Online Poker Tournament Strategy
Single Table Online Poker Tournaments
This format is very popular in online Texas Holdem, and is also referred to as a shootout, or a 'sit and go?. This style of no limit holdem is the mainstay in my online portfolio and is the reason I have been very successful playing online tournaments. I'm going to share one of my secrets to winning online Texas Holdem later on this page. Important: (see this column about how to maximize your online efficiencies).
Single table Texas Holdem games can be interpreted a couple different ways. For the purposes of our conversation here, I am referring to single table online tournaments, where all the players start with the same arbitrary dollar amount. This format has both advantages and disadvantages, but for most good online poker players the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages and this is where you can make your money. Let's see why?
If your running well and you've won a couple nice hands and have a healthy stack, unfortunately you can't win more than what first place pays, but hey you're making money. At the same time, if you're catching cold cards all you have at risk is how much you put up to enter.
Unlike a Texas Holdem Poker real money cash game, especially No Limit Holdem games, your risk is defined in a tournament. If your tolerance for risk is low or you're a player that goes on tilt, at least here, your downside is limited. This is a very important point and here's why?
For example, you play very well all day long and have doubled or even tripled your chips. But, in a No Limit Texas Holdem ring game, all it takes is one bad hand with somebody who has more chips then you and all your hard work could be wiped out.
For instance, you're holding pocket AA's and a player with more chips than you goes ALL In. You have to call the bet and your opponent turns over KK's. Now you're nearly a 4 to 1 favorite here but every five times you play this hand you're supposed to lose once, based on the odds. (See outs and odds and pre flop odds). Your opponent flops a (K) and you lose all your chips in the hand.
On the flipside, if you're playing single table tournaments all day, either one tournament or many 'sir and go's' at once - and the above situation happens - it's no where near as devastating. In the long run you will be rewarded for you good solid play and will avoid these kind of massive swings to your bankroll. Here's the deal?
It's not about any individual bad beat but more about the bottom line. (i.e. I started the day with $400 and ended the day with $550. In single table tournaments it's all about the bottom line.) Not overexposing your bankroll and playing in a somewhat controlled environment. This is one of the keys to success in online Texas Holdem.
At PokerRoom.com, single table online poker tournaments range from $5 to $200 dollars buy-in. What this means is in a $5 dollar buy-in game you pay $5 dollars (plus a small percentage to the house) along with 9 other players and put this into the pot. Each player will start with $1,000.00 dollars in chips and the last three players left will split the pot, with the winning player getting the largest piece of the pie, usually 50%.
Like every other form of poker you need to have a keen sense of your position at all times, who you're playing with and your own state of mind. All of these subjects are addressed in other sections. (see Starting Hands and our review of the Best Online Poker Rooms) Over the course of time you need to have a game plan and stick to it.
With steady, consistent play in single table tournaments you will see your results improve over time. For the most part, if you're consistently making it down to the final four players, you're doing well and now it's time to brush up on your .Texas Holdem short game or start to think about making deals...
You can also play single table cash games, where you play at a single table, with other players, in a limit game or even a no limit format. Here you bring your real dollars to the table. If you're playing online, most online poker rooms will only allow you to bring up to a certain amount to the table. This is covered in more detail under the real money online poker tab.
FullTiltPoker.com IS STILL OPEN TO US PLAYERS!!
Click here to see our full review of the best online poker rooms.
Get started at FullTiltPoker.com today!
****Important Update: (for 2008)************
1 - The 2 most popular online poker rooms - FullTiltPoker.com and PokerStars.com - are STILL OPEN TO AMERICAN PLAYERS. In fact, (FT) FullTilt Poker has made it easier than ever to be playing real online poker in less than 5 minutes, no joke! Feel free to take advantage of our customized player bonuses by clicking on any FT links you see.
2 - Our site recently underwent a bit of a facelift, we added many new articles to blend in with our original content - much of which we decided to leave undisturbed. We felt it was important for our audience to have access to all the inside information on playing winning online Texas Holdem. Enjoy!
3 - DuplicatePoker.com is a strange but interesting version of Texas Holdem that I have been trying out. At first, I wasn't too crazy about it but the more I played, the more it started to grow on me.
It's Texas Holdem, with a splash of Chess strategy thrown in. As the banners on our site say, it's 100% legal to US players and they take credit cards! I tried it and it took me about 2 minutes to put money in from my AMEX card. DuplicatePoker.com gives you $FREE MONEY$ just to come and try it out, no strings attached. Be patient, it takes about an hour of play to get the feel for things. After that, I started to enjoy it more and more...
Get started today, click on any of the links you see throughout the site and take advantage of these very special offers! We have chosen our affiliated sites very carefully, and highly recommend them as places to play Texas Holdem Online. FullTiltPoker.com and PokerStars.com are class organizations and you can feel very comfortable joining their player ranks. Good Luck.
