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The Three Stage Theory Of Online Tournament Play - Part 1
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If you divide an online poker tournament into three distinct stages, and execute this advanced poker strategy properly, your results will improve dramatically. In fact, by simply recognizing that you have to adjust your style of play relative to the stage of the online tournament you will have a tremendous edge over your opponents.
The first thing to do is to divide the tournament into 3 sections (in your mind) and to understand the various stages:
Early Play - which we define as the first 3 Rounds (30 hands typically) of a sit-and-go or until the first 5 minute break in a multi-table poker tournament.
Middle Play - which we define as all hands after Early Play and prior to the stage where you are in the money for that tournament (for example: the final 3 players in a 10-player sit-and-go). A lot of online multi-table tournaments take 3 hours to complete, and middle play is the all-important second hour of play.
Late Play - which we define as all hands from that point where you are in the money until the tournament is over.
In Early Play your primary objective is non-elimination. Players will take enormous risks early on, and you gain from their elimination. You also have time to feel out the opposition, and learn a little about their style of play. The key is not to get involved for large amounts of chips in this first stage. The only hands you should be prepared to play for all-in amounts are: QQ (sometimes), AK suited (sometimes), KK, and, of course, AA. If you lose with these hands it is simply unlucky. However, if you allow yourself to get involved in a hand for a significant percentage of your chips and you do not have one of the 4 premier hands it is your own fault if you are eliminated.
The key is to survive through the early stage because 20 - 35% of your opposition will fall by the wayside. Do not worry about your chip position - focus on maintaining your starting chip count, and slowly accumulating chips. The way to do this is to play multi-way pots that have not been raised (ie: everyone has limped into the pot by calling) or has been raised a minimal amount (2 to 4 times the big blind). You can try to win these pots, stay out of the big pots where players are likely to push all-in, and avoid major conflicts in this initial stage.
Next time, in Part II we will discuss how to alter your style for Middle Play, also termed "moving time" at the Insider. This is when you have to make your move, play far more aggressively, and increase your chip stack exponentially wherever possible.
Related Poker Articles And News Items:
> Evaluating Starting Hands In Tournament Poker
> Poker Tournament Bankrolls
> The Three Stage Theory Of Online Tournament Play - Part 3
> The Three Stage Theory Of Online Tournament Play - Part 2
> Refining The Gap Concept For Online Tournaments
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