5 Tips To Help You Beat Hit Or Miss Tournaments!

If you’re as excited as us by our new Hit or Miss tournaments, then you’ll already have spent your winnings on a new pair of tap shoes, some Monster headphones and currently be dancing around your living room counting down to the next one. If that sounds like you, maybe that’s because you’ve already worked out how to succeed at them –if not, then this one’s for you — before you take dancing lessons!
We thought we’d look at the best ways to make the most value and have the most fun, making sure you Hit way more than you Miss. Here are our Top 5 Tips on ending up on the happy side of the pay jumps…

Attack, Attack, Attack!

The early stages of a tournament can often be more touchy-feely than a fresher’s party in The Balearics. Don’t stand for it! Use your attacking instinct in tournament poker to accumulate a big stack early on, and you can end up being the table bully. This a very good thing in poker, and you can really take advantage of late entries entering with a pile of chips that is dwarfed by your own, making you feel like a lunchbox-grabbing kingpin. You don’t even have to play the theme tune to Grange Hill in the background (but we do.)

Widen Your Range

The advantage of knowing it’s a rebuy tournament against those who don’t may seem like a small edge to you, but consider those who either only budget for one entry or aren’t aware its not a freezeout. There are plenty of those, and naturally, their hand ranges are going to be tighter than yours, for calling a 3-bet pre-flop, or risking all of their chips on the river. Make plays against those players, widen your range of hands you choose to play and push them off pots if you can outflop them or not. Use your attacking prowess and you’ll be sure to hit the prizes later on!

Eyes On The Prize(s)

As the money places (and prizes) start to approach, we’d recommend that you open up the other table(s) still remaining in the tournament. This is a great way of getting to know opponents that you might face at a final table anyway, but even more so in a format such as Hit or Miss, where crucial decisions at the end of the tournament are so vital to what you win. You want to have an idea on who’s playing what sort of hands, and where that leaves you at your table, but in the tournament as a whole. Especially in MTT’s, table moves can disrupt a player’s momentum. Being aware of what the table is like that you’re moving to is a huge advantage, so make sure you use it!

Don’t Be Afraid

Just as we’ve shown you how you can put yourself in pole position to win big and finish in those more lucrative money places, you need to have a mindset that is unafraid of dropping into one of the ticket spots. Remember that if the next money spot is a ticket prize lower than the next place’s offering, then a culture of fear can develop at the virtual felt just like the opposite will be true should a valuable prize be up for grabs. There’s always two ways you can win the pot if you’re the one making the ‘last move’ – that crucial all-in. Players can lose to you after five cards or throw their cards away before seeing any. The additional chips that you’ll take from situations where you force players into positions they feel like they don’t want to enter will push you further up the leaderboard and give you more power!

Push The Button

Table image is a vital component of tournament poker, and perhaps never more so than in the new Hit or Miss format! If you’re at the final table and have a decent stack, be mindful of how the other players are playing – especially if they’ve read our tips too. There is nothing worse than trying to jump the ladder (or grab a ‘Hit’) and finding yourself pushed all-in pre-flop when you have a good drawing hand which could be dominated. If you’re holding weaker aces (A-T, A-9, A-8, etc) then don’t be scared to use your chips as a weapon to keep your opponents in check. Should they be making a move by raising with J-T or T-9 suited for instance, they could be in a world of pain if they call you. And more often, they’re folding.

Above all with Hit or Miss, the idea is to have a lot of fun. Alternate prizes are so enjoyable to play for, and you’ll notice your game developing on partypoker by playing so many different situations out within just a few pay-out places. Good luck at the felt and let us know what you think…and what prizes you end up with!

5 Hit or Miss Situations That Made or Broke Poker Careers!

Sometimes, poker hands take place that leave you scratching your head as to how they happened. The cards can be so cruel. We took a look through poker’s archives and pulled out five hands that the cool kids would describe as “sick.” Let us know which your favourite hand is from these five beauties!