Article by Sherwood:
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The Truth About On-Line Poker Tournaments
Internet poker has become so popular, especially tournament play, due to the large payouts for a small issue and the opportunity to get a seat in much larger tournaments.
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This article will give you a more in-depth look at on-line tournaments and some strong insight on how to finish in the money consistently.
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Before poker, specifically Texas Hold ‘em became popular I had been playing the game for 25 years and played in hundreds of live (not on-line) tournaments over the years and learned from some of the best including my friend Daniel Negreanu, with whom I played in dozens of tournaments against.
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I’ve also played in thousands of on-line poker tournaments and here are some observations that you can take to the bank.
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First, let me say that in 30 years of playing Texas Hold’em in ring games and live tournaments I’ve made zero royal flushes, one straight flush and I’ve made four of a kind twice that I can remember. In five years of playing on-line I’ve made numerous straight flushes, four-of-a-kind dozens of times and five royal flushes. The point is, the cards dealt in on-line poker sites are not random at all and the programs have been designed to attract action. I’m not saying it’s fixed to give someone an advantage over another player, all I’m saying is that the cards are not random and the aforementioned hands are living proof.
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The next point to note is that in live poker tournaments a field of 75-100 players can take up to 15 hours to complete and in on-line tournaments a field of 700-1000 players takes about six or seven hours. Sure, the hands are dealt quicker on-line, however, the discrepancy is not that large and again, we have living proof that the cards are not random. After all, someone had to design the program and the program was designed to knock players out quickly to ensure more money for the house. The more tournaments and the more Bonus Players the more money for the house. Trust me on this one; these on-line poker tournaments were absolutely designed to knock players out quickly.
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So, the next question is how to use this to your advantage. Using the theory that the program was designed to knock players out quickly, it would only make sense that the players with big stacks have a huge advantage over players with smaller stacks. If players with smaller stacks won hands consistently, it would increase their stack and decrease the bigger stack, thus resulting in players lasting longer and the tourney lasting longer too. The whole key to this is to try and build your stack early, which means playing a lot of hands in the first few rounds. Regardless of what hand you hold, if you’re up against a player with a bigger stack you are almost always going to lose that hand. For instance, if you go all in with K-Q suited and a player with a bigger stack calls you with a much lesser hand you are going to lose that hand about 80% of the time. I don’t care if you have pocket aces and the player with a larger stack has 10-2 off suit, you are going to lose that hand way more times than you should if the cards were random, but they’re not. So, in order to give you a big edge you need to build your stack quickly and than go after players with smaller stacks than your own. You can limp in with just about anything in the first couple of rounds as long as it’s not raised and if it is raised after you call the big blind you can always fold. The key is to see as many flops as possible in the first couple of rounds for as cheap as possible and hopefully get lucky with at least one or two big pots. That will put you in a very advantageous position and than you need to go after smaller stacks than yours.
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Another key is to avoid at all costs players with larger stacks than yours because those players can knock you out and that’s what the program is designed to do. Of course, as the blinds get bigger you’ll have to be much more selective in the hands that you play but always remember to attack smaller stacks and avoid larger ones. Observe when you’re not in the hand and you’ll almost always see the bigger stack beating the smaller stack regardless of what each player holds. In no limit poker tournaments it’s rare to see more than two players in an all-in showdown and if you watch you’ll see that the bigger stack will beat the smaller stack almost every time.
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Here is the breakdown of what you need to do to succeed in these no limit on-line poker tourneys.
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1). Try and build your stack early by seeing a lot of flops in the first two or three rounds. If you wait for big hands only by the time you get one, you’ll be up against too many big stacks and your chances decrease dramatically.
2). If a player with a big stack raises your marginal hand you should always fold, especially after the flop and when you’re on a draw. However, if you have more chips than the player that bets out on you and you’re on a draw, you can usually call because you’re going to make your draw a high percentage of the time simply because you have more chips.
2). Always go after small stacks and avoid bigger ones than your own.
3). Play aggressively against smaller stacks and I can’t stress enough how vital it is to be very cautious against bigger stacks.
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Folks, this has very little to do with the hands you get and how you play them. It has everything to do with the numbers of chips you have in relation to the players your up against.
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You have to trust that the software was designed to knock out players quickly and that’s precisely what in does in order to make the house more money. Use these strategies that I’ve pointed out and observe what I’ve mentioned and you, too, can have great success in on-line poker tournaments. Incidentally, I’ve played at all the big and reputable poker sites and the software is the same everywhere and this theory applies to all of them.
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Email us and let us know how you’re making out.
Good luck.
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