Tips for Navigating Big Online Poker Tournaments
Understanding Online Poker Tournaments At Philucky
The key to online poker tournament strategy is the size of your chip stake. When you sign up to play a tournament, you receive a certain number of chips in exchange for a fixed amount of cash. This goes into the prize money, along with all the other contestants’ money.
To win real money prizes, you need to put into the prize pool. Different from cash games, winning individual pots is less critical. The important thing is to survive and surpass other players until you reach a paying position.
This is even more important to remember because you need help to top up your chips and continue playing. If you run out of chips, you are out of the tournament. This has strategic implications on how you play, so you need to make sure you have the best tips to help you win tournaments more often.
Here’s how you approach each phase of a big poker tournament.
The First Stages
In the early stages of online poker tournaments, the goal is simple: accumulate as many chips as possible to set yourself up for the later stages, when stack size is critical. That is, it is best to play “by the book.” Start by focusing on the correct starting poker hands to play.
It can be fun to take a risk and play weak hands in a one-off game only to see the flop and hope that something big comes off the board. But it can risk your money, chips, and time in a big field tournament. That’s not to say it won’t pay off, with some players swearing by aggressively playing early when you’re most likely to find the most fish (weaker players), but it can backfire if you underestimate your opponents.
These are recommended starting hands depending on where you sit:
Early Position : ace+ace–jack+jack, ace+king–ace+queen suit, and ace+king unsuited.
Middle Position: ace+ace–10+10 and ace+king–ace+jack suited or unsuited.
Last Position: ace+ace–8+8 and ace+king–ace+10, suited or unsuited.
As strict as this strategy is, it can help you outplay opponents who play more loosely and are liable to get busted out as a result. Another risky tactic to think about is bluffing big and slow-playing hands. It’s also not worth risking your chips to steal the blinds because it’s not worth enough in the early stages.
The Middle Stage: Entering the Bubble
In the middle stages of a tournament, the blinds are more significant, and many players leave the field. Typically, most survivors will have standard stacks, except for a few who have built massive leads thanks to luck, skill, or both. That doesn’t mean it’s time to start playing aggressively, but you can open your hand range and selectively try to add the blinds to your stack.
In addition to the handsets mentioned previously, you can add the following.
Early Position: 10+10 and ace+jack–ace+10.
Middle Position: 9+9 and ace+10–ace+9.
Final Position: 5+5–7+7 and ace+9–ace+8.
There may also be an opportunity to take advantage of the small-stack players who have reached this point in the game, as they will still want to save their chips to try and make a profit. On the other hand, if there are players who have already built big stacks, play it safe and avoid getting into battles of attrition with them.
Relaxing your hand range can be especially helpful as you get closer to the bubble. Players tend to start playing tighter when they are almost in the money, often folding under pressure not to break even, which creates opportunity. You can stay on the safe side and tighten, but you can also start raising and stealing more blinds. If successful, this tactic will help you make it inside the bubble and build your stacks, especially if you’re already sitting on big stacks.
The Final Table
Congratulations if you make it to the final table. This is a considerable achievement, especially in a tournament with such a wide field.
End table play is highly situational, so you’ve picked up some of your opponents’ habits and been told along the way. If you’ve managed to build up a big stack, you’ll want to apply as much pressure to your opponents as possible so you can continue to steal blinds, take easy posts, and increase your chip lead.
Watch out for short opponents, though — they’ll find ways to double you up and are more likely to take some risks at this point in the contest. If you have an average stack, you may want to avoid more giant stacks unless your hand is perfect. You can also lean into short stacks if your hand is high enough to go all the way. If you are short-stacked yourself, it is a reasonable gamble to push with almost any pair and two face cards.
