-In 2021, both the player pool and the guarantees are bigger than ever, resulting in us seeing some of the biggest cashes uptop in a single online tournament ever, It is downright crazy that you can register a 25K USD tournament from your home, play for about 15 hours over 2 days against 900 players and take a whopping 8 million USD for your efforts! For tournament grinders, it’s a dream come true. There was a time when it was difficult to put the amount of volume you needed to realize your expected value in tournaments, today with a plethora of poker rooms (now offering insane online poker cashback to tournament grinders also) that is just not the case. There are tournaments running day and night offering a stable outlet for putting volume for all kinds of grinders, from your local hero reg to the high stakes sharks.
Tournaments are quite profitable and no doubt you will find some of your softest opponents in these tournaments if you do good game selection). On the flip side though, the deeper you run in a tournament, the better the opponents you will start finding, it is not unusual to reach the final table of a midstakes feature tournament and find 5 sickos and 3 regulars as your opponents. That is scary if you are not solid with poker theory and know how to play good poker, which is why today we will give you four tricks that will help with both crushing weaker players and holding your own against better players.
1) Play an all-in or fold strategy shallow against pros- When you are deep in a tournament and find yourself shallow stacked with multiple pros on your table, playing “poker” against them will be disadvantageous for you. They will have an edge on every single decision point you both have to make, they will choose better and more accurate strategic options (betting, calling, folding, etc.) in the spots you play against them and pounce and exploit every weakness and imbalance you show. When shallow, you don’t want to play pros. If you have under 20bb, Jam A5s+, A9o+,55+, JTs+ when in late positions like the cutoff button and the small blind (you can jam even wider from the button and small blind) Jam AJs+, 88+, AKo, AQo from any position. We are doing this regardless of whether a pro opens or not, only if they open jam do we call a little tighter, but we are jamming over any open they make with these ranges. This helps us guard our equity in crucial pots as the underdog when the tournament is deep and the stacks are shallow.
2) C-bet frequently on good boards- Having a great c-betting strategy is essential for winning in tournaments consistently. It is also hard to learn and complicated, way beyond the scope of this article. As a helpful guideline for those not yet familiar with the way of the c-bet, you need to start pounding boards that are good for your range.
Consider this scenario, you have XX (Two cards) on the button with 30bb in a tournament, you open to 2.5bb, Big blind with 20bb calls.
The flop is Ah Kh 7d
Take a minute and think of all the hands you would bet with here, now double or triple the width of that range, Why?
Consider this situation from the villain’s POV, he is defending his big blind against your open, the board comes with an Ace, a King, a flush draw, and a gutshot straight draw, how often do you think they are calling you without a hand?. How often do you think they have a hand, given they are 3betting most of their good ace broadways, king broadways, and premium pairs. You have the range advantage as you have many better hands than the villain and the nut advantage (as you have the strongest possible hand on this board AA in your range while villain in the big blind certainly does not. This means you could c-bet two paper napkins here and probably get a fold. You want to bet every draw here, even the weakest ones like QT with no flush draw and JT with no flush draw. Every underpair, even if you opened 55 or 22. If we get resistance from the villain we look at our hand class and make decisions, but most of the time, you won’t! Good boards are our best friends when it comes to c-betting, optimise your edge on them.
3) Start adjusting to player tendencies– In tournaments you will come across multiple player profiles, from the massive whales to bloodthirsty sharks and you need to start paying attention to how your opponents are playing. Rather than making assumptions based on unreliable information, watch their game even when you are not in the hand and ask yourself. Are they opening with a good range in this spot, if not, what range are they opening here, is it too tight or too wide? Are they bluffing often or do they always show up with strong hands? How many hands are they playing on average? Asking good questions will eventually lead to the formulation of a good strategy.
4) Learn how to play final tables better- Final tables are the toughest and most profitable part of any poker tournament, online or live. They can range from ridiculously easy money to the toughest competition you have come across, depending on your skill level compared to your opponents. Final tables have their unique dynamics and while all final tables are similar, no two are the same! It’s the poker equivalent of the end boss in a game. There is a lot of free content you can learn from that will help you better navigate the F.T’s you have the fortune of being on, always watch pros playing final tables as that will show you what pros do in the same spots you face in tournaments. There is tremendous value in learning how to play final tables better as it will make you an all-around better poker player online.
As an online tournament poker player, never stop learning! It is only through learning and facing decent competition will you become a better tougher tournament grinder, so sail your ship across the unpredictable waters of tournament and make sure you enjoy the ride.
