POKER STRATEGY FOR ONLINE TOURNAMENTS
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POKER STRATEGY - Single Table Tournament Money Management: If you have $100 in your Full Tilt Poker Account account, you shouldn't play for more than $20 ($20+$2) on a single table tournament or (Sit and Go). Each time you win you should move up to the next level of play. So if you started playing a $20 single table tournament, you should play a $30 or $50 if you win. If you lose, you should stick to the 20% rule. In this case you would be down to $78. Since 20% of $78 is $15.60 and there are no games for that price, you could either play one more $20+$2 game (a little above our recommendations) or go down to a $10+1 game. Should you decide to risk a little more than we suggest and play the $20+$2, if you win, play either another $20+$2 or a $30+$3. However, if you lose, you certainly need to go back to the $10+$1 as your bankroll would now be at $56 to start. Following these rules will help you to maximize the trends. Since the trend is your friend, it is very important that you follow this advice. Many players go on tilt when they lose a little and end up losing a lot. This method of betting will keep you from losing your entire bankroll in one single session while at the same time, maximizing your wins if you're on a heater aka huge win streak.
POKER STRATEGY - Single Table Tournament Money Management to Win: If you're on a table, you need to keep in mind that the winning positions are 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. If you played a $20 table the payouts would be $100,$60, and $40 respectively. Therefore you need to do whatever you can to get to 3rd place. After you have achieved this goal, your goal is 2nd place and finally 1st. Sometimes the best way to achieve your goal is not to play at all. That's right! Playing could cost you all your chips if you get involved in a pot with a weak hand that ends up looking better than it really is. Therefore be selective depending on which stage of the game you're at. To master this, one can read Phil Helmuth's Book "Play Poker Like the Pro's". Playing supertight online is an excellent plan for the first 40-50% of the game becuase you will use that time to buy respect in your game of attrition. This doesn't mean sit and watch, it just means play supertight "Top 10 hands only". This way if you have to go all-in and lose, at least you gave yourself a fighting chance.
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POKER STRATEGY - The Game of Attrition: Single and multi-table games are actually just games of attrition or last man standing games. This means that your goal is to knock people out or sometimes just sit and watch people knock themselves out. Generally on a single table game, and person who just sits and doesn't play will automatically get to 5th or 6th place, depending on the players and styles of play. Sometimes you can even get to 3rd or 2nd by just watching if there is a lot of action. Thus, don't be so hasty to get your chips in the pot. Be very selective on what hands you play and don't get married to your AQ or AK as it may be beat after the flop and sometimes before. So many times we see someone with AQ call down a set of 10's with almost no chance of winning. We call this, "Married to the hand".
POKER STRATEGY - In Multi-Table Games Online, you really need to be even more patient. It is not the first hour or two that determine the winner, it is usually the 3rd, 4th, or 5th hour depending on the number of players in the tournament. You will see that at the first break (about 60 minutes into the game) half of the playing field will be gone. You can get to the top 50% by not even playing a hand. To summarize, the real money is made when the blinds go up so your goal should be to stay at or above average. Take your big chances when you have to or when your cards say, "GO!". We have some hidden secrets concerning Multi Table Tournament Strategy. If you find them, feel lucky and don't just share them with everyone. You have earned it. However, if your feeling lucky and want to take your chances at the big money, it is often the crazy lucky player that overall wins big tourments. Just take a look at Moneymaker and Reymer. There were a lot of crazy hands that they won which were against the odds. They were behind but caught up quickly with thier river flushes or lower sets. Could it be your lucky day? Well, if you're going to give it a try, we still recommend waiting the first hour or two before you start making you're crazy underdog raises and calls.
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POKER STRATEGY FOR LIVE PLAY
POKER STRATEGY - Starting Out: Just like online play, you need to use money management when you're playing in live tournaments. Play really tight at the beginning. This will allow you to spend much of your time sizing up the competition when you are not in a hand also allowing you to gain some respect because you're only playing good cards. This will keep you in the game until the time is crucial to make a move. You'll have much better chances of winning if you spend the early times in the game analyzing the other players. Later when the money really matters, you'll have a better idea of what they have. We have had people tell us about how they spent a lot of time focusing on what they were conveying to the other players with thier gestures and tells. Although it is important to watch what you are doing, it is far more important is to watch what the other players are doing. Why? well, you know what you have so the goal is to find out what the other players have. By determining thier betting, betting style, goals, chip count, personality type, and watching thier plays and reactions, you will begin to round down thier possible cards. Eventually, you will round them down to a possible 6, then a possible 4, and finally, only two. When you get to this skill level, it almost won't matter about your tells and many times it won't even matter what your two down cards were.
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POKER STRATEGY - Different Theories: Our theory is play tight early, wait for people to knock themselves out, and take your chances when only when you have to or when it makes perfect sense. However, we have seen aggressive, crazy styles have some success. But, far more often we see these players build huge chip stacks early only to miss getting in the money because they didn't know when to slow down. If you're an aggressive player who likes to take a lot of chances early, buy all means keep yourself happy. Nonetheless, please keep in mind at all times how many people are left in the game as it is very unwise to risk all of your chips when you are a few players out of the money. If your an agressive type, build some goals even high ones, and stick to them. That will help you calm your game in Multi-Tournaments when you need to. Even Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer slowed down a little at the end of their poker tournaments.
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CONCLUSION
You can learn much more about poker tournaments strategy and other poker strategy by reading all of the books in our (Suggested Reading) section. If you love cards like we do, you'll absolutely love the knowledge and experience you'll gain if you read the books, and play on a regular basis. We hope that you have enjoyed reading about our poker strategy and find it very useful in your next game. Please take a moment to look at our (Poker Items for Sale) but don't forget about the most important thing, the books. We have personally selected these items to help you get to your final destination of becoming a professional poker player.
Since you have been so kind to read though all of our material, here are our hidden (Ultimate Tips) to help you with your single and multi-table online play. We know you'll be thankful. Please feel free to send us comments
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