Online Poker Tournament Strategy is very complicated because of several factors. The largest factor is that you must survive a large field of players to win an online poker tournament. I have compiled the following articles as a reference for you to use in your venture to learn the best poker tournament strategy.

Basic Poker Tournament Strategy

In a typical tournament, if a player gets knocked out they are finished with no further opportunity to win money. Tournaments are about survival, but not simply surviving; sitting around and folding every hand is not a good way to win money. You have to pick the right times of when to fold the right hands. Of course there are a few situations that you should constantly fold when the tournament is already in or near ‘the money,’ a term used to describe the tournament places that will receive a cash prize for the place they come in. The goal of a tournament poker player is not to be first place instead it is make it into the money (surviving), then win first place. Finishing in the money is important for a player to be a winning player over the long term.

Best Poker Tournament Strategy

The most important advice for a multi-table poker tournament is to play tight, wait for good hands, and attempt to win a large pot. For online poker, since the action is faster, the blinds can be devastating even at the lower levels if a player calls with weak hands. If a weak hand sees the flop and hits it is possible that it may still be beat by being out kicked or even a better two pair. It is best to avoid this situation entirely by simply playing tight.

Remember your chip stack and check the average stack of a tournament regularly. With blinds as fast as they are, it is easy to get short stacked after a long run of no cards and not realize it. The only thing to combat this is possibly playing a few decent drawing hands in good position in attempt to see a cheap flop that could possibly pay off very well.

Every Multi-Table Poker Tournament can be broken down into three main stages; the beginning, the middle, and the end.

Beginning Online Poker Tournament Strategy

At the beginning of a tournament many players attempt to see cheap flops since the blinds are relatively small for the size of each players chips stack. I do not recommend this play style. Keep your chips for the strong hands so when they finally come around you have the stack to make them count. The beginning of each tournament also still has many novice players that have yet to be weeded out. The new players are more likely to lay a bad beat, which is just another reason to play tight in the beginning of a tournament.

Middle Online Poker Tournament Strategy

The middle of a tournament is the time that I like to see cheap flops. After an opportunity to pick up a nice sized stack and with blinds on the rise I find it a perfect time to see some flops. A lot of players begin to tighten up as blind increase and I take this opportunity to see some cheap flops and attempt to increase my chip stack in an attempt to build up speed for the home stretch.

End Online Poker Tournament Strategy

Towards the end of each tournament as the money approaches many players tighten up and fold almost every hand. I agree with this strategy if a player has a small to average sized stack, however, if a player has a large stack I would take the opportunity to steal blinds with a few bets pre-flop. Because most players simply want to make it into to money they will fold almost everything. Betting with moderate hands will result in a few stolen blinds and will increase a player’s chip stack nicely. Be careful of this because other players may pick up legitimate hands which may cost you a lot of chips especially if you are not the chip leader.

The tightening up of tables as they crawl towards the money may be more obvious in a live tournament because these players are likely more skilled and understand the situation better. Unskilled online players do not understand this and do not alter their play in ways they should cause them to lose key hands which result in finishing out of the money.

Basic Poker Tournament strategy entails each player’s individual playing style in relation to the tournament and requires practice which is best gained from playing in multi-table freeroll tournaments