Thu, 08/11/2011 – 00:03 – PokerPages Staff

If you’re a beginner poker player and want to play tournaments then it helps to be aware of the main stages involved. The following poker information is based on No Limit Hold’em poker but still applies to most types.

The Early Stage
At the beginning, you’ll have a larger stack in comparison to the blinds. There are two main strategies: wait for a good hand before betting, or playing many hands in an attempt to win more chips. Whichever way you choose remember not to take any unnecessary risks early on.

The Middle Stage
The middle stage is when the blinds have grown and around about a third of the field has busted. As the blinds will be continuously increasing you can no longer wait for good hands if you have a small stack and will have to be more active with your raising to win blinds. The more blinds you steal and chips you win through your poker betting the better you’ll stand later.

The Late Stage
Now, all players will possess a range of different stack sizes. Even if your opponents play in a tight fashion your best move is to continue with your aggressive betting to keep winning chips. If your stack is large as you reach the ‘bubble’ then your play will scare off players with smaller stacks. If your stack is small but you still want to try to come first then don’t be scared about betting all your chips if you have a good hand.

At the final table continue with your forward style of betting. In general, everyone in a game will enjoy the same number of good hands and when no one has a good one it will be the most aggressive player who wins the chips.

Visit PokerSchoolOnline for more information or play a free tournament and test what you’ve learned at PokerStars.net.