No Limit Multi Table Poker Tournament Strategy

Additionally to the advice you find on this page most hints from our general strategy tips for Sit & Go Poker Tournaments are also useful for multi table poker tournaments.

Generelle Multitable Strategy:
- During the early tournament stage, when the blinds are low and all players have plenty of chips, we recommend playing a tight game. Hands, which are 'raiseable' in early position, are JJ to AA and AKs. In middle and late position you can also play weaker hands. You should not gamble with a big part of your stack with mediocre hands. Do not bluff in this early stage. The target of this strategy is to let the weak players 'play themselves' out of the tournament, without risking your own chips on doing so. If a weak player happens to run into one of your strong hands, you can happily scoop up a big pot.
- During the middle tournament phase you can assume that the weakest players have already been eliminated. The blinds have reached a 'steal-worthy' level now. It's time to start stealing the blinds from middle position with mediocre hands like KQ and QJs etc. You are nowhere near the prize money yet, it's not worth bluffing too often yet! In this phase you should also be prepared to gamble once or twice. It's worth gambling if this can reward you with being one of the big stacks in the later tournament phase!
- In the late tournament phase the amount of chips you have is more important then your cards! If you are chip leader of 10 remaining players, you can start bullying the players in 3rd to 6th position usually without much resistance. They do not want to get involved in a hand with the chip leader, because they can climb up the prize ladder if the players in 8th to 10th place get eliminated. - All-Ins of the short stacked players you can call with mediocre hands (KQs, QJs, 88 etc.) because the short stacks will have to push with all kind of hands in order not to get blinded out. Risking slightly more in this phase is OK, but do not get involved in multiway pots with weak hole cards. Remember, if your opponents take each other out, also you climb up the prize ladder! If you do not have many chips in this late tournament stage, you have to play aggressively. You have to double up quickly, before the extremely high blinds gobble up your stack! It does not sound logical, but the stack you built up chip for chip in the early tournament stage has to be used almost recklessly now. If you wait for QQ to AA during this stage, this is a guaranteed 'loosing-factor'!

Differences between Multitable and Sit & Go Tournaments:
- The duration of the game can last easily over 4 hours. Hence, do not start playing a MTT (multi table tournament), when you are tired! - Your opponents change from time to time during a tournament. When someone at your table gets eliminated, he will be replaced by someone else. Or, it can also be the case that all players from your table are distributed to other tables. You find yourself sitting at a new table with completely unknown players again. This is why it usually is not worth building up an image with subtle tricks to be able to bluff your opponents later on. As soon as you have built up your image, the players at your table might be redistributed. At the beginning of a tournament often your table exists for quite a while, there it is worth building up an image.
- The prize structure is much flatter in the lower positions then it is for the top 3 positions. Let's assume, the first 20 players of a tournament (with 200 players) get cashed out, it is well possible that the prize money is 'scaled', for example: Finishers 16 to 20 get the same prize money, let's say 10$ (in a 5 + 0.50 $ MTT). Finishers 11 to 15 get only a little more (12.50$). If you reach the final table and become 10th or better, the prizes start growing quicker. This is why it is not worth playing tight to become 15th instead of 16th, and hereby you ruin your chance of reaching the final table. As a short stack in this phase, you have to try to double up quickly! Remember: If you become 1st once, you will win at least as much as you do if you become 17th at least 30 times! It is absolutely vital you are familiar with the M-Concept.
You can find the following concepts you have to be 100% familiar with on swiss-holdem-poker.com:
       - M-Concept
       - Zone System (Application of the M-Concept)
       - If you reach the final table with steeper prize distribution, you should get familiar with the following articles, too:
         Independent Chip Model (ICM) .
- Especially because only a small percentage of the players win something, you have to be prepared to take risks. If the first three places pay much more than place 10, you have to aim for the top three places! You have to maximize the long term profit and not the short term profit! Again we remind you about the following fact: Reaching the money 3 times and being eliminated just after the bubble and becoming third once is far more profitable than reaching a medium payout position four times!
- In general also make sure you pay attention to a good Bankroll Management! It is not unusual to not finish in the money 10 times in a row! We recommend not investing more than 2 to 3 % of your poker bank roll in a single multit table tournament!

Taking Notes is extremely important in Multitable Tournaments. Quite often your table ceases to exist and you are placed at a table with unknown players. Two hours later the same thing happens again and you find yourself playing against one of the opponents you know from the early tournament stage. For this reason it is not only important to note what you have seen your opponent doing, but also to note what he has seen you doing! Maybe you generally like playing a tight aggressive game. But when you played your opponent on the first table you had excellent cards and raised (or reraised) 6 out of the first 10 hands. In this case he will probably have taken a note that you are loose and raise far too often preflop to be true. In this case, do not try to bluff this player.
If only two or three tables remain in the tournament, then start taking notes about what is happening on the other tables! You might be playing the guys from these other tables soon! Any extra information can be valuable.

Some of the Dos & Don'ts are also very important for multi table tournaments. These tournaments can go on for several hours. You should not drink alcohol or be tired or stressed (from your regular job for instance) when you start playing. Towards the end of the tournament you still have to remain sharp. If you are tired, your mind will not be sharp! Use the breaks in a tournament optimally! Open the window and get some fresh air. Make sure you have something to drink and maybe even something to eat ready. Go to the toilet (even if you think you do not have to do so). I remember one Multitable Tournament where I got up during play because I really needed to relieve myself of something. I was slightly short and only missed KK and found out two other players went all-in who had QQ and AQ. The Kings would have held up. During the five minutes you have to make sure you are fresh for the next hour of play. Stand up, do something, but do not just stay seated and surf in the internet. Maybe it is even worth leaving the room where you play poker, go to your balcony or brush your teeth (one of my favorites). In short: Give your brain a break!

Book recommendation for multitable tournaments: Harrington on Hold'em I and Harrington on Hold'em II from our Poker Book Recommendations!