How to Make a Deal in a Poker Tournament

If you haven't played much tournament poker, you may not realize that deals are made in most tournaments. Players rarely receive the quoted numbers of the prize pool. When the blinds rise and the average stack size dwindles in comparison, many players are eager to make a deal deep in a tournament to guarantee themselves better money and take some of the luck out of the equation. If you find yourself in this situation, be prepared to bargain for all you can get.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Talk with players you know about how they have handled similar situations. How well the deal goes for you depends on your experience level in the process. If you come armed with as much knowledge as possible, it will help you in the deal making.

2. Try not to be the first person to suggest a deal. Sometimes the first person to bring up the prospect of a deal is seen as desperate for the money to be split up, and it can hurt your leverage in the bargaining process.

3. Attempt to get as much as you can. Always ask for a little more than you think you deserve. In poker tournaments, greed is good, so try to get a little extra.

4. Be more willing to chop the prize pool by chip count if you have a lot of chips. Deals made this way are to the advantage of the players with the most chips because they tend to get more value for their chips.

5. Be less willing to chop by chip count if you are low on chips. Your chips have more value than you will receive for them if the deal is made this way.

6. Agree to a deal before you are at a positional disadvantage. If a deal is being bantered around the table, you should be more willing to agree to it if you are about to post the blinds. If you wait until after you have posted both the big and small blinds, you will have fewer chips for bargaining leverage.