Online poker is fast becoming a favorite pastime for people of all ages. It is a fun and exciting way to make some money and with a plethora of sites offering free poker, it’s become easy to learn it before playing real money games. However, when playing real poker, there are certain styles of play that can maximize your winnings in online tournament. Below, we will examine the most effective style of play, and how you can use it to your advantage at the table.
The most effective style of play in any online poker tournament, is tight aggressive. A tight player is very selective which hole cards he begins a hand with. By sticking to a very select few hands, a tight player minimizes his chance of losing. A tight player does not play Ace-rag unless he’s in the blind, and even then, a tight player knows how far he is willing to go with those cards. A tight player folds two or three times more than anyone else at the table, and some people just are not patient enough to employ this strategy. Playing in this manner, will pay off in the long run, because you won’t be losing small amounts of money on cards that have little chance of winning. So, being a tight player, be prepared to fold, a lot. Be patient, it will be worth it. It is important to note, that the key to this strategy, is the word aggressive. A tight but passive player, will only fold a lot, only to take down very small pots, simply because the passive style of play, does not get the money into the pot. In a no-limit poker tournament, it makes other players very uncomfortable to play with an aggressive player that puts them to a decision for all their chips.
Aggressive does not mean playing with reckless abandon, it means playing the best hands you have in the way that maximizes your winnings. You want another player to be worried about you, and if he’s paying any attention at all, he will take notice when someone (like you, a tight player) who hasn’t played 5 hands all night, raises his bet. Players tend to be more aggressive online, than in a brick and mortar casino game, so by playing tight, you will have the cards to take all of his chips, putting you that much closer to the final table, and the money.