PRACTICE OPPORTUNITY # 4:
Small but in online tournaments are available around the clock. Because of their almost unlimited availability, playing play poker these small tournaments can greatly speed up your learning process. We adapted the material in this section from our book, championship Satellite strategy.
In the first levels you play solid, waiting for other people to make mistakes. Hopefully you can pick up a hand and double up in the first one or two rounds, or play a speculative hand cheaply. Because more chips are in play online, you can play a few more speculative hand in the early rounds without having it cost you too much.
You hope to strengthen your position a lot without hurting your chip position very much. This is particularly true in no-limit holdem satellites where you have big implied odds. Starting with $1,500 in chips and fifteen minute rounds online, you have a fair amount of play and more opportunity to trap an opponent. In other words, if you limp in with weak hand, you're likely to get paid off very well (because of the implied odds) if you connect with the flop.
The blinds usually begin at $10-$20 and increase to $15-$30, $25-$50 and $50- $100. With cautious play and occasional mild speculation, you have an excellent chance of line to double up. If you can pick up one hand and double up with it, you probably will have $3,000 in chips, which is about poker par with the average amount of chips once half the players are gone. That's a good spot to be in.
Usually about one-half of the starting field is eliminated during the first hour of play. Then you take a five minute break and when return, the blinds increase to $75-$150. Then the blinds rise to $100-$200 for two rounds. At the beginning of the second round of $100-$200 blinds, you must start putting in an ante at many online casinos.
As the limits rise, you have to start opening up your hand requirements a little bit. "I've found that the key to survival is knowing when you're in trouble," Brad says. "When the limits rise to $100-$200, you're at the start of 'crunch' time. And when they rise to $200-$400, you are in the middle of crunch time. " You are in trouble unless you have a par amount of chips, so you must accumulate chips. This is when you change your style of play from being very solid to being more aggressive.
Of course, aggressive play can pay off in any tournament you play, whether on-land or online. "If you don't have a strong right arm, if you aren't willing to push your chips in," Tom adds, "your chances of success are greatly reduced. "
At the end of the first hour, about a half of the players are gone. By the time the blinds rise to $200-$400, only about twenty-five percent of the players are left. At the $200 -$400 level, you need to have $4,000 to $5,000 in chips to feel secure. If you have any less than that, about five to six times the size of the big blind, you will be in a move-in mode any time you play a hand. When you're in that situation, thee is a good argument to be made for just moving in rather than raising three to four times the size of the blind ($1,200 - $1,900).
When you move in before the flop, your opponents know that you are committed to the end whereas, if you don't put in all your cash source, they may think that you're not fully committed and might call with marginal hands. If they know you're committed to going all the way with the hand, they usually will fold those marginal hands, which is what you want them to do. Just winning the blinds is critically important at this stage. This move-in strategy applies to those times when you are shorts tacked, not when you have a medium to large stack.
You cannot manufacture a good hand. It is the chip count and positional considerations that separate the men from the boys, so to speak. Making the right decisions about when to move, when to push the panic button, and when to be patient are important parts of the game. "One of the things I wrote in Tournament holdem poker game is that you have to last long enough to give yourself a chance to get lucky," Tom explains. "Whoever winning principles a tournament has gotten lucky along the way. But you can't get lucky if you're no longer in it. You must develop good survival skills. "