What can i do to increase my chances of winning an online poker tourney?

Question

heres my dilemma... i play in no limit poker tournaments everyday and i can usually always get a massive amount of chips....but then my bad luck sets in and i suffer one horrible beat after another.

ive tried sitting out, playing super tight, bluffing and mixing it up but i always get knocked out. when the tournament has hundreds i can almost always place in the top 50, when the tournament has thousands i can almost always place in the top 200.

ive been playing at least two tournaments a day for over a year ....im 22 been playing since 17 and ive only won a few tourneys and never first place...

any tips?specific tips on how to play a large stack would be nice...perhaps a link to some poker pro tips....thanx.

Answer 1

Try playing in smaller tournaments. It might have to be a sit n go.

The more people are entered in a tournament, the less likely you will make it all the way to the end.

Also, the more people in a tournament, the lower the payouts seem to be when you make the money.

All tournaments on all sites are set up to entice you to play to win the money they show for a low buy in. Say you scroll through and see atournament with a $1 entry fee with 4,000 entrants. Most sites have the 20 % payouts and show you the final table payouts only. So you look at it and see first place $1000 for a buck, h**l ya. But when you scroll down to see the rest of the payouts, they are VERY WEAK. First place might be $1000 but final table making 9th place will be $100, a $900 dollar difference. You never make any real profitable money in these big tourneys until you make the final 2 tables.

And getting to final 2 tables on a 4000 person tourney continuously is very tough.

Most sites dont have alot of smaller cheaper tourneys, because the cheaper it is, the more people enter. So look for the largest sit n go (the ammount of entrants wise) and try those.

You will get the same return yet better when you place in the money. And each level up once your in the money, is signifigantly better.

If you want to make money off tournaments, the best way to go is start at the $1, 45 person sit n go. Usually top 7 pay in these and it looks like you finish high enough you should do well. You WILL WIN some of these.

Continue to play smart and do not jump up in money til the time is right.

Once you make it to around $200, then jump to the $5,  45 person sit n gos.

If you are finishing as high as your saying, this will work. I finish half way through the field 85  + % of the time. Its very effective.

Be patient, play smart and if you are playing good, Do nNot change your game, its not YOU

Answer 2

Online play is no different than live play in many ways, and is different as night and day in other ways.  The primary difference that affects your strategy is the number of hands you see in any given hour, the speed that the blinds increase, and the ammount of chips you start with.  A large tournament like the big ones played on sunday on both poker stars and fulltilt would last a week if played live, yet they don't last 12 hours.  

There are a number of schools of thought on how that should affect stratagy, one is play tight and aggressive up front while there is alot of action and alot of flops are occurring, hope to take down one or two nice pots an hour and then shift gears once the antes kick in.  I personally see too many people on the steal early on in tournaments and end up getting knocked out with weak holdings.  I have been at tables with some of the more well known professional online players (pearl jammed, morgan jordan, etc..) who litterally make millions of dollars in online tournaments, and they are good at playing possition early on in tournaments but get rather loose once the antes kick in or they get alot of chips.  I personally play real tight up front, when the blinds are lower and usually I am around the average by the first break and I am usually above average as the second break approaches.  Once the blinds and antees are high, the stealing begins, I play looser from late possitions hoping to take the blinds and antees, ideally I try to pick them up once a round(obviously it isn't possible to do it every round, but I try and if I get reraised I can lay down the hand unless it is  a real strong one).  I have never won one of the sunday tournaments, but I have made it real deep and had some rather large cashes.  I have won a good number of online tournaments though, and the above style is what I use.  I play opposite of how alot of people play, I am very tight and aggressive early in the tournament and  adjust my style latter on, I become much looser and still play aggressive.  The reason this works is that alot of folks feel like they have to get alot of chips early to survive, and because the stakes are low, they see alot more flops, and if you are playing alot of hands post flop, you have more opportunities to make mistakes, I try to take advantage once I am in a hand.  Ideally I want to have a decent stack as we get close to the bubble, I really pick up my play and attack the short stacks with out let up.  They want to at least get the buy in back and play real tight, you will  notice that most tighten up as the bubble approaches, I loosen up, and get real aggressive this is the best time to make chips and it is generally when I build up my stack for both power and freedom to choose which hands to play.  I then slightly down shift once the bubble is busted, because play gets real reckless with the short stacks once they made their buyin back, the defend their hands with c**p so I let them get killed before I shift back into steal mode.

Another school of thought is to either chip up fast early on or get knocked out.  I have seen folks who are great at this style, they will chip up real quick and then get tight as all get out, they then try to take advantage of their stacks when they are in an hand, and put you at a big disadvantage, they keep the pressure on you and make every play a tough decission.  The only thing to do with them is to flop a monster and then trap, they are who I generally double up through early in the tournament if I catch a good hand.  For that style to work, you are constantly shifting gears and alot of people just can't do that real good, but if you can, I would try that style.  

There is a third style that is used to  have a very good percentage of cashes but seldom, if  ever, wins.  That is playing solid tight poker the whole tournament and don't take many risks.  The problem with this style is that as you get into the money the action really gets strange, alot of folks loosen up and when you have a good hand you get too much action and you just dont have the chips to protect defend your hand.  

These are just three of the strategies, I have seen and used, I tend to use the first one now, I try to swim up stream as the saying goes, and play opposite of how everyone else at my table  is playing.  Good luck

I have gone back and reread your question and you are asking for advice on how to play big stack poker.  the questions I would ask you is what are the blinds, antes and other players stacks at this time?  Your stacks are your weapon in a tournament.  Obviously the bigger the better.  I have had good sucess using them as a club from late position, the closer to the bubble the better.  With that being said, you need to pick your targets with care, and you need to be able to lay down a good hand when the situation calls for you to.  While you are picking on the short stacks, remember, they always can push, you shouldn't call them unless you have a strong hand, that is what I meant by being able to lay down a good hand.

Answer 3

poker isnt always about betting each round, learn to fold more often than bluffing...

Answer 4

there is a lot of luck in tournaments. don't be fooled by the hype and all the people that say its a skill game.  when you lose, its common nature to blame the plays you made or times you decided to fold instead of push.  even if you didn't make the perfect play, that still doesn't mean you weren't unlucky for busting.  of course the other side of coin is this: don't accumulate 10x the buy in of chips and start deluding yourself into thinking that you outplayed a bunch of people.  

bottom line:  if its the variance that is driving you crazy, play ring games.

Answer 5

In BIG tournaments it's best to hide out and only play the GOOD hands. Many players will knock each other out without you having to lift a finger.

Smaller tourneys require a more aggressive approach.

You could probably calculate how many pots you have to win based on the max # of chips that could be had by the winner and the # of players at the Final Table.