Playing Position

Just like anything in the game of online poker, you’ll find that playing when you are in position is crucial. It is even more important when playing heads up poker because you should be raising from the button with a large range of hands, mainly because you have control throughout the entire hand, and are likely to take down at least the blinds, and even potentially taking down the pot with a continuation bet after the flop. The most important thing here is that while you should be playing quite a bit in position, you should also extend your range MUCH more than you would in a standard poker game, mainly because of the fact that you are only up against one opponent, so you have to put them on a larger range as well!

Three Betting

Three betting is a great part of poker that is often overlooked in standard poker games. In heads up poker though it is almost never overlooked though, as it is a great way to take down your opponents original raise, or even take down a nice sized pot if you are three betting after the flop. There two main times that you will be three betting, with one being when you have a big draw or a strong hand that you are looking to get it all in with, and the other being when you are simply bluffing and attempting to take down the pot from the opponent if you feel that they are weak or bluffing. If you pick the correct times to three bet and get good reads on your opponent then you’ll find that three betting is a great spot to be able to build your chip stack quickly.

In general, cash game poker and heads up cash game poker is quite a bit different. You should be playing a good bit more, and you’ll find that you also get to see quite a few hands over a shorter period of time, which is why many players enjoy this style of poker. If you’ve never played heads up cash game poker before then just make sure that you are playing in position and being aggressive at the right points!

Playing Tight but Playing Position

When you are playing fast poker you have the option to see so many different hands, so you should definitely be sticking with playing prime hands pretty often. With that being said though, you should also look to play position and steal the blinds if there is not a raise before you act. If the action folds to you and you have the chance to take down the blinds, then by all means feel free to take advantage of this. Remember, since you can see so many hands so often, it means that your opponents are most likely playing a similar way, and there is actually a good chance that many of them may have already fast folded their hands, leaving you a chance to take the free blinds down and continue to build up your stack.

Three Betting From Blinds or in Position

Three betting is a huge part of fast poker, mainly because it gives you the chance to pretty up pretty good sized pots without ever having to see the flop. If a player from later position raises and you are in one of the blinds or on the button/cut-off, making a three-bet over that opponent can be a very smart move that can be profitable pretty often. You have to remember that these players could be playing their position, meaning that if you put the pressure back on them that they are likely to lay down their hand because they can simply fold and see another hand quickly. This will lead to you winning even more than just the blinds as you also get their original raise. If you three-bet and the opponent calls, you then need to see how dry the board is and you could potentially put out a continuation bet to take down the pot from there as well!

Raises Before You

When you want to raise a player’s blind who is tight, the entire idea behind it sort of goes down the drain if you have a raiser before you get to the point of being able to make that raise. While typically you may raise from the button or the cut-off with a pretty weak hand in an attempt to pick up those free chips, if there is a raiser then you need to cut down your range massively and play your standard game. Don’t look to mix it up with other players unless you have a strong hand or have a good read on an opponents range. With this being said, you definitely shouldn’t be raising the players’ blinds every single time that they are in them, because that is the fastest way to get the opponent to pick up on what you are doing and fire back at you.

When Player Calls or Three-Bets

If you make the raise on the players blind and they make a call, then you have to play the hand very carefully from there on. Remember that these players are going to play a very small range typically because they are such tight players, which means that they typically have a pretty strong hand. If you don’t have a strong hand then you should see what happens on the flop, but if you don’t get it, then consider slowing down your betting, and potentially not even fire out a continuation bet unless the board is dry or you have a read. Now, if the opponent makes a three-bet pre-flop, then there are two ways that you can look at it. The first is that they are picking up on your raising on the blinds and could potentially just be putting pressure back on you. If you are trying to go with this angle then you must have a good read on the player, because the most common reason why is because they have a strong hand. Don’t get crazy and attempt to four bet a tight player in these situations as more times than not it could end badly.

Short Stack

If you are the short stack and find yourself at the bottom of the standings as you near the bubble, I have some bad news. You are unfortunately going to need to look for a good spot to get it all in. This doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to be patient and find a good spot to get it in, but you have to count how many big blinds you have. It’s not time to stress until you are under 10 big blinds in most situations, so just sit back and wait for a spot to get it all in when you get a big hand, or when you are on the button with a solid hand in an attempt to either take the blinds or get the double up. You unfortunately won’t be able to fold into the money, which means that a move has to be made at one point or another, and sooner than later is definitely the way to go.

Deep Stack

If you are the deep stack at this point, you should do your best to continue to build your stack and focus on taking advantage of how tight players at the table are going to be. Everyone’s main goal early on is to make it into the cash, so if you can continue to apply pressure and take down the blinds, and even three-bet their raises to steal them then this can be an excellent move. You don’t want to do anything to risk YOUR stack though, so if you are mixed up with another massive stack then be very careful with how you are playing and don’t throw any of your chips away if you aren’t strong. Play smart as the deep stack, but most importantly remember that the table will definitely tighten up, and take note of which players are being incredibly tight so you can attempt to take blinds when they are in them!

Obviously this is a huge swing between the two styles, but it’s important to keep track of your big blinds at all times so that you know where you stand as you get close to making some money in poker tournaments!

What Could They Have?

Putting your opponent on a range is huge. If you are able to get in a situation where you have a solid idea behind what your opponent could be holding in their hand, then making a decision about calling off your chips becomes much easier. This range can be based on how they are betting, how they’ve been playing to that point, and also what cards are showing on the board. It can of course range anywhere from having absolutely nothing, up to a flush, straight, or even more. Remember not to think of the worst case scenario automatically though. If you end up thinking of JUST the worst case scenario then you are going to force yourself into a decision to fold almost every time! You should be deciding on a range from the word go, meaning that as soon as you are dealt your cards you should be thinking about what the opponent could have.

Careful Calling With Ace High

Obviously making a call with Ace high is a huge deal. With that being said though, it’s something you shouldn’t do very often, because if you are calling on the assumption that your opponent has a bluff, then all that they have to turn over is bottom pair for you to lose your all-in call. I’d recommend almost never calling down with Ace high, but sometimes you just have a huge feeling about a specific player or a specific hand and you will call the all-in with just Ace high. People do bluff often, but you’ll find that not everyone will bluff off their entire stack hoping that you will fold. This means that you need to make “smart calls” on every hand, regardless of the situation, and this especially stands true with your opponents’ all in bets!

You will also need to take into consideration how many chips are in the pot on the river or turn when your opponent is pushing all in as well. If you’ve put in a huge amount of your chips, then you probably need to make the call if you have anything, mainly because of the pot odds that you are given. This is a tough thing to do, and it’s also why you shouldn’t be calling many big bets when you are on a draw. If you call the bet pre-flop or just after the flop with a draw then that’s understandable, but don’t get caught with nothing!

Playing Percentages

You should always use a percentage of your bankroll on a poker tournament. If you have $100, you don’t want to buy in to a $20 or more tournament, and you should probably limit this to about $1-$5 range in order to maximize the amount of tournaments that you can play in. The variance in poker tournaments is incredibly high, meaning that you could go quite a while without making it into the cash or making any serious score, so you need to give yourself as many poker tournaments as you possibly can in order to maximize your chances to take down some serious cash. The payout for a deep run in a poker tournament can make up for losses, but not if you consistently play above your bankroll because you could be out of money before you know it!

Sticking With Games You Know at the Limits

If you are going to play at the higher amounts of your bankroll (for example, if you were playing $5 tournaments in the situation above), then you need to make sure that you are playing the games that you know best. If you end up playing at the lower limits then it’s understandable if you are looking to expand your horizons a bit on the games that you want to play, and move it to a game that you may not know as well. The general idea behind poker tournaments though is that you should really focus on the games that you are the best at, so that you can consistently draw in strong results.

Obviously tournament players in the online poker world have a ton of different options night in and night out, so it’s a good idea to take some time to do your research on the tournaments that are offered to narrow down your options. From there you can decide what tournaments you want to play daily and what times you’ll be playing poker at each day as well. This will make it so that you are prepared to spread out your poker balance across the different tournaments throughout the day, and it’s probably not the best idea to use up a huge amount of your bankroll in one day!

Showing Two Bluffs In A Row

If you show two bluffs within the span of a few hands, you are likely to get labeled as “crazy” or “loose” meaning that next time that you end up getting a big hand that you could be in for a major pay day if you are against someone who thinks that you are bluffing. Of course, this means that you have to be patient after doing the bluffing though, and pick your spots when you are able to pick up a big hand. This is essentially you tricking players into the table into thinking that you are incredibly loose and like to bluff quite a bit, in order to get them to commit to calling off some big chips in another hand when you have the nuts. This is a great way to take advantage of showing your bluffs to opponents, and is one of the many reasons to do so.

Tilting Other Players

No one, I repeat NO ONE, wants to get bluffed off of a hand. I don’t care how big or how small the pot is, it is incredibly frustrating to get bluffed off of your hand when you were holding something better than what was shown. Showing a bluff or two could absolutely put your opponent on tilt, meaning that the next time that you go into a hand with them they might go out of their way to attempt to attack your chip stack. This is a great spot if you are aware that it is coming, because you could wait until a spot when you pick up a big hand, or even call down a big bluff by your opponent to build your chip stack, simply because they were upset about the fact that you bluffed them

As you can see, showing bluffs can be a great way to get into the mind of other players, without them realizing that you are even really doing anything. Many players take mental notes on every player at the table, and showing consistent bluffs will absolutely be a note that these players are making sure that they remember!

Only Betting Into One

This is very important, because if you find yourself continuation betting into more than one player, you are simply asking for trouble. There are quite a few different times where there will be two or even more players who call your pre-flop raise, meaning that if you continuation bet into a group of players then more than likely you are going to find a caller or two, meaning that you have tough decisions to make after the flop. After your pre-flop raise, your entire game plan of what to do should be based not only what comes out on the board, but also how many players called your bet, so just be careful!

Bet Sizing

A continuation bet can be effective very often, but a lot will depend on the size of the bet that you are making. If you bet too small then you are likely to get called by players who are looking to draw, or simply looking for action and think that you are continuation betting. If you bet too large though, then it can result in you losing chips in the long run if you get called down too often and have to give up on the pot. Regardless of the situation you should bet a specific amount pretty often on the flop, but it should really depend on the size of the pot. Remember that as important as it is to build your chip stack, it’s also important to conserve your stack that you already have.

Knowing When to Give Up

If you are JUST looking to continuation bet, then you definitely need to know when to slow down the betting. After you make that bet on the flop and your opponent calls, you have to decide if you want to continue with your bluff (at this point), or if it’s time to just throw in the towel. You obviously have to put your opponent on a range of hands, and decide if you want to keep going if they aren’t strong, but if they are strong then you really need to just check and give the pot up to your opponent. It can be a tough spot, but doing this can help you preserve your chips and make it so that you are prepared once again to take down some chips from a continuation bet later in the tournament.

Calling With Wider Range

Obviously you don’t want to get too crazy and starting calling your opponent with hands like 3-5 or anything, but you can definitely extend the range that you are calling with here. Attempting to hit hands with suited connectors and two over cards are not a bad idea, mainly because these aggressive opponents could be ranging with quite a few different things. One great way to look at the aggression levels of the players is to use a tracker for online poker, and to just watch and keep notes in your head when playing live poker! Obviously it’s much easier to keep notes online, but it’s definitely possible in live action.

DON’T Bluff

Bluffing against an aggressive player is almost always a bad idea. Unless you have some sort of a serious reason to think that a bluff on them would push them off of that specific hand, you could be looking at a three-bet pretty quick, which would leave you in a spot where you potentially just threw away some money. Just be careful about the bluffs in these situations, and pick your spots very carefully!

Let Them Bet at You

If you are able to hit that big hand, whether it be a set, a straight, or a flush, don’t go crazy betting at your opponent. Let your opponent bet out at you after the flop, and then let them bet at you again on the turn. At this point, you will be in a good spot to be able to three-bet them and hopefully build that pot up. If it gets to this point and you are on the river and are the first to act, THEN you can go ahead and put out a solid sized bet in hopes that they not only call, but hopefully are willing to three-bet you and maybe you’ll be able to get it all in with a massive hand.

It will most likely take you a good bit of time to realize who the aggressive players are at your table pre-flop, but doing a bit of research and taking your time to get this information is absolutely worth it when all is said and done.

In order to take advantage of bubble protection you simply have to enter a tournament that is listed on their website and type in your screen name for the site, as well as picking the event that you are going to play in. At this point, players are offered the option to use bubble protection, and are told exactly how much it would cost them for that specific tournament, or they can go past the bubble protection and choose not to use it. It is a pretty straight forward process actually, but is one that many poker players have come accustomed to using consistently when playing in events.

While the idea of bubble protection has continued to gain popularity, it has also been touted by some of the stronger online poker players in the game as well. One player who is incredibly well-known that is a spokesperson for the site is Chris “Moorman1″ Moorman, as he has been with the company since back in November. A few other players who are affiliated with the site include Will “The Thrill” Failla, Ylon Schwartz, and Casey “BigDogPcket5s” Jarzabek.

The idea of bubble protection not only allows players to help protect their bankroll in a tournament, but also gives you the chance to feel more comfortable when you are playing just outside of the money. Many players feel that it gives them the ability to continue to play their game when they are nearing that bubble, because they know that they are covered regardless of the outcome of the event at that point. Everything on their site is also completely secure and safe as well, and is probably some one of the easiest things to use when it comes to playing online poker today. The idea that you can protect yourself with your buy-in, and essentially make it so that you are getting your money back even if you don’t make the cash in the tournament is an excellent option!

Obviously when playing in a poker tournament the entire idea is to make it into the cash and come home with some money. If you use bubble protection you are able to put the pressure on more players who are hoping to stay in the money, which in turn could definitely help you build up your stack much faster, and also make it so that you can be poised for a deep run with that stack later in the tournament.