Exploitative Tournament Strategy

Tournaments are an entirely different beast compared to cash games. Chip values constantly change as blinds increase and payouts approach. The ResultsPoker.com method focuses on identifying exactly what phase of the tournament your opponents believe they are in and aggressively doing the exact opposite to steal their equity.

Deep Stack Early Stages

In the opening levels everyone has plenty of big blinds. The most common opponent mistake here is playing cautiously to survive. You should play a very wide starting hand range from late position to capitalize on their fear. Implied odds are massive during this phase. Set mining and playing suited connectors allow you to trap tight players who refuse to fold their premium pairs after the flop.

Mid Stage Bubble Dynamics

As the money bubble approaches players tighten up drastically. This is where true exploitative players build their stacks. You must identify the players desperately trying to min cash and relentlessly reraise their opens. Your starting hand requirements become much looser when you know the player to your left will fold everything except the absolute best hands to protect their tournament life.

Short Stack End Game

When the average stack drops below twenty big blinds the game becomes entirely about pressure. Forget complex post flop maneuvering. You need to intimately understand push and fold ranges. However the exploitative twist is knowing which opponents call too tight and which call too loose. If an opponent is terrified of busting you can shove an incredibly wide range of starting hands directly into their blinds and collect free chips to carry you to the final table.