A primary goal in playing online poker tournaments is to win big money, as this will give you a very high ROI. Unfortunately, at the same time, many players tend to play incredibly loose and often in the wrong spots. This is a combination of playing too many hands and playing too loose. Being able to handle both elements is very important if you want to make a big profit in tournaments.
In many cases, playing too many hands will not allow you to play optimum poker. If you fold too many of the good hands you are getting yourself into, you will not be able to reach the positions that will allow you to make the appropriate bets. Folding a hand that should have been played is one of the most important aspects of getting good at poker. Yet, many players just don’t know when to enough or get out of the hand when they should.
The next type of mistake is playing hands that should not be played. Most often, these hands are the ones that get you into big trouble. If you are calling to see the flop with one of the weaker hands, there is a good chance you are going to lose that hand. Playing marginal hands is a sure way to lose your money.
The biggest single mistake many poker players make is overplaying their hands. Even if you do not have many chips, staying in too long on a hand is not the correct play. If you are one of the first to act and you have a hand, you should bet it aggressively.
Betting aggressively when you reach the button is another important aspect of online poker tournament strategy. You want to try and capture the blinds by either raising or re-raising, it is not okay to limp around and accept those missed opportunities to get your chips in.
Most importantly, with four players or less in the pot, you should be fine to limp around with just about any hand. You do not want to raise 3BET or 4BET just to try and steal the blinds. Unless you have a huge hand, it is not a wise move to try to win the blinds early.
Also, with less than 4 players in the pot, it is okay to open your starting hand range up a bit. If your opponents check to you, it is okay to fire out a bet or two with suited cards, connectors, all semi-bad hands, and even monsters.
Once again, you want to fire out a bet to test the table and see how your opponents react. Often times, you will see a raise and a fold to you. If you do not get any playable hands, you will probably end up just picking the pot up with a small bet. However, if you do end up with a premium hand, you should definitely raise.
With so many online poker players throwing their chips all in with terrible hands, it is extremely important to know when to play tight and aggressive poker and when to play aggressively. Calculating pot odds is super important once you learn to use pot odds to help you make your betting decisions. Once you start getting familiar with using pot odds, you will realize that it is easier to make the right decisions and you will be striking the right balance between being a risk taker and being a predictable player.
Using this strategy with a good poker book, you should be able to win approximately 70% of the time. Remember, the best poker players in the world are not winning at any one time, over the long haul they are going to be a winner if they stick to a strategy. Online, you can find various strategies to help you win at online poker. One of the best online poker strategies is to learn how to use odds against your opponents. You have to be able to calculate your outs, odds, and pot odds to be able to make proper decisions.
Online poker, just like any other card game, is a game of statistics. With the right statistics program you can get a tremendous edge over your opponents and put the odds in your favour. Learn to use poker statistics and you will be able to almost eliminate the cards you are going to miss and give you an edge over your opponents. This is the most important online poker strategy you can have since there are hundreds of thousands of tournaments online.
