Bluffing is a requirement in poker. If you are playing poker and never attempt even the smallest bluffs, your opponents are usually going to eat you alive. Bluffs are not always what they are made out to be, however. On TV and in movies, bluffs are dramatized as these big courageous acts where everything is on the line. In reality, bluffs can be as simple as a continuation bet. Any time that you are making a bet, raise, or even a call with nothing, you are bluffing. Most players don’t think about small continuation bets as bluffs, but if they are not done for value, what kind of bet are they?
There is a lot of money to be made with consistency in bluffing. Multiple successful continuation bets are going to pay off far more than an occasional monster bluff. The problem with big bluffs is the risk of ruin. If you run a bluff that spans across the entirety of a hand, the odds of your opponent(s) folding decrease with each street. To some, this is obvious, but to others it is not. Some people think that it only makes sense to fire a monster bet on the river when their bluffs did not work on the flop or turn, but this is a very flawed strategy. Sometimes it is better to just give up on a hand. It can be easy to convince yourself that bluffing is a good idea, even when it is painfully obvious that your opponent is not going to fold.
The early stages of a tournament call for a relaxed approach that keeps risk at a minimum. In the later stages of a tournament, however, risk is maximized out of necessity. Players who sit around waiting for fantastic hands are often times eaten alive. Aggressiveness is rewarded because there is no other choice.
This doesn’t mean that a passive player can’t get lucky and catch a hot string of cards, but it certainly is not the best way to try and win a tournament. Your stack size and image will always play a role in the late stages of a tournament, so you need to be aware of both at all times. There isn’t anything simple about late stage tournament play. Sometimes it might be a matter of either going all in or folding, but even this requires advanced knowledge of the game. If you don’t know exactly what types of hands are worthy of a push, it can be quite challenging to make profitable moves. On the other side, if you don’t know when to fold, your money and equity is going to be drained in no time.
Tilt is a common problem for many poker players. It is one thing to tilt in a full ring or 6-Max game, but it can be deadly if you tilt in a heads up game. When tilting in a standard ring game, you are going to force enough folds and generally minimize risk enough that you are not going to get punished.
The exact opposite is true when it comes to tilting in heads up games. This holds true for both cash games and sit n gos. When you are facing just one opponent, it is incredibly easy for the other player to exploit your anger. They know that you are frustrated and want to take advantage of you whenever they can. Since you are playing heads up, the odds are increased that you have the best hand in play.
This is true for your opponent as well. Because of this, your opponent might stack off pre flop with ace high if they know that you are tilting. In a ring game, this won’t happen too often. Normally when someone is tilting in a 6-Max or full ring game, you still need a decent hand in order to make a call. The odds are just too great that someone else at the table could have you beat. This variable is completely removed in heads up play, because you only need to beat one hand.
Definition of a Staker: A person who puts up the money for a player (known as a horse) to play in exchange for a share of the profits (if any); also called a financial backer.
Backing poker players has been around almost as long as the game itself. So it is really no surprise that investors would want to cash in on the online poker scene. Backing allows players to not have to risk all of their own money when entering an event, which reduces variance in returns.
Many players tend to become less risk averse when being staked, as the pressure of needing to finish in the money in order to make a living is also reduced. On the other hand though, when playing with someone else’s money, some players tend to play more tightly with the pressure of earning a return for their staker is higher. This practice also allows the casual poker fan to play with some of the industry’s most successful stars.
Almost every online poker player prefers to play multiple tables at a time. It can increase your win rate, and it generally makes the play less boring. While this is perfectly acceptable in cash games, it can be a challenge in tournaments. There is an exception to the rule, however, so even multi tabling tournaments can be an acceptable practice.
The differences between cash games and tournaments are usually quite obvious. The strategy needed for success in each game varies greatly. Because of this, you need to have a thorough understanding of each game (and their differences), if you want to be profitable. The differences between the two games lead into why it is so easy to multi table cash games, but so tough to multi table tournaments. You wouldn’t think it makes any sense, but once you dig past the surface, the problems with multi tabling tournament are quite clear. As mentioned above, there is an exception, so it isn’t all bad news for tournament players who want to multi table.
The Exception
Before going any further, it is important to note that there is a glaring exception to multi tabling tournaments. If you are playing the same type of tournament on many tables (a 180 man turbo on PokerStars, for example), it is perfectly acceptable to multi table. Since each game that you start is going to be the same, you won’t need to account for different variables. If you play a mix of tourneys, however, you are going to need to pay attention to many different situations and unforeseen elements that change from game to game.
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