Low Chip Stack: Priced In

To be successful in tournament play, one has to make certain moves when their chips are running low. Once you are chip dead, even lucking out and doubling up once is not going to do much for you.

Think of the number of times you would have trippled up or better if you had taken a risk preflop with any late position ranked hand, regardless of your position. Better to take your shot while you have enough chips to make a difference, than seeing your monsters cracked because your chip dead.

I just won a SNG using this strategy. I was forced to make a loose push with K 10 off because I was down to 5 BB. I cracked Aces that someone with 3x my chips min raised with, I pushed back and lucked out. Shortly after that a good player pushed all in preflop with Aces. I called because I had the big stack by then and their bullets went down to my KJ. I was able to take full control and won the tournament, after being in 5th postion with 5 left to play.

By the way, being agressive from early position on a table full of passive players is also worth doing when your chips are dwindling. The same objective is in play here, buliding up enough chips to make a run to the real money. In most cases this means a top 3 finish, or at least making the top 10 of any large tournament, where the real money starts to be paid out.

Play to win. Never play just to make it in the money or mentally you may make some bad choices when the big stacks take advantage of the bubble drawing near.

You're in Trouble!

As soon as you become comfortable with your game you are in trouble!

Think about this. Being uncomfortable is what keeps you alert, paying proper attention, seeking out information. If you catch yourself being comfortable, then equate that to being predictable.

Try some changes to spice up the atmosphere and improve your game play. You can play a turbo tournament at lower stakes if you never tried one before. Or try a "bounty" tournament, also at lower stakes. This forces you to be more aggressive with your game. I find this pays off back on the regular tables. Same with cash games, maybe try a limit table if you have trouble getting caught up chasing hands. You may find you do better in these tables. This is better strategy than moving up in stakes too early.

Depending on what games you play, make your adjustments accordingly. Never be afraid to take steps backwards if you are on a bad down streak. Better to find safe ground than force yourself to stay somewhere you are struggling.

Playing Bonuses

One of the benefits of playing online poker is that most sites offer bonuses of one type or another. These can range from deposit bonuses to various ways to earn (comp) points that can be redeemed. Nothing can replace winning on the tables. These bonuses need to be considered icing on the cake.

A deposit bonus is easy to manipulate, if you play often. I have a 3rd party e-wallet that does not charge me anything. All I have to do is transfer money back to the wallet from the poker site. A few days later I make a deposit using a reload bonus code, then go back to playing. As I earn points for playing I slowly release the deposit bonus.

The site I play on also allows the bonus points to be used towards merchandise and to buy into freerolls. The overall accumulation of points will also earn credit towards other perks. Most sites make it very hard to release points, plus they have limited ways to use them. I have found that the Merge network has one of the best overall point programs out there. I have links on the right to Carbon Poker and Poker Nordica, both are part of the Merge Network.

One of the things, about playing on a site where members are working on releasing bonuses and/or earning points for any reason, is you have to generate rake to earn those points. This means cash table players tend to play as many hands as they can, so they can earn those points. Many of my blogs here discuss strategy related to playing on these types of tables.

I will end where I started - Nothing can replace winning on the tables!! Base all of your strategy, plans, actions, and research with winning as your main goal. Finding nice bonuses that work into your play is always a good thing though.

CarbonPoker.com Bad Beat Jackpot Breaks $1mil Mark to Become Biggest Ever

I blog a lot about playing on CarbonPoker.com, the most popular portal to the Merge Network. If you decide to join, please use my link to the right. Carbon started their own Bad Beat Jackpot last year and it has reached a record payout. There are many table formats available, from limit to the most popular and heavily played No Limit.

Please read their rules, but I will explain them. On a qualifying table, easy to identify, there must be at least 5 players that are dealt cards preflop. Someone must lose with quad 7's or better. Both the losing and winning hands must use both of their hold cards. The hand must go to the river. Everyone dealt cards wins something, with the losing hand winning the most from the jackpot.

If you are already a member, but just playing freerolls, this is the time to become a real money player by making a deposit and finding a table that works for you under their structure. The limit tables are a great way to participate with smaller bankrolls so everyone can play.

Good luck!

Avoid being complacent.

It is so easy to be complacent. A good way to avoid this is to find different ways to measure and ultimately stick to your rules and goals.

For example, some days you need to just set a goal of placing in the money if you play tournaments, or doubling up if you are playing cash tables. Then adjust that goal to how much you want to win per day or per week. Next forecast what that would mean monthly.

What you will discover is that your gut instincts are going to be working for you. Your general approach to the game will not change. What will change is your focus on why you are playing.

The idea here is to improve your game by finding additional ways to stimulate your mind. The game can become boring at times. In those cases players tend to try and make things happen. Unfortunately this tends to end up as a negative impact on your chipstack as well as your mental condition. Better to find new ways to measure your goals than to discover a new bad habit.

Time Management

Unless you play poker online full time, or do not have any responsibility, you will often be forced to choose tables based on things going on in your life. For example, you can not start a Multi Table Tournament, which will take several or more hours, if you have a commitment to take care of before the tournament would potentially be over.

Maybe you have an hour to play. Do you play some cash games? If so, to make the time worth it, do you find a loose or tight table and what stakes do you play? Maybe you play a few Heads Up Sit-N-Go's?

I do not have the answers. It all depends on your style, and what is currently working for you. With just a hour or so to play I prefer an aggressive table, with no more than one very good TAG or LAG player already building a stack. Possibly one of each will work. I will also keep my buy-in something toward the lower end of my current playing range. Right now my minimum is $25 buy-in on NLHE 10-player tables, up to $100. I learned to not play $100 tables for short sessions so $25 or $50 works for me here. Also $5 to $20 HU SNG's work for me for short sessions.

Two other areas to make sure you are working on is the amount of time you play, as well as the number of tables you play (multi-tabling). Do not push your limits. If you are making bad decisions, time to adjust.

Chasing your game.

I recently found my comfort zone in small tournaments and sit-n-go's. At first I kept grinding at my cash game, limiting the number of small tournaments I played. I was not playing into my strength, at the time. I made the adjustment and comiited more time to small tournaments, while still working on my cash game. Over 3 days I won over $300 playing small tournaments and about $50 on the cash tables.

Do not force yourself to play good, instead recognize your current strengths and work with them. Chase your game, do not chase cards.