Rush Tournament Strategy

April 17th, 2010

Rush Tournament Strategy

Full Tilt Poker has taken their revolutionary Rush Poker to the next level with Rush Poker tournaments. The new tournament format kicked off on Friday with several events on the site. Full Tilt also announced that three upcoming FTOPS events will be Rush Poker tournaments. Of course, many of you would like some insight on how to play these events. Well, let’s take a closer look at some strategy that you will want to use.

Playing your position in these tournaments, especially early on is going to be very important. Since your image hasn’t been established and you will be jumping to a different table every time you fold, you will want to take as much advantage of your position as you can. Loosen up your requirements late and don’t be afraid to steal.

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If you get a strong hand, do not be afraid to push it. The only exception is from typical poker strategy. If you have a solid hand and are facing multiple raises, you will want to err on the side of caution. The exception to this may be in turbo or rebuy tournaments. In these events you will want to try and take full advantage of your big hands early and you will find that players will go somewhat crazy in their betting in these two types. If you are in a typical Rush tournament be wary of multiple raises unless you have the top two or three hands.

Also, try and set mine a little more than you might in a tournament. If it doesn’t cost more than 10% to 15% of your stack, take flyers with your medium and small pairs and see if you can bust some stack. Suited aces and big suited cards can be very profitable as well in late position but should be played cautiously against raises.

In these tournaments, tend to continuation bet a bit more than you might normally. This especially is true in late position and nobody raised pre-flop. With that being said, be careful of someone betting into you after you raised pre-flop. Give them some credit for a hand. Of course, if your hand is really strong, play back at them.

Unlike many Rush cash games, at some point you will be able to get a read on your opponents. Pay close attention to the play of the larger stack and see if they are raising a lot or if they are rocking up trying to hold onto chips. You will be watched as well, make no mistake about it. Try and mix up your game as much as possible to keep them guessing. A neat little trick that I discovered during Rush cash games is that if you can change your avatar mid-game. If you are the gecko at one table and change your settings to a rock, you will become the rock avatar at the next table. While this doesn’t change the fact that your nick is sitting there, your opponent will be looking for the other avatar and may not catch on as quickly that you are back at their table. Yes, that is a simplistic maneuver, but it may prove helpful.

Rush poker tournaments have the potential to become highly popular. While the game is “Rush Poker”, you still need to have an amount of patience as you would with any poker game. Also, the tournament will require more focus than your cash game, so while this game is setup for the ADHD type of poker player, the solid player will do well. One thing is for certain. These games are a lot of fun and have a bright future.

by James Guill