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I won’t claim to be any sort of poker savant, and while I play the game seriously, I’m not a poker pro by any means. I make the bulk of my living as an advantage-play casino gambler, battling the house in blackjack and video poker for the most part. For me, poker is a way to blow off steam and an escape from the often rote and mechanical world of table game advantage play.

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At the poker table, I’m free to mix up my moves, applying creativity in conjunction with strategy to try and outwit my opponents. And while most casino games have long since been mastered through mathematical analysis, Texas hold’em still offers an unpredictable game where random chance, bluffs, and the human element all conspire to influence the outcome.

Simply put, I love playing poker for pleasure over profit. Even so, the goal for every poker player is winning – to win this pot, the next one, and eventually, the entire tournament.

I’ve had the pleasure of winning a tournament or two in my day, and let me tell you, there’s nothing quite like it in the world. The adrenaline rush, the sense of accomplishment, and of course, the top prize payout all combine to create an experience you won’t soon forget.

To help you experience that feeling for yourself, I present my guide to dominating small-buy-in poker tournaments.

Game Selection Is Crucial

“Game selection, although often overlooked, is an important part of your poker education. You might want to avoid a game where the lineup includes a bunch of pros.
Be wary of how tough the game you’re in is, and try to avoid the toughest game in the house!”
– Phil Hellmuth, 14-time WSOP bracelet winner

On my most recent trip to Las Vegas, just a few weeks ago, in fact, I happened to arrive right as two mid-level tournament series were taking place. I had a choice between playing a few prelims at the Venetian DeepStack Extravaganza, or the WSOP-C event at the Rio. Both series offer several events that fall within our small-buy-in classification, and both venues are known for running top-notch tournaments.

Thus, I had two seemingly evenly matched series to choose from.

Based on prior experience playing both, however, it didn’t take long at all to decide on the WSOP-C. Affectionately known as “The Circuit” by touring pros, this offshoot of the larger WSOP travels around the country hosting small-stakes series. Most of the prelims are priced at $365, and each stop is capped off by a $1,675 Main Event.

Conversely, the Venetian DeepStack Extravaganza is an in-house affair, hosted several times each year by the Venetian poker room. But while the buy-ins are almost identical, with a slew of prelims priced at $300 or so and a $1,600 Main Event, tournaments at the Venetian tend to attract tougher tournament players.

Maybe it’s because these guys and gals grind there every night, creating a roomful of card sharps just waiting for tourists like me to saunter in. Or perhaps the bigger-name pros look down on the WSOP-C as the “minor leagues,” so they stay away from the Rio until the real WSOP arrives. In any case, I’ve found the WSOP-C to offer softer competition, so I chose to play there over the Venetian.

That’s just one example, of course, but it illustrates the importance of game selection.

During any series or circuit stop, you’ll have a dozen or more prelim events on the schedule. And in a place like Sin City, there’re usually two or three mid-level series taking place at the same time. Without a sensible approach to game selection, you can easily put yourself at a disadvantage simply by signing up to play much tougher opponents.

In the first WSOP-C Rio event I entered – a $365 No Limit hold’em tournament with re-entries and a $250,000 guaranteed prize pool – I found myself sitting alongside senior citizens and tourists looking for a good time. Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of competent players on hand, but on an overall scale, the caliber of competition was rather weak.

And while the cards didn’t cooperate for me on that day, a genuine amateur who just happened to be visiting Vegas that week wound up winning the whole shebang. For just $365, Randy Khami outlasted a field of 1,074 entries to take home $57,462 in winnings, along with his first WSOP-C gold ring. For a casual player like Khami, who had never cashed for more than $1,400 before, playing against the softer WSOP-C field gave him a chance to live every poker player’s dream.

On the other side of the Strip, a similarly sized prelim event at the Venetian saw professional Jon Turner take the title. Turner, better known as “PearlJammed” from his days as an online beast, simply added to his more than $2.7 million in live tournament earnings. Confronted with highly talented pros like Turner, players like myself and Khami are the proverbial “dead money” at the table.

Therefore, one of the most important steps you can take toward dominating small-buy-in poker tournaments takes place before you ever buy in. Practicing savvy game selection gives you the best chance to overcome the odds and wind up enjoying a deep run.

Study Your Structure Sheets Closely

“I grew up playing tournaments with fast structures. It was fun for me as a kid, just playing was enjoyable so I didn’t mind playing in tournaments with 20-minute levels and huge jumps.
I’m not a kid anymore, though, and I find fast paced structures to get boring very quickly.
I simply don’t enjoy the pre-flop aspects of the game nearly as much as the post flop part of the game, but the faster the structure, the less of an opportunity you have to really take advantage of the weaker players at the table.”
– Daniel “Kid Poker” Negreanu, the all-time tournament earnings leader with over $36.5 million in live cashes

Another aspect of game selection that allows you to maximize your ability while limiting your skill liability is studying structure sheets.

As “Kid Poker” himself observes, most small-stakes daily or nightly tournaments run by local casinos use a turbo structure. In other words, the starting stacks are on the smaller side (5,000 to 10,000 chips, for the most part), while the blinds escalate quite rapidly at 15- or 20-minute intervals.

Conversely, a “major” tournament like a series Main Event or higher-priced WSOP prelim gives players larger stacks (15,000 or 20,000) and longer blind levels (30 minutes to one hour).

And within each individual structure, skipping certain blind levels can wreak havoc on the overall gameplay. When the blinds jump from 400/800 to 600/1,200, for example, missing out on that 500/1,000 level instantly shrinks your “effective stack.”

Just in case you’re in the dark on that poker slang, your effective stack simply measures your chip count against the current big blind.

Let’s say you have 10,000 chips when the big blind is set at 100. In this case, you’re sitting on 100 big blinds, which is quite comfortable. You have room to maneuver, make creative plays, and mix it up during post-flop rounds without fear of going broke.

But just a few levels later, with the big blind increased to 500, your 10,000 chips now equate to just 20 big blinds. You’re still doing fine at this point, but your options

Small Ball Poker Tournament Strategy