Have you ever asked yourself if you are playing the right sized pot? If you haven’t you should. The very structure of your tournament will almost certainly dictate what kind of pot sizes will be prominent throughout the tournament.

Why?

The reason is because structure and pot size go hand-in-hand. If you happen to be playing a fast poker tournament you are likely to see pot sizes that are much larger. You are also more likely to see pre-flop pushes with Ace King and middle pairs hoping to win a race in early levels. You will see larger pre-flop raises in relation to faster tourneys too. Sure, in the first level or two there is time for a little patience but usually when the blinds start high and the hands are few and far between you do not have the luxury of waiting around.

On the other hand if you are playing in a slow structure you are likely to see much smaller pots being played and more “poker.” You are also going to be able to sit back and wait for good hands and use position more to your advantage. That doesn’t mean that fast structures do not have poker players too but the luck factor increases considerably in faster structures.

Typically slow structure tournaments are Deep Stack tournaments or tournaments that start you off with at least 100 big blinds or more with forty minute levels or longer. Many online players struggle in this kind of format because you are almost forced to make standard raises to get action and if you are not confident in your post flop play you will be shown to the rail rather quickly.

Either way you need to make sure and adjust your strategy accordingly.