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Poker Advice for smaller tournaments with buy-ins $20 or less

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A. Determine what kind of players you are up against and take notes. Determine who is tight, who is loose and who is a maniac. Don't enter pots with tight players unless you have a premium hand, do enter pots with loose players more often then any other because they will pay you off if you hit a hand. Maniacs well one things certain don't try to bluff them because they will usually call. Actually that goes into my next key point.
B. Rarely try to bluff in low buy in tournaments. The value of a bluff in low buy in tournaments isn't much at all, now once in a while maybe once per tournament you will see a perfect opportunity to bluff but don't try to get to tricky in these smaller tournaments. If you play larger buy in tournaments yes you will have to bluff to survive but this is rarely the case in smaller buy in tournaments.
C. In tournaments it is very important to put pressure on the short stacks and avoid getting involved in pots with the big stacks unless you got a premium hand. When you have a much greater chip count then the other guy (short stack) he is no threat to you, he can't knock you out. Put him to a decision. If for example you were to limp against a short stack knowing that if he goes all in you will call, don't limp in the first place. You should be the aggressor not the caller. When you raise you double your chances of winning, A. He can fold B. You can have the best hand. But when you call you only have one way to win by having the best hand.
D. Swallow your pride and lose any ego. Ego and pride are deadly in poker. I know it's hard sometimes especially when a complete donkey is making moves on you or getting lucky. But take a deep breath, be patient and wait for the right time. Don't start making donkey moves back at a donkey, two wrongs don't make a right. Patience is key here.

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Take care,
ILovePoker

GREAT POST!!!! Thanks for taking the time to help others on this forum.....you are a valuable member of PokerDIY!!!

No problem, anything I can do to help. I love the PokerDIY.

ILovePoker

http://www.InternetPokerBonuses.com

Good stuff.  I'm especially fond of the last point, maybe because it points to a leak that I feel I've improved in my game over time.  It's often tempting to play back at people who get the better of you on a hand after making a poor play that worked out for them.   The problem is that when you fall prey to such temptation, you're effectively evening the playing field for someone against whom you have a skill advantage; i.e. you're playing down to their level, and allowing luck to be a greater factor than it normally would be.  

One way I think of this is that when a poor player makes a poor play, it's because they don't know any bette, but when I make a poor play knowing it's a poor play, that's even worse.