Online poker tournaments provide a great form of entertainment to people worldwide. Each of us has imagined winning a high-stakes poker tourney at least once. More importantly, we know exactly what we would do with the cash prizes reserved only for the best!
Most players participate in online poker tournaments for fun, but some also play professionally. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, employing the right online poker tournament strategy can lead you to the final table and give you a chance to compete for the highest prize.
What Are Poker Tournaments?
Poker tournaments are events where players compete against each other for cash prizes. Different versions of poker can be played, but Texas Hold’em poker tournaments are the most sought-after.
With the emergence of online casinos, online poker tournaments have gained in popularity. They allow players to compete from the comfort of their homes and win real cash prizes.
How Do Online Poker Tournaments Work?
One of the players' most common questions is how to enter online poker tournaments. For the majority of online tournaments, players are expected to buy in their spot. In other words, you have to pay the set amount to receive your place at the table.
Sometimes, the buy-in can be as little as €2, but they can go up to thousands. After that, you play against hundreds or even thousands of players until you reach the end. The winner takes the prize, but there could be prizes for the second and third players or even the first 10-20 positions, depending on the size of the tourney.
For some tournaments, you have to qualify by winning preliminary tournaments, but these are for more professional players, have much higher buy-ins and fewer but more experienced competitors.
If you’re used to an online poker game with friends, get ready because online tourneys can last for several hours due to the large number of participants. Still, regardless of the tournament you join, they work in the same way - be the best to win.
What Are the Stages of a Poker Tournament?
Now that you know the basics of an online poker tournament, how long online poker tournaments last and how they function, you should know of three different stages of such events:
- Early stage
- Middle stage
- Late stage
Knowing this should help you set and adjust your online poker tournament strategy and, hopefully, lead you to victory.
Early Stage Poker Tournament Strategy
At the beginning of online multi-table tournaments, there are usually too many players to try anything out of the ordinary. The best way to pass through this stage is to wait for premium hands and extract as much value as possible.
Many weaker players will lose quickly, and soon, you’ll start competing against more experienced participants. A lot of people will start identifying weaker links and try to knock them out, which is a viable strategy if you’re an experienced player.
Expect to see many flops, with many players trying to get two pairs or a better hand. However, this strategy will be used by many, leading them to raise the stakes with much weaker hands than they would usually do.
In the early stages of online multi-table tournaments, it's crucial to be patient, fold if needed, capitalise on premium hands, but also be aggressive pre-flop when you get the chance.
Don’t be scared to raise 3x or 4x the big blind if you get a good hand, such as AA or KK (or any other alternative). People will try to call your bluff, and you’ll reap the rewards. The bottom line of the early stage is to extract value with strong hands.
Especially considering that this is the first out of three poker positions, in which you have the least information about other players and their hands. So, you want to avoid making any rash decisions.
Middle Stage Poker Tournament Strategy
The next stage of the online poker tournament is the middle stage. The weaker players are out, and the chips are distributed unevenly.
Therefore, your poker tournament strategy at this stage will depend on your stack size.
- Big stack bully: Big stacks allow you to use mini-raises to risk the least with the possibility of increasing your chip count further.
- Small stack survivor: Be calculated and wait for the right opportunities and try to put yourself in a better position.
At this stage, players are afraid to lose and they will be more hesitant to call or raise. If someone with the smaller stack goes all in, they probably have something of value, so don’t be tempted to call just to kick them out.
However, if you follow the early poker tournament strategy, you should enter this phase with an advantage.
The Late Stage Strategy
The late stage in an online poker tournament involves two parts:
- Bubble stage
- In the money stage
The bubble stage is when the payouts begin. Players with smaller stacks tighten up because they know their chances of recovering are slim and they want to ensure to earn as much as possible.
Just like before, your online tournament poker strategy in this stage depends on the size of your stack and the principles remain the same.
However, as the rewards increase and you are in the money, players become loose. The best way to make it to the final table is to play tightly and wait for premium hands. The odds of winning the tournament increase significantly the bigger stack you have once you reach the final round.
The late stage strategy can be challenging to execute because there isn’t a rule-of-thumb rule you can follow. Making it to the final table is truly a feat of its own and if you’re struggling to take those final steps, you have to analyse your game.
We recommend you explore casino live streaming and look for experienced players and how they handle late game. This allows you to see first-hand how players think and analyse their decisions.
Making the Final Table
Making it to the final table is a huge win. It’s just a matter of position at this point. However, there’s a significant difference in rewards between the winner of the tournament and the first man to lose on the final table.
The best online poker tournament strategy depends a lot on the tournament, the participating players, and your stack size. Like always, try to use your premium hands and don’t make rash decisions.
Play confidently, don’t be afraid to risk it, and trust your gut feeling. If you’re going to take your shot, this is the moment to do so. Remember that the players here already have a lot of experience and know how to play poker.
Don’t follow mediocre hands because they can lead you to a premature finish in the tournament. That would be a shame, considering you’ve worked hard to reach this point.
5 Poker Tournament Tips
Now that you know the basics of online poker tournaments, we wanted to provide you with five additional tips. In theory, knowing how to win a poker tournament online is one thing, but entirely another in practice.
But with these five tips, it will be much easier to stay on course:
- Start slow: an online poker tournament is a marathon, not a sprint. Start more conservatively, but adjust your game as you learn more about the players and depending on your hands.
- Be aware of your stack size: most of your online poker tournament strategy depends on your stack size. Forgetting about it is easy, especially in an online setting where you don’t see the pile of chips.
- Master short stack poker strategy: things won’t always go your way, which is why it’s important to master playing with a low number of chips. This is a game of its own so we won’t go into details here.
- Play aggressively to steal blinds: aggressive play is necessary if you want to come on top. Choose when to play aggressively very carefully, but don’t be afraid to do so, especially when you have strong hands.
- Don’t be afraid to risk it: although skill and knowledge are required to win an online tourney in poker, luck is also involved. In other words, you’ll have to risk it a few times during your tournament and live with an outcome.
This online poker tournament guide gives you an excellent overview of everything you need to know to compete online. It will take some time to master all the concepts and strategies and win your first tournament.
Now, you’re ready to start playing online, so browse the ongoing online tournaments and reserve your spot.
Best of luck!
