Online Poker Tournament Strategy
Online poker tournaments demand careful preparation. Patience in hand selection, taking advantage of opportunities when blinds become valuable and using timed aggression are essential in reaching deep runs and ultimately taking home the trophy.
Lifetime earnings aggregation systems don’t take into account return on investment (ROI). A more accurate indicator of success would be winning rate and final table appearances.
Pre-flop raises
Preflop raises of greater magnitude will enable you to win more tournament chips, though their exact size depends on your game type and tournament stage. To better understand this aspect of tournament play, one of many available tournament simulators may help.
An effective preflop raise should be three to four times larger than that of the Big Blind to encourage players to fold early and limit competition in the flop.
Note that limping preflop is something to avoid as this allows opponents a quick read on your hand strength while leaving their range uncapped – this can lead to poor decisions and reduce EV in the long run.
Post-flop raises
Most players understand how the ICM model affects preflop strategy near the money bubble or final table, but it is equally essential to consider postflop raises when considering big pay jumps or final tables with high stakes levels.
When playing on the bubble or final table, always raise with your best hands using appropriate sizing to maximize fold equity and fold equity. A raise of around one pot size should suffice; on drawy boards it could even be higher.
Covering players should also be taken into account; for example, raising on the flop by someone with a weak hand could force an opponent to check even when his own hand may not warrant it.
Limits
Limit poker tournaments start out with 100 chips that each represent one dollar of the tournament buy-in fee, making tournament scenarios far more complex than cash games as tournament chips become increasingly valuable as players leave and payout structures increase.
Tournament situations don’t consider your skill level or edge against opponents into account, which makes ICMIZER useful in studying tournament equity off the table and maximizing winnings. With ICM’s precise decision-making options leading to positive expected value over the long haul, tournament poker becomes much simpler!
Blinds
Tournament blind structures pose a unique strategic challenge to players. Blinds increase in size throughout a tournament, increasing risk to smaller stacks which run the risk of “blinded out.” Effective stack size management therefore is key component of tournament strategy.
As tournaments near their money rounds, short stacks may attempt to avoid confrontation and get to the money without busting out. Big stacks should exploit this by applying pressure against players with smaller stacks and pushing them out of the pot.
Though ICM may not provide an ideal solution (it does not take into account factors like skill, player positions or game flow dynamics), it can still help identify profitable and unprofitable spots in tournament play. By studying and practicing these scenarios regularly, you can improve your tournament bottom line and ensure greater financial success for future tournaments.
Side pots
Side pots can have an enormous effect on tournament play. When someone goes all in and other players with more than they put down continue betting against him/her, side pots emerge. Even though those all-in players cannot win all additional bets placed against them by others, their cards still match against everyone for the main pot prize.
Utilizing ICM is vitally important in any tournament, but especially so when short-stacked. ICM helps them determine the EV of each decision they make and avoid making costly financial errors in tournaments. Unfortunately, however, it’s not a foolproof solution and doesn’t take into account tournament dynamics or player tendencies; therefore, sometimes suggesting plays that are not +cEV.