Poker Tournament Strategies [Paperback]

Sylvester Suzuki (Author), Paula Cizmar (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1997

Poker tournaments are very different from conventional poker games, and there are very few players who excel at both. But it can be done!

There are many reasons for these differences. The most important ones are: The chips change value due to the fact that most tournaments are "percentage payback." Rebuys are available early on. And, many players over adjust their playing strategy because they are aware that after the rebuy period you cannot purchase more chips if you lose a couple of hands.

Consequently, there are many strategy changes that you should be making when compared to conventional poker where you are always trying to win the most on any hand that you play. Sometimes you should be trying to accumulate chips, sometimes you should be on the attack, and sometimes you should just survive. In fact, a tournament expert will occasionally make plays which would be very wrong in a "side game."

Author Sylvester Suzuki has played in many poker tournaments. Even though the name is a pseudonym, he is a real person who understands the underlying theory that governs tournament play. This text should prove helpful to virtually everyone interested in this form of poker.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sylvester Suzuki is the pen name of a freelance writer who currently resides in southern California.

As a teenager in the late 1940s, Mr. Suzuki, who was born and raised in the Seattle area, began his poker-playing career with such penny-ante favorites as "baseball" and "spit in the ocean." He then steadily progressed to no-limit lowball as a merchant seaman in the mid-fifties.

Shortly after graduating from the University of Washington in 1959, Suzuki departed for assignment as a civilian administrative officer with the Eight United States Army in Seoul, Korea. During a twenty-five-year career with several Department of Defense agencies, primarily in overseas areas, Suzuki was a poker-playing regular in a variety of officers clubs, bachelor officers quarters, and on-base family housing facilities.

Since his retirement in 1984, Mr. Suzuki has been playing poker primarily in the casinos of California and Nevada.

Product Details

• Paperback: 187 pages
• Publisher: Two Plus Two Pub. (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880685191
• ISBN-13: 978-1880685198
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,931,975 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tournament Advice, November 9, 2003

By 

Lono Yellams (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Poker Tournament Strategies (Paperback)

If you are looking for a book that promises to teach you how to play poker like a professional then this is not the book for you. This is a book not about poker per se, but about playing in poker tournaments.

The book describes various types of tournaments and explains why differences in payout and rebuy structures dictate how each type of tournament should be played. For example, it explains why it is wise to play a strong starting hand aggressively in some instances and why in other instances it is wise to play that very same hand conservatively. The book also includes a chapter on how to determine the value of your stack of chips at the last table and how to negotiate a favorable deal to "chop" the money remaining in the tournament.

In summary this is not a sophisticated "how to" book for scholarly poker theorists who thrive on charts, graphs, or complex mathematical formulas. This is a plainly worded primer for "us dummies" who just want to learn the basics about the rapidly growing world of tournament poker...

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lacking, June 23, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Poker Tournament Strategies (Paperback)

If you bought one book on tournament poker.. this would not be it. While I do believe the book contained useful information it left wanting more I do not remotely feel ready for a tournament there just is not enough insight.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tournament basics, November 27, 2004

By 

A reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: Poker Tournament Strategies (Paperback)

This book is obviously not intended for the professional but is intended for the small stakes recreational player who plays in the daily tournaments that many large casinos sponsor as a promotional tool.

The book describes the different ways in which tournament chips are acquired and explains how this affects the play in the early stages of tournaments. For example, in a progressive stack rebuy tournament, the number of chips that a player receives increases as the tournament progresses. Because nobody wants to get less than the maximum number of chips for his rebuy, players tend to play conservatively during the opening stages of these tournaments.

However, in a constant stack rebuy tournament, the number of chips that a player gets remains constant throughout the rebuy period. In the early stage of play in one of these tournaments, because the opening limits seem small and unlimited rebuys are permitted, some of the players will be throwing money around like a bunch of drunken sailors. What these drunken sailors don't seem to realize is that what they are actually doing is adding chips to the stacks of rivals and then replenishing their own stacks by buying more chips. One of the keys to success in any poker game is having knowledge of how others are playing. This give you that information.

The book also describes how the tournament pool is distributed to the last few player and how this affects the manner in which a tournament should be played. For example, a Sudden Sayonara Tournament ends when the number of players remaining in the tournament declines to a specified level. In most Sudden Sayonara Tournaments, the last few players are paid a predetermined percentage of the tournament pool. Thus if the last four players are to be paid; first place is normally worth 40% of the tournament pool, second place is worth 30%, third place is worth 20%, and fourth place is worth 10%. In this scenario, a player who finishes fourth with only one chip will have a nice payday. On the other hand, if the last four players are paid on a chip count ratio based on the size of the ending stacks, finishing fourth with only one chip might be meaningless.

Notwithstanding what some earlier reviewers have written, for the targeted audience, the book has much useful information. In fact, because the book discusses some tournament formats that are not often seen today, this simple little book which was published by a widely respected Las Vegas firm that specializes in books on gaming, might someday become a collector's item.