Mzone Tournament Strategy - Getting Through The Middle Stage
If there was ever an easy thing to do in online tournament poker it’s making it to the middle stages. Of the five stages in tournament poker the second stage, called “middle stage” doesn’t require a lot of experience, nerves, or even smarts. The only thing it requires is patience and knowing what the top 5 or 6 hands are.
For this very reason, some new players experience a rush of good fortune in what might be their very first tournament. The just got some advice before it started such as, “play only these hands” when the blinds are low. They stay short stacked until the blinds get bigger, and “boom” pocket kings and they double up. “Boom” they flop a nut flush out of the big blind while two poker hotshots try and force the newbie out of the pot by raising and reraising… and so on.
The blinds start to get worrisome in online tournaments just after the first break as the tournament heads into its middle stage. Half the field has already dropped in the first hour while a player can literally sit there waiting for a big hand. For experienced players this also creates frustrating situations time and again, because often, there are no big hands. This is understandably, hard to take when you know you’re playing solid tournament poker and so many other players are donking up around you.
Here is the one thing that can be your saving solace when playing the tight aggressive style early. It may seem you are always getting bogged down in the middle stage and find it hard to advance, but by playing this style with regular passion, your numbers and percentages are much better than they may seem, if not your stack size.
Firstly, tight aggressive is going to get you into the money more than most players and that will always be good for your bankroll. Secondly there are tournaments too, that you will actually get cards and be in good shape when the middle stage comes, freeing up your game some degrees. And thirdly, you may come into a disadvantaged stack in the middle stage but be smack in the middle of a wild table where other players are panicking with less sub par hands. I have been in this situation countless times, just hanging on, only to emerge as the chip leader (or close to it) within a few hands of the high blind stage.
This is going to be your best opportunity for advancement because of reckless, anxious opponents. Tournament Indicator is a poker tournament calculator that has this great little feature called Match Cards which you can use to really get good handle on the strength of your hole cards compared to a range of your opponent’s cards. The short stacks think they have no time at all and the big stacks think they can push anyone off a hand. Those philosophies may have more credence in higher buy-ins but in low buy in tournaments I have found it just as opportune to wait for the chips to land in your seat. They will come easy enough, often enough, to continue a tried and true tight-aggressive strategy until your bankroll shows a relative comfort zone.
Marty Smith has a free video strategy series for playing low limit online poker tournaments. All you have to do is sign up to the series which now has over 5,000 subscribers and a poker forum for additional assistance.
Tags: odds calculators., Tournament Poker Strategy