Guide to your First Poker Tournament

Most of my online poker is playing at https://poker.bwin.com/, which is a great up and coming poker room backed up by a large sportsbook (I like feeling safe when I deposit money into a site), but I also enjoy playing in live poker tournaments. My first ever tournament was a scary thing, I did not have a clue what to do, where to go, where to sit or how to stack my chips. Hopefully this article will help you feel confident if you finish beating me at bwin.com and decide to visit a live poker tournament.

The following advice is relevant to any weekly casino event that is not a large buy-in, although much will be the same no matter what the buy-in is.

Arriving at the Casino

Bring ID with you when you arrive at the casino, especially if it is your first visit. Some of the modern casinos do not require written membership but you will have to prove you are over the legal age to play, particularly if you look young! Once you have given your details if you need to access you can access the casino floor. Usually the poker room is situated at the back of the casino, meaning you will need to navigate through the games room to find it. Casinos do this because they want to tempt you with roulette, blackjack and craps before you sit down to play poker!

Poker Etiquette

At the poker table in a low buy-in event there is not the level of intensity of a WSOP tournament. Most players take the game seriously but are there mainly to have a good time. Aggressively table talk like Tony G is not suitable and you should not splash the pot or go any further than light-hearted banter. As much as players would like to think otherwise, poker is primarily a social activity in less than $50 buy-in events although you should play to win at all times.

Sunglasses and iPods are usually banned for low limit events in casinos as they try and promote a good social experience rather than intensive life or death poker. You can still play hard, but please remain in the confines of the house rules.

Sitting Down

When you first enter the tournament you will be given a number. This is displayed on the big screen which shows your table and seat number. This will be random and it is important you sit where you are supposed to. Take your seat, get a feel for your chips and re-arrange them as you like. Count your chips so you know exactly what the configuration of your stack is. Get into the mindset of winning and plan your strategy. It is time to play.

Playing Your First Hand

When you are dealt your cards, look at your cards after you have watched the reaction of the other players looking at their cards as many players give away the strength of their hand in their immediate reactions after looking at their cards. Begin to immediately formulate opinions on opponent’s looseness or tightness. Unless you have AA, KK, QQ, JJ or AK I like to fold the opening hand as losing a pot straight away can make you feel like this is not your day and unsettle you. I will only play AQ as first person in with an unraised pot. From the first hand start forming the image you want to profit from later in the tournament.

If/When you Bust

Most casinos give you a card and you should pass this into the tournament desk usually situated at the periphery of the poker room before you leave the casino. This allows the casino to log your finishing position and assists the management of the poker tournament. You do not need to shake every player by the hand but I always say “good luck guys” and shake the hand of the player who busted me before I leave and that always makes me feel I’ve left in a nice way, even if I have taken a bad beat.

Remember to enjoy yourself too! If you have played lots of poker tournaments at bwin.com then you should be more than equipt to do well in a live poker setting.

By Malcolm Clarke