High Buy In Internet Poker Tournament Strategy

If you play online poker, then I'm sure you've played in online poker tournaments from time to time. Online tournaments differ from live casino tournaments because online tourneys run 24/7/365, and you'll often get larger player fields in online tournaments. Another nice thing about online poker tournaments is the fact that since online poker rooms have no overhead such as tables or paying dealers, you'll find online tournaments with buy-ins as low as $1, which is something you'd never see in a live casino.

Ok, now let's talk some strategy. The first thing you'll want to consider when devising your game plan is the tournament you are entering. This article is going to discuss high buy-in, high profile events. If you're playing a smaller tournament, you are going to want to use different strategy. In these high buy-in events, the players are highly skilled, so to take advantage of them you can't play straight poker; you need to make some crafty moves.

The first move I'd like to discuss is the continuation bet. Often times when you make a raise preflop, you'll find yourself with one or two callers. When the flop comes down, they almost always will check to you to see what you do. One problem passive players have is that they will always check the flop if they miss it. What I suggest is to occasionally make a continuation bet when they check to you. A continuation bet is a bet between ½ the size of the pot and the full size of the pot.

The purpose of this bet is to continue showing your strength, since you were the aggressive one preflop. You'll find that often times players will fold second pair, an under pair, or even top pair with a weak kicker because you are representing a stronger hand. You'd be surprised how often a continuation bet will take down a large pot. This becomes especially important towards the end of the tournament, when players have smaller stacks in relation to the blinds.

After you make your continuation bet, you may be called. If you are called, you'll have to reevaluate the hand on the turn. If the turn helps you, you should consider betting out again. If the turn doesn't help you, you'll have to either give up on the hand, or continue betting if you think your opponent is on a draw or is holding a weak hand that he will fold.

Another sneaky play that is very important at the end of a tournament is the stop and go. This move is used when you have roughly 10-15 big blinds in your stack, and you are out of position. Say you are in the small blind. It folds to the button, and he calls. If you have a mediocre hand, you should raise between 1/3-1/2 of your stack. Then, if he calls the raise, you need to go all in regardless of what the flop is.

This move puts a lot of pressure on your opponent, because he has no idea what you have, since you are going to go all in there regardless of the flop. So, if you make a hand, you'll get paid off more, and you're also giving yourself a chance to win the hand if your cards totally miss the flop.

Internet poker tournaments are the best way to really make a big score, and using the above moves when you play will help guide you into the money, and increase your chip stack so you have a shot at the final table, and the big prizes. Also, poker tournaments are a great way to clear your poker bonuses, because the tournament fees count against your bonus clearance. Good luck!