How to beat STTs and Heads-up tournaments.

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How to beat STTs and Heads-up tournaments ?

The best way for novice poker players to build up a bankroll is to play in STTs, or in Heads-up tournament games. Mind you, not in regular cash Heads-ups but in tournaments.
As a rookie, on a frail bankroll, you want to avoid playing in any kind of cash game. First of all, the rake will impact you more, then, there are a series of strategic considerations: Cash games don’t really put a lot of value on survival. As a rookie, if you manage to survive, you should be content with your performance, but cash games do not reward this at all. On the contrary, the rake that you pay will make sure you get punished for merely surviving.
In tournaments, the whole rake thing works differently. Sure, you have to pay here too, but it all comes in the shape of tournament fees, which you only pay once when you register, and you can play as long as it takes for that fixed amount of rake, which is usually quite diminutive too. The poker industry makes 80% of its revenue from cash games, and I think, that fact alone, proves the point I’m trying to make here. Any rakeback deals that you sign up for will work in tournaments too.
Survival is a whole different ballgame in tournament poker. As a matter of fact, it might just be the most important thing in the game. Survive for long enough, you might even win the tourney, but even if you don’t, chances are you are going to double up your buy-in, even if you only catch the very last ITM position.
Make no mistake, large MTTs are not easy to beat at all. There are hundreds of opponents, and besides being extremely skilled in tournament poker, you’ll also have to have loads of luck to land in a respectable ITM position.
STTs on the other hand, only provide 5-9 opponents, and if you can beat 4-7 of these guys most of the time you have it made.
Heads-up tournaments are also very lucrative because you only have to beat one guy here, and you instantly double up.
Anyway, if you’ll be playing in many STTs, you’ll be playing short handed a lot. Short handed tournament poker is fundamentally different from the long-handed version. Patience is needed, just like in Multi Table Tournaments, but you need to be able to switch gears better than in long games.
You see, in STTs, the short-handed phase of the game will be upon you a lot sooner than in any MTT.
In the beginning, you’ll have to be patient. Patience pays in just about any kind of tournament you take part in. By playing extremely tight early on, you’ll create the prerequisites for several favorable things that can happen:
Several players will be eliminated before you, thus you’ll be faced with fewer opponents when you get to loosen up. Fewer players mean increased odds for you.
Do not gamble in the early stages of the tourney. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t see any flops, just be on the lookout to play premium hands and take a peek at flops that cost little. You may always end up with a monster draw on these flops too. As the game progresses, the blinds get bigger and bigger, and you need to get in on the action, more and more. You need to score a few wins in the middle stages, otherwise you won’t be able to keep up with the blinds.
If you manage to reach the short-handed stage of the game, you have to switch gears completely. Short handed play requires a lot more aggression, and when you get into the heads-up, it’s like you’re playing an entirely different game.