Online Texas Hold’em poker requires a different strategy in tournaments than in cash games. In tournaments, you are only charged a fee ONCE, instead of each hand. In tournaments, the blinds will increase so much that you will not be able to continue playing at the same rate, while in Hold’em cash poker games, the stakes will stay the same. As a result, you are generally not as stacked in tournaments as you are in cash games. This means you can’t sit back and wait for a huge hand against another huge hand or a fool willing to put his money in with a top pair. Instead, you need a way to get some chips or the blinds and antes will eat you alive. This is why, in any Texas Hold’em tournament, you must learn the art of stealing the blinds.

While other poker games like Omaha and Stud require you to play patiently just to gain a slight advantage, No Limit Hold’em is a game where the best players in the world can simply steal pot after pot and win big with a minimal probability. of being beaten against the average home game tournament player. Many times this is because they understand the dynamics of tournament strategy tips.

Often when people talk about stealing the blinds, they mean being the first to raise and trying to take the pot before the flop without any confrontation. You usually want to try to steal with decent hands, but not good enough hands to play normally under the current circumstances. They are hands that if they pick you up, you will fold without a second thought.

However, for your steals to be effective, you generally have to play fairly strict strategy in a tournament, where you patiently wait for a very good hand. You want your opponents to know that when you raise, most of the time you have a good hand. This prevents your opponents from wanting to play you.

So if you want your blind stealing attempts to scare off your conscious opponents, you’ll need to play a solid hand range first.

Here’s a range of hands you might consider when playing tournament hold ’em poker… You can also play tighter, but generally this is a range you’ll consider…

Hands that can support a re-raise if you raise from late position. Ace-King, plus a pair of Jacks, Queens, Kings, Aces. (Sometimes ace queen, ace suited jack, pair of eights, pair of nines and tens)

Hands that are strong enough to reraise after your opponent raises above your limp in. In addition to the previous hands, 88, 77, Ace Jack suited. (Also sometimes 66, 55, Ace Ten suited, King Queen suited, Ace Jack and King Queen possibly too)

Hands that can CALL a raise if you limp and get raised, assuming you’re calling less than 10% of your stack (generally should be done with 30+ big blinds): In addition to the above: Any two suited Broadways, any pair, any suited ace (possibly suited connectors, any suited Broadway card with a 9 as well) Broadway cards are any Ten or higher card.

So what does that leave? You can include suited connectors and suited Broadway cards with a 9 if you don’t include them in hands that can limp and call a raise. He then leaves two unsuited Broadway cards, any suited king, an ace or king with mid and low kickers, leaves unsuited connectors, leaves 1 and 2-gap suited connectors (1-gap connectors like 97s , T8s, 57s, etc. 2 gaps like 96s, T7s, etc.), leaves high suited 3 and 4 gap connectors (J7s, Q8s, K9s, Ace Ten suited and even K8s, Q7s, J6s), leave 1, 2 and even 3 non-high-medium gaps. suitable connectors J9, J8, J7, QT, Q9, Q8, T7, KT, K9. And possibly even some inappropriate 1-space sockets (86, 97). But many of these are cheating hands and should be played very cautiously if you flop anything with them.

Generally, if you’re short stacked, you’ll want to steal with higher cards, with an ace or king in hand, because if you’re short stacked and desperate, say around 16 big blinds, if you get called and hit, a only pair of kings or aces is good enough on the flop to call. You probably won’t get many chances later on, so you may have to accept it and hope it’s good unless your opponent has obviously beaten you. If your opponent likes to slow play or is passive, you can check and maybe call a bet, or bet if you think your opponent will call with a worse hand, in many situations you just have to go all-in. The chances of your hand being the best if you go all-in may not be good, but your chances of going much longer in the tournament, without doubling down, are probably much worse, and you can’t hope to get a better hand.

On the other hand, if you have a lot of chips in front of you, like 50 big blinds, suited connectors (56, 67, 78, etc.) and open connectors (68, 97, T8) are much better to steal with. Suited aces are, too, but they are much more dangerous. The reason is that if your steal attempt fails, you still have a very good chance of cheating if you get 2 pairs or more, and when you do get, you have the potential to get a LOT of chips. With a lot of chips, it’s usually a mistake to go all-in with just a pair. But many people make the mistake that pushing all-in with two pair is often profitable if the opponent is right. You can certainly get a lot of value out of it. You may also be able to call with draws because you will have the implied odds of getting called if you hit. Having more chips actually allows for the right connectors to be profitable, while high cards that result in pairs can put you in a situation where you have to call an opponent or allow an opponent to fold, and it can ea You are likely to get into trouble when you are out kicked by someone who shares the same pair but kicks better, or better.

Of course, you won’t steal for the fun of it because you have a hand that works based on your stack. Theft attempts must be made on purpose and with reason. What you steal will differ depending on the opponents you face. Some stealing hands have more value at aggressive tables, others have more value at a passive table. At tight passive tables, with 100+ big blinds in front of you, you can steal a lot more hands. Also, when you don’t have a lot of chips in front of you, you will have to steal with a lot more hands, out of necessity. Most of the time, you won’t steal with these hands 100% of the time just because they folded, but you can certainly consider it if the situation is right.

If you can learn to play tight aggressive poker when playing Texas Hold’em, you will find that when you choose to steal the blinds, you are more effective. Your strategy can be dramatically improved simply by using these online Texas Hold’em poker tips.