Texas Holdem Multi-Table Tournament Tips

Most internet poker rooms support multi-table tournaments, but there are only a few poker rooms that have enough traffic to fill up these tournaments on a regular basis. Make sure you join a highly trafficked poker room so that you can ensure you’ll always be able to find multi-table tournament tournaments starting. When you play multi-table tournaments you need to adapt an entirely new strategy compared to when you’re playing regular sit and go tournaments or cash games.

* During the early levels of a multi-table tournament you want to make sure that you play fairly loose. You want to limp into as many pots as you can preflop so that you can try and hit a monster hand. A lot of people might go all-in during the early stages so if you have a premium hand, don’t be afraid about making the call. You should always try and play and connectors and suited cards in MTT’s when you can limp into the pot. If you end up hitting on the flop then you’ll usually be able to win a huge pot and if you don’t then you can just fold.

* The one thing you need to be willing to do when you play in multi-table tournaments on PokerStars is make moves. When I say you need to make moves I simply mean you can’t sit back and wait for pocket aces. You need to be willing to play some marginal hands when you think you’re at least 50% or better in the hand. Another thing you need to be ready for when you play these types of tournaments is the potential to experience a bad beat. Bad beats happen a lot in multi-table tournaments and you need to learn to accept them. I’ve seen pocket aces lost to way worse hands in the past so anything is possible in poker.

* Generally the tournament will pick up after the first break. Some poker rooms allow registration to remain open until the first break which is part of the reason why tournaments really pick up after the first break. At this point you need to make or break your shot at winning the tournament if you haven’t already. If you have a big stack then you should try and bully the small stacks and get them all-in preflop when you can. Don’t be too loose with the hands you call with though because you don’t waste to throw your chips away.

* As the AbsolutePoker.net tournament winds down and the bubble is upon you, it’s time to start slowing down a bit if you have the chip stack. Most players will slow down near the bubble and you don’t want to take any unnecessary risks at this point in the tournament. Only play your premium hands and try to pick up a few blinds when you have position on your opponents.

* Once the money is reached the tournament will begin to pick up again until the end. Once you make the money you need to decide whether to pick up your game or continue to play slowly and your decision will be based on your chip stack. If you have a lot of chips then you can afford to only play your premium hands. You’ll be able to watch opponents get knocked out of the tournament and you’ll move up in the money. If you have a short stack and you’ve made the money then you can pick it up at this point again so that you can try and make a push for the final table.

Perfect Online Black Jack Pairs

Here’s a side bet that’s found more abroad than in the United States, but it’s just a slight variation on any “pairs” side bet you might find here. Basically you’re betting on whether you’ll get a pair on your first two cards, and the payoff depends on the type of pair you receive.

There are three online black jack possibilities here, starting with a perfect pair. The perfect pair pays 25:1, and it’s described as any pair of the same card, same suit. So, for example, in order to win this payoff, you’d have to be dealt a pair of 8’s, both hearts. The odds of getting a perfect pair in a standard, eight-deck game is somewhere around 1.6%. Not great, but certainly nowhere near the horrible odds we’ve seen for other side bet payoffs. Also worth noting, there are 1,456 combinations here.

The next payoff down the line is called a colored pair, which is the same card value but of different suits of the same color. For example, a Queen of hearts and a Queen of diamonds. The payoff on this drops more than half to 12:1, and the probability of receiving this hand jumps only marginally to 1.9 percent. There are 1,664 combinations here.

Finally, an off-suit pair, or red/black pair, pays either 6:1 or 5:1, depending on the casino, with achievable odds at 3.8 percent. An example of this hand would be a three of spades and a three of diamonds.

Here’s the interesting part, the house odds are significantly (almost out of character) lower than other side bets when you get into the higher decks, giving the player the rare opportunity to actually hit a payoff without gambling on your return hinging on hitting something with a likelihood of fractions of decimal points. In an eight-deck game, the house edge is just 4.1%. Six decks is just more than 6 percent. Four decks jumps to 10 percent, and a two-deck game vaults to over 22 percent. Obviously, you want to find this offered in the highest deck game possible.

This might be the first side bet that I wholeheartedly endorse. It’s simple, fun to play (who doesn’t like getting pairs in blackjack, even the bad ones, right!) and gives you a legitimate chance of winning with a nice payoff. When even the random pair nets you a 5:1 return on your side bet, I’d say it’s worth the risk if you’re intent on playing side bets to begin with.

Types of Online Poker Tournaments

There are lots of different types of poker tournaments that you can participate in online as a poker player. Some tournaments will work better for some playing styles while other tournaments work for other playing styles. If you’re a loose/aggressive player then you’re going to want to probably play in regular sit and go tournaments or multi-table tournaments. You might also find that bounty tournaments at PokerStars will work well for your playing style. If you’re a tight player then you might find that you do best playing in double up tournaments or regular tournaments. Below is a list of the popular types of online poker tournaments, but keep in mind not every poker room will offer every one of these tournament structures.

* Freeze out tournaments are regular poker tournaments where you can’t rebuy any chips during the tournament. Once you’re out of chips in a freeze out tournament you will be eliminated from the action. The tournament will play out until there is only one player with all of the chips.

* Rebuy tournaments are where you’re allowed to rebuy chips if you’re below a certain amount of chips. In some rebuy tournaments you can only rebuy if you run out of chips. In most rebuy tournaments you’ll be allowed one add-on period which usually takes place during the first break of the tournament. Rebuy tournaments will generally have bigger prize pools, but they will take a lot longer to play.

* Bounty tournaments are still rather new to the poker world and not many poker rooms offer them yet. In a bounty tournament part of the buy-in will go towards the prize pool and part of the buy-in will go towards the player’s bounty. If you knocked a player out of this type of tournament then you will receive the bounty in your account right away. These tournaments offer you the chance to break even or make money without finishing in the money and are great for loose players that like all-in hands.

* Double up tournaments are another new tournament format on Poker Stars Cheats software where players have the chance to double up their buy-in minus the tournament fee. Generally double up tournaments are played with 10 players with the top 5 players make money although they can be played with more or less. Double up tournaments are generally geared towards the tight player because you don’t need to win many hands to win one of these.

* Freeroll tournaments are tournaments where you don’t need to pay a buy-in in order to play. The poker room will also add a small prize pool in freeroll tournaments for the players. In certain instances during promotions or special occasions poker rooms will add large freerolls for their players. Generally these types of tournaments are only good for players that are new to poker and don’t have their own bankroll yet.

* Guaranteed prize pool tournaments are very popular in the poker rooms like PokerStars.net and Full Tilt Poker that have a lot of traffic. You can find guaranteed prize pool tournaments for up to $1 million in some poker rooms although they usually are in the $1K – $200K range.