Winning Big Money In An Online Poker Room

When I first started gambling online, my whole intention was to learn more about the game of Texas Hold’em and gain more experience for live play.  I knew that I could play  low limit tables and practice with ‘free money’ for as long as I wanted in order to gain experience and confidence. I needed all the confidence I could get before playing with my own hard-earned cash!  It wasn’t long before I felt ready to deposit money and start building my bankroll.

One night a week turned into a couple of nights a week, then every time I could get online, I’d log into my favorite poker room.  When I was at my virtual online poker room, I didn’t think about work, family issues, the kids or anything else that entered my mind during the course of the day.  It was relaxing, fun and exciting  to think about the possibility of winning big.   I started to read poker articles online and couldn’t believe all the blogs and websites dedicated to the subject of Texas Hold’em.  The more I read, the more I learned and I realized that if you are a dedicated player, and really enjoy the game, you have the chance just as anyone else to win big.  Just check out the article below and you will see what I mean!

From Poker.net:

After winning $287k on his first day as a sponsored pro on PokerStars, Isildur1 drops down $300k. Isildur1, which rumors says he is the Swedish poker player Viktor Blom, almost lost his whole stack playing $100/$200 PLO against the pro Phil “MrSweets28” Galfond.

His losses in the PLO game are not a surprise because he is usually considered to be a superior No-Limit Hold’em player.

Swings like this are not a strange thing when it comes to Isildur1, last year Isildur1 won over $4 million on Full Tilt Poker and then lost it all and more.

For other player this day went a little better, the Full Tilt Poker pro Patrik Antonious was the big winner of the day with a win of $147k at the $200/$400 Six-Max PLO tables.

The new player KobeYard85 won $140k, Gus Hansen with $104k, the limit specialist O Fortuna PLS with $115k and harrington25 with $113k.

One of the big losers this day was Phil Ivey who’s been on a downswing recently, lost $117k more in only 169 hands.

Players that also lost quiet much were DrugsOrMe who went down $88k and Andrew Feldman who lost $87k.

An ‘All In’ Strategy and a Short Stack

If you ever play tournament poker, you are more than likely to find yourself short-stacked at some point or another.  That is, unless you win every tournament you play, or have a habit of busting out when you still have a lot of chips.  So, if that’s you, please move along to another article.  For the 99.9% of you who will play short-stacked at some point or another, here is just one ‘all-in’ strategy on wielding a short stack in a No-Limit Hold’em tournament.

When I first started playing tournaments, I had a very basic short-stack strategy—when I had less than ten times the big blind, I only had one move: all-in when I was the first one in the pot.  The idea here is to try to steal the blinds.  Depending on how short-stacked you are, you can be more or less selective with the types of hands that you try to steal with.  For example, with 8 times the big blind, you might wait for any ace or pair (or even KQ), but with 4 times the big blind, you might want to go all-in on your first chance to be the first one in the pot, with any cards.

In general, the more chips you have, the more you want to play your cards and the shorter your stack, the more you want to look for the right opportunities to go all-in.  Of course, if you have a premium hand (AK or pocket Jacks or better), then you may want to go all-in even if someone has come in before you, but if there is significant action before the action gets to you, then you may still want to stay out of trouble. This is a good strategy for the newbie tournament player, but for more advanced play, I wouldn’t recommend restricting yourself to this one play unless you have less than six times the big blind.

Of course, everyone has their own strategy for going all-in, and this is just one of them!

Doyle Brunson’s Tournament Tips

Doyle Brunson’s Poker Strategy Tips

Doyle Brunson, poker legend and fearsome opponent in all forms of the game has a reputation built on aggression – he wins pot after pot because his opponents know he is happy to get all his chips in without so much as a draw!  It may then come as a surprise to some that, for tournaments, Doyle Brunson’s poker strategy advice is to play very tight, at least in the beginning levels. For the first couple of blind levels Doyle is happy to sit back and be content with the pots that the cards allow him to win.

This type of survivalist poker tournament strategy allows professional players to survive the ‘minefield’ of amateur players found at the start of tournaments. The strategy involves raising with medium strength cards (mid-pairs / unsuited high cards etc) but never calling with them. Taking small stabs at pots, but backing off when resistance is encountered.

When you are entering mid-stage of the poker tournament, Doyle’s strategy involves careful assessment of many situational factors. These include the tendencies of opponents, but more importantly their stack sizes. Small and Large stacks are far more likely to call your big bets (though for different reasons) so caution should be exercised with them.

Aggressive and positive poker, which is Doyle Brunson’s trademark, kicks in later in the middle stages. This takes the form of gradually increasing aggression levels in order to put pressure on your opponents who will be afraid of busting out. According to Brunson, the key tournament strategy here is to keep accumulating chips – staying ahead of the blinds and antes will enable you to choose when to bet big rather than be forced to play without solid values.

Doyle’s poker tournament strategy for the final table involves careful evaluation of your opponents and their chip stacks. While Brunson advises always playing to win, there are times when a number of short stacked opponents mean that tight play would guarantee you one of the higher playing places. If your goal is to win and you are second in chips, Doyle advises that you target the chip leader, play aggressively and try to overtake him.