Changing Strategy When Changing Tournament Tables

In poker tournaments, the advanced player needs to be sensitive to when and how tables are changed throughout the games. The breaking up and building of poker tables occurs constantly during the tournament. This happens because some of the players go broke, and because the poker tournament slowly advances towards the final levels. Image is everything in poker and you want to be careful what your playing impression is when you change tables.

As a poker tournament player, you might find yourself playing at a certain table at one stage of the tournament, and quickly after, find yourself in a completely different table, with different tournament players altogether.

There are three types of poker tournament table changes:

Changes of poker tournament tables which you are aware of and expect.
Poker tournament table changes that are not advertised early hand.
Poker table changes that are advertised, but only to players that ask and find out for themselves.

Every poker player needs to try and find out what are the scheduled poker tournament table changes, if they are not advertised during the game.

How Does Table Changes Influence You Poker Tournament Play?

If your table is going to change soon<, you do not need to create an impression on other players. This is because, when the poker tournament table changes, so do the players, and new players will not be aware of the false impression you were trying to make, as a tight or as a loose player. This is why poker bluffing is also redundant at this stage.
When you know your table is about to change, then you should take advantage of the poker tournament table you are in. If the table is an easy one with unskilled players, you would want to play and participate for as much as possible, to win as much as you can from those players before the table changes. On the other hand, if it is a tough table, you would want to consider staying out of the games until the table changes.
If the poker tournament table is supposed to stay together for a long time, the sound player should adapt to a long term strategy and play the game accordingly.

Matthew Dorst
Web Publisher

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