Three Myths About Poker Tournaments That Are Simply Wrong

Poker is a game of skill more than it is a game of chance. Despite the fact that only a small percentage of players actually make a lot of money from playing the game, there are millions of players around the world who take part in it. They play tournaments, cash games, online poker, and more, and the majority of them have a No. 1 wrong perception of poker — that it is a game of chance.

In other words, whenever the majority of poker players fail to achieve some positive results, they blame it on luck rather than their (lack of) skills. Therefore, in order to really outperform yourself, you need to practice as much as possible and learn everything that you can find and is poker-related.

In order to help you in your poker journey, we debunk three myths that many players believe about tournaments.

Pressure Is Only Possible with Big Stacks

Some poker players believe that the only effective way to play aggressively and put pressure on other players is if you have a big stack. In fact, many just let the one with the biggest stack become the “driver” of the game, while others would just sit in silence. This is actually not true at all.

You need to look at poker as a set of individual hands where each hand gives you a new opportunity to change your strategy and adapt to other players better. Unlike other sports where the coach needs to prepare tactics for the entire game, poker is susceptible to an immediate change of tactics whenever you see fit.

Short Stacks Mean Committing

Many players who are severely short-stacked believe that the only way out is to actually commit and go all-in if they have good hands. In other words, many just think there is no space for playing tight at that point and that they must go all-in. This is also a big myth in poker that is mostly not true.

There is always room for playing tight, and it is up to you to decide whether you want one approach or another. The point is, if you are short on chips, make sure to think every hand through carefully; don’t just go for the all-in option as soon as you have good cards. When you are short and go all-in, chances are you are going to get called most of the time, and that’s quite a gamble.

Never Call a Raise After You Get to a Certain Number of Big Blinds

Many people simply avoid calling a raise once they are left with a specific number of BBs because they saw it in some poker books that were written more than two decades ago. However, poker is a game that evolves, and there are many things that have changed since then, including this rule. This has changed nowadays, as the majority of players use open-raise sizes that are much smaller than several years ago.

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