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How to Play Deep Stack Poker Tournaments

Deep stack poker tournaments have been gaining popularity. Since these are slow-structured and have at least double the regular chips, these have increasingly gained players' attention. Read on to find the best ways to go about this kind of play.

During early stages of deep stack poker tournaments, a player needs to rethink both his usual pre-flop and post-flop strategies. After flops,he should readjust the strength of hands.

It is also important to take into consideration that when stack is deep, hand values differ - high implied odds go up while unpaired high cards get lower value.

A hand with high implied-odd includes suited connectors and small pairs. With a deeper stack, there is opportunity to win a huge pot when a player gets a small set vs. any opponent who has an over pair. Also, there is a chance if he hits a straight. A good technique to remember here is to routinely call small raises before he closes the betting or prior to a flop.

As to unpaired high cards, it is harder to decide in a deep stack poker tournament if the combination is good and if it is worth to have the entire stack put on bet.

Other strategies that would come handy in a deep tourney are pot control and hand reading. As there are more chips to bet, position value is also higher. Position lets a player have a better indication of his opponent's hand before he creates his own.

With a slow-structured and deep-stacked situation, it is a likely tendency that participants play tight at the early stage, playing only the best hands. Unfortunately, this is not a safe style. The first reason is that, a player may not get any action when he finally plays a hand. The other reason being, if he gets action, it is very likely from a stronger hand. Thus, it is advisable to have a balanced play style which means raising a hand more frequently so opponents would have a harder time predicting when a player finally plays a very strong hand.

A final strategy to consider is the tendency of opponents. This is particularly more significant in deep stack online poker. It is best to take note of how many hands they played and the strength of hands when they call huge bets.