Tips on Making the Money in Razz Multiple Table Tournaments

While single table razz tournaments can be a great way for a skilled player to make a quick buck, multiple table razz tournaments are where the real money is. These tournaments may have a limited number of positions, or they may allow anyone and everyone to enter. The great thing about multiple table tournaments with low buy-ins (frequently seen at the online poker rooms) is that they entice a large variety of players with plenty of fish to pump the prize pool. Remember though that as the tables are narrowed to the final table, your competition will get more skilled and your strategy should change accordingly.

When you’re playing in a large field, it’s important to start playing aggressively immediately. You want to build your stack as quickly as possible, and the low blinds make it easy to play marginal hands through the flop without investing too much. Likewise this strategy immediately identifies the calling stations and the habitual bluffers, information that will prove useful as the tournament progresses.

Your less skilled opponents will either follow your bet—pumping the pot when your hands are strong and you stand a good chance of winning—or fold—surrendering the blinds for a small but quick win. When you get a monster hand early in the tournament, play it for all its worth. These truly good hands are few and far between and while marginal hands are your bread and butter the big hands will make or break your stack and will ultimately decide your position at the final table.

As the blinds get bigger and the players get better, you’ll have to tighten up your play and betting accordingly. This does not mean playing less aggressively, just avoiding losing your stack by playing over-aggressively with players that aren’t afraid to call or raise. You’ll be folding more in the middle of the tournament where the blinds are more significant, but you’ll also be betting more aggressively on good hands. It’s especially important at this stage in the razz tournament to pick your battles.

By the final table, the blinds will be so big that folding everything but the best hands will be out of the question. At this point, there are few enough players that a middling hand is a good one and a better one is unlikely to come along. Don’t let the blinds or chip leaders push you around—it’s better to take a smart risk going all in on a good hand than to throw your stack away on blinds.