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How to Organize a Poker Tournament

If you enjoy an evening spent with your friends and family playing cards (as opposed to an evening collecting poker bonuses) this guide will show you how to organize a poker tournament. I have held several tournaments over the years and have developed a process that makes the task seem less overwhelming. The process can be broken down into three phases – Planning, Organizing, and Execution.

The Planning Stage

Picking the date and location of the tournament is the first decision you need to make. If you will be playing for real money, make sure this is legal in the town or venue you have chosen. Also consider the minimum number of guests you would like to invite.

Once you have found a location that meets your minimum capacity, you can begin to calculate the number of participants your tournament can hold. Based on the available space determine how many and what size tables you can fit comfortably into the space. You also want to leave open space for guests who either aren’t playing or have been eliminated to socialize.

Now that you have answered the questions of where, when, and how many participants it is time to move to the second phase.

The Organizing Stage

This stage is the most time consuming of the process. You need to gather and organize all the material needed to make your event a success.

- Participants
- Tables and chairs
- Cards, chips, timers, and rules
- Snacks and refreshments

Participants are obviously the most needed item to make the event run smoothly. Once you have generated your guest list, based on the number of entry positions available, send out your invitations. Keep track of who will be coming and possibly even invite a few alternates in case of last minute cancellations. If you will be playing in your tournament, assign at least one other person to help you deal with the running of the tournament on the big night.

Make arrangements to get your tables and chairs to the event and identify who will be responsible for setting them up and when. Remember not to overcrowd your tables so that players will be comfortable. Also, you want to leave room around the tables where railbirds can watch the hands without intruding on the players’ space.

You need 1 deck of cards for each table and enough chips for all players based on your buy-in price. The blinds timer can be anything from simple – a clock on the wall or an unbiased person’s wristwatch – to extravagant – individual decorative timers at each table. Though you may not need to use them, it is a good idea to have a printout of the rules available. Make sure that everyone is aware of the rules before you begin and agrees with the set you have available.

Deciding on exactly which snacks and refreshments to have available is not as important as making sure you have enough. You should tailor your selection to your guests and either provide them with what they like or inform them that they will need to bring their own.

The Execution Stage

Once the night is here you should greet your guests as they arrive. Make sure all the players have arrived and assign alternates as necessary. Once everyone is assembled and bought their chips give a brief kick-off speech for the tournament. Explain the tournament rules, blinds times, identify your assistant(s) and answer any questions people may have.

As the tournament goes on and you condense tables try to keep a balance based on players chips. Try to group the lower chip holders together to keep the games more enjoyable for all. Once your tournament finishes, a presentation ceremony for the winners is another good way to ensure that your guests have a good time.

Now that you know how to organize a poker tournament get out there and start planning your first gathering. Designate a trophy if you like, and watch your friends compete to see who can hold it the longest or most. The most important thing to keep in mind is having fun. That is what it is really about.

Once you’ve played a few poker tournaments with your friends, you might even consider playing in the World Series of Poker.

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Multi Level Thinking in Poker

Multi Level Thinking in Poker

Up until now, you might have been forgiven for thinking that poker was a game purely based of mathematical decisions and your hand strength. In a vacuum, such as meta-game poker, this would be completely true. However your typical cash game doesn’t take place in a vacuum, there are different players that you have to take into account, a number of flop textures and previous hand histories. This all adds up to a form of poker that is more dependent on outplaying your opponent and balancing your hand range, as opposed to only looking at your cards.

Multi-level thinking is a very advanced topic in poker strategy, and it addresses the topic of making decisions based on how you think your opponent reads the game. To be a successful poker player at the higher limits you need to be constantly thinking about what your opponent has and what he might think you have. To win pots you have to out-level your opponent. For instance, if you start 3betting light with 34 in CO then your opponent typical regulars at $3/$6 will start to adjust by 4bet bluffing you with 73o from UTG. However, if you then know they are 4betting with air then you can shove them or maybe 5bet bluff them to win the pot.

What’s most important is accurately knowing which level your opponent’s thought process is working on so that you can exploit him. If you think your opponent is on Level 3 but he’s actually on Level 4 then the moves and decisions that you make will not add up so well since you are not analysing your opponent’s game correctly. This can be a critical mistake, which is also why having strong read on your opponent before hand with a big sample of HUD stats is important.

Different Levels of Thinking:

• Level 0: I know nothing
• Level 1: What do I have?
• Level 2: What does my opponent have?
• Level 3: What does my opponent think I have?
• Level 4: What does my opponent think that I think they have?
• Level 5: What does my opponent think that I think they think I have

As you can see, we can take multi level thinking a long way. There are various levels involved, and depending on the quality and experience on your opponent he could be operating on a higher level.

In the micro-stakes games multi level thinking is not really important at all since the majority of players are only operating on Level 1 and 2. When you’re typical NL25 TAG gets dealt AA, he’s very unlikely to limp-raise it and hope that he’ll run into villain 3betting light or blind-stealing with QJ. As you move up to NL100 or NL200 however, you will need to start taking considerations into account.

Multi-level thinking is most important to get right on missed flops. If you c-bet the flop, and then double-barrel the turn, then you need to start asking yourself what your opponent’s hand range is and whether they are trying to outplay you or not. For example, a Level 4 opponent will be able to float several times against a LAG holding nothing but air and know that he can take down the pot by pure-bluffing the river. A level 2 opponent will fold most of the time on a missed flop however, and will not take into account the various steps and his opponent’s hand range.

At the higher levels of multi-level thinking, balancing your hand range becomes extremely important. Advanced players who regularly play on a level of 3, 4 or 5 will be able to accurately narrow down their opponent’s hand ranges post-flop. For example if their opponent flat-called pre-flop, c-bet the flop, checked the turn and bet the river, then they will be able to narrow down their range and calculate their own equity in the pot using PokerStove. On a board like 10s-Qd-7h-Qs-8, an advanced player might be able to reduce their opponent’s holdings down to QJ/QK by discounting certain hands. AK/AQ would have been 3bet pre-flop so that can be removed, and most pocket pairs would be betting the turn for value.

Another example of multi-level thinking that made a popular post on 2+2 recently was a game which involved CardRunners pro CTS:

In a game of $25/$50, the perceived fish at the table open-raised from CO and Hero 3bet the fish with K4 from the button (blind steal). CTS was on the BB and 4bet Hero since he knew he was 3betting light to isolate the fish. The question in the forum threads was whether it would be profitable to 5bet bluff CTS?

It turned out that CTS knew that HERO would 5bet shove him. Basically, CTS out-levelled him and calling with AJo – winning the hand.

As you can see from this extreme example, multi-level thinking does go on a lot at the higher stakes. And I can only bet that it will be increasingly important as the game in general becomes more aggressive and players become more optimal in their strategy.

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