The pattern many online poker players follow starts with them playing in free games to get some practice where they eventually discover that these games don’t provide much practice at all since people are constantly making dumb, crazy moves. Then they go onto real cash games where some players will play long enough to the point where they want to try something new. Naturally that something new comes in the form of online poker tournaments where many expected riches await.
The problem starts though when players jump headfirst into just any random tournament without first considering their options. Before a person decides to start getting into online tourneys they should take multiple things into consideration that will aid them in the process of choosing a tournament that is right for them. Once this is done, a person can more confidently pick the tourneys that will best exemplify their play.
Pick the right room
Pretty much every single poker room that is on the Internet today does their best to advertise the big tournaments that they hold. And there’s good reason for why they do this too since many people come calling and sign up for their room just to play in the huge tournaments. But there is more to the online poker tournament world than just million dollar tournaments as it is often the smaller tourneys where a person will find their wealth.
Because of this, people should be selective of where they sign up and possibly check out some forums or reviews of a room before depositing any money there. The better the overall tournament scene is, the more chances there are that you can find the type of poker tournament that suit you.
Stay within your bankroll
There are far too many people out there in the online poker world that blow through their bankroll playing in tournaments where the buy-ins are too steep. If you’re a multi-millionaire, playing in $200 buy-in tourneys aren’t going to even come close to breaking you. On the other hand, if your bankroll is $1,000 then you are relying far too much on a single tournament assuming the buy-in is still $200.
The best thing to do is to make some sort of budget when deciding what poker tournaments to get into. Take the previous example where you’re dealing with a $1,000 bankroll and need to find a reasonable tourney to get into. $10 and $20 Sit & Go’s are a nice option in this case since you don’t have a lot of money to burn through but want to still get in on the action. Just remember though; always keep things within reasonable limits.
Deep stack vs. short stack
One key factor to always pay attention to when looking at tournaments is how many chips each player will start with. Some tourneys will only offer players 1,000 chips to start with which makes the games go extremely fast and there will also be more luck involved in these cases too. In a short stack tournament, skilled players can get pushed out very quickly since there’s not a whole lot of room to maneuver around in from a strategic standpoint.
If you’re someone who is more of a beginning tournament player, or even novice poker player period, then short stack tourneys may afford you a better shot at cashing. However, deep stack tournaments often cater to more skilled players since they are given more chips and this helps them out since the better players often become winners over the long run.
Look at the blind structures
Going somewhat hand-in-hand with the starting chip counts are the blind structures since they too can be a determinant in whether skilled or beginning tournament players gain an edge. When the blind structures increase extremely fast, it means that tournaments can be somewhat of a crapshoot since players have to make quick moves or the blinds will significantly diminish their stack.
Some online tournaments will have slower blind structures where they only go up every 20 minutes or so meaning players have plenty of time to wait for their cards to come before making any brash moves to stay in the thick of things. And just like tourneys with deeper stacks, tournaments with slower blind structures mean that far less luck will be involved and thus skilled players will have a better chance to win out in the end.
