Are you fed up of never getting beyond round one in online poker tournaments? Would you love to start seeing better, more positive results? Not for the money, but for the actual satisfaction of going a bit further?
You like online poker. But when you play a poker tournament online, you never seem to get too far. It must be frustrating, particularly if your record in live poker tournaments is pretty good. Perhaps you could do with some poker tournament tips to up your game. Make a few adjustments and your poker tournament strategy will turn around completely. Let’s get started.
Online Poker Tournaments vs. Live Poker Tournaments
Let’s take a look at the difference between online poker tournaments and live poker tournaments.
- In online poker tournaments, the stress is on actual poker theory and method. In the live toker tournament set-up, it’s more psychological. Reading the other player’s body language, concealing your emotions, bluffing. Psychological factors may get us through in those intense, emotional live poker tournament moments, but for online poker tournaments, poker skill gets us through.
- It’s easier to spot the weak players in live tournaments than in the online poker tournaments, which makes winning easier in the live tournaments and harder in the online tournaments.
Obviously, actual poker gaming skill is of optimal use in tackling online poker tournaments. They are obviously much more theoretical. So as poker tournament tips go, the best poker tournament strategy for playing online poker tournaments is to improve your skill considerably. This is something we now have to consider.
Poker Tournament Strategy
When you’re preparing a poker tournament strategy, be it for online or for live multi-table tournaments (MTTs), the very first priority must be to improve the poker skills. Live tournaments may be somewhat manipulated by psychological tactics, bluffing, eye contact etc. But when it comes to upping the online game, it’s sheer playing ability that counts. So how do you improve your poker game?
- Visit as many poker websites as you can. The more websites you visit, the more knowledge you’ll pick up about the game. Study the different variants. See which sites are better for newbies and weaker players. Reading over the poker sites for a few minutes every day and trying to pick up whatever you can about the game will augment your skills considerably,
- Read books and eBooks. Some of the poker sites give away free eBooks. There are many eBooks, some free and many reasonably priced, available on Amazon. If reading is not your thing, don’t worry too much. Most eBooks aren’t overly long and many are designed to be read in one sitting. Many of these poker eBooks are full of valuable tips and skills about the game. Some of the most skilled poker players share their life’s worth of experience in eBooks. You may glean some valuable information from their experience. Most eBooks can be read on your phone. So make it a point to pick up some good books or eBooks about the game and have a good read.
- Watch YouTube videos. If reading is not your thing and even if it is, there’s a huge amount of videos on YouTube dedicated to the game of poker. You may like to watch and study live tournaments so you can study the various tactics used by players in various situations. There are also poker tutorials. By the time you’ve got through some of these, your knowledge will have automatically improved and your online poker game is bound to benefit from this extra knowledge.
- Apply for coaching. Many professional poker players offer coaching to interested players. If you truly feel you need more than watching videos or reading eBooks by yourself, you might appreciate some one-on-one guidance from a professional player. One such player who offers this type of service is Fintan Hand of Easy With Aces. There are many more. So keep this in mind.
Poker Tournament Tips
The best poker tournament tips for any player trying to improve at online poker are as follows:
- Follow the above suggestions for studying and improving your game. You’ll absorb lots of poker knowledge which will definitely benefit your game, both live and online.
- Always play against players who are on your level. Never move out of your depth until you are ready.
Keep the above advice in mind and watch your online game improve in leaps and bounds.