Eliminate or not?

There is a great big mis conception out there in the poker world when it comes to eliminating players in a Tournament setting. This blurb spells out the must knows on how to win a tournament.

When playing a tournament there are times when eliminating a player becomes so important you should check down almost any hand to the river. The two most common times this would happen is when you are one out of the money, or when you are three handed. (Typically second gets paid double what third gets so any pot equity is less important than that large jump in real money.)

Eliminating players in a tournament is important. To win, everyone else must be eliminated. But it is not the most important consideration, and at some times it is an utterly trivial one. Your tournament actions should be dictated by one consistent goal -- maximizing your financial expectation. Sometimes this even means not trying to eliminate players (like when a tournament is one or two players out of the money and you have a big stack and are able to steal the blinds virtually every hand... the longer this situation sustains itself, the better for you.)

Surprisingly, most people play without positive expectation being their primary motivator, and that is great for those playing to win. The challenge of a poker tournament is to always play in whatever way is in your best financial interest. That's it. Often this will mean trying to eliminate opponents, while sometimes that consideration is irrelevant. Remember, it's the money that matters and no other person can tell you that it is not!! Northwestgambling.com wishes you luck on your next Tournament after reading this blog.