are now few in number amongst the foxes and are happy to be just n the money. Relieved they will often become emboldened and the foxes wary of this sudden show of courage by the farmers will slink back into ultra tight play until the dust settles.

In the end stage of the tournament with just four players left perhaps there will be only one farmer left in the game who will be hoping his luck holds out.

Look at how many chips the players in the blind positions have left. You will need a good hand to raise if either of them looks like they might go All-In. You will need an even better hand to win if either of the blind position players has earlier been calling with weak hands.
 

Next you mustn't allow your chip stack fall below three and a half big bets worth so that you could, should you need to, raise pre-flop and go on to bet in each of the subsequent rounds of betting or at least let the other players know that you are capable of fighting all the way for a pot keeping you in a position of strength, the last thing you want to do is actually use them because somebody calls.  While you have your three and a half big bets worth of chips you should be prepared to steal the pots by raising and scaring off your opponents just to maintain your chips at a level that can withstand the escalating blinds even with poorer hands than you normally would if needs be.

Be bold in your betting while you can be. Once your chips have fallen below two large pots you will be forced to hang in there like a farmer, preying for a good hand that will get you into the money ranks before you are confronted. So be bold and avoid this situation by raising with these average hands to steal those lovely pots.

The same applies to the weighting you give to your game depending on your positions. Try harder to steal the pot with a raise from early positions than you normally would especially if you have a couple of pot stealing foxes to your right to offset the pots that they are stealing from you.

If a farmer actually raises from an early position be careful because you will need a great hand to beat them. If you find a fox is stealing pots off you you must challenge them with a re-raise even if you only have a Q T or K 9 to keep yourself in that position of strength.

Although you would like at least a pair for the big pot wins, remember that in blind stealing it is the raising itself that is the key not your hand.

In the final stage of the tournament you will hear the defeated farmers telling their bad beat stories of losing a pot to a to a fox who only had a 6D 8D while they had a pair of Kings.

This isn't about luck because in Texas Holdem you do not need to have been dealt the best hand to win, being the boldest fox is quite enough!