Posts Tagged ‘poker tournament strategy’

Bankroll Management for Low Stakes Poker Tournament Players

Tuesday, March 26th, 2013

We all know that big-time poker players get all of the attention since they’re spending major money to compete for huge tournament prize pools. But the truth is that the majority of the poker community is based in the low stakes world, where players are spending just $1 – $5 per buy-in.

Many of these low stakes tournament players are of the casual nature, and aren’t trying to make a living with the game. Some are more serious and hope to eventually supplement their income, or even become a full-time pro. Whatever the case may be, it’s important for every low stakes poker tournament player to know a thing or two about bankroll management. That said, here are a few quick tips.

Tip #1 – Divide your Bankroll into Buy-ins

A good general tip for managing a tourney bankroll is to divide your money up into buy-ins. It’s ideal to have 150-200 buy-ins for the stakes you play because of all the variance in online poker. But depending upon your skill level, you may be able to get away with anywhere from 50-100 buy-ins. Using our ideal example on a person with $300, they’d want to stick with $2 tourney buy-ins or less in order to survive the variance.

Tip #2 – Avoid Large Field Sizes

If money is an issue – as it is with most low stakes tournament grinders – you should stick with events that feature small field sizes. The reason why is because the bigger the field, the harder it will be to consistently cash. Sure the potential scores are bigger in large tournaments, but it takes the average player much longer to earn these big payouts. So you should definitely stick with smaller events in the beginning, then work your way up to bigger field sizes.

Tip #3 – Never stop improving

Just having good bankroll management isn’t going to guarantee you profits; in fact, it’ll just prolong the inevitable downfall of a bad player. You need to continually improve your skills along with exercising good bankroll management. Some of the different things that you can do to get better at online poker include joining training sites, hiring a poker coach, reading books, reading articles, browsing forums, and watching YouTube videos. The information is out there – it’s up to you to find it!

 

Tips for becoming a Winning MTT Player

Thursday, March 7th, 2013

One of the biggest draws to online poker is the fact that you could win a huge prize in any given tournament. Of course, few novices actually capture a big payout on their first few tries – though the hope is always there.

But since the average player isn’t going to get lucky right away, solid multi-table tournament play is more about grinding and learning your way to success. So if you’re just getting started down this road, here are some tips that’ll hopefully improve your play.

Tip #1: Focus on Bankroll Management

Most beginning poker players don’t last long because they don’t know anything about bankroll management. Luckily, this concept isn’t overly-difficult for people to learn since you should have 50-100 buy-ins for the stakes you play. 100 buy-ins is the conservative recommendation; but those who have prior poker experience might be able to get away with the 50 buy-in range.

So if you had a $500 bankroll, you’d want to stick with tournament buy-ins ranging from $5 – $10. The reason why is because this enables you to survive the variance associated with online poker and hopefully make some profits.

Tip #2: Invest in some Poker Training or Coaching

You simply can’t beat poker over the long-term if you don’t spend time studying the game. And articles, books and free YouTube videos are always great for this. However, the ultimate way to learn poker tournament strategy is by watching training videos or investing in a coach.

The latter method is more expensive because you’re paying a coach’s hourly fees. But this can definitely pay off if you find the right coach. Training videos are a little more reasonably-priced since you can pay a $30 monthly fee and watch as many videos as the site offers.

Tip #3: Understand Variance

The bigger the MTT’s you’re playing, the more variance you’ll be dealing with. So if you’re playing the Sunday Million on PokerStars, your big cashes will come few and far between – no matter how good you are. On the other hand, $5 buy-in MTT’s often have smaller field sizes, which enables you to cash more.

The style of tournaments you choose will all depend upon your goal. For example, if you’re fine with going on cold streaks while searching for the biggest payouts, large MTT’s should be good. However, if you want to keep cashing and gradually increasing your bankroll, look for the smaller MTT’s,

Above all, never stop learning the game and trying to expand your poker tournament knowledge. The best players continually seek the advice of others and know that there’s always room for improvement.

Casino Poker Tournament Strategy

Friday, August 5th, 2011

While most poker tournament strategy these days revolves around the online game, it’s still worth discussing casino poker tournament strategy because, well, plenty of people still play in the casinos. Assuming you’re looking to play in your first live tournament, or you’re just relatively inexperienced, here is some general casino poker tournament strategy.

Don’t deviate much from Online Poker Strategy

If you’re an experienced online poker player, then you’ve probably got a little strategy behind your play already. This being said, you don’t have to make a lot of adjustments heading into casino tournaments. After all, the same concepts are still in play such as bet sizing, keeping a solid set of starting hand requirements and implied odds.

Focus on Chip Stacks

One mistake that a lot of new casino players make is neglecting to pay attention to stack sizes. However, the size of your stack, as well as opponents’ stacks, should factor heavily into your strategy. For example, let’s say that you have less than 10BB in the middle of a tournament; in this case, you’d need to be willing to shove with any decent hand in order to steal blinds and keep yourself alive in the tourney. Also, assuming an opponent has 10BB or less and you’ve got a big stack and a decent hand, it might be worth calling when they make potential desperation moves.

Learn a few Live Tells

While the whole live tells/bluffing aspect of poker is a little overrated, it’s still important that you learn a few live poker tells before jumping into a casino tournament. And while some tells may be specific to certain players, a general one is when a person looks at their cards, then looks immediately at their stack, they have a good hand and are planning to bet.