Fulltiltpoker – Pressure Play in the Final Stages of Tournaments
Category: Poker
Full tilt poker – If we are lucky enough to reach the final two players in a Multi Table Tournament, then as players, it is important to know how to give ourselves the best chance of winning.
There are some players out there who may feel that caution is the best approach, and while I would certainly agree that cautious play does have it’s place in poker, I don’t think it is in heads up play.
The fact is, that in a MTT, when you reach the closing stages, the blinds will be very damaging to you, and so you cannot wait for a strong hand to get involved. Every hand that you fold preflop, you are giving chunks of chips away to your opponent in blinds, and this, will begin to give them the edge, unless of course you start with a big chip lead. In the situation of starting with a strong lead in chips, you can afford to wait to an extent, but I still feel that applying immediate pressure, could swing the chip count further in your favour before your opponent makes their move.
The only situation where I would choose not to be immediately aggressive heads up, would be if I am shortstacked myself. In this situation, it is true that you need to gamble quickly, but I would wait a few hands to try and pick up either suited connectors, any two paint cards, any pair or Ace. If I outchip my opponent by a considerable margin, I will probably shove with almost any two cards every hand. Fulltiltpoker