Poker tournaments are immensely popular online - they are starting every minute of every day with buy-ins starting at just a few cents and going into the hundreds of dollars. Winning at online poker tournaments involves playing positive and aggressive poker - it also involves adapting successfully as the tournament goes through various stages. This article will show you how to win at online poker tournaments - step by step.
We start by looking at the initial stages and a common dilemma - how to deal with the large amount of bad players you will encounter early on! Next the middle stages up to the bubble are discussed, including dealing with high blinds and opponents with varying stack sizes. Finally the 'in the money' and final table are covered, here the prize structure also needs to be accounted for.
Especially in the lower buy-in online poker tournaments, you can expect to meet many inexperienced opponents in the early stages. These players will be betting inappropriate amounts, playing weak hands and chasing their draws against the odds. On one hand this is a great opportunity to pick up chips - however there is always a danger of an inexperienced opponent getting lucky and decimating your stack. The question is what is the best strategy to deal with this situation?
There are 2 factors to account for here. Firstly the fact that it will be far more difficult to take those same chips from a better opponent later in the tournament, if you do not take the chips from the inexperienced players then someone else will! Secondly the stacks are many times the size of the blinds. This gives you a large amount of flexibility in your play, allowing you to build up a picture of your opponent's hand over many betting rounds.
Adapting to the combination of deep stacks and inexperienced opponents involves adjustments in the starting hands that you select. Hands with high 'implied-odds' potential go up in value at this stage. Small pairs and suited connectors both fall into this category, and to a lesser extent suited aces too. The idea is to see the flop as cheaply as possible with your small pairs, those times when you hit a (disguised) set of trips you are in a great position to take the entire stack of a weak opponent who has hit top pair. Premium pairs go up in value at this stage as do strong aces (ace-king and possibly ace-queen) the reason is that many opponents will be playing hands such as weak aces that you have dominated, avoiding those easily dominated hands yourself is an important factor.
The blinds will soon rise to a large proportion of the initial stack sizes in an online poker tournament. You must adapt to these changing conditions by working to ensure that you keep ahead of the blinds. At this stage stack sizes become just as important as the cards which you play. The amount of 'flexibility' you have in your play is determined by how many times the size of the pot you have in your stack. For example with only 8 big blinds any raise will make you 'pot committed', as the odds you will be getting on calling any subsequent re-raise are now too attractive to fold.
Awareness of other players stack sizes will help your chances in the middle stages of a tournament. Stealing a pot becomes more difficult against opponents with either very large or very small stacks. Big stacks can call without damaging their own chances and small stacks are more likely to call out of desperation. Conversely, medium stacks make great targets for blind steals - they are comfortable enough not to want to fight without a strong hand.
When there are just a few more players to go before the paying places (the 'bubble'), stack sizes become even more important. If you have a big stack at this point then raising to steal blinds is a positive equity move. Opponents often tighten up considerably in order to reach the paying places at this stage of the tournament. If you have a medium stack yourself the best strategy is to raise when you are first to enter a pot, but to avoid calling the raises of others. In nobody has shown strength you have a great chance to pick up chips here.
Once the bubble bursts there will often be a considerable change in the play in an online poker tournament. The small and medium stacks who were folding every hand before the bubble will now be desperately trying to pick up chips in order to reach the final table. At this point your play will be dictated by your view on the range of hands your small-stacked opponents will be pushing with. Take any situation where you feel you have an edge, the final table is your goal and reaching this with a good sized stack will give you the best opportunity to win.
The tendencies of opponents and their relative stack sizes should still be central to your strategy at the final table. An additional factor also comes into play - the payout structure of the tournament. Normally the top three places get a lot more money than the rest, however the gaps between even the lowest payouts may be considerable. Watch for opponents who are playing to 'move up in the money' (by tightening up) and take the opportunity to steal their blinds and antes often. Avoiding the big stacks in favor of medium stacked opponents can also be a great strategy here. Primarily you should play to win at this stage, just one 1st place will pay for many lower paying final table appearances.
To summarize, how to in at online poker tournaments is all about adapting to the various stages that the tournament will go through. Early on you should play positively to pick up chips from weaker opponents and avoid easily dominated hands. As the tournament progresses you need to take note of stack sizes and adapt your strategy to these. Finally the prize structure at the final table impacts how many opponents play - take note of this and use it to your own advantage.
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