Busting Poker Players Out of Tournaments: Put Them All in

One of the biggest differences you will find when playing an online Texas Holdem poker tournament versus a regular ring game is “busting” people - deciding to put them all in. While this may happen by chance in a ring game – after all, not everyone is as good a player as you – in a tournament, it is a given. But, the concept of “busting” poker players out of the tournament is often elusive to some people, simply because when given the opportunity, they are also usually given a weak hand.

Let’s say you are playing five or six handed midway through an online Texas Holdem tournament at an online poker site. You have a pretty comfortable lead over one player in particular; say a 5-1 chip lead (his $400 to your $2,000). He has called the big blind ($100) and it’s now up to you with no other callers. You have been dealt an unsuited Q-10. You can now fold, call, or raise. This illustration shows one of the biggest differences between ring games and online Texas Holdem tournaments. You have a very good opportunity to bust a player right out of the tournament, and thereby put yourself one step closer to first place. If you win, not only do you win his chips, but you move up a spot. If you lose, however, you have allowed him to turn his $400 to $800, plus the blinds, and have put him in a pretty good spot. If you do nothing, and don’t call the hand at all, you either (a) give him a chance to get a better hand, or (b) end up with an even worse hand than the original Q-10. Now, a hand that is barely worth a second thought in a ring game gives you tremendous potential.

In this particular example at an online poker site if you are going to call a situation like this, it’s best just to put him all in and hope for the best. If he has enough of a hand to call the blind with, it is likely that he will call the raise, as long as it is pre-flop. If he is allowed to see the flop for just the blind – meaning, you don’t raise him – he might fold on you after he has seen that the flop hasn’t hit him. This is good for you – you win the hand – but it allows him the opportunity to select another good starting hand. If he calls your raise, you’ll just have to see what kind of luck you have, but the options are better for you in this case. If you win your hand, you have one less player to worry about. If you lose the hand, he has doubled up, but you still have a pretty decent chip lead over him.

This doesn’t mean you should always attempt to bust other players in an online poker tournament. Wait for the right situation – just the two of you, a good chip lead, and a fairly decent hand. If there are already a few callers, this situation should look even less appealing. By playing three or four handed, this allows that same player to quadruple his money, and that puts him right back in the tournament. So, remember: choose wisely, because it’s never fun to have a player come back and beat you when you had the opportunity to bust him.

Byron Badd, Gambling911.com

Originally published March 17, 2007 10:43 am ET