by Reg Brittain

Created on: December 11, 2006   Last Updated: March 18, 2007

Flash forward five years. You - yes you! - sit at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas - at the final table no less - with opponents like Greg "Fossilman" Raymer, and Joe Hachem. Your stack of chips - tall, imposing - casts a shadow over all other stacks at the table. Mathematically, you are the favorite to win the tournament and be crowned the next world champion! How did you get here?

Getting there will not be easy, but you can do it, and it can be fun. It all begins with one essential step:

Read!

Lately, it seems one cannot enter an aisle at the local chain bookstore without first negotiating a mound of "How To" poker books. If you want to play poker for more than just fun, take a rest the next time you cross that mound - and pick up a book or two.

Make sure the books you pick up focus on tournament poker (after all, that is what you will be playing at that final table five years from now, right?).

Two books that give great poker tournament advice are Kill Phil, and The Poker Tournament Formula. Indeed, Kill Phil has been a great help to my own game, even to the point of helping me win a televised poker tournament for $25,000. (Just Google my name and the word "poker" to verify.) Both books are supported by free online poker forums, where experienced players - and the books' authors - give further advice.

Be Patient.

Playing good poker means folding most of your hands. What should you do if you dislike your cards and have plenty of chips? Fold. What if you like your hand, but two players raised in front of you? Fold. There are eight players to act after you and you hold two cards that have nothing in common (9-2, for example)? Fold. You hold a joker and a piece of lint? Fold.

Be Creative.

Winning at tournaments is different from winning at regular poker. For all the folding recommended above, you cannot just wait for the very best hands and expect to win at tournament poker. As you read and play, you will realize ways you can play creatively and "steal" pots. Sometimes, you will even find ways to make the game "your own", with a move you have not read in a book. (Read books before you start "tinkering" with your game. You have to know the rules to break them, right?)

Be "First In".

When I "get creative", I usually like to be the "first in the pot". In other words, I want to be the first person to put chips into the pot that round (such as "the flop" in Texas Hold 'em). Why? Pots are easier to steal when your opponents are not "married" to them - when they have invested a small percentage of their chips.

Well, that's my time. There is some poker tournament (or other interest not covered here) that calls. I hope these ideas help you play better tournament poker. Perhaps, we will meet on the green felt someday, but if it is at the World Series of Poker final table five years from now, do me a favor and forget everything you read here. Deal?

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