bencb's 2023 Poker Tips: Improve Your Win Rate in Low to Mid-Stakes Tournaments

Poker pro bencb shares essential strategies for boosting your win rate in low to mid-stakes tournaments. Learn to play tighter, focus on stable prize money, and avoid large bluffs against recreational players.

The author advises playing much tighter than previously thought. Today, we have much more data available, which allows us to conclude that the correct game is often much tighter than we thought before. One of the typical situations is the hijack against the cutoff, we made a raise and received a 3-bet of 6 bb. Here is our answer by chipEV: And this is a good preflop chart... well, better than nothing. Its problem is that it does not work in tournaments. In the game, half of the field, to the prizes is still far away, but ICM is already noticeably affecting our decisions.

bencb suggests that stable prize money is more important than occasional top finishes. Money in tournaments is earned by stable hitting of worthy prizes, not episodic arrivals in the top 1. The concept of 'playing for the first place' is a mistaken concept that is still too widespread among regulars. We all love to dream, there is nothing wrong with that, but the dream should not spoil our game. The correct approach is solid, patient poker on the early and middle stages with frequent hits in prizes. If you think only about victories, this will lead only to additional stress on the late stages of tournaments, which inevitably worsens your chances of success. Stable high results on the distance will bring you more episodic arrivals on the background of regular failures.