Your Guide to Making Online Poker Profitable

Sit and Go Tournament Games

These strategies are for single-table, no-limit, 10 player Texas Hold-em games, 50% to 1^st place, 30% to 2^nd, and 20% to 3^rd, with each player starting with anywhere from 1,000 to 3,000 chips (depending on the site and the game).  These tips also work well with pot limit games.  These games are similar to what you see on television, but most players online do not play like the pros on television, and neither should you.  The players on TV are very aggressive, and that is not the way I play, at least not early in the game (when you get down to fewer players and bigger blinds, the game changes and you will want to be more aggressive).  I describe this game as poker’s version of “Survivor” because staying alive is the secret to the game.  Your goal is to make it to the final 3 players, because at that point, you know you will make money, and unless you have very few chips, you still have a very good chance at 2^nd or 1^st. 

Play it Like Survivor

You have to remember that the goal of the game is to be one of the last 3 players.  You are NOT trying to amass a huge pile of chips (although that will often be the result if you play according to the principles I lay out here).  I play very conservative, and I almost never go all in (although I will call someone else who goes all in when I have set a trap – see the section on setting traps later on).  Your goal is to always have enough chips so that you are not vulnerable to getting “blinded to death” (that is when you only have enough chips to cover a few blinds, and if you continuously fold, you will be out soon). 

You really want to be cautious early in the game, when there are 10 to 8 players, because with that many players, the hands that win are generally going to be pretty strong.  However, early on, because the blinds are so low, it can be cheap to see some flops with marginal hands.  This is especially true for a tight table, where players don’t raise a lot pre-flop.  In general, I feel the average on any table of 10 players is that at most 3 or 4 are aggressive players, the rest will play pretty tight early on.  Try to figure out who the aggressive players are, because they are the ones who will pay you off, and they are also the ones to avoid if you have a marginal hand, especially if they are after you in the betting.  So you need to watch the players to your left the most to see how aggressive they are and what kinds of hands they bet big on.

Basic strategy

In the early stages of a game, I will tend to fold whenever anyone places a bet larger than the big blind, unless I have a nuts or near-nuts hand (a “nuts” hand is one that is almost guaranteed to win, like an ace high flush, a full house or 4 of a kind).  If you have a marginal hand, like top pair or middle pair, the chances are not great that you will eventually win the hand.  One of the biggest mistakes people make is folding too late, and giving away chips.  They might call after the flop and turn only to fold on the river.  I will sometimes hang in after the flop if I have a decent hand and people are betting the minimum, but I usually make my mind up after the flop one way or the other, of whether I am the best hand for sure or not.  If I have doubts, I get out.  One way I think about whether to fold or not after the flop is to think about how many cards can come up that would make me automatically fold after the turn.  Or in short, how likely am I to fold to a bet after the next card?  If the chances are high that I will fold after the next card, then why stay in and give away chips?  Do not be afraid to fold.  Don’t let emotions make you stay in either.  If a guy constantly bets at you and you fold, don’t let yourself feel like you are a wimp, and stay in one time just to call his bluff.  Let him think he can bluff all he wants, because this helps set you up for a trap later on with this guy.

The importance of knowing when to fold cannot be underestimated.  The goal throughout the game is to have a decent stack of chips in relation to the other players, and if you are constantly giving away chips by seeing one too many cards every hand, then your stack will diminish more quickly.  You have to have patience.  I often watch TV or listen to music while I’m playing so that I have something else to pay attention to during the game.  That way I am not so bored that I start playing hands I shouldn’t be playing.  Of course, you should always pay attention to the hands you don’t play in order to learn about your opponents.  Be patient.  Wait for your hands to come.  It may take a while, so that is why you can’t be dwindling away your chips.  Try to avoid at all costs letting your stack get below half of your starting chips, and you really should try to never go below 75% of your starting stack.  And if you happen to win a few hands and get a good-sized stack, don’t get too cocky and throw away chips, either.  Remember, when you are one of the chip leaders, you are in control, and you can be more selective on which hands are played – so you can let other players fall off the table.  If you happen to be the one that takes all their chips, great, but it is also great if someone else does too, because that means you are one step closer to your goal of being in the last 3.

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