Down to the Last Two

When you get down to the last two people in a no limit Texas hold ‘em tournament, everything changes. Usually the blinds will be quite high compared to your stack. For most of the tournament, you wouldn't think of playing a hand like A3, but once you're down to two people, it's a powerhouse. There are two reasons.

The first is the obvious one – there is only one other person instead of up to nine, so A3 has a very good chance of being the best hand. The second is that the blinds are usually very high at this point. You don't have time to wait around for a hand that would be playable in a 10-person game – you've got to get you chips in as soon as you see something remotely playable. Players who fold too much when there are two players left are committing the worst mistake of multiplayer poker.