Stone Cold Blog

Here is a quick few points that will see you on your way to more final tables in those low level online poker tournaments that we all like to play. (We’ll talk through a 600 player tournament for example, but this will work for anything down to a sit n go)

1 Don’t feel that you have to get overly excited early on – there is plenty of time to get some genuine hands that you can play and gain some chips without having to try bluffing your way through it. (There will always be a few maniacs early on who will lose everything very quickly)

2 Open up the info/stats box and keep it in view at all times – This will be your eyes and ears of what is going on all around you, as well as how many opponents you still have left to beat

3 Spend the first few rounds folding anything that’s not a decent hand and observing the other players – Make sure that you get busy taking lots of notes about the players around you, these will be valuable when you get moved around different tables and come back to meet the same players

4 Keep an eye on the table dynamics – Who has just joined your table? Was it the chip leader? Is it a short stack – these points need to be assessed

5 Always keep one eye on the Blind level clock – How quickly are the blinds going up and is there a critical point when they suddenly could become harsh for you

6 Try to keep up with the average chip stack – This will be noted in the stats – Don’t worry if you are a little short of the target as a double up at any time will see you well above it for a while

7 Be observant and don’t tangle with “Mr Tight” with a mediocre hand – Trust your notes

8 When you start to get towards the bubble you can be slightly more aggressive

9 The rule of 1 and 10 – If you are lucky enough to have the chip lead on your table / or at least a fair few chips more than others, it is important that you try to knock other players out. This doesn’t mean calling anyone down who bets, however, should you find a short stack going all in for $500 and you are sitting there with $5000 or over, you should call no matter what your cards! (Clearly not if anyone else is already in etc) – So if you have 10 times or more the amount of chips that a small stack has gone all in with, go ahead and call them

10 Inflection points! – These are key, and you won’t get anywhere if you do not pay attention to these. The simple way to do it is to keep a constant tally of how many big blind bets you have – (if the blinds are for example $50/$100 and you have $1000, then you have an inflection point of 10, if you have $1200, you have an IP of 12 etc) – When you find yourself getting near to an IP of 10 you no longer have the luxury of being able to call to see the flop etc, you need to either put all your chips in or fold. Keep an eye on point number 5 above also as this could suddenly cut your IP in half and leave you in a critical situation!

11 Attack the middle chip count players when you are in the money – They will be more likely to fold marginal hands as they are not desperate and could still lose a decent amount of their stack should they call you and lose

12 Play to win – It’s often tempting to get blinded out and wait for a big hand when you on or near the final table, hoping that other players will be knocked out and you rise up the money. This is true, however it is unlikely that the few places that you might gain would increase your $$ prize win massively, whereas there is normally always a very good leap in money from around 4th upwards – If you sit tight waiting then you will simply miss out on getting to 4th or above – should there be 9 left etc you should play to win and go for the real cash

13 Unlucky for some – Not you guys with these tips!!! – Good luck all – let me know how you get on and post any extra tips you might find yourself

Cheers

Duff