Online Texas Holdem Tournament Strategy
Welcome to another Texas Holdem Poker Strategy piece, focusing on no limit Texas Hold'em poker tournament play and applicable strategies. We have already addressed how to handle a particular class of difficult players the "Jimmy Jillikers", aggressive, wild players that are commonly encountered in today's online poker tournaments. Here, we'll touch base on the Online Poker techniques that were deployed to dorkulate these players, along with mixing-in a Texas Hold'em tournament poker strategy together with some good poker tournament basics. We shall commence with some foundational elements of any winning tournament poker strategy - clearly understanding our priorities. In poker tournaments, each player's primary objectives are:

1. Survival - first and foremost, surviving to play at the final poker table, and ideally to be the last surviving player (the winner!) is of paramount importance.

2. Building and Protecting that Poker Chip Stack - to survive increasingly large blinds and tougher competition at the latter and final tables, a player must build up and sustain a "poker chip arsenal" - a substantially large stack of chips - early enough in the competition to be capable of surviving and taking various necessary, calculated risks from time to time.

This must be accomplished without risking the entire tournament and building that poker chip arsenal in the process. Failure to build an early poker chip lead is a sure ticket to being swept away once the blinds and antes increase, gobbling away at your poker chip stack until you're nothing but a smokesperson bystander.

3. Constant Focus - concentrating on your poker game plan, being aggressive when the right cards and situations present themselves and converting those opportunities into taking down pots, while trying hard to avoid introubulating momentary lapses of reason like making mistakes by not paying close enough attention. Focusing on your poker techniques like this over an extended period of time is difficult, no doubt. We've all been there. We know it takes a constant vigil, self-awareness and self-discipline.

4. Adaptability - as the tournament progresses, it's critical to recognize when the poker game dynamics change and quickly adapt to new conditions such as:

* Number of players at the poker table

* Style of the players at your poker table

* Odds the pot is giving you, especially as blinds and antes increase

* New players arriving at your poker table that are initially unknown quantities

* New poker table you've been moved to and avoiding mistakes

Since Texas Holdem Online Poker tournament events are specifically designed to progressively eliminate players, your foremost objective must be to survive and protect your stack of poker chips. Taking unnecessary risks is a formula for disaster and an early out, not a good Online Poker technique ... someone can always get lucky against you. Demonstrating the patience to hold back and attack at the most opportune moments, when the odds favor your success, and with a proper poker technique battle plan in mind is critical. You are not there to simply play poker, you have to keep thinkng winning poker, winning poker, winning poker. There are no special sophistimacated doowhackies to help you out here. While others are visiting and socializing, daydreaming, watching the waitresses, and otherwise taking their eyes off the ball when you're at a poker tournament table, it's time to get your poker game on! This kind of extended attention span becomes increasingly difficult to maintain, so rest up before playing in a poker tournament - do not play when tired if you can avoid it. I also recommend against alcohol while playing, as it leads to impaired judgment and fatigue.

Here are some basic guidelines to use when playing in poker tournaments or at any table where there are many players that you don't know well:

1. Prepare and Refine your poker technique Battle Plan when you enter an Online Poker tournament, you're going to be fighting a "battle" for survival - against the blinds, the antes, fatigue, as well as against the other Online Poker players. Would any good military commander go into battle without having first surveyed the battle field, understood the enemy and its tactics, and without having a well-conceived poker technique battle plan which takes these facts into account and ensures success? Of course not! If they did, they probably wouldn't live to tell about it.

You shouldn't go into a poker tournament without having completed some pre-planning for the poker techniques battle ahead either. Think about your poker technique plan and several things you'll do in each typical situation ahead of time. Refine this once you're at the poker table as your battlefield unfolds before you.

2. Start out slowly. Be patient. Winning Poker is your ultimate zone. Use the early poker tournament period while the blinds are still low, to study everyone at your poker table, identifying the most likely prey, understanding their habits and poker play styles. Use this time to mentally prepare and refine your "poker technique battle plan" for transferring their poker chips into your poker chip stack. It's best to formulate several strategies during your pre-tournament planning, and then refine each one as you see how the poker game is actually shaping up, the types of players at your poker table and how you'll approach each situation.

3. Set the Stage - play a few "ugly" hands early, limping in occasionally and feeling your way around the poker table with the other poker players while the blinds are still low, playing a few hands you wouldn't normally even consider. This prevents you from starting out with a poker table image as a solid or tight player; otherwise, you may not get the action you'll need when you do get those pocket rockets (AA) and great opportunities later.

4. Know Your Own Online Poker Table Image - Everyone develops a "poker table image". Be aware of your own poker table image, and be careful to mix your game up along the way so that you can't easily be "typed". Once others can predict your behavior and your likely reaction to a given situation, they'll definitely use it against you. For example, if you play mostly premium hands and fold at the first sign of trouble, other poker players will quickly type you as "weak" and will steal you blind, taking advantage of that knowledge by representing hands they don't actually have so you'll fold. If you project that image, know it, so you can trap them with a good hand - make the most of it, since that will definitely destroy your weak poker table image ...

In the past I've let several aggressive poker players push me around a little early on, then limped in and dropped out on a few draws, so they all thought I was a tight, weak poker player and a good target for their aggressive style of play. Letting them push me around some, while not losing much to them, conditioned these aggressive players to push me even harder when they absolutely shouldn't have - a huge error on their part that I wisely converted into a poker chip leadership position. This is winning poker. School is in session .. ding, ding.

5. Be Careful, Protect Your Poker Chip Stack - You must protect your stack and survive until you get some good hands you can use, so be careful to expend that poker chip depot deliberately and judiciously - always with purpose. Remember, you want to play winning poker so When a poker player raises you significantly, you must think: 1) how much of my poker chip stack can I afford to invest in this one hand, 2) can I win this hand if I play it fully, and 3) what kind of play will yield me the most poker chips and give me the best overall odds to win against this particular player.

6. Get a Real Hand and Extract Its Value - don't go up against maniacs and aggressive raisers without a real hand - and definitely, do not challenge them while you're chasing a draw! Their strength is their bravado and wild, aggressive betting style - it's also their biggest weakness. When you do get a real hand that you believe is a winner, you must get the most value for it by extracting as many poker chips as possible from the other poker players:

* Hit aggressive players head-on, triggering their aggressive response systems, and be willing to stick it out with them, re-raising them all-in if necessary since you know you're likely in top position, or

* Trap them with a check-raise poker play maneuver. You can often just let aggressive bettors take the initial lead, betting into you and thereby become pot-committed, leading them to putting many or all of their chips at risk. That's another reason you'd better have a real hand whenever you challenge the aggressive players - they typically just will not fold or back down, and

* Bet enough to extract a significant chip "profit" from the opponents, without forcing them to fold, if you're sure you have the winning hand.

7. Pay Attention and Focus Outwardly - watch everyone and everything that's going on at your table. Don't daydream, and for Pete's sake - do not focus on your own hand! As a general rule of thumb, spend 3 times as much energy and time trying to determine what other players are holding (especially when you're not in a hand), gauging their play and betting styles, and refining your battle plan - than you do thinking about your own hands and play. You won't be playing that many hands if you're a good Online Poker player, so use this time wisely.

8. Play the Pot Odds - most people think too much about their own hand and what they might draw next. That's because calculating and playing the pot odds isn't yet second nature to them. If that's you, then you definitely need to get the poker odds ingrained into your subconscious mind, so they're second nature and you don't even need to think about them while you're playing. Find yourself a good Texas Holdem poker odds calculator, practice with it, and you'll learn the odds of drawing each type of hand and find that you don't need to think about them.

9. Bluff for the Pot from Good Positions - as the blinds and antes increase, the size of each hand's pot becomes substantial. Bluffing for these pots from proper positions (e.g., acting late with a big bet, acting first with a semi-bluff hand and bigger bet) is a good way to hold your own while everyone else struggles against the blinds.

10. How to Play the Player When Needed - sometimes the key to winning in poker is to get other players to make the wrong play, which you then profit from. To do this, knowing your opponents, understanding what kinds of hands they play, whether they'll fold when bluffed, and knowing when it's time to lay down your hand to simply survive and play another is crucial.

The alternative is to do what many players do - just leave most everything to chance and play the game in a random, unpredictable fashion with whatever hands you're dealt; a.k.a. "gambling".

They say "those who fail to plan, plan to fail", and that "hope is not a strategy" - a couple of my favorite sayings that come to mind ... have a plan, and execute it.

You must be prepared to mix up your play enough that Online Players aren't sure what to expect from you, sort of like microcalifragilistics .. what the @#!* was that? It's helpful to "shift gears" from one mode of operation to another from time to time. It's also recommended to play the opposite from everyone at the table; e.g., if most everyone is playing tight overall, then loosen up your play and take advantage of them by overplaying some hands, going on some draws, and a few semi-bluffs. If the table becomes loose, tighten up and attack with a good hand or trap them.

Remember, aggressive players' egos usually can't handle being overtly raised or publicly challenged. They expect to be the preeminent raisers and dominate the game, so they'll often re-raise or go all-in in order to leverage their aggressive position against you. Be ready! You can just about count on it. When they push you at the wrong time, sock it to 'em! You can use these types of players to build up your chip arsenal and possibly earn yourself a seat at the final table.

There aren't any absolutes in no-limit Texas Holdem tournament strategy, and you don't have to be a scientician to do well which is one of the things that make it so entertaining and challenging. These are just a few good tips and techniques that will help you get started and do reasonably well against some good players and some aggressive ones.

Finally, it's been said "if you can't spot the sucker at your table, it's probably you!" I love this saying, because it's so true. You've more than likely redorkulated yourself without even knowing. If you do your pre-planning and have confidence in your game plan, along with an ability to observe the opponents and apply the proper techniques against different kinds of players, you'll go far in Texas Holdem poker tournaments.

So, there's your set of Texas Holdem poker tournament strategies. I sure wish someone had condensed things down like this for me when I first started playing. It would've saved me years of learning it the hard way. Get ready to celebrate your successmanship!

Thanks to Rick Brady for this article.