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 Using Position in a Online Poker Tournament.
In any poker tournament
whether it’s a live tournament in a casino or a poker
tournament online. Even in regular cash games position is an important part
of any Texas Holdem no limit poker game. What position basically boils down to is
that you are last to act after the flop comes. The closer you are to the dealer
or the button the better your position is. Another way to think of it is to
the right of the dealer good to the left of the dealer bad. If you are to the
left of the dealer or you are the dealer you are in the ideal spot to steal
blinds or to steal pots. This is because after the flop you will be the last
person to act. Now this doesn’t mean that you should play any hand al the time
close to the button. However it does mean that when you have a marginal hand you
can limp in or even raise close to the button to try and steal the button and
take control of the hand. This
becomes an important part of any good poker tournament strategy. You are going
to have to steal some blinds and buy some pots in order to maintain a decent
chip stack. This type of strategy usually works well when people in early
position fold and you have a limper in mid to late position and the blinds. If
there is someone that limps in under the gun or second to act unless you have
seen these guys limp in, in those position before then fold on the flop or hold
marginal hands be leery. A smart player may decide to limp in UTG especially if
the table has been aggressive in order to bust someone. Therefore watch those
early positions at the table if you see a limper that usually doesn’t limp in
from there especially a tight player. The times to steal using your position is
when you sense weakness at the table and when there are few players in the hand.
The more players you have coming in the more likely it becomes that you will get
a caller. So if there are more callers you need a bit better of a hand so if you
do get a caller you steal have a chance of taking the pot down. As the blinds go
up in a tournament these steals can turn in to significant pots. If you sense
weakness try and steal the pot. That is the tricky part. Some practice is
required to get a feel for this. Also knowledge of the players in the position
before you is helpful. In cash games stealing pots and blinds aren’t as
important as a part of surviving. Since in online and off line ring games the
blinds stay the same there is no real need to make a move. However if you can
successfully read your opponents then stealing blinds and pots in late position
can become quite profitable. In online poker tournaments or any poker tournament
it is vital to use this tactic to pick up extra chips. Since the clock is
ticking against you, you have to stay ahead of the blinds and maintain a decent
chip stack of a minimum of 20 times the blinds to have all types of strategies
available to you. If you fall below 10 times the blinds you are very limited. It
is worth taking some risk in a poker tournament to maintain a decent chip stack
so you can stay fully functional with all sorts of moves in your arsenal. The
other thing about positional plays is that you do not want to over do these. If
every time you are on the button or close to it and try to steal you are going
to get challenged. A lot of how easy this will be depends on how the other
players see you if they think you steal and bluff a lot this is going to be
hard. If they have seen you raise with premium hands that went all the way to
show down they will give you more credit. If you raise several times in a row
they will start looking at you more closely and will start thinking you are on a
steal. The good part about this is that you are more likely to get called with a
big hand. So lets say you hit a big hand like AA or KK and you have raised
previously. I would play it just like you did when you are stealing or maybe
even make bigger bet. A bigger bet at that point may be interpreted as a blatant
steal attempt from position since you have been active in late position
lately this is a perfect time to get a monster and double up on some player that
has decided to challenge youre stealing using position. This is basically the
idea when stealing. There is one other interesting to steal form using position.
That position is the Big blind. The big blind has the best position preflop.
This position is usually a good position to steal from when it, is the small
blind the dealer and the big blind. This is usually a good time to steal. If
both limp in you may want to try and steal. Remember positional plays depend
on several factors the main ones being: your image at the table and your
read on the other players. Chip stacks are also important it is best to steal
from a medium stack player. This is someone who still has a decent stack of
chips but is at a point if they risk too much they will be short stacked.
This is basically how you play position in an Online
Texas Holdem Tournament as well as live poker tournaments. If you have other
ideas or if you have used some different tactics for stealing using position
please join our poker
forum and share them with us.
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