Mzone Tournament Strategy: What to Do When you Go Card Dead

You must have been through this more times than you care to remember. An endless string of depressing hole cards the likes of 8-5, 7-3, J-2, 10-4, 9-6, K-5 and you know the rest of the gang of hole cards that don’t even rank anywhere in Sklansky’s Group Hands. Sometimes it gets so bad that when you actually see a hand like Q9s your heart putters a little, but alas you are in early position with big stacks and aggressive players behind and you do the right thing – muck. For players that may be just getting into online tournaments and coming to grips with the regular distribution of hands, it is quite difficult cope sometimes with these runs and thus lean towards poor decisions and all-in frustration. I have certainly lived through this period myself and have witnessed it in others hundreds of times. So what do you do about it? Well there isn’t a lot you can do, except play your MZone strategy and remain patient. Tournament Poker is a numbers game too, and with proper play and patience you can come out ahead in low limit online tournaments by simply making the right decisions. Sounds simple doesn’t it? But the truth is I used to get so frustrated at being card dead. When I first started playing on Ultimate Bet a few years ago and saw some of the best tournament players there like Sailor Lobell, PokerH0, KrazyKanuck, Legggggyyyyyy and others, I simply thought I was the unluckiest poker player alive because I couldn't get cards to play, and when I had something decent my post flop play was horrid against these guys. It took me awhile to realize that my hands - were also their hands and their hands were mine too! Of course the difference was confidence, experience, and proper tournament risk assessment. That is not to say a dry spell of 30, 40, even 60 hands can happen but when they do I am now mentally prepared to handle it. In fact I absolutely “Zen-In” and sheepishly smile that I (and possibly you) am a rare player indeed to fold, fold, and fold through this testing time of hole cards that otherwise would want to make you throw your laptop of the balcony. However, since I am doing the right thing, it simply doesn't matter what my cards are and you can take genuine pleasure in improving and working on your game whilst the poker Gods snipe in your direction. So get a hold of your game by knowing what to do when card dead, and accepting that as part of the overall poker tournament puzzle that you will be able to solve with some dedication.

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