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Progressive Knockout Tournament Strategy

Planet Mark — Fri, 15 Jul 2022 09:52:12 +0000

Beginners Guide to PKO Poker Tournament Tactics and Strategies

Bounty tournaments have always been popular format for MTT poker.

Winning an instant prize when knocking another player out of the tournament is always welcome, especially when it can take a long while to make the cash stages. However, in traditional bounty poker tournaments, the bounties can become insignificant near the end due to size of the prizes on offer for the top finishers.

The invention of progressive knockout tournaments (PKO) has seen this change. As you knock out more players, your bounty grows. This puts targets on the back of anyone that runs well. As the game progresses, individual bounties become huge.

This page starts by explaining how PKO poker tournaments work. It then gives some beginner strategy tips, showing how and when you should adjust your play for the ever-increasing bounties.

You’ll find daily PKO tournaments, plus the richest schedule available to both US and worldwide players – over at www.americascardroom.eu

Remember bonus code SNGPLANET for the best available 200% welcome bonus.

How do Progressive Knockout Tournaments Work?

When you play a standard bounty tournament, the size of the bounty will remain static throughout the event. For example, if there is a $10 bounty on the head of a player, it will remain at $10 whether you knock them out in the first hand of the tournament, or if you make it to the end and are heads up.

A PKO takes a different approach. At the start every player has the same size of bounty on their heads. However, every time one player knocks out another, the size of their own bounty becomes larger.

You get half of the bounty paid to your player account, while the other half is added to your head.

In effect, the more successful you are, the more of a target you are for other players. By the end of a PKO multi-table tournament there’ll be a mix of players. Some will have incredible sized bounties on their heads. Some might have medium sized bounties. And there might be the occasional survivor who hasn’t managed to knock anyone out, so still has the original price on their head.

The shot below is from a typical $33 PKO at the super-soft www.americascardroom.com, it shows the breakdown in fees:

Set Fee Structure

PKO tournament events feature a set structure. 50% of the tournament entry fee goes into the overall prize pool, where prizes are paid out based on the final finishing position. The other 50% goes onto your head as the initial bounty. When you knock out a player, you win half of their bounty in cash immediately. The other half is added to your bounty.

You will also pay a fee to the online poker site, which is usually around 10% of the overall entry cost.

If the progressive bounty is much different to this, it will be specified on the tournament lobby before you register.

Solid Beginner Strategy for Progressive Knockout Tournaments

At the start of these events, your strategy should closely follow a standard tournament. You do want to target other players and aim to knock them out, but you don’t want to be risking your entire tournament life on a marginal call, especially when there is just a single bounty to win.

Keeping your stack above average for the table will give you some extra equity. This comes via profits from bounties you could have missed out on by just a few chips.

As the tournament moves on, you must be completely aware of the sizes of the bounties on the heads of other players. You should also take notes on which players are the maniacs, who are the nits waiting for aces and which players are targeting those with shorter stacks.

Bluffing in Progressive Knockout Poker Tournaments

With growing bounties at stake, the math says you should call more often. When you include both the boost from the cash reward, and the extra chips which will let you win future bounties – there is a big incentive to gamble.

Conversely, this means your bluff are far less likely to get through.

You’ll find opponents calling light to win your bounty. This can even happen when the math does not add up. Working out which players are making light calls can save you chips in spots where you might otherwise have bluffed.

PKO Strategy Keep an Eye on the Biggest Stacks

Keep an eye on the action of the players with the largest stacks from this point on. With a large stack they are much more likely to call down light as they can afford to take risks, especially against those players offering a big prize. These might be the stacks to target, especially when stealing. Knowing they’ll call you down loose, you can decide to tighten up a little. This is the worst time possible to pull off a bluff.

There will be situations when a short shack will shove, a larger stack then calls and you’re waiting behind. Be aware, once again, that the large stack will make this call lighter than usual and has a wider range.

Push / Fold in PKO

As the stacks and the bounties become even larger, you will be facing more shove or fold situations. Try not to be calling too much at this point and trying to hit a flop. If you miss and must fold, you not only lose the immediate chips, but you also lose some of your ability to win your opponent’s bounties in the future.

As you approach the late stages of these tournaments, the size of the bounties can become even more important than the overall prize fund. Keep a close eye on the dynamic of the tournament at this point. You want to have other players covered in terms of chips, because if you don’t, you can’t grab their bounty. For example, if you have a slight chip lead over a player sat next to you with an enormous bounty on their head, think before getting involved in a smaller pot with another player which will take you below the chip count of the larger pot.

Play smart, keep a close eye on every other player at the table and you can make these tournaments pay.

Practice Head Up Play

The single biggest bounty comes when you eliminate the 2^nd place player. You get half, or more or the bounties from the entire tournament in one go.

Finding yourself heads-up at the end of a long PKO tournament is a dream spot. You can avoid it becoming a nightmare by making sure you know about heads up ranges, positional strategy, and 3-betting. A little practice here will give you a big edge.

You’ll find daily PKO tournaments, plus the richest schedule available to both US and worldwide players – over at www.americascardroom.eu

Remember bonus code SNGPLANET for the best available 200% welcome bonus.

More Popular Tournament Strategy Articles:

ACR Bonus Code (the best tournament site covering both US and worldwide players, hands down!)
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Flip and Go Tournaments at GGPoker

Planet Mark — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 13:51:51 +0000

Miss the Boring Grind and Get Straight to the Money Paying Spots with GGPoker’s Flip and Go Tournaments

GGPoker have broken the mold of traditional poker sites with a range of innovative games including Flip N Go, Battle Royale and Rush and Cash. While you can still enjoy the usual cash game and tournament mix – the fresh new games are well worth checking out.

Flip and Go tournaments solve a major headache for MTT players. It can take ages in tournaments to get to the money paying places. Sometimes, you will grind away for hours, only to bust with a minimum cash.

With Flip and Go events, you play a single hand and then you are either eliminated or you are immediately in the money.

There is some strategy too.

Read on to find out all about how these games work and the skills you can employ to make the most of them.

How Do GGPoker Flip and Go Tournaments Work?

Everyone gets three hole cards in Flip and Go tournaments. The strategy element is that you get to choose which of them to discard before everyone goes all-in. Sure, there is a huge element of chance here – though that selection does make a big difference over time.

Once a winner is decided, they go into the next round – right into the money paying places. The games then play through to a final table. Depending on the field size and buy-in, those last few spots are worth fighting for!

Buy-In Levels and Number of Buy-Ins for Round 1

There are four buy-in levels for Flip and Go tournaments. Micro stakes players will enjoy the 5c and 50c buy-in levels. There is a $3 buy-in level. And then there are the $20 events, which will appeal to those wanting to win bigger prizes.

Having chosen your buy-in, you then get to choose how many buy-ins you want to start the tournament with. This determines your starting stack. Most players go for maximum of five; this means a single all-in win gets you to the money spots with a big stack of chips. If you buy-in once or twice, you need to win more than one flip to reach round two.

You can choose to enter round 1 games up to 8 times.

Each stack you win from the round 1’s will be added together for the scheduled in the money tournament round.

If you win more than one preliminary round, especially with a 5x buy-in, you will be looking at a giant stack for the second part.

Skill Based All-Ins? Flip and Go Game Play

The tournaments start with a bang with the skill-based flip out. This is a single hand, where you will battle it out at a table of players for the one place ‘in the money.’ This hand sees every player go all-in pre-flop and the best hand at the end of it wins.

Each player is dealt three hole cards and gets to choose one of the three to discard. This is where the skill factor comes in. Choose wisely and then keep everything crossed that your hand holds up.

Flip Bonus for Straights or Flushes

Interestingly, you can now gain a ‘flip bonus’ to your starting stack. If your winning hand is a straight or a flush, the size of your starting stack is doubled. Three of a kind trebles your starting stack. Land a straight flush and the size of your stack is now multiplied by four.

If you are still in at this point, this is where things go back to normal. The end of the tournament plays out as normal, the only difference being that all the remaining players are guaranteed to be in the money. At this point the field is much reduced, so every player has a shot.

Strategy for GGPoker Flip and Go Tournaments

The start of the tournaments offers a big risk/reward decision. If you opt for the single buy-in, you have as much chance of anyone to progress to the money stages. However, when you get there, you will have the smallest stack (unless you get the Flip bonus, which could see you improve).

With a single buy-in, you could in theory be facing stacks that are 32x the size of yours, so it will be likely that you will struggle to make the big cash. However, if you like being the underdog and are aiming to create a Cinderella story, this can be a good tactic. This strategy also allows you to play more tournaments.

Buying in for the Max

Conversely buying in for the maximum 8x gives you the best shot at winning the tournament if you survive the flip out. Gain the flip bonus and you could find yourself in incredible shape as you enter the final stages. With prize funds at tournaments geared towards the upper ends, you are giving yourself the best shot at those big prizes and the biggest returns on investment by playing this way. The downside is that by playing 8 buy-ins, you get to play fewer tournaments.

It is important to realize that while the flip out is effectively a crap shoot, the final stages are not.

This can be difficult to handle mentally, as many players will still be in all-in and fold mode. However, you are now playing a standard tournament effectively. It is time to get your ‘A’ game in place.

Play solid poker and do not make any rash decisions – there will be plenty of bad play at this point, just do not get involved yourself. With mistakes being made left, right and center, there is a real opportunity to make these games profitable. Make those times when you are in the money, count.

About GGPoker

GGPoker is now a serious candidate to become the biggest online poker site – edging out longtime leader PokerStars.

They did this with a mix of innovative games, super-generous welcome bonuses and software / games that appeal to recreational players.

Once you play there, it really is difficult to go back to any of the traditional poker sites!

Get your $100 in tokens now, and make sure you follow the ‘Honeymoon’ challenges for up to $350 more over your first 30 days.

See www.ggpoker.com for the latest promos and start flipping!

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Fast Fold Poker Tournament Strategy

Superadmin — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 06:57:45 +0000

Beginners Guide To Beating Fast Fold Poker Tournaments Including PokerStars' Zoom, 888's 'SNAP' and iPoker's 'Speed Holdem'

Fast Fold Poker has gone from being a novelty, to being an established part of the online poker setup - with more and more sites hosting variations with names like Speed Holdem, Strobe, Zoom and of course the softest of them all - SNAP poker at 888. Whenever I play tournaments in these formats there are people making simple errors. Some of these are just inexperienced people splashing around, but most of the time they are failures to adjust to the fast-fold format. This article covers the many different types of Fast Fold poker tournaments and highlights the key differences in strategy compared to regular format games (and of course the parts which remain the same).

After the strategy you'll find a short section comparing what is on offer in these games at different sites side-by-side. There are some huge differences in the experience levels of the typical opponents at different sites. 888 and Party are the softest overall in 2022, with Stars generally much tougher.

Though fast fold poker has the same rules and betting as normal Texas Holdem, the difference in dynamics of the game means that a player must adapt their playing style to two key factors. These are that it is easy to fold junk, and most players will do so. Secondly, the feeling of anonymity leads many players into playing very predictably. This makes any notes you take (or HUD Stats you collect) extremely valuable in fast fold tourneys.

Early Stage Fast Fold Poker Tournament Strategy:

Due to the ability of players to quickly fold their hand instantly Fast Fold tournaments and multi-table sit and goes are a lot tighter than normal tournaments, with one important early stage difference. A small but significant number of opponents will raise almost every hand, thinking they are taking advantage of the ‘Quick Fold’ tendencies of opponents. This might not be a bad strategy if the same players understood position or post flop play – the fact that when they are called they often spew huge amounts of chips, negating the effectiveness of the aggressive start. On average, the hands you see shown down in Fast Fold MTTs are stonger than in a slower format game. If you are constantly trying to overcome this card-strength disadvantage with post-flop play then you are fighting an uphill battle. You need to stay tight from early position and wait for spots against known opponents to make big moves before the flop without the goods.

I recommend you fold non-premium unpaired high-card hands to any raise from early position while in the early stages, and restrict your calling ranges to pairs and suited connectors / suited aces when deep enough. Remember you will often be facing a big hand, and stand to win a big pot those times your small pair hits a concealed set. Remember to take notes on any usual bet sizes, do not wait until the end of the hand, click while in action and fill in the details when you have a moment. Since your opponent is proportionally more likely to have a value hand when they are raising, you should 3 bet bigger for value when you hold a premium hand yourself - if you are more likely to get called then why not extract the maximum value?

A solid 'ABC' approach, emphasizing position and making sure you are the raiser rather than the caller, will work wonders in the early stages of a Fast Fold Poker tournament – you will get to take advantage not only of the ‘raisy-crazy’ types, but the ‘fold all but premiums’ nits too while you accumulate chips.

Mid Stage Fast Fold Poker Tournament Strategy:

In the mid stages you have hopefully picked up a decent stack to work with. If you haven’t you must keep to rather standard play with a push / fold strategy sooner rather than later, the blinds will be going up fast in Zoom / SNAP Poker – and passive players will quickly get left behind. For me there are very few circumstances where it would be better to blind away any fold equity (ability to get opponents to fold) before getting those chips in - take a reasonable hand, a reasonable position and take a shot at getting back into the game before it is too late!

During the middle stages the ‘menace of mini-raisers’ can become apparent. With many opponents deliberately doubling the big blind with a wide range of hands to take advantage of the fact that opponents with ‘tricky stack sizes’ will often fold even strong hands rather than risk calling. My tip is to take notes, you will start to see the same players raising (or 3-betting) again and again as you get to the middle stages, and knowing who is a ‘serial mini-raiser’ can give you the opportunity to re-steal for some nice pre-flop pots. This same 'notes' tactic works will bet sizing too. So many players get suckered into feeling that their play is not being watched, if you spot someone who (for example) bets 2/3rds of pot when they missed the flop and half-pot when they are strong you take take massive advantage. The best thing about this tactic is that your opponent might never know that you have a read on them.

Staying aggressive and picking up blinds and antes is also important during the middle stages. Being aware of your stack size and the number of chips held by opponents will also help you decide on a play – remember very big stacks and extra small stacks are the ones most likely to call you as you approach the bubble.

Final Stage Fast Fold Poker Strategy:

Fast blinds mean that the majority of players will be in push / fold mode as the tables become short-handed towards the end of the game. This gives thinking players a great advantage, since the type of players who play Speed Holdem / SNAP tournaments are not the ‘grinders’ who will be aware of prize pool equity models such as ICM.

One of the biggest mistakes I saw in the late stages of Fast Fold tournaments is to fold too often. That is to say there are many opportunities due to specific opponents, stack to blind ratios and even pure desire for more chips where any two cards can be profitably pushed from the button or small blind. Failing to do this is simply giving away equity. Your notes will be a big help at this stage, an opponent who over-valued Ace-Eight (for example) in the early stages is likely to call on the final table bubble with exactly this type of hand – so beware!

Once you are down to 9 players the play returns to a ‘normal’ final table format, with the seats fixed. With shallow stacks compared to the blinds play is likely to be aggressive and fast. You should focus again on the mid-stacks and try to work out who is playing to move up the payout scale and who is going for the win. Check my article on Tournament Final Table Strategy for more on the specific strategies for this this part of the game.

Fast Fold Poker Tournaments - What Are The Differences And Which Is The Best?

PokerStars introduced Zoom tournaments for their MicroMillions Event a few years ago. These games are now available as part of their regular schedule with buy-ins of between $2.20c and $16,50c. These games have a red 'Z' next to them in the tournament lobby and Guaranteed prize pools of between $500 and $5k. Blinds go up every 5 minutes, a similar schedule to their normal 'Turbo' tournaments and fairly slow when you consider the number of hands it is possible to play in Zoom games. There are sure to be some bigger buy-in events added, and already some huge guarantees in place for the next online poker event (the SCOOP). You can currently play Zoom tournaments in Pot Limit Omaha and NL Holdem format. With the merger of the player pools of Full Tilt to PokerStars, the old Rush Poker tournaments are no more... its Zoom all the way. While you'll get bigger fields and bigger guarantees in PokerStars' games, in general your opponents will be better / more experienced and more likely to understand the strategy adjustments... other, more recreational, sites are a better bet.

iPoker has Speed Holdem in tournament format. These are smaller buy-in games (€10 and under) and rarely attract fields of more than around 150 players. You will find some players who know what they are doing - though on the whole the fields are noticably more recreational than at PokerStars. This would be my top pick (via Titan Poker), if it was not for one site which has a really soft alternative.

Value Betting In Online Poker Tournaments

Planet Mark — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 13:56:55 +0000

Missing value bets is like lighting money on fire!

By Sam Shan

Many players quite simply do not value bet enough. This article outlines some key factors to consider when making a value bet in low stakes tournaments (around $20 and under) and will help you implement a sound value betting strategy to your game. The fact of the matter is, value betting is king, forget about all the crazy bluffs you see on TV, it is betting for value that makes you money in poker.

What is a value bet?

A value bet is simply a bet we make when we are ahead of our opponents. When value betting we want our opponent to call and we want to bet the maximum that they will call. Betting the right amount can be as important as knowing when to value bet.

How do we know when to value bet?

For the absolute beginner knowing when to value bet is not always straightforward. Maybe you are not the most adept at putting your opponent on a hand. If that’s you, don’t worry, there is still a way you can implement value betting into your game.

A good way to look at it is like this. If we have the nuts we obviously need to value bet, reason being, we have the best hand 100% of the time and the worst case scenario is we split the pot with the same hand.

So we can safely value bet when we have the nuts and close to it. The further away we get from the nuts the less we should be value betting, reason being there are more hands that beat us that will not fold.

This is not perfect strategy but it is a great starting point for beginners who want to start implementing value bets into their game.

How do I know how much to bet?

Knowing how much to bet is one of those ‘it depends’ situations. Like most poker decisions they are many factors to consider. Having a solid read on our opponent is key here. For example, imagine we get to the river in an online multi table tournament and the pot is 2500. The board is AsQc4h9s2c and we are holding 4d4s. Our opponent has 3100 behind and we cover. We have come to the conclusion we have the best hand and decided we want to go ahead and make a value bet. How much should we bet?

To answer that question we need to put our opponent on a hand. If we put our opponent on a hand like a big ace or two pair, we know they won’t fold for any amount, so we should obviously go ahead and shove to get the maximum value from our hand.

You must understand in low stakes tournaments online, people are playing their cards, they do not have any idea what you have and quite frankly they don’t care… They have AK and there is an ace on the board, they are not folding.

Taking the same example, let’s say we weight our opponents range to weaker made hands, second and third pair type hands like KQ/JJ/9T. In this situation we still have the best hand. Should we again go ahead and shove? Probably not, sure against certain maniacs who have shown they will not fold anything, go ahead and shove, but for the most part with this hand range our opponent would probably fold to a shove. I would go ahead and bet something smaller, around 1100, leaving our opponents ‘some chips to play with’. Again the fish in these multi table tournaments are more likely to call a non all in bet with a marginal holding because if they call and are wrong, they are still in the tournament.

A raise can be a value bet to!

A common misconception is that a value bet is only when we are betting into an opponent. That is not the case, if we are facing a bet from an opponent and believe we have the best hand and they will call a raise, we should go ahead and raise to get more value from a hand. This too is a value bet and shouldn’t be overlooked.

Value bet more rivers

Over the years playing tournaments I have noticed a lot of mistakes from less experienced players, one of the main ones is people failing to extract value on rivers. People are scared to bet the river in fear of being raised and then having to fold their hand. This is a leak. A big one too.

Think back to key hands you have played on the river and ask yourself how many times you have said something along the lines of ‘Damn, I wish I had bet now, he would of called’.

We have already established that in low stakes tournaments people for the most part play their own cards. Therefore, if we get to the river and they check to us, it is very rare they have a super strong hand as they would have just went ahead and bet it themselves.

Another thing, when they do raise, unless you have the nuts or very close to it, just fold. Trust me the amount of money we make by value betting rivers will far outweigh the times we bet and then have to fold to a raise.

Tip: If you’re struggling with betting the river then consider this. If you would have called a bet and they check to you, go ahead and bet the river. Again this is not perfect but it is a great start if you’re struggling with the concept.

Stop lighting money on fire

Going deep and making a run in multi table tournaments is all about chip accumulation and building stacks! Yes, we can do this by running triple barrel bluffs in raised pots, but oftentimes this will just end up with you being called down with some random top pair hand and sent to the rail.

Never missing a value bet will gain you way more chips with way less risk of ruin. If you pay attention to your value bets, sizing in particular, you will often find yourself gaining chips at a steady rate and give yourself the best possible chance of making a run in the tournament.

A great way to build up experience in tournaments and boost your bankroll at the same time is to play the 180 player Sit N Goes over at PokerStars - these kick off every few minutes and have a wide range of buy-in levels. Find out more in my 3-part special guide to the 180's here.

More Poker Tournament Focused Articles:

- Poker Tournaments For US Players (Offshore sites are offering bigger and better tournaments nowadays)

- 10 Best Beginner's Tournaments (ideas for where to get yourself some experience)

- Tournament Strategy Main Page (lists over 100 more tournament articles from beginner to advanced).

Playing Draws in Poker Tournaments

Planet Mark — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 10:37:35 +0000

Why Aggressive Play With Drawing Hands In Poker Tournaments Will Win You More Chips Over Time

By Pablo Paglayan

Usually, beginners play ‘flush draws’ and ‘straight draws’ in a very passive way in multi-table tournaments. By doing this, they reduce there winnings to those hands in which they are lucky enough to complete the ‘draw’. In this article you will find some basic tips top lay ‘draws’ more aggressively to be able to win without needing a made hand.

Play in position

As you see, this concept appears on almost every article. Position is “everything” in poker. In this case, where we will talk mostly about suited connectors (hands that can flop flush and straight draws pretty easily), we should avoid playing from early position. This is because we definitely don’t want a call from somebody having position on us. Why? Well, there are 2 main reasons (when we flop a ‘draw’):

It is way more difficult to win the pot by bluffing when we are out of position than when we are in position.
Over the long term, we will extract much more value from a completed ‘draw’ when playing in position than out of position.

When playing in position, we get information about our opponent’s hand before we make a decision in every street, which will allow us to make more succesful bluffs and better value bets. Of course, we will also save money by not bluffing if our opponent shows strength. As Antonio Esfandiari once said: “Money saved is money earned”.

Analyze the board

Does the flop hit our opponent’s range? Does it hit our range enough to be able to bluff our opponent/s out of the hand? Those are 2 questions you should ask yourself when deciding whether to fire a semi-bluff or not. Remember that even if you get called, you still have a huge equity (usually between 30% and 40%) of completing your draw on the turn/river, so getting called is not ‘bad’.

One more think that beginners don’t think about, is that if you play yours draws passively and then turn aggressive when a card that completes a draw comes, it will be quiet easy for your opponent/s to read you and fold their hand against your aggression. However, if you are aggressive before hitting your draw, you might be able to extract more value when you complete your draws because villains will rarely believe you were ‘drawing’.

Finally, remember that bluffs and semi-bluffs work very well in multi-way pots, so don’t be afraid of betting or raising against 2/3 opponents, you will be surprised of how many times you will win the hand without showdown!

Playing against a possible draw

When you find yourself in a situation where your opponent is likely to be ‘drawing’, you must put a high price to each street. Your opponent knows he will win the hand if he completes his/her draw, so our task is to avoid giving him/her a cheap showdown.

When you suspect an opponent is ‘drawing’, you should bet and raise hard, in order to force the villain to pay to see the turn/river. The more aggressive we play, the more times we will get a fold from our opponents, while the times they call they might be doing it without the right odds, so even if we lose a medium-sized pot from time to time, the aggression would be profitable in the long run.

Flush Draw vs. Straight Draw

A flush draw looks, and actually is great. But be careful with straight draws on single and double-suit flops. Although you might think you have 8 outs (with an open-ended straight draw), sometimes you will be up against somebody with a flush draw and you might lose a lot of chips if you both get there.

Also, even if you aren’t against a flush draw, it’s hard to extract much value from a made straight in a board where a flush is possible, so overplaying these draws might not be a great idea.

Overcards

Always remember that many times, having overcards (for example, holding Kh-Jh on a 9h-5c-2h board) adds extra equity to your hand, because a decent amount of times, hitting a pair will give you the winning hand.

This extra equity that overcards give you makes your aggression more profitable over time.

If you are a new player looking to build online tournament experience and build your bankroll at the same time, I strongly recommend the 180 Player Sit n Goes at PokerStars.com. These kick-off every few minutes, and go through the different stages like a larger poker tournament. They are easy to beat too! Check out my 3-part guide to the 180 SNGs here.

Poker Tournament Strategy - Firing a Second Barrel

Planet Mark — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 12:58:26 +0000

What happens when our continuation bet gets called and we don’t have any showdown value?
Should you fire again or give up the hand?

By Pablo Paglayan

Every winning poker player agrees on the importance of being positive and aggressive with their betting. Once you open the pot pre-flop, you are supposed to make a continuation bet on the flop more often than not. This will usually win you the pot right there even if you didn’t hit a hand at all. But what happens when our continuation bet gets called and we don’t have any showdown value? Should you fire again - or give up the hand?

There are several of factors to analyze before deciding to fire a Second Barrel or not. These include Position, Flop texture, hand equity and player image. Each of these interact with the others, helping you to decide whether firing a second barrel is a profitable move or not.

Firing A 2^nd Barrel - Position

As in every aspect of poker play, having position will mean better results in the long term. In this case, where our flop continuation bet got called, we are more likely to win the pot with a Second Barrel in position than out of position.

This is because, when calling out of position, our opponent must be willing to make a call on the river if he is planning to check it to us. Moreover, implied odds while playing out of position are always lower than in position, so many hands that may call with position will fold without it.

On the other hand, when the villain calls in position, he can not only expect to see a cheap showdown, but also he might bluff us with a missed draw on the river if we decide not to make a Third Barrel.

Firing A 2^nd Barrel - Board Texture

It’s extremely important to have a board which hits our opening range in order to make our opponent fold. For example, if villain check-called our continuation bet on a K-9-6 board and then checked again when an Ace appeared on the turn, then we can definitely fire a Second Barrel looking to steal the pot. In that same example, a Second Barrel can be fired both in and out of position.

However, if the turn card is a brick and there’s no draw at all, checking back (or just check when we are out of position) might be the best idea. To come to an accurate conclusion, ask yourself:

‘Are there any hands which called THAT flop that might fold THAT turn?’

If the answer is no, then there’s no reason to invest any more chips to try to steal the pot. However, if the answer is yes, you should ask yourself:

‘Which ones? Are they a considerable part of the villain’s range after calling the flop?’

And, if the answer is yes, you might want to fire a Second Barrel, given that our opponent will be folding many times.

Finally, try to avoid firing a Second Barrel out of position after when a draw (specially a flush draw) was completed with the turn card.

Firing A 2^nd Barrel - Hand Equity

When you have some equity (that means that a decent amount of cards can hit the river to give you the winning hand) you can consider to fire a Second Barrel with a higher frequency, because some of the times you get called you will end up winning a pretty big pot after hitting the river.

Hands with decent equity can be flush draws, open-ended straight draws, overcards + gutshot, etc. However, be careful with players that like to check-raise a lot, because you might be forced to fold and miss the chance of making a hand on the river to win the pot.

Firing A 2^nd Barrel - Player Image

You must take into account both your image and the villain’s image before deciding whether to fire a Second Barrel or not.

If he knows you’ve been bluffing a lot and playing very aggressively, then he is very unlikely to fold against your Second Barrel. Also, if you know that he is a calling-station, then bluffing will not be the best idea.

On the other hand, if you have a pretty tight image, you can expect your Second Barrel to work more often than not, especially against player that, let’s say, like to call the flop with a wide range but then fold against another bet.

10 Difficult Situations Beginners Face In Online Poker Tournaments – Final Table

Planet Mark — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 17:20:33 +0000

There are some situations in Online Multi-Table Tournaments which generate many problems to beginner players. In this article we will take a look at those which might get you in trouble in the final table of a tournament.

This is the final installment of a 3 part series, you can also read about difficult situations in the early stages and middle stages.

Feeling nervous about the money jumps

The pay-jumps of a final table are an issue that affects both amateur and professional poker players. The best way to avoid this is to play a tournament only if your bankroll allows it. By doing this, you will be playing for a prize-pool that will not make a huge difference for your bankroll (unless the tournament you are playing in had 1000’s of players).

Unluckily, there’s no magic formula to avoid thinking about the money, but there are some tips that my help you keep playing your best game:

First of all, remember that the rest of the table (maybe not everybody, but almost) is thinking about the money too, so the one who is able to keep the pressure of money out of his or her mind will have a huge advantage over the others.

Also, despite being in love with the colossal payouts for the first 3 or 4 spots, you should understand that the 3st place prize is usually less than half the 1st prize, so going for the win is the correct decision every time.

Finally, if necessary, try to convince yourself that the tournament you are playing is not a matter of money, it’s a matter of achieving something big, something you will be proud about, and regardless of how good you play and how much you win, a 2nd place finish usually feels extremely bad compared to a 1st place finish.

Playing Short-Handed

While playing Short-Handed, blinds will hit you quickly so you must be active or you are going to lose a huge portion of your stack.

When playing in a table of only 4 or 5 players you must open your range a lot because it is much less likely that somebody has a good hand to play against you. Stealing blinds and antes here is necessary.

In addition, considering that everybody will be opening lighter, you should consider 3-betting with a wide range too, especially if you are in position. Always try to play in position and being more aggressive than before.

Against aggressive players, you can 4-bet light too, as they will be 3-betting many hands trying to take the pot pre-flop. Remember that if you can avoid thinking about the money you will have a huge edge against the rest of the table.

Playing Heads-Up without experience

Once you reached the Heads-Up the pressure of money should be gone because there’s only 1 more spot to climb.

In Heads-Up, you should open almost any 2 cards from the button. A good idea would be to make min-raises preflop to keep the pot small and have more place to play post-flop as our opponent is likely to call a lot even if we open to, let’s say, 3 Big Blinds.

Remember your opponent will also play a lot of hands, and many times both of you will miss the board or maybe hit a weak combination, so you must play aggressively and analyze every single situation carefully as the villain is going to bluff a lot.

Also, you should try to balance your 3-betting range by not only 3-betting with good/premium hands, but with trash hands too (I don’t recommend to 3-bet with playable hands like K8s from the Big Blind because you would be transforming it into a bluff).

Finally, if the Heads-Up starts being quiet long, concentrate on mixing your moves a little bit or your opponent will have a more accurate read on you after every hand.

One last reminder: If you are a new player looking to build online tournament experience and build your bankroll at the same time, I strongly recommend the 180 Player Sit n Goes at PokerStars.com. These kick-off every few minutes, and go through the different stages like a larger poker tournament. They are easy to beat too! Check out my 3-part guide to the 180 SNGs here.

More Beginner Tournament Strategy Articles

- 10 Best Beginner's Poker Tournaments

- Turbo Poker Tournament Strategy

- Final Table Strategy Tips

10 Difficult Situations Beginners Face In Online Poker Tournaments – Middle Stages

Planet Mark — Thu, 31 Oct 2013 13:15:36 +0000

By Pablo Paglayan

You can see issues in the early stages in this article. Here is a link to my look at issues in the early stages of poker tournaments.

Having an aggressive player to your left

Having an aggressive player to your left is probably the most annoying thing when playing a tournament. The way to approach these situations depends on that player’s stack size and our stack size.

Regarding the villain’s stack, you should know that the deeper he is, the more pots he’ll try to play and win applying his aggressive strategy.

If you are short stacked, you should not really care about the playing style of the player to our left as you will only be able to go all-in or fold.

If you have a decent stack, somewhere between 20 and 40 Big Blinds, you should try to play a little bit tighter than you usually would. A good thing to have in mind is that an aggressive player is more likely to fold against our open raise if he played the hand before. For example, let’s say the aggressive player won the last 2 hands, then it’s very likely he will fold the next one against a raise because nobody is going to believe him if he goes from aggressive to maniac, so we can open up our opening range a little bit. If he 3bets (re-raise) us, then we should consider 4betting much lighter than we would against an average player.

If you have a big stack, above 40 Big Blinds, you can choose between facing him in many pots or just playing tight and wait for hands to get involved in a pot. Of course, trying to play many pots against an aggressive player out of position would be a bad decision, so my advice is to just sit around waiting for hands and, of course, open middle-strength hands occasionally.

Whenever you find yourself going into a flop against the aggressive player, remember how he plays: aggressively. Therefore, if you have a strong hand, let him dig his own grave instead of betting with the risk of making him fold.

Playing a 15-20 Big Blinds stack

With a stack of 15-20 Big Blinds you should avoid playing post-flop out of position. A huge mistake with these stacks is opening middle-strength hands from early/middle positions.

From first positions, only open strong hands looking to get it in preflop. However, from late position, you might open up your range a little bit and open to fold against a 3bet or if your continuation bet fails.

If the blinds and antes represent a lot of chips for your stack, you can 3bet (re-raise pre-flop) light from time to time because your opponent will probably think you wouldn’t mind to play for your whole stack. On the other hand, if you have a very strong hand like AA or KK, you can just call to try and extract more chips post-flop, or you can go all-in directly to disguise the strength of your holding (average players will think you would never go all-in directly with those hands).

Dealing with card-dead periods

The way to handle card-dead periods depends mainly on your stack. If you have a big, comfortable stack, you can afford to fold and it might not be the worst idea as long as your stack remains healthy.

If you have an average, medium stack, you should be opening some hands regardless of how bad they are. Always do it in position and make sure you don’t have hyper-aggressive players on your left because you will lose money in the long run. The good part of opening a small amount of hands, is that your tablemates are going to believe you have a decent hand most of the time.

Finally, if you have a short stack, make sure it remains big enough to have some ‘fold equity’, in which case you can push with a very wide range in order to steal some blinds and antes to keep your stack as threatening as possible for your opponents.

Playing small/middle pairs

Most inexperienced players play every pair they are dealt, which usually is a mistake. Now that stacks are not very deep in terms of big blinds, you should not play every small/middle pair looking for a set because you are going to bleed chips very quickly.

Of course you can play them almost every time you can be the original raiser, and even more if you have a good position and a healthy stack. However, you should avoid opening little pairs if you have a couple of short-stacks left to act after you who may easily move all-in and force you to fold.

In conclusion, remember not to overplay small/middle pairs, especially if you are out of position and with a middle/short stack.

Part 3 of this series of articles will cover difficult situations beginning players encounter in the late stages of poker tournaments.

10 Difficult Situations Beginners Face In Online Poker Tournaments – Early Stages

Planet Mark — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 10:32:32 +0000

By Pablo Paglayan

Finding yourself with top pair/weak kicker

It’s very common to see beginners opening more hands than they should in the early stages of a tournament, only to find themselves in difficult situations very often with hands that might look good, but actually they are not.

To avoid getting into tough spots, the best solution is not to open mid-strength hands in the early stages of a tournament. Why? Well, hands like K-T, A-7 or J9s will usually make you win a little pot (when your opponent(s) don’t hit the board), or lose a big one (when your opponent(s) have you dominated).

It’s very unlikely to extract much value from a weaker hand with hands like the ones mentioned above, and taking into account the fact that blinds are extremely low at the beginning of a tournament and we don’t need to steal at all, playing only strong hands is not bad at all.

Playing against a calling-station when having a ‘draw’

It is not a secret that playing a ‘draw’ in an aggressive way is an excellent idea in an average situation, but… What should we do when facing an opponent who never folds? The most important thing to decide how to play in these spots is position. Do we have position against the calling-station?

If the answer is no, then probably the best option is to play our ‘draw’ passively because it will be very difficult for us to win the pot by bluffing. Calling-stations tend to call even more light when playing in position because they feel they can go to showdown cheaper, so semi-bluffing them is not the best idea.

If the answer is yes, then we can base our line on our opponent’s range. We should take into account what happened preflop. Did we call his raise in position? Did he call our raise? With that information we can come to an accurate conclusion to know if semi-bluffing with our ‘draw’ can be profitable in the long run or not. A perfect spot to bet is if we called his raise preflop and then he decided to check and not to make a continuation bet. However, if we raised preflop and he called from the blinds, we might not want to bet more than 1 time in a board that hits his calling range. When semi-bluffing with a ‘draw’ in position against a calling-station, make sure that the board hits your range a decent amount of time, otherwise the villain will call almost every time.

Facing an all-in situation pre-flop

In the early stages of a tournament you should try to avoid huge pots with mid-strength hands. Remember that doubling up is not very important as we are just starting the tournament. If you feel good at your table, there’s no reason to play a “coin flip (50/50 situation)” for a ton of chips.

The reason why we should only call an all-in situation preflop with a strong hand is that players are very unlikely to be bluffing, plus the fact that stacks are huge in terms of big blinds so we can just go on playing good poker post-flop, where we have an ‘edge’ against the others, instead of risking our tournament life pre-flop.

You might be thinking: “Great, but which hands should I call with then?”. Definitely monster pairs (AA, KK, QQ) are an easy call. However, calling with hands like AK or JJ against an all-in of more than 100bbs is not that good, because we would be “hoping for a flip”. Why? Because it’s unlikely that our opponent pushed with AQ or TT, and even less likely with worsethan that. However, if we have already invested a considerable number of chips in the pot and we have the right odds against villain’s all-in range, a call can be a good idea as long as you have a decent amount of chips behind to keep playing if you lose the hand.

Of course, you should make your calls lighter against short stacks or maniacs who are pushing all-in with a high frequency. Against a maniac, AJ or TT should be good a huge amount of time, while against a short-stack it depends on exactly how short he or she is, but AK and JJ would mean an easy call for sure.

Part 2 of this series of articles will cover difficult situations beginning players encounter in the middle stages of poker tournaments.

If you are a new player looking to build online tournament experience and build your bankroll at the same time, I strongly recommend the 180 Player Sit n Goes at PokerStars.com. These kick-off every few minutes, and go through the different stages like a larger poker tournament. They are easy to beat too! Check out my 3-part guide to the 180 SNGs here.

The Gap Concept In Multi-Table Tournaments

Planet Mark — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 13:35:59 +0000

By Pablo Paglayan

Understanding The Gap Concept Will Give You A Profitable Edge Over Your Opponents In Multi-Table Tournaments

The “Gap Concept” refers to the difference between raising and calling a raise preflop. This rule states that you need a better hand to call a raise with than you need to would need to raise yourself had nobody entered the pot.

One of the golden rules to be a successful poker player is being the aggressor almost every time we are involved in a pot. Knowing that, the “Gap Concept” dictates that you need a much stronger hand to ‘call’ than to ‘raise’ – the question many beginning players ask is ‘How Much Stronger?’

For example, let’s say you are dealt As-Jh in middle position at the 2nd level of a Multi-Table Tournament and the player Under-The-Gun (first to act) raised. Is our hand good enough to call? We know that UTG raises usually mean strength, so why put ourselves on a tough spot with A-J offsuit when we could very likely be against a big pair or a hand that dominates us, like A-K? The best option here is to fold. Now, let’s say we are dealt As-Jh in middle position at the same table of the same tournament and the action is folded to us. Now the situation is different. Everybody else folded, and our hand is strong enough to raise. Even much weaker hands like suited connectors or A-9/A-8 could be raised in this spot.

Stack Sizes And The Gap Concept

The “Gap Concept” in Multi-Table Tournaments is very important in the early stages, where stacks are very deep and we don’t see average players playing marginal hands too often, so we must know when to fold hands that may look great to play post-flop, but actually can cause you a lot of problems, especially when we don’t have the initiative in the hand.

Of course, as everything in poker, the application of the “Gap Concept” depends on our image and our table-mates images. For example, folding A-J against an UTG raise from an opponent that is raising 70% of the time is certainly not the best move. Instead, a re-raise here would be a great move to try to isolate the raiser, whose range is crushed by our hand and we will also have the initiative and position post-flop.

Another reason why calling is usually not a good idea is that you give the players behind you better odds to see a flop with whatever hand they have. So not only you are calling with a hand that may get you in trouble, but also you increase the chances of playing a multi-way pot with a problematic hand.

Which Hands To Call With, And Which To Raise?

Now, you might be wondering with which hands you should call and with which ones you should play only if the action is folded to you. Well, there’s not an exact answer for that, but we can say that the only good hands to call a raise are pairs looking to hit a set. Premium hands like AA, KK, QQ, JJ and AK should re-raise for value almost every time, and maybe AQs too. Other playable hands such as broadways, medium Aces, little suited Aces or suited connectors should only be played when we open the pot with them (A8, A3s, KJ, 87s, J9s, QT).

When you get deeper into the tournament and stacks start to get shorter in terms of Big Blinds, the ‘Gap’ should be narrowed because people will start to open lighter to steal the blinds and antes, which in middle and late stages of a tournament have a huge value. Now, calling a raise or re-raising with A-J might be good against an average player’s UTG raise. However, be careful with little pairs, remember that seeing flops is not cheap anymore, so we shouldn’t do it very frequently or our chips are going to disappear quickly.

On the other hand, you can now open with a wide range because people is less likely to call now that their stacks are not as deep as before. Let’s say you are dealt 9-8 offsuit in middle position in the middle stage of a tournament and the action is folded to you. A raise wouldn’t be bad at all, while doing it in the first levels of the tournament would have been a mistake.

In conclusion, always remember that the strenght of your hand is way more important when you decide to ‘call’ than when you decide to ‘raise’. When you ‘call’, you let the raiser have the initiative to take you off the pot in the following streets, while when you are the raiser you get the chance to bluff your opponent/s out of the hand.

10 Ways Tournament Pros Think, And Act, Differently To Amateurs

Planet Mark — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 11:51:35 +0000

Train Your Mind To Think Like A Tournament Pro, And Your Results Will Follow

Online poker tournaments are a great way to make a living, many of the most successful MTT pros have gone on to great things over the years – many breaking through at events like the WSOP or EPT.

When you compare the way that pro tournament players approach the game, there are some huge differences compared to amateurs or recreational players. Their long-term success depends on staying cool under pressure (or after bad beats), on putting in the volume and in selecting the best value games to play and which opponent’s to target and which to avoid.

Let’s be honest, playing the nightly $5 game and trying to hit a big score against 1000’s of novices is entertaining, but it is not going to propel you into the big-league. This article lists 10 characteristics you need to be working on right now, to think like a tournament pro and hopefully get the results you deserve.

10 Ways Online Poker Tournament Pros Think Differently Than You Do

#1 – They Focus On Volume

If you have a positive ROI, then the way to turn this into a real living is by putting in a high volume of games. You’ll hit a limit of the games you can profitably multi-table, so this means finding games with higher buy-ins. Finding the sweet spot between the higher buy-in games, and those which are still easy to beat requires doing some homework. You’ll have to build a weekday and weekend schedule which will include poker sites known for their recreational players – as well as the bigger buy in games found at PokerStars.

#2 – They Know The Math

Key to tournament success is learning the push / fold math when short-stacked. If you do not know what you can call with late, or when a 12 BB shove would be mathematically unexploitable then you are leaking profit in every game you play.

In addition, tourney pros understand the Independent Chip Model (ICM) for final table play. You will not be able to do calculations at the tables, though a sound knowledge of the principals will make those key (and big money) decisions profitable.

Heads-up math is very important, the money jump between 2^nd and 1^st is the biggest of all. SAGE can give you a solid basis here, as you gain experience you will learn when and how to deviate from this ‘unexploitable’ heads-up strategy and gain even more of an edge.

#3 – Their Play Is Fearless

If you currently tighten up at the bubble, waiting for the paying places before making a move, then you are probably missing some big +ev spots. Tournament pros play without fear, a +ev spot is a +ev spot, once you learn to forget about the money and focus on getting your money in good whenever possible – your results will improve.

#4 – They Know The Other Regulars

Sure, you can color code your regular opponents, and even avoid unclear / thin value spots with them. This will only get you so far though, knowing how they think, who are the great players and who is average / predictable and then working out what they think of you and your tendencies will take you one step further. Your edge against the average players might be obvious, tournament pros work hard to get an edge against their regular opponent’s too.

There are plenty of tracking services nowadays, so no excuses not to know!

#5 – They Develop Hand Reading Skills

Let’s face it, most amateur’s poker hand reading skills stop at pattern recognition. You get to know when someone is weak or strong, and even that does not always work. Spotting the weak players comes next, but even that only gets you so far.

Tournament pros have ranges for certain opponent types, they narrow those ranges based on the action – then assign weightings to specific hand types. By the time the river comes they are betting based on their ‘value targets’… Nobody is right the whole time, the shift in thinking is moving from a ‘hunch’ to a hand-reading methodology – start to learn one today.

#6 – Discipline, Commitment And Organization

You will never get to pro status without committing your time to sessions, there is no point playing when you are tired, when you have other deadlines, or when you are not focusing on the games. Tournament pros adjust their schedule to their target tournaments, making sure they are rested, focused and have food / drink organized for a potentially long session.

#7 – Actively Seeking Good Value Games

Pros seek out profitable games at the sites linked with sports books and casinos. Sure, there will not be enough mid to high stakes games at these sites to create a schedule on their own, however in combination there is plenty of value to be found. Instead of some of the more ‘pro heavy’ games at Stars, why not play the Sunday Majors with a more recreational crowd instead?

#8 – They Accumulate Chips Through All The Tournament Phases

Tournament pros are focused on accumulation, and know how to adjust their own game to the changing circumstances and phases of the tournament. This is more than just the basic tournament strategy or early / middle / bubble / late. This is a focus on keeping that stack growing by switching up the aggression, isolating weak or timid players, putting stack pressure on amateurs at just the right moment. Pros do not just take +ev spots when they arise, they work hard to create those spots by reading and manipulating the flow of the game.

#9 – They Keep A Tournament Toolkit

Good tournament players know that tools only assist with decisions, rather than dictate how you play. Still, HUD software, opponent tracking and a powerful calculator for checking decisions during reviews are the minimum requirements for the seasoned touney pro.

#10 – Reviews, Coaching And Always Learning

When is the last time you sat down for a serious review of your hand histories from a tournament session? Don’t worry, most people never do this, and if you have done it even once or twice then you are in the top 5% of poker players on this measure already.

If you are not seeking and plugging your own leaks, reads and situational awareness, then you are very unlikely to make it as a tournament pro. There are many ways you can do this, including hiring a coach, doing a peer-review with a buddy, or going through your Holdem Manager database to find the leaks that way.

A pro tournament player is always learning, always looking for an edge on the opposition – if you are not doing this then you are going to get left behind!

Beginners Final Table Deal Making Guide

Planet Mark — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 11:43:16 +0000

Final Table Deals Are Useful In Online Poker Tournaments
– As Long As You Avoid These 'Chopping' Mistakes

When you reach the final table of an online poker tournament, you will often be looking at enough money to make a big difference to your poker bankroll. The difference between first and second can be thousands of dollars alone, and the jump from 4^th to 1^st massive… and a coin-flip or cooler can make the difference between the big money and a consolation prize.

To smooth out the swings, it is common nowadays for players to agree to a deal or ‘chop’. This splits up the prizes, making sure everyone has a fair share. Sometimes the final table deal ends the game, other times you might play for a smaller prize or ‘bragging rights’ for coming first.

Making that final table deal can be tricky – and this article explains some of the key factors involved in ensuring that you get your fair share of the money. I start with the question of when to make a deal. Next I have covered the sites which allow this and the risks of private deals at those who do not. After this the different categories of deal possible, including ICM deals, chip-chops and the factors involved in custom deals. At the end, some words on negotiation – how to be firm yet fair and the importance of negotiating in good faith.

When To Make A Final Table Deal In An Online Poker Tournaments?

You can propose a deal in virtually any poker tournament, though the bigger the prize money the more likely you will find the other players agreeing. I have had offers to chop in 5 table Sit N Goes before – so this is my no means something for the Sunday Majors only.

Opinions differ on the ideal amount of players to chop the prize pool with. This could be a full table, or it could be the last 2 players only. If any one player does not want to make a deal, then this can’t go ahead – so you are at least playing until that person is eliminated…

In my experience the best time is between 2 and 4 players, and when the chip-stacks are relatively even. If the stacks are ‘shallow’ compared to the blinds then the role of chance in who gets the prizes is larger – meaning you should be more willing to consider a deal. When one player has a big chip lead they will often (rightly) assume that a deal will not be in their interests, since they can use the prize jumps to ‘bully’ everyone else. Likewise, people often wait until the smallest stacks have busted out before offering that chop.

Finally, at sites without official support for final table deals you have to rely on trust for the money transfers between players… The more people involved the greater chance that you will find a dishonest player who will try and steal your cash!

Which Sites Support Final Table Deal Making?

There are 3 major sites with official support for final table chops, these are PokerStars, Party Poker and Full Tilt Poker – Party and FTP have a built-in system to help you automate this, while Stars do this with their excellent support staff.

PokerStars: You need to write to [email protected] with ‘‘URGENT Tournament #1234567‘ in the subject line to initiate a deal. A support rep will come, make sure everyone is agreed to making a deal, then stop the tournament clock while the deal is made and distribute the prize money. Some tournaments specify an amount must be left over for 1^st place – for example the Sunday Million requires $30,000 be left out of any deal and played for!

Full Tilt Poker: Have an automated system where you can see how many people agree, if everyone is ok then the following screen pops up with different options to make a deal. You can hand control of the administration for the chop to whoever wants to do it, but everyone needs to agree.

Party Poker: Again an automated system which allows you to see how many people would be willing to make a deal, then kicks into action when all of the players have agreed.

Warning – Other Sites Are At Your Own Risk!

At other sites you could agree a deal, then shove all in each hand and distribute the money via player transfers when the game has finished. This relies on trust and should not be taken lightly. If someone fails to transfer your $10,000 you will have no recourse either through the sites or legally. It is possible to chop these games with known ‘regulars’, but remember you are taking a risk with your money.

Final Table Deal Making – The Different Types Of Chop Available

There are three main variations for final table chops. These are chip count deals, ICM based deals and custom deals.

Chip Based Deals: This is easy, take the total chips and divide the total prize money accordingly. For example if player A has 5000 chips, player b 4000 chips and player c 1000 chips and the prize pool was $25,000 in total. Then the spit would be 25000/1000 = $2.50c per chip – or $12,500 for A, $10,000 for B and $2,500 for C.

ICM Based Deals: The Independent Chip model is a way of recognizing that chips change value in tournaments. An extreme way of looking at this is to take a game with 3 players left and a prize pool of $1000 / $500 / $300 for the remaining 3 places. Say player 3 had just 1 chip… doing a chip-chop would give him hardly anything, yet he is already guaranteed 3^rd place (and poker miracles could happen to get him 2^nd!). So that chip is worth at least $300! I explain ICM in a lot more detail in this article here. The ICM chop will give different outcomes to the chip chop. This will generally give more of the prize pool to the smaller stacks than the pure chip-count chop would –especially where there is one person who has a huge chip lead.

Custom Deals: Most deals will be customized in some way, for example an even split of the money when the stacks are 55% / 45% or a little extra for the short stack. You need to take skill into account in some way when making a deal, and acknowledging a pro at the table (especially when deep stacked ) with more money is common. For example, there is you, me and Phil Ivey sat with identical stacks at the end of a tournament – it would not make sense to split evenly, since Phil would have such a huge edge (of course he would not split, I am just making a point!).

Negotiation In Final Table Deals – Firm But Fair

If someone has a good reason to split the deal differently to chips or ICM then you have to negotiate. While some people like to ‘push hard’ this can actually be counter-productive, it only takes one player to decide that the deal is not right for them and the whole thing falls apart.

Like in any negotiation, you need to be prepared to walk away if you do not get what you want – so decide in advance how badly you want the deal to go ahead. The best deals leave every player feeling like they ‘won’, so make your point, push for the maximum you can get – but remember that the deal will only go ahead when everyone is happy.

Related Articles:

Players looking to build tournament experience and their bankroll at the same time really can not go wrong with the awesome PokerStars 180 Player Sit N Goes.
For those wanting to compare tournament sites on criteria other than the possibility of making a deal, you can start with this article on the Best Poker Site For Tournaments
If you are from the US, you can compare the games available across different buy-in levels in my US Online Poker Tournaments guide

<< Back To Main List Of Poker Tournament Articles

Floating In Poker Tournaments And Sit n Goes

Planet Mark — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 09:44:32 +0000

Floating Describes Calling A Bet With The Intention Of Taking The Pot On A Later Street. This Powerful Move Is Often Mis-Used – Become A Successful Floater With This Guide!

As different poker strategies become established, new and creative ways are needed to counteract them. For example, later position players routinely ‘raise light’ to steal blinds – leading to an increase in re-raising from the button or shoving from the blinds to counteract this (restealing).

Floating is an answer to the habit of today’s players to routinely bet on the flop after raising pre-flop – whether or not the flop improved their hand. Continuation betting continues to be effective, however many players will bet once, then give up on the turn if they meet resistance. This makes calling that continuation bet with no hope of winning a showdown, and taking the bigger pot away on the turn or river and effective move. This is called ‘floating’.

Floating is not new. This move was included in Dan Harrington’s ‘Harrington on Holdem’ books from the mid-2000’s, it was then labeled as the ‘Call Bluff’.

There are several factors which you should take into account before you start routinely calling those continuation bets. These include stack sizes, the texture of the flop, the number of players in the hand, your position, the known tendencies of players involved and whether your hand has any possibility of improving. After going through these factors, I will add some thoughts specific to Sit N Goes – where floating can be both more effective and dangerous.

Floating – Factors To Take Into Account

#1 – Stack Sizes: You’ll need to be reasonably deep stacked when considering the float. Enough chips to call the bet pre-flop, then the continuation bet of anywhere between half-pot and full-pot. If this would leave you short when things do not work out (the turn is unfavorable or your opponent fires another big bet) then you should fold instead. You should also consider whether you might feel ‘committed’ to the pot (by the odds on offer) with a mid-strength hand if you call those early bets. The deeper stacked you are, the better.

#2 – The Texture Of The Flop: Pre-flop raises tend to be with pairs or high cards – how the flop looks can make a big difference to whether your opponent is likely to give up after trying a continuation bet. If the flop comes with an ace, and another high card then this is more likely to have hit someone who raises pre than a low or ragged flop. If you called before the flop then you might well be able to ‘represent’ a flush or straight on a lower and more connected flop. Before you consider floating, it can pay to work out what are the ‘bad’ cards which could come on the turn, and which are the ‘good’ cards (blanks) which might give you the opportunity to take the pot away.

#3 – How Many Players In The Hand: You really want to be heads-up against a single opponent when making this move. If there are players still to act the risk that someone has a hand strong enough to get to showdown goes way up – especially if they are calling bets on multiple streets.

#4 – Your Position In The Betting: Classic floating is done in position, that is when you are last to act after the flop. You can float out of position, checking the flop, then calling a bet. This is more tricky to get right, since an opponent who gives up on the turn will check behind you – leaving you to try and take the pot on the river by betting first. Once you make that bet, calling with close the action. This can tempt many players to call, knowing that the number of chips lost will be limited, since they raised pre-flop they likely have some kind of equity. When you act last you get to bet the turn, your opponent will not know whether they will face a big bet on the river as well as one on the turn.

#5 – Known Tendencies Of Your Opponent: An opponent who raises a lot pre-flop and regularly continuation bets is an ideal target for the float play. They are less likely to ‘have the goods’, increasing the probability of them folding to your turn bet. The big caveat here is that some opponents will hardly ever fold when they have some sort of hand (calling stations). Some will be good enough to spot your tendency to float and will adapt their play to respond, sometimes by check raising the turn, other times by calling your bet and leading the river. Still other opponents will continuation bet only when they have a strong hand, negating one key premise of making this move.

#6 – Your Hand / Equity: Classic floating is with ‘no hand, no hope’, it is a pure bluff play. In reality you will often have some kind of equity. This might be 3^rd pair, a gutshot straight draw, overcards, or even a combo of pair / backdoor draws. Floating with a little equity adds a ‘semi-bluff’ angle to your play, you might be able to take the pot away unimproved, if a good card comes you might end up strong, or if a ‘scare card’ hits the turn you could give up on the play and try and get to showdown cheaply.

Danger – Floating Is Not An Excuse For Calling!

I notice that many players ‘go to town’ with this move when they first learn about it. A little like when people first learn to check-raise or slowplay. If you start floating too often, or when the factors are not favorable for this move, then you are simply chasing and will be putting chips in the pot with the worst of it far too often. One good way of getting used to the factors being in place is to watch others in these scenarios when not involved in the hand. You can start to get a feel of how many of the key factors are in place.

Sit N Goes – More Reward, More Risk

In one table tournaments, the float can be a great way of accumulating chips – and it is a powerful move against multi-tablers who are not focused on each game. Above the lowest buy-ins you need to be aware that players are often raising tighter in the early stages, making them more likely to have a hand. If they are good players then they will be aware that chips lost are worth more than chips gained in these games and will tend to fold to resistance.

To float you do need to risk chips, so you need to succeed more often than in a Multi-Table Tournament where you have more time to build back your stack if the move goes awry. If you play 1-table tournaments then make sure all of the factors are in place, and don’t over-do it – even the biggest multitablers will figure what you are doing eventually.

Of course, the best people to float are those recreational players who have never heard of this move. Stick to poker sites associated with the big betting brands, and your profits will explode. Check out my Fish-o-Meter widget, which finds the softest poker sites based on your personal requirements!

<< Back To Main List Of Tournament Articles

<< Or Check Out The Sit N Go Article List Instead!

The Complete Guide To Tournament Tokens

Planet Mark — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 11:32:35 +0000

Many Sites Have A Token System For Their Poker Tournaments – This Article Explains How They Work And Shows You How To Get The Most From Each Site

Tournament tokens take many forms across different poker sites. The basic premise is that you can use these instead of cash to enter tournaments or sit n goes. Some sites give them away for free (for example depositors freerolls) while others give you the opportunity to win them via satellite tournaments or Steps Sit N Goes.

To complicate the picture a little more, there are different rules across sites to how you can use your tokens. For example, with PokerStars you can win a ticket to a big tournament (for example the Sunday Million), then unregister and spit the $215 ticket between any SNGs or MTTs you like. At Full Tilt you win tickets of fixed amounts ($26 / $75) and can choose between any game of that buy-in amount. Other sites will let you unregister, but only use your ticket for the next running of the same tournament… in other words you need to know the rules before you jump in.

The Key Advantages Of Tournament Tokens

There are three main reasons that you might be interested in tourney tokens, depending on your experience level and poker bankroll.

You can qualify for tournaments you might not otherwise have been able to afford to enter. This is a legitimate way to ‘take a shot’ and sees many small stakes players walking away with huge payouts every day.
If you are a winning player then you will find the qualifiers which distribute tournament tokens to be very easy to beat. This gives you a positive expectation on the time invested, and so boosts your profit overall. Of course, if you are a pro or semi-pro then you do need to account for the time spent in the qualifier games. Occasional runs in the satellites (especially at the weekend) can build up a good bankroll of T$ (tournament dollars) to play with through the week.
If you are a novice or do not have much spare cash to start off with , then tourney tokens can give you a shot at some extra bankroll building cash. This includes those beginner freerolls as well as special deals like the Fishmarket at OnGame which gives tickets to a regular $10+1 game for new depositors.

How Tokens Work At Different Poker Sites

I will start with the biggest sites with established ticket systems. First I will describe the need to know info on how these work – then give my tips for how best to use the system in place for your benefit.

Tournament Tokens At PokerStars.com – T-Money And VIP Games

As the biggest site (by a long way) PokerStars give players a massive choice of qualifiers. These range from satellites to big live events around the world, to big online games like the Sunday Million and World Championships and much smaller tournaments too – you can win seats in $11 games.

PokerStars have a ‘Tournament Money’ system in both dollars and Euros. What you can do is win a seat in a tournament via a satellite, then unregister to have the T$ added to your account instead. You can spend this balance on any tournament you wish, for example instead of playing the $215 Sunday Million, you can unregister and play a combination of smaller games, SNGs and some more satellites – you just use the T$ until it runs out.

Note: You can also win entry into the big $215 tournaments via Steps Sit N Goes. You should note that you can’t switch these tokens into T$ - if you register / unregister you will have your Step 4 token returned instead.

VIP Club Tournaments And Depositors Freerolls: There are plenty of generous free-to-enter games at PokerStars, though your entries to these are not listed anywhere. For example if you reach SilverStar in the loyalty club, you will be able to enter weekly $30k and monthly $100k games. You simply need to remember when they are and go ahead and register – the system will soon tell you if you are not qualified to join that particular game!

How You Can Get The Most From PokerStars Tournament Tokens

Weekends are the key to profiting from T$ at PokerStars. Recreational / Inexperienced players will be taking a shot to see if they can qualify for the Sunday Million, making the satellites very soft. Anyone with some poker experience can play these games with a big positive expectation – you simply bank the T$ and use it to enter your normal MTTS / SNGs through the week.

Tournament Tokens At Full Tilt Poker

There is also a T$ system at Full Tilt, and in addition you’ll find some great opportunities to win tokens to tournaments at various levels. This works great, since many of the scheduled tournaments are at standardized buy-in levels: $3+30c, $8+80c, $24+$2, $75+$5 and $200+$15. This means that once you win a ticket, say to the $26 level games , you have a big choice of exactly how you spend it. I should note that you can also break up the torney dollars between smaller games / sit n goes, the same as at PokerStars. You can also go the other way and save them up to enter a big event like the FTOPS or Sunday $350k Gtd.

Steps Sit N Goes are soft, though you will have to wait for action at the $26 and above levels. The regular satellites are busy, especially at weekends, and are prominently displayed on the main tournament lobby.

Making The Most From Full Tilt T$: I recommend you check out the ‘Token Frenzy’ satellites, which are running through the day. These fill up nicely and award $8+80 and $26 seats to a lot of players. I also love the rebuy satellites, which attract a lot of ‘dead money’ from people who either refuse to rebuy at all, or go crazy trying to build their stack!

Full Tilt also have regular points games, and often feature promotions involving extra tournament entries for their designated ‘Game Of The Month’ – keep an eye on their website for the latest offerings.

Tournament Tokens At Titan Poker

While Titan do not have a T$ system that allows you to break up your entries – they do have a lot of opportunities to win tokens to big prize games, including Steps SNGs and the chance to buy entries using points you’ll collect in their VIP club.

Steps Sit N Goes are worth checking out. What I like about these is that there are 10 levels, and you can swap these SNG entries for MTTs at any point from $3.30c through to $215. These are busiest at the lowest levels, and are very profitable. Each time you deposit you will get entry into 4 separate tournaments with $2500 each in the prize pool.

Making The Most Of Titan Poker T$: Here is a great use of Titan Points (which will accumulate fast). You can spend them on tourney tokens for the infamous Jackpot Sit N Goes, or even the weekly ‘Sunday Major’ which has a $200,000 guaranteed prize pool. The Jackpot games pay 3 players (6-max) and 4 players (10-max) which gives you a bigger chance of turning the points into some cash.

Tournament Tokens At Other Sites

You have to be more organized at some of the other sites. While there are qualifiers, the flexibility of the entries you win is limited.

Party Poker: Lots of opportunities to qualify for their bigger tournaments, however if you unregister then you can only re-register for the same game on a future running. There are also plenty of entries for new player free tournaments when you deposit.

Red Kings (OnGame): live event qualifiers are extremely soft at this site, and you will often get a choice of which event to enter if you win one of their live-event finals. The tickets that you win via the sub-qualifiers are not exchangeable for other events – so choose carefully at the early stages.

Getting The Most From T$ - I Recommend PokerStars

You really can not beat PokerStars when it comes to Tourney Tickets, both for the flexibility of what you can do with them, and the huge number of ways in which you can accumulate the tournament money in the first place.

If you have not tried them yet, then give the Sunday Million satellites a try next weekend. These extremely soft compared to regular games, and you can take the $215 prize and break it up into as many tournaments or sitngoes as you wish – or you could always take that shot at the big event you have been promising yourself!

You can claim up to 3 signup bonuses at PokerStars.com up to a combined 100% to $600 max. Use Marketing Code PSP3108 when you register, and then bonus code STARS600 for up to 3 deposits. See you in the satellite qualifiers over at PokerStars.com!

<< Back To The Main Poker Tournaments Article Page

Full Tilt Poker Sunday Major - Big Sunday Tournaments At FullTilt

Planet Mark — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:37:23 +0000

In Depth Look At The Full Tilt Poker $250k Guaranteed Sunday Major + Other Big Weekend Tournaments

We all know that Full Tilt poker has guaranteed tournaments every day, but the biggest and best, the Full Tilt Poker $250k Guaranteed Tournament happens every Sunday at 18:00 EST. This tournament is unique, allowing re-entries - you can buy-in again if you bust early. The best thing of all about this game is that satellite qualifiers get hundreds of players cheap tickets every week. This article covers the 'Major' first, including a strategy overview. I'll mention some of the other bigger buy-in weekend tournaments after this, including the awesome Sunday Brawl!

Full Tilt Poker Sunday Major - Quick Overview

The buy-in for the Full Tilt Poker $250k guaranteed Sunday MTT is $200+15, for a real shot at career-changing money. As a guaranteed tournament, the structure is more favorable than a lot of full tilt poker tournaments. Here, you start with 5,000 chips and can buy-in late with entry open up to the 10th blind level. This deeper stacked setup gives you a lot of play for your money, though you'll find plenty of players who appear to be trying their hardest to give away their chips! The ability to take advantage of the re-entry option (you get to buy-in again if you bust within those first 10 levels) depends on your bankroll.

Full Tilt's Major starts at 13:30 ET, which is 18:30 GMT / 19:30 CET (remember, the Summertime change-overs happen on different dates!). In the hours leading up to the event, the Satellites tend to get much busier - with both SNG and MTT qualifiers available ranging from $2.20c through to $75. You can win multiple seats (you get Tournament Dollars which can be used for any event), in fact FTP encourage you to do this... with a challenge set up to see who can win the most entries which includes extra prizes. If you have accumulated Full Tilt Points for real money play you can also use these to enter some satellites.

What Types of Players Enter?

All types of players enter this weekly guaranteed tournament, from the best non-US players in the world to the average player that just considers it a weekly shot at the big money. After all, anybody can win on any given day, that’s what’s so great about online poker right?

Most of the Full Tilt Poker pro’s also enter this tournament, and a lot of the best “unknowns” in the world play this tournament every Sunday (along with every other Sunday major). Don’t be concerned though, Full Tilt's great poker satellites system feeds plenty of smaller stakes poker fans and recreational players into this game - I would say the standard of play in the early stages is more like a regular $10 to $20 tournament, as we go on the game naturally gets tougher. If you are not yet comfortable with higher stakes games then a tool like tournament shark can be a great help in letting you know who are the winning players (and losers!). Check out my review of this cool tool here.

Full Tilt Poker $250k Guaranteed Strategy – Early Stages

In the early stages of the 250k guaranteed tournament, tight is right. A lot of the big time players are looking to double up early on, and playing a bit loose as the buy-in is not a significant portion of their poker bankroll. You will be able to bet your big hands for value, and extract chips on every street when you feel you have the best hand. Small pairs and high implied-odds hands like suited connectors have a lot of value early on, since you can build a big pot when you hit a monster hand. Within the first two rounds, you should be able to get a good grasp of how to label the players at your table.

The loose aggressive players are playing to accumulate a big chip-stack, you will want to exercise pot control while still betting your hands for value.

The tight players will be easily exploitable, as their normal tight/aggressive game has probably become tight/weak or tight/passive by playing outside of their normal range of buy-ins. These players will be easy to put on a range both pre-flop and after the flop, so do not hesitate to continuation bet AK or AQ on a missed flop, you will easily buy them out of an under-pair and probably even get them to fold a big draw. In fact, spotting players who have not played in a big tournament before will often locate 'scared money' - remember to fold when they start playing back.

QQ, KK, and AA we want to play very aggressively at this early stage of the Full Tilt 250k guaranteed tournament. It wil be almost impossible to get a 5k chip stack into the middle if you slowplay the early rounds - and you can easily avoid tipping people off that you have a big hand by betting your missed high card hands too. a double-up would be nice, however it is not the be-all-and-end-all of the early stages here. You should instead focus on taking those pots which are not strongly contested and playing your hands for value. Remember, if you do not take the chips from the bad players early, they will be much harder to extract from the better players later!

Full Tilt Poker $250k Guaranteed Strategy – Middle Stages To Bubble

Great job! By this point, we should be in a pretty good rhythm, we are mixing up our play and we have paid close attention to our table image and the playing styles of other players. Now is the time to decide if you want to accumulate a big stack and play for the win or get “in the money” and hope to get lucky after that. Remember in the money means you still have around 300 people to beat if you are going to win!

If you can grow a big stack, your tight aggressive image to this point should make it easier to steal blinds and antes, but if you do get caught stealing you will need to re-establish that image.

Personally, this is the stage I like to try to open my game and take some coin flips and 60/40 type situations, as I like to play tournaments to win. Remember, one win at this guaranteed tournament is worth 200+ times the minimum pay out! Simply put, you can win once for every 200 times you just “make the money” so I say go for it!

I will probably welcome a 'race' with 88 and up or AQ and AK, but I’m not quite ready to put it all in with AJ or 77 and below just yet. Of course, being the aggressor and not the caller in the hand where possible gives you additional ways to win the pot. Chip stack sizes dictate your play, remember it is easy to get 'committed' to a pot by calling raises, particularly in that dangerous 17 to 25 times the big blind zone. Restealing is not just a 'fancy move' any more, it is very hard to win without it - pick the right opponents and situation and you can add a lot of chips to your stack without the risk of a showdown. Remember, big stacks can often afford to gamble and short stacks are often desparate for a double-up, make sure you pick on the mid-stacks to avoid risks you would have preferred not to have taken.

The bubble of a Sunday Major is a unique occasion in poker. Many players will be suddenly faced with more prize money than they have ever seen before - especially those who won their entry in a satellite qualifier. This makes the money bubble very easy to steal chips at. Since the more experienced players will know this, you will find a lot of people raising light to steal from those recreational types. This gives you opportunities to re-steal from them, picking up valuable chips.

Full Tilt Poker $250k Guaranteed Tournament Strategy – In the Money Play and the Final Table

Congratulations, you played a great game. By this point, you got lucky a few times, sucked out on someone more than once, bluffed yourself into more than few chips, and picked off someone else’s poorly timed bluff.

Now it’s time to win, the real money is at the tournament’s final table and you will need chips to get there. At this point, I’m playing with a guaranteed profit already, so I’m trying to get my chips into the pot with any edge I have. You will find me re-shoving with 20 big blinds into a stack of 15 big blinds with a marginal edge, even with pocket deuces if I think it is the best hand. I’m willing to call smaller stack all ins with 66 and up, and even as weak as Q10 suited or better, I want to accumulate a monster stack and I can take a suck out (or better yet serve one up) without being knocked out of the tournament.

Be careful though, most people in this tournament will also know this, and they will in turn call (and shove) on you with a wider range than at previous stages in the tournament.

As you get down to the final two tables, you will find yourself shorthanded for as many as two rounds. Don’t die a slow death here, you must steal and re-steal blinds in order to keep or grow your current stack. Tight players will wonder how there stack of 20 BB’s went to nothing in just a few hands, but the action moves fast and you won’t see many flops without committing most of your chips.

Pick your spot, commit to your read, and get your chips in the pot if you think you have an edge. If a position steal goes wrong, swallow your pride and fold. If you find yourself with less than 15 big blinds, you need to be shoving anytime it’s folded around to you and hope for some fold equity. If you run into a big hand, cross your fingers and hope to get lucky.

Finally, the final table! If you made it this far, you have won a good chunk of money. Play will tighten up here as for the most part you are back to playing some deep stack poker. The blinds will get huge in a couple rounds here, and you will probably get down to six players fairly quickly……tighten up a bit, but be very aggressive with your edges, letting others knock each other out is a significant increase in your payday, so be patient if your stack size allows you.

If you are less than 15 big blinds, again, look for a good spot to get it in and hope to double up. If you have 25 or more big blinds, we want to make it a goal to get to the top three places where all the money is……this is huge. As players get knocked out you can loosen up and widen your range and take a few flips. Remember, the patient and aggressive player will usually win this tournament, so be that player! Other than what I’ve already said here, standard SNG strategy typically applies at the final table.

Check out the awesome software and game selection at Full Tilt Poker for yourself - and good luck in the $250k Gtd!!

Other Big Sunday Tournaments At Full Tilt Poker

There are plenty of bigger buy-in tournaments going on at Full Tilt, especially if you include their cool events like the FTOPS (which is a 2-week event featuring daily big-buy in tourneys). Here is a selection of other games which you should definitely try out!

- The Sunday Brawl: This has to be my favorite Sunday Major - this is a big buy-in Knockout Tournament, where you get a bounty payment for every player you knock out of the game in addition to the prize pool. This is a $240+$15 game ($40 for each knockout is credited to your account immediately). There is a guaranteed prize pool of $200,000 each week and the kick-off time is 10:30 ET each Sunday.

- The Sunday Mulligan: I actually don't know where the name comes from for this event, this is a later starting game, kicking off at 16:00 ET with a $200+$15 buy-in and $50k guaranteed prize pool.

Rather than turn this into a huge long list, I'll leave it with the biggest events and direct you over to FullTiltPoker.com for the entire listing!

Short Handed Poker Tournament Strategy Overview

Gyuris Gergő — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:32:56 +0000

6-Max Tournament Strategy And The Differences Between Short Handed And Full Ring Tournaments

While 9 or 10 player tables still make up the majority of poker tournament formats – 6-max is catching up fast. This article compliments the many poker tournament strategy basics articles here at SNG Planet by highlighting some strategies which are specific to the short-handed tables. By the end of this article you will be able to switch between different table sizes effortlessly, and you will know the kind of mistakes to watch out for from your opponents.

I’ll start with a quick summary of short-handed games, what ‘counts’ and some situations where full-ring tournaments play with 7 or fewer players at certain times. Next the drivers of the strategy adjustments you will need to make to succeed in a 6-max game. Finally some more advanced topics, for those who want to turn a basic understanding of the strategy into something more profitable.

Short-Handed Poker Tournament Strategy – What Is Included?

Tournaments range from 2-player tables, through 4-max (at PokerStars), 5-handed (OnGame), 6-max (most sites) and up to the larger 9 and 10 player tables. This article will focus on the 6-handed tournaments, though a lot of the strategy covered will work just fine in 4 or 5 handed games.

If you play the full-ring tables, there are often times when you find yourself playing short-handed. The final table is the obvious situation, where hopefully you get to play all the way from 10 players to heads-up. There are also ‘bubble’ situations from 3 tables (where in 9 player games you will find 2 tables of 6 and one of 7) and 2 tables to go, where you find two tables of 5 players for a 9-handed final table. You might also find situations where one of more players is sitting out. When this happens, being able to quickly adjust to the short handed situation will give you a real edge on your opponents.

6-Max Poker Tournaments – Overview Of Strategy Considerations

Blind pressure drives your strategy in 6-max poker tournaments. It does this both directly and indirectly.

The direct effect is that, since the blinds come to you faster, you have to be more active in accumulating chips in order to keep your stack from shrinking. This means playing more hands, and playing them more aggressively. In a full-ring tournament you can get away with waiting for a decent hand to play (though you still need to make some moves). In a 6-handed tournament this is a bad strategy, especially during the mid to late stages.

Indirect effects on your strategy occur because everyone else is playing more hands and playing them more aggressively. Since your opponents are less likely to have a strong hand when they bet or raise – you can re-adjust to this by playing back ‘lighter’, making moves like re-stealing or even letting opponents spew their chips by trying to push you around when you do have a great hand.

Sure, the first 3 positions from a full-ring table are missing, and so your base starting hand requirement will be lower. However, for me this is not quite enough to cope with the more aggressive game. If you never raise ‘light’ then you’ll both blind away and observant opponents will know that your raises are with the better hands from your range. Conversely, if you get into the habit of raising too big a range, you set yourself up for re-steals – especially during the middle to late stages with shallower chip stacks.

6-Max Tournament Strategy – Advanced Factors

You will find a lot more ‘BVB’ play in 6-max games. This is Button against Blind(s) and has a dynamic all of its own that you need to understand. Finding the sweet spot of hands to defend your blind with will often depend on who is on the button and their tendencies as far as raising (especially when folded to) and whether they will tend to call re-raises or fold. You need to defend more in a 6-max game, and you’ll need to steal more too! Remember, the button is a strong position, acting last on all the post-flop betting rounds. I like to steal more and defend less in a full-ring game, with 6-handed poker tournaments you need to practice both!

Set mining and is slightly less valuable when short-handed. Since your opponents are less likely to have a great hand to pay you off with. In a full ring game where is a better chance someone has a premium hand in a raised pot which will pay you off when you hit, in 6-max you might win a bet on the flop, but getting someone to stack-off is more difficult. By flat calling a raise with your pair in an aggressive game you might find a re-raise (‘Squeeze’) coming from behind you.

Your image at the table will be a bigger factor when playing short. This works at both the aggressive and tight / passive ends of the spectrum. If you never defend, never 3-bet and never call anyone else’s 3-bets without a hand then you can expect to be noticed and become a target. If you raise mechanically every time you are folded to then you can expect this to be noticed too – and for people to start playing back at you ‘light’. Of course, as you gain experience at the tables you can use people’s impressions of you to your advantage by making some moves. While you are learning the game it effective just to be aware that your image matters, and to mix up your play to avoid this becoming an issue.

6-Max Tournament Strategy – Summing It Up

These games are ideal for players who like to get involved, play post-flop and are able to make moves to play back at their opponents when the situation is right.

Playing Too Tight In Online Poker Tournaments

Planet Mark — Thu, 30 May 2013 15:12:11 +0000

Playing Too Tight Can Cost You A Lot Of Money In MTTs,
Especially When Combined With Predictable and / or Passive Play

The extra-loose players are the ones who easily get labeled as the ‘fish’ in online poker tournaments. Their mistakes in overplaying bad hands or making impossible bluffs are clear for all to see (and often look crazy to more experienced players).

What I will explain in this article is that extra-tight players are actually just as much ‘fish’ as the crazy loose players. They will often fly under the radar and might even look unlucky when they bust after a few hours after getting their money in ‘good’… However the chances of many ‘too-tight’ or ‘tight / passive’ players winning in the long run are no better than the crazies. If you do recognize any of your own characteristics here then there is some good news – some great suggestions on how to find spots to make a move and get out of that cycle of tightness!

Too Tight In Tournaments – Signs You Are Too Tight

Tightness is more than just having a ‘top 15 hands only’ tournament starting hand selection. It includes characteristics like folding mid-strength hands whenever there is a raise ahead, 3-betting only with AA, KK, QQ or AK, this can include folding to continuation bets when you miss as a matter of course, failing to raise the button even when the blinds are not defending or even being reluctant to bet draws – instead taking the free card that subsequently kills the action when it completes an obvious flush, and leaves you wondering what might have been when the card misses and your opponent bets into you. As we get into more advanced strategy the failure to take thin-value or folding implied-odds hands like suited connectors when they were playable could also be added.

If you are worried about calling a flop bet from an aggressive player, if you are ‘waiting for a better spot’ to get your chips in, if you are frequently convincing yourself your opponent will never fold as an excuse to ditch that mid-strength hand then there is a fair chance you are playing too tight.

The Pitfalls Of Playing Too Tight

At the very lowest buy-in levels you can get away with tight play (but frequently not when combined with passive (calling not raising) play). Once you start to meet even moderately experienced opponents, you will find tight players quickly become victims of their own patience.

Once people notice that you need a monster hand to play back with, they will raise to steal your blinds or take away your position again and again. If you call that is fine, since a monster would have re-raise and they can usually then steal the pot on the flop.

If a tight player open-raises then they are telling the table a lot about their hand. It’s a premium, or at least very strong holding. Many people will set-mine or call with a variety of suited / connected cards, knowing that if they hit the right flop there is money to be made (since tight players are often reluctant to fold those aces they waited so long to catch) – and even if they miss then tight players will often fold on later streets if the board is scary.

Tight and passive players will often call with draws rather than bet with them. With again this makes hand reading easy. If your tight / passive opponent bets then they have a made hand of some kind, if they suddenly wake up and start betting big (or check-raising you) when the obvious draw comes in then it becomes an easy fold.

Last is the 3-bet or re-raise. Some players will only ever do this with aces or kings, though others will include more hands. When you ‘know’ that someone has this narrow a range and the chip stacks are still deep enough – you will often find that ‘easy call’ situation coming up again (or easy fold, depending on stack sizes), since if you hit the flop hard you could win a very big pot.

Why You Need To Make Moves In Poker

We all get the dealt the same hands over the long run. With this in mind there are 3 ways you can end up with all the chips in tournaments:

Win a little more when you have the best hand.
Lose a little less when you have the worst hand.
Make moves which get your opponents to fold.

When someone plays too tight it is difficult to get the first 2 right – since people will often fold when you finally do raise and if they do call then chips will only go into the pot when you are behind!

The third one just does not happen. That well timed 3-bet bluff, stealing just enough blinds to maintain your stack while waiting for a good hand, that continuation bet on a flop which it is difficult for your opponent to have hit. All of those things add up, so when you do play a big pot you are doubling up from a much higher level – giving yourself a chip stack which can cause some damage.

Players who do not make moves blind themselves down. When the big hand comes a double can get you back into the average-zone… only to start blinding again. If you do not make moves in poker tournaments, you are unlikely to find yourself in a position to push your advantage at the crucial points of the bubble and final table.

How You Can Start To Loosen Up And Win More Tournaments!

This article has been deliberately a little gloomy so far – I wanted to get the point driven home that tightness is just as ‘fishy’ as loose play. Fortunately, there are some simple steps to breaking out of the tight traps and taking your fair share of chips!

First, you can start to use your tightness to steal.

After playing snug for an hour or more, try raising or re-raising one of the looser players at your table. The best hand to choose is one at the top of the range of hands you normally would have folded, something with just a little backup if you get called – but that you would be fine to fold should you face a huge re-raise! Time this right and you can win a few chips just because nobody would expect you to raise without a real hand.

If you can get to the flop, then making moves will look even more scary. Remember that hands miss the flop 2/3rds of the time in Holdem. Most of the continuation bets you face will be from unimproved hands. Floating (calling in position with the intention of taking the hand away on the turn) or re-raising the flop can look very scary indeed if the player doing it is known to be a ‘nit’.

The tournament situation will often give you opportunities too. At the bubble nobody is expecting you to fight back without a hand, which encourages them to steal without a hand in the first place! Re-shoving your stack can result in some nice gains.

Finally, try playing at a level where the money really does not matter to learn to make a few moves. Going to the micro buy-ins will remove the pressure of money and allow you to experiment with new ideas – simply making one or two moves a game is a great start, you can build from there.

There are some great games to improve your tournament skills in my list of the best beginners tournaments – check it out now!

<< Back To Online Poker Tournaments main page

Poker Tournaments On The iPoker Network

Planet Mark — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:11:30 +0000

My Complete Guide To iPoker Network Poker Tournaments Big And Small!

It is no secret here at SNG Planet that the iPoker Network (and especially Titan Poker) is high on my list of favorite places to play. This network is a common poker software system shared by many of the biggest sports-betting brands including big names like Paddy Power, William Hill and Bet365 - who pool together their players to offer more games and tournaments than they would be able to alone. With peaks of 67,000 players there are plenty of games to choose from. The ‘recreational’ nature of the players who find their way to these games from the sportsbooks – you’ll find entertaining and profitable tournaments running with buy-ins from just $1 right up to $525.

This guide to poker tournaments on the iPoker Network gives you valuable insights into what to expect. I’ll go through the types of tournament you'll find there first, in quick-fire format. Then the showcase games will be covered including the iPoker ‘Sunday Major’ and regular big buy-in events. Finally you will find some information on the Sit and Goes and Satellite qualifier tournaments.

Before we get going – I have a special deal for readers wanting to check out the iPoker Network at the biggest single site, Titan Poker. This is an extra $20 free cash on top of your 200% welcome bonus. All you need to do is register with bonus code SNGPLANET and I will ensure that the extra money is in your player account within 48 hours (usually sooner). A nice boost to your bankroll while you check out the cool tournaments at Titan Poker for yourself!

Poker Tournaments On The iPoker Network – Quick Overview

Here is what to expect from the tournaments at iPoker.

- Inexperienced Opponents, A LOT of Inexperienced Opponents! Not only at the lowest buy-ins either… You’ll find plenty of people who ‘obviously’ do not understand poker strategy very well at the mid-stakes and even some at the highest buy-ins. This makes the games profitable for those who do know the strategy, though you’ll need to be prepared for a lot of strange plays!

- Huge Choice At Lower Limits: Especially up to $20 buy-ins, and in the evenings / weekends. There is a ton of choice at iPoker – focused on No Limit Holdem and Omaha. Turbos and rebuys are the main variations – many of the smaller games come with guarantees too.

- iPoker Online Poker Series (iPOPS): This is the big tournament event on this network, and comes around every 3 to 4 months. You’ll find a week+ of guaranteed prize tournaments, with a $500,000 ‘Main Event’ to top it off. What I like about this one is that the satellite qualifiers ensure that a lot of smaller bankroll players get to take a shot.

- Bigger Buy-ins: The $200,000 Guaranteed Sunday game is the regular showcase event, though there are several others in the schedule. If you are a big buy-in tournament fan these are probably too spread out to form a complete schedule. Though the inexperienced nature of the opponents you’ll find at the tables mean it is worth playing them alongside some other sites as part of your bigger buy-in schedule.

I should note that Titan Poker have a couple of cool promotions which directly benefit tourney fans. These include the awesome ‘Tournament Super Sale’ which chops up to 70% off of the buy-in for the guaranteed tournaments, the sales come around regularly, so keep an eye on the Titan website. The other scheme is the ‘Titan Treasures’ system, which gives you gold coins for completing certain challenges – you then swap the coins for more bonuses. There are always several challenges involving tournaments, and if you are going to play them anyway, why not pick up the extra money!

Poker Tournaments On The iPoker Network – The Big Prizes

Big buy in tournaments on this network come in 3 types. First the regular bigger events, including the big Sunday game. Next the events, currently in the form of the iPOPs. Finally the big event satellite qualifiers – for example to the World Series or Aussie Millions live events.

Sunday sees the $200,000 guarantee – which is a $215 buy-in – kicks off at 18:00 (GMT+1) each week and attracts big fields. There are qualifiers to this game running all week via iPoker’s 3-stage satellite system. Other bigger tourney guarantees include a $50k Friday Event, and $40k weekday tournaments too.

iPOPs ups the prizes for tournament fans, with this event getting bigger and better each time it is run. This online event mixes smaller and big buy ins (between $5.50c and $370) with a series of guaranteed games totaling $1,200,000 at the last running. The main event is a $215 game with $500,000 guaranteed – enough cash to make a big difference to the life of the winner! Again, a lot of smaller bankroll players get seats in the events via satellite qualifiers.

Satellite Qualifiers to big events make up the last category of big buy-in games on the iPoker Network. You can win prize packages which include travel, hotel, expenses and tournament buy-ins up to $10k for the premier events. There are also many smaller event qualifiers, for example for the Irish Open, which add up to around $4k.

IPoker Tournaments At The Excellent Titan Poker – Sit and Goes and Satellites

I have a dedicated SNG Review for Titan Poker, which goes into these smaller games in a lot of detail, so this is just a quick summary. The games are soft, again it is the recreational traffic via the big sports betting brands who keep the ‘fun’ players coming. Choices outside the usual 1 and 2 table games include Steps (great for winning tokens for bigger tournaments), the famous Jackpot SNGs (win 6 in a row for $50k) and turbo variations. The SNGs at Titan are a strong recommendation in their own right.

Satellites already got a mention in this article. Here I will just clarify the excellent 3-stage setup for these. Having tiers of sub-qualifiers allows you to get involved in the bigger games (either online or live) starting from less than $1. If you do not want to fight your way through the stages, then you can always buy-in direct to the stage 1 satellites. Where the tickets to the big events are awarded.

Poker Tournaments On The iPoker Network – Summary And Next Steps

Well, you can probably tell that I am a big fan of tournaments on the iPoker Network. The mid-level games are fantastic, though you’ll need to be capable of adjusting your play to people who are reluctant to fold!

Check out these games for yourself with the help of $20 extra cash on top of your 200% matched welcome bonus. All you need to do is register at iPoker’s biggest and best site – Titan Poker – with bonus code SNGPLANET and I will ensure that the extra is with you within 48 hours (usually much quicker). Check out Titan Poker for yourself now – I’ll see you at the tables!

Slowplaying In Online Poker

Planet Mark — Thu, 09 May 2013 11:17:20 +0000

The Beginners Guide To Slowplaying In Online Poker Games

New players often get the general idea of slowplaying – disguising their strong hands by checking or calling instead of raising – however the number of times I see this strategy end up in a complete mess in online poker tournaments and cash games is amazing.

This article goes through the basics of slowplaying hands in such a way as to maximize your profit… I will try and ensure you do not find yourself in the situation of facing a horrible community card board (with all sorts of flushes and straights possible) against several opponents on the river – or holding the stone cold nuts but with such a small pot it is going to be impossible to win much money!

I start by clarifying what you are trying to achieve with slowplaying. Next, the decision of whether to slowplay or just bet out – and the key factors which influence this. Finally I will talk about some more advanced concepts, like table image and note taking, which can help you to make even more profits from inexperienced opponents.

Slowplaying In Online Poker Games – Why Slowplay?

On the face of it, playing your good hands slowly would seem to go against the central idea of winning in poker games. We all get dealt the same number of strong and weak hands over time, and so the winners are those who win a little more when ahead, and lose a little less when behind. The risk of not betting with your monster hands is that you end up with a small pot, the opposite of what you wanted to achieve.

Extremely bad players build big pots when weak and win small ones when strong. They play ‘backwards poker’ and inevitably lose their bankrolls.

The idea of slowplaying is to try and win chips that you would not have won had you played your hand ‘fast’. For example by getting an opponent to bet out or as a way of building a bigger pot. What I want to emphasize is that that you are trying to maximize your value from a certain part of the range of possible hands your opponent might hold… usually the weaker end of their range.

Think of it this way. If your opponent has a strong hand they are often willing to put chips into the pot anyway… you have no need to disguise your holding. If they have a weak hand they are less likely to want to call your bets – unless they think they can steal the pot after your show of weakness. You might only win that one extra bet if your opponent is truly weak, however those extra bets add up to big profits over the sessions.

Slowplaying Strategy – When To Play Slow And When To Play Fast

First the texture of the flop. Say you hit a set of 8’s. If the flop comes 2-8-K with 3 suits there are no drawing hands who might beat you on the turn, you are safer slowplaying on this ‘dry’ flop texture. Compare this with 8-9-10 with 2 or even 3 hearts… all sorts of hands have possibilities to beat you here. In fact there are so many draws that someone might well do the betting for you! Risking giving someone a free card is terrible here. Playing faster on draw-heavy (wet) flops will get far more money in the pot.

You should be less inclined to slowplay when there are more players still in the hand than when you have a single opponent. With more chances of someone having a piece of the flop (especially with draws around) there is a higher chance of being called.

Position after the flop is another factor in this decision. If you are first to act, then you risk giving away a ‘free card’ by checking – those times your opponents check behind you. If you act last then today’s player expect you to bet (particularly if you were the pre-flop raiser)… Your stab at the pot will depend on the flop texture and number of opponents here – though it is less likely to be interpreted as strength.

Finally, not all flopped hands are vulnerable to draws. Your set of 8’s could make a full house, for example on an 8-6-6 flop. Here you would be more inclined to play slowly, since the flop is so unlikely to have hit any of your opponents at all. Your check or call gives your opponents a chance to ‘catch up’ to a second best hand which might be willing to pay off a bet on a later street. It is hard to get paid with a big pot when this situation happens. Unless you are in a particularly wild game it can be best to set your objective to win one or two extra bets by the end of the hand.

Experience level and the general playing tendencies of your opponents is the last factor to consider. New players will go too far with weak hands and chase draws without the right odds. You can best take advantage of this by betting, not checking. You may also find inexperienced opponents slowplay any strong hand, allowing you to take free cards in position or keep the pot small when you are unsure of where you stand. Conversely, experienced and strong players will know when they need to play slow and when fast. The best players disguise their strong hands by betting a lot of weaker holdings too – a good player is less likely to be slowplaying on a drawy board against several opponents… though of course, if they know you know this, they might mix things up to one more thinking level!!

Some Advanced Concepts – Table Image And Notes

Table image describes what your opponents are thinking of you based on your recent history. For example, you raise the last 3 hands in a row, bet the flop and turn and won mid-sized pots without going to showdown. You then hit a set on the next hand… In most games you would be crazy to consider slowplaying here – someone will be ready to take a stand. Bet out and let them come back over the top with a big bet.

At the same time if you are known as a tight and aggressive player and suddenly decline a bet on the flop when you normally would have made one, some better players will get suspicious. Some players will bet one amount when weak and another with draws or when strong. If you take the time to make notes then you will find opponents who are ingrained in these patterns of betting. Since you have a guide to the strength of their hand you can often let them build the pot for 1 more street before you take it away with a raise – the best thing is, they will have no idea how you were able to tell they were weak.

Slowplaying – Summary: Mixing Up Your Play Is Great - Just Don’t Overdo It!

For many new players, slowplaying is the 2^nd ‘move’ they learn (after bluffing) and it is misused so often that I could fill 10 articles with examples.

Make sure you know why you are slowplaying, and have the right circumstances to do so. I do not want to see SNG Planet readers facing a tiny pot on the river and shoving all in to try and make up for it… This will cause all the hands who might have paid off one more small bet to fold and get you called by those hands which beat you.

Fish-o-Meter tool will show you the very best sites for your bankroll, location and game preferences – check it out now!

Poker Tournaments On The OnGame Network

Gyuris Gergő — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:43:44 +0000

My Complete Guide To OnGame Poker Tournaments Big And Small

Update: I'm personally a little sad to say that OnGame is no more... this network has closed it's doors after more than 10 years online. To be fair, traffic had been declining, though I'll miss the Fishmarket, the Grand and the rest of the schedule.

You’ll find a lot to like about the OnGame Network – a group of smaller to mid-sized poker sites who pool together their players. With fields more likely to be in the 100’s than the 1000’s, the games are softer than at larger sites. There are plenty of guaranteed prizes on offer – with big ‘showcase’ tournaments giving some very large prizes away. I should note that this network is now known as the 'NYX' Network, though the sites, bonuses and tournaments remain the same.

This guide to OnGame Poker tournaments will give you a flavor of what to expect. First covering the different types of tournament available in summary format, before going into more detail on the big showcase games, SNGs and satellite qualifiers.

My favorite site on this network is Red Kings Poker, who have been around for years now. This cool site offer a choice of 6 welcome bonuses, and give you an extra €300 bonus the first time you get dealt the two red kings in a cash game – making them an easy recommendation for the OnGame network. You can check them out for yourself via this link.

Poker Tournaments On The OnGame Network – Quick Overview

Here is a bullet point summary – this will give you a flavor of what to expect from the tourneys at OnGame, even if you have never played there before.

Smaller Buy-In Games With Manageable Fields: Instead of 3000 players, the €2 to €11 evening games get 300, you do not need to stay up half-the night just to bust out in 167^th like you do on PokerStars!
Plenty Of Choice And Guaranteed Prizes: PLO, Rebuys, Turbo, SNGs, Satellites and more – there is a huge number of guaranteed prize pools too, ranging from a few hundred in the €3 buy-in range to €10,000+ for the mid buy-ins and €200k for the Sunday Champion Chip.
Grand Series Of Poker: Online tourney event with some great prizes which happens several times a year, there are also GSOP Live events which you can qualify for online.
Champion Chip Sunday Major: This is the big weekly tournament with a €70k guaranteed prize pool each week. Qualifier games to this run all week, so a lot of players get to take a shot at the big cash.
Overall ‘Recreational’ Feel: Compared to some of the bigger sites, which host groups of pro grinders, OnGame has a more recreational player base. You’ll find the tournaments noticeably easier to beat, and a lot more fun too.

I should note that one of my favorite tournaments is on OnGame – The Fishmarket. This promo game happens once every months or so, and is €11 to enter. What makes it great is that all new depositors get to play for free – since many of these players are new to poker, this makes it one of the easiest tournaments online… The prize-pool is €10 000 guaranteed, and there are usually give away prizes like iPads and football shirts too. Check out RedKings.com for the date of the next Fishmarket.

Poker Tournaments On The OnGame Network – The Big Prizes

There are three events to cover here. First the ‘Sunday Major’ called the Champion Chip. Second the High Roller and Grand Prix €50k guaranteed weekly events + €75k gtd weekly rebuy, and then the GSOP online events, which also have big prize tournaments.

OnGame’s showcase tournament is the Champion Chip, which kicks off at 18:00 CET (19:00 UK) each Sunday. This is a €75 guarantee (though this does change with the seasons (summer = lower) section) and costs €190+€10 to enter.

Qualifiers for this tournament run all week and include SNG satellites as well as multi-table tournaments – a lot of players each week get their seats this way, which means there is a good mix of players in the big event, so anyone can win it!

Bigger Regular Tournaments: There are many games to list here, starting with the high roller each Tuesday at 20:30 CET with a €525 buy-in and €50,000 guarantee. If this buy-in is a little on the large side for your poker bankroll you can always check out the €162 Euro Grand Prix on Saturdays or the Sunday €109 rebuy – these games have a €50k (Euro GP) and €75k (Rebuy) respectively.

The Grand Series Of Poker comes around approx 3 times a year on the OnGame network. Abbreviated as the GSOP, this is a series of tournaments with buy-ins ranging from €50 to €500 (+fees) and prizes going up to €300,000 guaranteed. These include Omaha and Omaha hi-lo events as well as a ton of Holdem! There are also live GSOP events, which you can qualify for online.

OnGame Poker Tournaments At The Cool Red Kings – Regular Tournaments

There are a ton of tourneys to choose from at OnGame sites, with games kicking off every 10 to 15 minutes off peak and every 5 minutes during peak times. Buy-ins start from €1.20c with the biggest choice up to the €22 level. There Stud, Draw and Omaha games as well as all the usual Holdem variations like turbos, rebuys and 6-max games.

There are two things you’ll like about these games. First the guarantees cover a lot of the tourneys, with plenty of small guarantees as well as the huge ones already covered. Second of all, the fields are a great size! These are big enough to make the prizes worth winning, but not so big as to mean you are sitting up until the next morning battling through 1000’s of players (like on PokerStars).

Sit And Go Tournaments: I have covered these separately in a very detailed article – to summarize the choice is decent (for Holdem fans particularly) and the average skill level of your opponents is low compared to some of the bigger poker sites. You can read my Red Kings SNG Review here.

>Satellite Qualifiers: You can hit the WSOP, the GSOP and many more events besides at OnGame, who have a choice of MTT satellites which lead to €320 ‘Live Event Finals’ and what they call ‘Super Steps’ which are Sit N Goes where you move up levels by winning each game. These games vary throughout the year, keep an eye on the Red Kings Website for details of the latest qualifiers – which often come with associated promotions.

OnGame Poker Tournaments – My Summary And Next Steps

These games hit the sweet spot for me, smaller fields, tons of guarantees and soft opponents combine with cool promotions like the Fishmarket free €11 token and GSOP events. If you are looking to build experience and a bankroll playing MTTs then OnGame are my top choice – if you already have some favorites at other sites then why not add in a couple of these games for some quick-profit potential.

You’ll get a choice of 6 welcome bonuses at Red Kings, my personal favorite OnGame site, and get another €300 in bonus cash the first time you are dealt the two red kings in a cash game (goes up to €500 if you lose the hand at showdown). This is a great network and I expect even greater things in 2016 – check out Red Kings Poker for yourself now!

5 Best Poker Tournament Destinations

Gyuris Gergő — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 12:02:52 +0000

Check Out These Exotic Locations For Poker Tournaments – Where To Win A Million In Paradise!

With a huge number of poker tours and one-off tournaments across the world, players now have more choice than ever. Rather than your local casino, why not head to one of the world’s most exotic tournament destinations instead. Not only will you get a taste of adventure along the way, you could come home as a millionaire. What is more, with the rise of satellite qualifiers online – you can win a package to one of these games for just a small stake!

#1 – The Atlantis Resort And Casino – PokerStars Caribbean Adventure

While most of us are enduring the cold and dark days of January, savvy poker fans make their way to the Bahamas for the yearly PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA). This event is actually part of the European Poker Tour and attracts the stars as well as a huge number of qualifiers from PokerStars.com. With a multi-million prize pool main event, a separate high-roller tournament and many more preliminary events scheduled you will have plenty to choose from… if you can tear yourself away from the beaches that is!

#2 – Melbourne, Australia – The Aussie Millions

Another popular winter get-away sees players hit the summer sun of January in Australia each year for the biggest event in the southern hemisphere – the Aussie Millions. Based in the luxury Crown Hotel and Casino, many different poker sites give away prize packages which include some extra days to explore this beautiful country. Again the game is a mix of stars and qualifiers, giving you a great chance to come away with a slice of the multi-million prize pool.

#3 – Las Vegas, Nevada – The World Series And More

Las Vegas is the home of gambling for many around the world and a must-visit for poker fans. There are many tournaments available here, ranging from daily events through to the biggest of them all – the World Series Of Poker. If you can’t cover the $10k buy-in to the big event, then you can win your seat online, with most poker sites giving prize packages which include flights and a stay in one of the many amazing hotels. Just remember, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

#4 – Monte Carlo – EPT Grand Final

Not only can you rub shoulders with the stars of the poker world, you will be in the company of music, sport and film celebrities at the richest poker tournament in Europe. The yearly Grand Final of the European Poker Tour is held each September in the luxury surroundings of the Monte Carlo Casino. With televised feature tables and a multi-million prize pool which could change your life for ever this is an amazing tournament experience just waiting for you to join!

#5 – Macau – APPT and more

Macau is the Las Vegas of Asia. An island off the coast of mainland China, this city is a huge draw for millions of Chinese players each year who come to gamble at some of the big name casinos. Poker is slowly getting established there alongside other games and some big tours – including the Asia Pacific Poker Tour and now PokerStars live have stops there. Destinations do not come any more exotic than this, and I expect more big name poker tours will stop there in future.

If you’d like to win a prize package to one of these games including flights, accommodation and spending money then PokerStars is without a doubt the best place to play. Sub-qualifiers start from just a couple of dollars – and who knows, you could end up on a televised final table in one of the world’s greatest tournament destinations. Check out PokerStars for yourself now! – Use Marketing Code PSP3108 (when you register) and Bonus Code STARS600 (when you deposit) to claim your 3x 100% bonus up to $600 and start enjoying the huge offer of satellite qualifiers!

Irish Open Satellite Qualifiers
World Poker Tour Grand Prix De Paris Satellite Qualifiers
GSOP Satellites Online

Playing Great But Still Losing? Read This

Gyuris Gergő — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 17:02:39 +0000

You Can Become A Winning Poker Player

I usually keep the tone of articles here light, friendly and deliberately non-preachy… After all, just because someone is new to poker and wants some concepts explaining does not mean they are not intelligent and successful people!

This time it is different. This time I want to get some home-truths out there – address a recurring theme on poker forums, blogs and in chat-boxes which kind of bugs me.

The kind of questions I’m referring to are these:

‘I am playing great poker, so why can’t I win?’
‘How can I make money when so many donks are making bad calls and sucking out on me all the time?’
‘Poker site X must be rigged against me’
‘I’m a great player, just constantly unlucky’
‘Should I move up levels to where people understand and respect my raises?’

If you can identify with any of these questions then this article is for you.

90% Of Players Feel They Are In The Top 20%

Ok, the statistic is just my estimate, however the vast majority of poker players do think they are naturally talented, or somehow innately better than their peers. When evidence accumulates (they lose!) that, well, they might not be such a phenomenon after all several mental defenses come into play. You’ll tell yourself that you are good but unlucky, that the blame lies with ‘bad players’ who do not understand your skillful play and then keep getting lucky against you – or even that poker sites rig the games against you.

These defenses are all well and good. They explain your frustration and keep you believing that you’ll break through one day…

Except you won’t break through.

You need a change of mindset to do so.

These defenses hold the huge majority of players back. Once you get over them you can start to work on your game in a constructive way, to give yourself a real chance of breaking through.

Here are my 3 ‘core realizations’ which players need to make in order to start constructively working on their games. I’ll deal with each point below.

– Poker is not rigged, and you are not the most unlucky player who ever lived.
– If you can’t beat bad players then you will get crushed by strong players.
– You are not some innate super-talent, you need to study and work hard on your game.

Realization #1 – Poker Not Rigged, You Are Not Exceptionally Unlucky

There have been billions of poker hands played online, even the smaller sites are in the 10’s of millions. These hands are tracked by the various tracking services and individually by millions of players using databases like Holdem Manager 2. You know what, the deal is random. Any perception you have otherwise is not supported by any evidence over large sample sizes. It is 2013, let us put this ‘rigged’ thing to bed once and for all!

Luck in poker is short term in nature. While a downswing can be brutal, the upswings will eventually compensate. What holds players back is blaming ‘bad luck’ as an excuse not to work on their game… the chance element evens out in the end, get over it.

Realization #2 – Too Many Donks Are Impossible To Beat

I know, I know, you read the strategy, studied the forums to see how the experts handle certain situations and played that hand damn ‘perfectly’. Then, *boom* some idiot who did not have a clue about solid poker strategy made a bad call and cost you your stack. This keeps happening again and again… and its getting to the point where you feel the only solution is to move up levels to where people understand your play and don’t make those stupid calls which end up costing you.

This thinking is extremely common, and deeply flawed.

First, players who make bad – as in negative expected value – calls are the easiest of all opponents to beat. Sure, they will stack you with some random hand occasionally, but you have a positive edge every time you play them. Over time you will accumulate money and they will lose it, period… all you need is to play as many hands as possible.

Secondly, poker strategy never works in a vacuum. It is never a case of ‘do x for $$$ every time’. The core of strategy is about playing against an individual opponent – if you are incapable of adjusting your strategy to exploit players who consistently make negative expectation plays of their own free will then you need to work on your game. Instead of thinking about the ‘best way to play hand XX in situation YY’ you should focus on the best way to exploit the weaknesses of players who make mistake ZZ.

If are not capable of understanding the adjustments needed to beat the worst players then those players who are capable of doing this will take your bankroll. They will see your tendencies and weaknesses and play in such a way as to exploit them, sometimes taking small edges repeatedly and sometimes attaching big leaks.

Newer readers, please – poker is about learning to spot and exploit the weaknesses of your opponents. No ‘bag of tricks’ will help you for long if you do not understand this!

Realization #3 – You Are Not Some Natural Talent

Sorry, I’d love to bring you the happy news that you are the next poker superstar – and that you need not work on your game along the way… unfortunately it just is not true. In fact, poker is tough, if you do not work hard on your game those people you label ‘lucky donks’ who have put in the hours will have an edge on you…

What is more this edge will only grow over time.

You see, the players who study their hand histories, locate and plug their leaks, go through areas with friends (virtual or real), read, watch videos and think about how they can maximize the value by changing their bet sizing in different situations (for example) are the ones who will show a profit over time.

The players who feel they know enough and simply log on and play will find themselves getting behind.

What is more, those who get a solid foundation through study will be best equipped to add new ideas and strategies to their games. Instead of an ‘trick’ they can integrate ideas into their solid understanding, knowing how and when to use the new idea to max advantage.

Luckily you can make fast improvements in this area by simply taking one hour of play from every 5 hours and using this for study instead. Or of course you could always blame bad luck!

Playing Great And Still Losing – You Can Become A Winner

I’ll end with some good news, you can become a winner – anyone of average intelligence + and a little motivation can beat online poker.

How far you go depends on how much effort you put in. Not just to education, but aspects like site / table selection, focus on the games and bankroll management too.

Once you get over the ‘excuses’ holding you back you can make the decision on whether to commit to the task of becoming a long-term winner, or relaxing and treating poker as a bit of fun – while enjoying the occasional win.

Plug For My SNG Course: If you are at the stage where you would like to build a bankroll, then please check out my free course ‘The $16 / Hour SNG Blueprint’. This will take you from novice to making $16+ per hour grinding Sit N Go tournaments over 4 parts. I wrote this to help build the audience for my site – and it continues to get fantastic feedback.

5 Best Poker Tournament Destinations

Hand Reading In Poker Games – And Introduction To Hand Ranges

Gyuris Gergő — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 11:18:51 +0000

Putting Your Opponents On Accurate Ranges Of Hands
Can Help You Choose The Best Strategy To Beat Them.
This Article Introduces Hand Ranges And How To Use Them To Your Advantage.

Putting an opponent on an exact hand is difficult enough by the river. Doing this pre-flop, especially when there is little significant betting action, is almost impossible! What experienced players do instead is assign a range of possible hands that a player might have. This is then narrowed down as the flop, turn and river betting rounds take place – leaving a smaller number of possible holdings by the end of the hand. With practice, this method will massively improve your results – instead of guessing you will be working with probabilities and logical deduction.

I’ll start by explaining what a hand range is and how these are shown. Next I explain how a free tool called PokerStove can be used to visualize different ranges, and turn a percentage likelihood of betting into a range of possible hands. After that I will explain some of the factors which influence pre-flop ranges and how to combine ranges with information you gain after the flop. Finally I’ll go ‘advanced’ with a fantastic tool and a note on how card distribution math can be tied in with hand range thinking.

This is a long article, since getting to grips with assigning ranges is a key poker skill. If you enjoy the info here, please take the time to share.

Don't forget, applying hand reading is even more effective against weak opponents – find out which is the best place to play online poker tournaments in our Best Poker Tournament Sites section.

What Is A Hand Range?

Every player has a number of starting hands which they are willing to raise, limp or call raises with pre-flop. There are big differences between individuals, some people play literally any two cards (we have all seen them!), while at the opposite end some people wait for premium hands – perhaps aces, kings, queens or ace-king. In between there are differences in terms of peoples preference for suited cards, aces with different strength ‘kickers’, connecting cards and pairs.

Within those differences we can see distinct patterns. For example, a player who will rarely open the betting from under-the-gun at a full table could have a pair of tens or better, ace-queen off suit + and is unlikely to hold suited connectors or suited aces. In contrast an aggressive player who sees the action folded to them on the button could have a huge range of hands, sometimes as wide as 70% of possible holdings.

When you write hand ranges down this is usually in terms of the smallest pair and ace+kicker, along with suited and offsuit non-ace combinations. For example 55+, A8o+, J9s+ would indicate pairs 55 or better, ace-8 suited or better (which would usually include Ace-10 offsuit) and jack-nine suited or better.

While giving people ranges like this can seem confusing at first – there is a great free tool which can help this to become an easy-to-visualize and (eventually) automatic process.

Using PokerStove To Assign And Visualize Hand Ranges

PokerStove is a free tool which I see as a must have. There are several uses of this calculator, including comparing the winning chances of hands (for example 88 vs AKo), comparing hands to ranges of possible hands (for example how does 88 fare against a range of 66+ A10o+ and KQ?) and finally turning the probability of someone raising into a range of hands.

For example, say you estimate that a particular opponent raises 10% of the time in a given situation. What would be a good default range of starting hands to assign to them? By clicking ‘Player 1’ on the first screen, then hitting the ‘preflop’ tab you get a display like the one below. Enter 10% (or use the slider) and you see that this is equal to a range of 88+ A9s+ AJo+ and QTs+

You can do this the other way around too by selecting hands on the board. For example I decided an opponent would play any pair, any suited ace, unsuited aces with 5 or better kicker, most suited connectors and a ton of suited 2-gap and broadway cards + any 2 unsuited picture cards… this range comes up as 29.7%... I am sure you see an opponent who plays around 1 hand in 3 often enough… well, this is what their default range looks like!

I’ll leave you to download this tool (its free, no catch!) and recommend that you spend some time changing the ranges – visualizing what they look like is the first step to becoming a great hand reader.

Key Factors Which Influence Pre-Flop Hand Ranges

Players do not have one possible range of hands each, they have different criteria for different situations. For example being first to act at a full table will usually see a tighter range than when the action is folded to a player at the button. Also, if someone has already raised then the range of hands played might be drastically different – and different again if there is a raise and a re-raise!

What complicates this process is that these different factors interact. Not only in terms of position at the table and betting, but also in terms of who it is who raised and in tournaments the situation of the game (stack sizes, bubble etc).

Here is a list of some of the things to think about, along with a note on how they might affect the range of hands your opponent has.

Table Position: Generally speaking, hand ranges open up as position approaches the button. In early position there more danger of a raise ahead – meaning that experienced players are less likely to have speculative hands like suited aces / suited connectors / unsuited picture cards in their hand. As more and more players fold, ranges open up to steal the blinds or to take advantage of being in position after the flop.

Betting Action: This factor is huge. Once there is a raise ahead, most people will adjust their own hand ranges by throwing away easily dominated hands (aces with offsuit / small kickers, unsuited high cards), calling with pairs and sometimes suited connectors or aces and re-raising with their best hands. If there is a raise and re-raise ahead you can assign very narrow ranges for flat calls!

Experience Level Of Players: Very new players might not yet know about odds and the gap concept and be making ‘suicidal’ calls or raises without realizing it, so you need to work out who understands the basics of strategy. Conversely, very good players might take advantage of situations to ‘3-bet light’ – taking advantage of the fact that many people would put them on a strong range and fold their hands.

Tendencies Of The Players: Some players are tight, some are loose, some passive, some aggressive, some are tricky / deceptive and some are very straight-forward. Make sure you know who is raising, and what this might mean in the context of the game…

Situational Factors: In tournaments the money bubble has a big effect on people’s ranges. Here big stacks will start raising a huge range of hands, small stacks might well be desperately trying to sneak into the money, and mid-stacks will often avoid risking busting out. This usually happens again at the final table bubble.

Using Hand Reading Skills – Using This Information After The Flop

Once you have an idea of the kind of hands your opponents are raising before the flop, you can start to combine this with the flop cards and betting action on later streets to get a better picture of what they hold. While this is a complex subject all on its own – in fact it is the very heart of poker skill – there are some things to think about that you can use to help guide your decision making process.

How Well Does Their Range ‘Hit The Flop’? This should be your starting point, to return to the tight early position player from earlier whose range was 10-10+ and AQs+. If a flop comes down with 2 high cards, for example A-J-8 of 3 suits, this is far more likely to have hit their hand the hand of an opponent who called. After all, if someone had Ace-King or JJ+ they would probably have re-raised before the flop.

The Texture Of The Flop: A ‘dry’ or uncoordinated flop with very few possible draws and maybe just 1 high card is usually considered a good candidate for a continuation bet. A ‘wet’ board, for example 6-7-9 hearts is more worrying for a tight starting hand range, especially multi-way. Think about whether players ranges are likely to include speculative hands, did someone flat call a small raise in position earlier in this hand and is now re-raising on a coordinated low flop?

How Many Players Saw The Flop? Sometimes you will get a few limpers, and see the flop multi-way with opponents holding all sorts of speculative hands.

Player Tendencies: Some players will continue betting after the flop almost always, others will try for a check-raise when they are strong and bet out when they are weaker, still others will give up if their hand misses the flop. Once you combine their ranges with their tendencies and the flop texture, your own next action can be much clearer. Remember that some players bet different amounts with different types of hands, as soon as you spot a pattern – take a note.

Next Steps – Tools To Help You Assign Ranges / Read Hands And Card Distributions

Assigning, and then narrowing, ranges of hands will put you ahead of 80% of online poker players who do not even think about this. At the same time it does rely on a lot of observation and guesswork to assign the ranges accurately to start with.

Fortunately, there are tools to watch your opponents for you which give extremely accurate data on both their hand ranges and tendencies. Holdem Manager 2 is the latest example of a database / heads-up-display tool. This puts stats next to each player in this kind of format 23 / 17 / 0.9 and so on. This shows number of times they put money into the pot pre-flop (great for working out hand ranges!), the number of times this is as a raise and their post-flop aggression. There are literally 100’s more stats you can use to back these up too. This tool is a great investment for players who are serious about improving their poker game.

Card Distribution.

This is a more advanced follow on topic and is based on the fact that some hands are more likely than others. For example if a player has aces, kings or ace-king then what are the relative chances of each hand?

Well, out of 1326 ways 2 cards can be dealt there are 4 ways each for aces and kings, and 12 ways that ace-king can be dealt. With this exact range, your opponent will have aces 20% of the time, kings 20% of the time ace Ace-King the other 60% of the time. This is an important topic, and my recommendation is to return to this once you have mastered the basics of hand ranges and how to use this information to your benefit.

Next Steps:

Remember, your hand reading skills will be most effective against those players who are not good enough to see that you are using them. I always recommend readers check out those poker sites where the ratio of amateurs is low compared to experienced grinders. America's Cardroom are crushing it for tournaments - with everthing from huge events to daily guarantees. If it is easy to beat games you are after, see www.americascardroom.eu now!

Bet Sizing During the Late Stages of an Online Poker Tournament

Gyuris Gergő — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 08:46:46 +0000

How Much To Bet In The Later Stages Of Poker Tournaments?

Beginner poker players tend to get tripped up when it comes to bet sizing. I would guess that most beginners don't understand why they should bet certain amounts, much less why they're betting in the first place. They probably just browse the tournament section of poker forums and read the advice that the other players give without really understanding the thinking behind it.

I've seen this in action during the late stages of a tournament. Early on everyone is betting 3x the big blind preflop, which is standard, and then once antes kick in all the good / knowledgeable players scale their bet sizing back. However, the beginners continue to blindly follow the advice to 3x their bets.

I want to talk about this example in depth. More specifically, I want to talk to you more about how to properly size your bets during the late stages of a tournament, as well as show you why you should bother following my advice instead of what you read on forums.

What to Change Your Bet Sizing To

During the early stages of a tournament a 3x bet is fine. In fact, a 4-5x bet size is reasonable, too, depending on the game, stakes and remaining players to your left. That's because during the early stages of a tournament you should only be opening good hands. Hands that you want to get the most value for, like aces, kings, ace-king and king-queen. So if you think your opponents will call your (large) bets preflop and pay you off postflop, then by all means bet as much as you can get away with.

However, my tournament strategy changes at the later stages of a tournament, usually when antes kick in. So my bet sizing strategy changes, too. I change my bet sizing to a min-raise (2x), or slightly higher (2.25-2.5x). You'll notice that this is standard with most good players and regulars in tournaments and sit and goes.

If you comb the forums you'll notice that a lot of players are against the min-raise. There are a number of reasons why. The most common reason is that they think your opponents will come along for the sake of it, or because they have good odds.

However, in my experience that's usually not the case. Players do fold, despite getting good odds. They'll notice that they'll be out of position postflop and/or they've seen me show down solid hands. So they fold.

Why You Should Min-Raise During the Late Stages of a MTT

Min-raising works. It gets folds. But there are more (positive) reasons to min-raising than just inducing your opponents to fold. Here is why I like it so much.

Min-raising preserves your stack.You're not always going to win a pot when you open. Sometimes you'll have to fold because someone re-raised or shoved on you, or because you missed the flop.
Smaller bet sizes give you more opportunities to open/steal (overall).Since you are using fewer chips each time you open, you buy yourself more opportunities to open/steal overall (to build your stack). For example, for every 2 times you 3x, you could've min-raised (2x) instead.
Min-raising is cost effective.Since you're spending less to steal or open the pot, you don't have to be successful as often as you would if you were spending more.
Smaller bet sizes = smaller pots.This means less dead money and fewer players reshoving over you (for the dead money). It also means your continuation bets (and the overall pot sizes) are smaller.
You blend in.You won't stand out and look like a beginner if you're betting the same way the good players are.

Ultimately, reducing your bet sizing during the late stages means you get more opportunities to be aggressive. Being more aggressive, combined with good play and luck, will often mean a large stack for you to throw around on the money and final table bubble, as well as the final table. You'll make deeper runs, not to mention win more tournaments, consequently earning more money.

That's all there is to it.

FAQs About Changing Your Bet Sizes

We see a lot of questions about changing bet sizing, and how it affects your strategy and profit. So we thought it'd be helpful to post those questions and our answers here for everyone to read.

How can the varying of bet sizing affect my tournament profit / ROI?

Assuming you're a good player, scaling your bet sizing back will give you more opportunities to steal and play bad players post flop. In turn you'll build a bigger stack more often, which leads to deeper runs and more final tables. That will have a positive impact on your overall profit and ROI.

That said, I don't imagine the impact will be huge. Your tournament profit and ROI depend on so many things such as your opponents, how they adjust, how well you play, how well you run, etc, etc. It's not so cut and dry.

What's more is that tournament profit and ROI don't always go hand in hand. You can make a lot of profit, but have a low ROI and vice versa. Multi-tabling is a perfect example of this

When should I go all in instead of normal betting?

As a default you should go all in when you have 10-15 big blinds or less.

You should also go all in when the majority of the remaining players to your left have 10 big blinds or less. For example, if there are 5 players to your left and 4 have <10 big blinds and 1 has 25, then I'd shove (as a default). However, flip that around and I'd open instead, preferably with a range I'm comfortable calling with if the small stack shoves.

Is It Ever OK to Bet More Than 2-2.5x?

Absolutely. There's no reason to only adopt one tactic and never stray from it. You should try other plays and bet sizing to see what new tactics you can get to work.

For example, one thing you might try during the later stages is 4x or 5x your bet sizing. Coming from a fish, this usually looks like a strong, yet vulnerable hand that they don't want out flopped. Think something along the lines of 22-JJ and AQ+. You could try this with a premium hand to see if a regular will re-raise or shove over with worse.

That's just one example. My point is that you should try (and do) whatever you think will get you paid off when you have a good hand, and what will get you folds when you don't. And you won't know what works if all you do is stick to what other people tell you.

Best SNG Bonus – Biggest, Fastest and Easiest Poker Bonuses for SNG Players Compared

Superadmin — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 07:00:16 +0000

Look Beyond The Headline Rates For Information
On The Best Sit And Go Poker Bonus Offers For All Bankroll Levels

By Planet Mark

Update: I have now combined the latest bonus information into a single page - this means it can be updated each month without needing to go through multiple pages each time.

Check out the best online poker bonuses 2023 for the run-down. This is split between US and International sites.

Old article below (out of date info!):

While the 'headline Sit N Go Bonus offers often talk of huge matches on your first deposit, the reality for most of us is that we’d rather not part with such large sums first time around. What is more those bonus offers rarely tell you anything about how fast they will clear – or whether the money can be earned gradually or in one lump sum - if you’d like a clearer view of SNG Bonus Offers read on… If you'd like to skip to my SNG Planet Verdict on the very best then scroll to the bottom of the page now!

This article looks in details at the the bonuses offered by the leading poker sites from the perspective of SNG (and poker tournaments) fans. Remember, in addition to the bonus amount, how easy or diffcult the games are will make a big difference to your profits. If you choose a site which has a lot of 'small stakes pro grinders' then your profits will be smaller. If you choose a site with mainly recreational players, then your bonus could just be an extra on top of your winnings. Remember to bookmark this page, I'll keep updating it and do mention special offers which affect your bonus when those arise. Whichever Sit n Go bonus you pick, good luck at the tables!

SNG Poker Bonus #1 - 888 Poker - Cool Software + $88 Extra Free Bonus Upfront (Terms Apply)Below is a more look at the bonuses and offers for each site, remember that you can see detailed information on the sites listed here by using the ‘SNG Review’ links in the table above.

Important Big Bonus Improvement Note! 888 have increased their new player offer to $88 free bonus upfront, you get $8 to start, then $8 more each time you earn 250 points. This is a mix of tokens and cash game buy-ins and you can still get your deposit bonus at any point. Grab this offer now before they go back to the original $8 again!

888 are a big success story, building momentum and adding a ton of new players - while their rivals were staying flat at best. Once you play there you will see why, their software is very cool, their promos are aimed at regular (recreational type) players and their bonus offers are very generous. With lots of cross over traffic from the famous 888 casino you will find the SNGs easy to beat for a regular return.

Every player gets $8 free without depositing, this is a mix of tournament tokens and cash game entries for you to try out the games with. This does not affect your deposit bonus, which you will still receive at any point as a 100% match on your first real-money deposit.

Even without the extra $88 cash you will receive with clicking to our special link, this bonus will clear easily in $10 increments, the equivalent of a 20% return on your tournament fees while you are clearing it. You'll also be earning points towards the loyalty / VIP program, which means that more bonuses will be coming your way soon. Check out those super-easy SNGs at 888 Poker for yourself!

SNG Poker Bonus #2 – Titan Poker - 200% To $2000 + Free $20 SNG Planet Special Cash Boost

Flagship of the huge network ‘iPoker’ Titan are famous for easy games and generous promotions. SNG Planet are happy to offer a special with the world’s 3rd most popular site – a $20 cash bonus which will be automatically credited to your player account within 48 hours (minimum deposit of $20 required for this extra, and I will ensure that it is waiting in your player account within the 48 hours!). This is on top of the big 200% to $2000 bonus (limited time at 200% - so make sure you grab it while it lasts!) you can claim with bonus code SNGPLANET.

Your bonus will clear in $5 increments into your account as you collect points and is a 14% reduction (17 points per $1 and 600 points per $5 release). With regular reloads, promotions and a great VIP loyalty program you will wonder why you never discovered the easy opponents who give the iPoker Network their fishy reputation before – click here check out Titan Poker with own eyes now!

SNG Poker Bonus #3 – Party Poker - 100% To $500, With Lots Of Extra Bonuses To Follow!

Party just changed things around significantly, their 'headline' bonus is now lower, though many smaller amounts can be gained through their social 'gamification' efforts with challenges, shares and specials. I like the new look of their software a lot, though I am not sure that this type of bonus offer is ideal for SNG Planet readers any more - particularly since the smaller buy-in games do have slightly higher rake than at other sites. It is almost like the bonus is too small to appeal to the mid-stakes players, and smaller stakes players should choose somewhere else anyway, hmmm.

Party players can expect very regular reload bonuses, and many individual promotions and offers too. I think that Party may yet retake the #1 spot if and when the US market re-opens, even without they retain their reputation as one of the most profitable places to play online – make sure you check out the all new design of the Party Poker for your self now!

SNG Poker Bonus #4 – Pokerstars.com - How To Get 100% On Up To 3 Deposits Within 90 Days - $600 Max

PokerStars are the world’s most popular site by a significant margin, and the recent improvement in their bonus offer can only bring more players to their tables. What is unique about Pokerstars bonus is that it can be spread over up to 3 separate deposits if required... allowing players with smaller bankrolls to take advantage of the 100% to $600 offer. This SNG bonus is released in $10 increments as you collect 170 FPPs – with 5 FPPs for every $1 in SNG entries, this is equal to a 30% reduction in your fees while clearing.

To claim this use 2 separate codes, when you register use Marketing Code PSPssss (choose 'Affiliate Marketing Code' from the 'Where Did You Hear About Us' drop-down menu, and a box will appear for this) then with each deposit use the Bonus Code STARS600. With the world’s best VIP loyalty program and an awesome game selection we recommend this site for anyone who is serious about profiting from SNGs– check out PokerStars for yourself now and you will quickly see for yourself what makes them the most popular.

SNG Poker Bonus #5 – BetOnline Poker - 200% to $1000k With Regular Player Promotions

BetOnline is already one of the biggest sportsbooks catering to the US from offshore. They are now on the way to becoming one of the biggest poker sites as well. As part of the Chico network, you'll find mid-sized player pools and a more recreational feel to the games than at many other sites. The welcome bonus is 200% on your first deposit, note that you'll need to send an e-mail after you deposited, quoting bonus code POKERNEW. After this has cleared you'll enjoy a ton of extra promotions, these include leaderboards, points races, guaranteed tournaments and satellite qualifiers to live events.

What I really like about this site are the soft Sit N Goes... this is an outpost of the internet where your average player has never heard of ICM, and simply understanding this concept will give you a profitable edge over time. The games running are at the lower buy-ins, with evenings and weekends seeing bigger games. Check out my BetOnline Sit N Goes review for a detailed overview of what to expect.

I'm expecting big things from the Chico Network and BetOnline - and predict that this will be the second biggest US poker site by the end of the year. Check out www.betonline.ag for more.

SNG Poker Bonus #6 – Red Kings Poker - Choice Of 6 Bonuses For New Players + Extra 'Red Kings' Bonus

Red Kings are a member of the premier OnGame Poker network, a non-US facing group of sites who share a software back end and pool together their players. Multiple software versions are available for Mac / Linux, Windows and Mobile players respectively. Players actually get a choice of bonus at Red Kings, with the smaller amounts clearing faster. Deposits of €250, €500 and €1000 are matched 100% with bonus codes SNG250, SNG500 or SNG1000.

Based on the smaller bonus you’ll need 10 points per €1 in bonus cash – with 3.6 points per €1 in tournament fees that equals a huge 62.5% reduction while clearing the bonus. There is an additional bonus at this site which I really like. The first time you lose (in cash games) while holding 2 red kings, you will get an extra €300 bonus which you can clear alongside any other offer. With some great additional promotions and slick software you will find players on this network some of the most loyal anywhere – find out why by checking out Red Kings now!

Best SNG Poker Bonuses – Mark's SNG Planet Verdict(s)

First, for US readers, I did a detailed article covering the offshore site's Sit n Goes - you can check it out here.

For worldwide players,. here is my thinking: Bonuses are important - though how much profit you can make from the tables can not be ignored.

Some sites are filled with 'pro grinders' while others attract recreational gamblers (for example, crossing over from the sports betting parts of big brand names). What I like to recommend is a balance between a nice initial cash boost, regular ongoing rewards and consistently beatable games. If you are looking to tick all of those boxes, then one site does stand out from the rest - Titan Poker.

With the current huge 200% match + my extra $20 free (I will ensure this is paid to direct to your player account within 48 hours of your deposit after you register with my bonus code SNGPLANET, feel free mail me at [email protected] with any questions), Titan are already far ahead of the pack, when you add in Titan Treasures, their regular VIP progam and games which are filled with new players coming over from the sports-betting sites which make up the iPoker Network's members, then you have a combination which is impossible to ignore.

I'm going to recommend readers fill their bankrolls with the easy games at Titan Poker.

So, claiming the best Sit N Go bonus around is easy - simply use bonus code SNGPLANET when you register, I will automatically credit you the $20 cash within 48 hours on top of your 200% match! You'll be surprized how soft those Titan Poker games can be - make sure you check them out for yourself now at - www.titanpoker.com

Online Poker Tournament Strategy | Sit N Go | Poker Satellites - Poker Tournaments | Online Poker Tournaments | Poker Strategy

Progressive Knockout Tournament Strategy

Beginners Guide to PKO Poker Tournament Tactics and Strategies

How do Progressive Knockout Tournaments Work?

Set Fee Structure

Solid Beginner Strategy for Progressive Knockout Tournaments

Bluffing in Progressive Knockout Poker Tournaments

PKO Strategy Keep an Eye on the Biggest Stacks

Push / Fold in PKO

Practice Head Up Play

Flip and Go Tournaments at GGPoker

Miss the Boring Grind and Get Straight to the Money Paying Spots with GGPoker’s Flip and Go Tournaments

How Do GGPoker Flip and Go Tournaments Work?

Buy-In Levels and Number of Buy-Ins for Round 1

Skill Based All-Ins? Flip and Go Game Play

Flip Bonus for Straights or Flushes

Strategy for GGPoker Flip and Go Tournaments

Buying in for the Max

About GGPoker

Fast Fold Poker Tournament Strategy

Beginners Guide To Beating Fast Fold Poker Tournaments Including PokerStars' Zoom, 888's 'SNAP' and iPoker's 'Speed Holdem'

Early Stage Fast Fold Poker Tournament Strategy:

Mid Stage Fast Fold Poker Tournament Strategy:

Final Stage Fast Fold Poker Strategy:

Fast Fold Poker Tournaments - What Are The Differences And Which Is The Best?

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A value bet is simply a bet we make when we are ahead of our opponents. When value betting we want our opponent to call and we want to bet the maximum that they will call. Betting the right amount can be as important as knowing when to value bet.

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– As Long As You Avoid These 'Chopping' Mistakes

Playing Too Tight Can Cost You A Lot Of Money In MTTs,
Especially When Combined With Predictable and / or Passive Play