Poker Tournament Online Strategy

Home» Poker Guides » Shootout Poker Tournament Strategy Shootout tournaments involve playing several single tables – the top 3 finishers at each table moving forward to a second round and so on. These tournaments combine some sit and go strategy with multi-table tournament strategy. Our poker strategy articles cover a diverse range of topics and poker-related issues, including advice for new players, tips for tournament and cash play, introductions to online gambling wallets. Online Poker Strategy Poker has been played for real money on the internet since 1998. The past 20 years have seen the game grow from a niche market to a multi-billion dollar industry. In the beginning.

• Online Poker Tournament Strategy Books
• Online Poker Tournament Strategy 2019
• Best Online Poker Tournament Strategy

Sit and Go Poker Strategy

Although sit and go (SNG) games are relatively short, they undergo numerous stages that will modify how you should play.

With faster blinds increases than multi-table tournaments, consistently succeeding in SNG games require a very aggressive style of play. Psychologically, SNGs make people feel like they're close to the bubble right away, which means you will experience a ton of passivity and maniacal behavior.

Use your poker software to tag various opponents for their styles, there's a chance you'll run into them in future SNGs.

Stealing: Prime Times for Thievery

During the course of a sit 'n' go, you will, at a very minimum, want to win back your blinds at least once every time the button goes around the table. You have two prime moments to steal blinds when there still six or more players at the table.

1. On the button and only one or two players have called before you.
2. Your chip stack is large enough that other players would be risking losing all their chips to go against you.

Make it Easy on Yourself

If you raise against a passive player and get countered with an all-in, drop out of the hand immediately. If you get re-raised by a manic player, simply make the call and see how the cards play out. Conversely, minimize game time against other aggressive players as they're your biggest threat through the entire SNG.

Multi-Table Tournaments

During a multi-table tournament (MTT), there are three stages that should dictate how you play, and each centers around managing your bankroll or chip stack.

Early Stages

In the early stages, you will have a good number of chips compared to the blinds, but most players are simply looking to progress further into the tournament so you'll have a hard time landing large pots (unless you have a manic or two at your table). During this point in MTT play, play tight and aggressive. Fold more than you bet and bet more than you call.

Pocket pairs and suited face cards are obvious hands to play in any situation, but be prepared to shift to a more aggressive stance when you're on or just before the button.

Middle Stage

After getting through the early stages, you will find that your chips are more valuable than before as the blinds rapidly increase.

You will have to become more flexible with your hands, which goes against all human nature. What that means, though, is that other players will be getting tighter and tighter as they're just trying to make it past the bubble, so you can more often gamble to steal blinds. Don't allow yourself to be chipped away at by blinds in the hopes to make it to the payout stages: You're going to have a much better cash out in the long run if you use the middle stages to posture for winning the tournament rather than simply earning back your buy in.

Your playable hands during the middle stage should be wider than in the early stage, and should include hands like A♥4♣, J♠Q♥, 5♦6♦ or anything better. Nevertheless, you will still only want to call all-ins when holding strong pocket pairs and high suited connectors.

Late Stage - After the Bubble

After you've busted the bubble and have made it into the payout portion of the tournament, you're in the late stages. At this point, you're going to want to pick off anyone who was just holding out and call small stack all-ins when you have merely marginal hands.

If you're risking around 10 percent of your stack or less to call an all-in and have a hand like 8♣9♣ or K♥T♠, your percentage to win pre-flop is still around the upper 40% range. If you take the short-stacked player's desperation into account, there's a strong possibility that your odds are closer to 50-50.

Unless taking a loss from one of these players will mean practically breaking you, there's not much at risk during each hand but, after knocking out a few opponents, you can quickly become the big stack at the table. However, you have to become more comfortable with gambling during the late stages; luck starts to make a bit of a difference since so many people are in a fold or all-in scenario.

On Deep-Stack Tournaments

On the other hand, deep-stack poker tournament strategy lets you gamble a bit more in the early stages of the competition. By having a larger bankroll to begin with, your chips' value is substantially less in regards to the number of blinds you can afford. However, once the blinds start to get the game to the middle and into the late stages, your strategy should simply switch over to how you normally play during MTTs.

Poker Tournament Strategy Books

To learn more about poker tournament strategy, check out these editor's picks from top poker tournament pros:

Daniel Negreanu Power Hold'em Strategy

Gus Hansen Every Hand Revealed

Dan Harrington Harrington on Hold'em

Avoiding Passive and Manic Behavior

Two of the fastest ways to lose all your chips in a poker tournament is through making plays easily described as either passive or manic.

Passivity

Passive players will often call bets and raises and just limp into a hand by matching the big blind. They will often go all-in pre flop if they have a pair of jacks or better as they would rather scare opposition away than face a difficult decision later on.

If you find yourself going against a passive player, he or she will often fold to bets the size of the pot or larger. So, if you end up in a showdown with one of these players and hold the nuts, make your bets between 1/4 and 3/4 of the pot to keep him or her in the hand as long as possible. These players are painfully predictable, but they also make it into the money pool of multi-table tournaments quite often due to cautiousness. Still, you will likely never see a passive player make the final table in a multi-table tournament, much less win one.

Maniacal Antics

On the other hand, manic players seem to have little or no control over their betting and are so wildly unpredictable that they might as well not even look at their cards. Sometimes, you'll encounter players like this who actually believe it's a viable strategy because they once saw someone go all in on every hand during a sit 'n' go and won.

Still, most manic betters you run into will just be on tilt, probably from an unlucky string of games or they're dealing with something in real life that's too much to handle. The reality of this play style is that these players will very often be the first players knocked out of a tournament.

Playing against a manic or tilting opponent is ill advised unless you're holding a very strong hand. Their irregularity and willingness to keep a hand until they see the river in the off chance they get a backdoor straight with the 4♠6♥ they're holding.

Likewise, if you're feeling angry or particularly emotional about something in your life or you've experienced a bad run that day, stop playing and get some rest. When tilting or feeling agitated in some way, you might as well throw money away - at least you wouldn't have to deal with the inevitable that you might call a 'bad beat' but in reality was likely easily avoided.

Being Aggressive

To make the most of your of your life in online poker, you need to be as aggressive as possible while not allowing emotion to have an impact on your choices. Whether playing online, cash games, SNGs, MTTs or any combination of those, being an aggressive player is the number one determining factor on whether or not you will be a successful player.

There are two actions considered aggressive in poker: raising and folding.

As you may have surmised, there's only one other action in poker to be considered passive, and that's calling. The more often you get away from an aggressive style and call bets, the more likely your poker tournament strategy will fall flat. You'll minimize your winnings while losing more hands.

At first, being aggressive will feel like it goes against a beginner's nature as it means going against one's nature of wanting to test the waters. However, the earlier you get away from this habit, the sooner you will find yourself breaking the bubble in more multi-table tournaments and winning more SNGs.

Similarly, don't be afraid to bluff. Every once in a while, you should be betting like you have the best hand at the table even if you're holding 2♦7♥. It may cost you some chips, but if you're 'caught' bluffing, other players will be more likely to call your aggression, which will net you a larger stack in the long run.

Stay Relaxed and Focused

Being an aggressive player, though, does not mean that you have to be emotionally invested in the tournament. You have to make peace with your losses and don't get overexcited from winning large hands. Winning or losing too much can push a player to making terrible missteps during the tournament.

Try to see each movement, whether good or bad, as a mere stepping stone in a long path, otherwise you'll find yourself trying to sprint and end up broke. Breathe deep after a big hand won or lost and take another logical look at the table and your current position. Be Zen with your decisions and become a better player at all times.

Poker Tournaments vs Cash Games

Contrary to tournaments, cash games neither have increasing blinds nor do players have to be knocked out to stop playing. This allows for a more singular playing style.

Beyond this, there are other basic differences:

• Cash games usually have minimum and maximum buy-in amount, but players can choose how much to use. In MTTs and SNGs, every player pays the exact same entrance fee.
• When losing all your chips in a tournament, you're out of the game for good (in most cases). In a cash game, you can simply buy in again.
• Cash can accommodate more risk-taking styles, whereas gambling too much in tournaments can negatively affect your ROI.

Notes on Cash Game Poker Strategy

Buy in for more than the minimum. Don't start your cash game with so few chips that you're already facing an all-in or fold scenario. Try to buy in at 100 times the amount of the table's big blind. In a $1/$2 game, spend $200. In a $0.05/$0.10 table, buy in for $10.

Play tight. With blinds staying constant and having the ability to re-buy your way in, there's much less pressure for players to have the largest chip stack or make foolish risks in an attempt to double up.

You can move. If you find yourself in a bad spot like to the right of a hyper-aggressive or tilting player, simply leave the table. If there's a fish at the table that you can profit off of, just change seats and only go against the manic player when you have better positioning than him or her.

A Detailed Look At The Poker Tournaments Best Suited To Beginners And Recreational Players

You have to be careful where you play online poker tournaments in 2020 – while some games are still very easy to beat, others are full of small stakes ‘pro grinders' waiting to take your bankroll!

This article highlights my picks of the best games for beginning players who are looking to build their experience at the same time as making some money. This was one of the original articles here at Sit and Go Planet, and has evolved over the years as the poker landscape has changed, sites closed and other sites become easier or more difficult to profit from.

Note: US Players now have their own article – US Online Poker Tournaments – and this one focused on the big international poker sites.

Instead of a list of 10 possible games, you will find more details on the top 3 in this latest update, followed by a quick run-down on the remaining 7. The idea is that, by giving more information on the top picks, I can better highlight the type of player who should be playing in each game – you can see more clearly which is the right game for you!

Planet Mark's List Of The Best Beginner Poker Tournaments – The Top 3

888 Poker Daily 'Blowfish' Tourneys - $1500 Guaranteed

888 Poker have built their brand as the go-to site for recreational and amateur players. Their 'fish' tournaments are great examples of how easy to beat their games are in comparison to many other sites. These are regular games (with the lower buy-ins running several times daily). I have chosen the $5 buy-in 'Blowfish' games as my top rec for beginners. There are $1, $12, $30 and up games too - each named after different fish. For me the blowfish hits a sweet spot of low buy-in and decent prize pool often guaranteed at $1500+. You'll find enough players to make winning one worthwhile, though the sharks and grinders are definitely not around...

This is just one of a long list of tournaments at 888, which is fast becoming the go-to site for players learning to play poker tournaments. They focus on people who play recreationally, rather than setting up their sites to suit the 'grinders' like some other rooms do. I recommend you check out the games, you will see the difference in the standard of play as soon as you join. I also recommend you look out for the regular 'Super Series' events - and the satellite qualifiers to live tournaments too.

Get up to $88 Free to try the games (£20 instead for UK players - no deposit or credit card info is needed)

New players at 888 get up to $88 free bonus to check out the games, with no deposit or credit card information needed.

Early Stages

In the early stages, you will have a good number of chips compared to the blinds, but most players are simply looking to progress further into the tournament so you'll have a hard time landing large pots (unless you have a manic or two at your table). During this point in MTT play, play tight and aggressive. Fold more than you bet and bet more than you call.

Pocket pairs and suited face cards are obvious hands to play in any situation, but be prepared to shift to a more aggressive stance when you're on or just before the button.

Middle Stage

After getting through the early stages, you will find that your chips are more valuable than before as the blinds rapidly increase.

You will have to become more flexible with your hands, which goes against all human nature. What that means, though, is that other players will be getting tighter and tighter as they're just trying to make it past the bubble, so you can more often gamble to steal blinds. Don't allow yourself to be chipped away at by blinds in the hopes to make it to the payout stages: You're going to have a much better cash out in the long run if you use the middle stages to posture for winning the tournament rather than simply earning back your buy in.

Your playable hands during the middle stage should be wider than in the early stage, and should include hands like A♥4♣, J♠Q♥, 5♦6♦ or anything better. Nevertheless, you will still only want to call all-ins when holding strong pocket pairs and high suited connectors.

Late Stage - After the Bubble

After you've busted the bubble and have made it into the payout portion of the tournament, you're in the late stages. At this point, you're going to want to pick off anyone who was just holding out and call small stack all-ins when you have merely marginal hands.

If you're risking around 10 percent of your stack or less to call an all-in and have a hand like 8♣9♣ or K♥T♠, your percentage to win pre-flop is still around the upper 40% range. If you take the short-stacked player's desperation into account, there's a strong possibility that your odds are closer to 50-50.

Unless taking a loss from one of these players will mean practically breaking you, there's not much at risk during each hand but, after knocking out a few opponents, you can quickly become the big stack at the table. However, you have to become more comfortable with gambling during the late stages; luck starts to make a bit of a difference since so many people are in a fold or all-in scenario.

On Deep-Stack Tournaments

On the other hand, deep-stack poker tournament strategy lets you gamble a bit more in the early stages of the competition. By having a larger bankroll to begin with, your chips' value is substantially less in regards to the number of blinds you can afford. However, once the blinds start to get the game to the middle and into the late stages, your strategy should simply switch over to how you normally play during MTTs.

Poker Tournament Strategy Books

To learn more about poker tournament strategy, check out these editor's picks from top poker tournament pros:

Daniel Negreanu Power Hold'em Strategy

Gus Hansen Every Hand Revealed

Dan Harrington Harrington on Hold'em

Avoiding Passive and Manic Behavior

Two of the fastest ways to lose all your chips in a poker tournament is through making plays easily described as either passive or manic.

Passivity

Passive players will often call bets and raises and just limp into a hand by matching the big blind. They will often go all-in pre flop if they have a pair of jacks or better as they would rather scare opposition away than face a difficult decision later on.

If you find yourself going against a passive player, he or she will often fold to bets the size of the pot or larger. So, if you end up in a showdown with one of these players and hold the nuts, make your bets between 1/4 and 3/4 of the pot to keep him or her in the hand as long as possible. These players are painfully predictable, but they also make it into the money pool of multi-table tournaments quite often due to cautiousness. Still, you will likely never see a passive player make the final table in a multi-table tournament, much less win one.

Maniacal Antics

On the other hand, manic players seem to have little or no control over their betting and are so wildly unpredictable that they might as well not even look at their cards. Sometimes, you'll encounter players like this who actually believe it's a viable strategy because they once saw someone go all in on every hand during a sit 'n' go and won.

Still, most manic betters you run into will just be on tilt, probably from an unlucky string of games or they're dealing with something in real life that's too much to handle. The reality of this play style is that these players will very often be the first players knocked out of a tournament.

Playing against a manic or tilting opponent is ill advised unless you're holding a very strong hand. Their irregularity and willingness to keep a hand until they see the river in the off chance they get a backdoor straight with the 4♠6♥ they're holding.

Likewise, if you're feeling angry or particularly emotional about something in your life or you've experienced a bad run that day, stop playing and get some rest. When tilting or feeling agitated in some way, you might as well throw money away - at least you wouldn't have to deal with the inevitable that you might call a 'bad beat' but in reality was likely easily avoided.

Being Aggressive

To make the most of your of your life in online poker, you need to be as aggressive as possible while not allowing emotion to have an impact on your choices. Whether playing online, cash games, SNGs, MTTs or any combination of those, being an aggressive player is the number one determining factor on whether or not you will be a successful player.

There are two actions considered aggressive in poker: raising and folding.

As you may have surmised, there's only one other action in poker to be considered passive, and that's calling. The more often you get away from an aggressive style and call bets, the more likely your poker tournament strategy will fall flat. You'll minimize your winnings while losing more hands.

At first, being aggressive will feel like it goes against a beginner's nature as it means going against one's nature of wanting to test the waters. However, the earlier you get away from this habit, the sooner you will find yourself breaking the bubble in more multi-table tournaments and winning more SNGs.

Similarly, don't be afraid to bluff. Every once in a while, you should be betting like you have the best hand at the table even if you're holding 2♦7♥. It may cost you some chips, but if you're 'caught' bluffing, other players will be more likely to call your aggression, which will net you a larger stack in the long run.

Stay Relaxed and Focused

Being an aggressive player, though, does not mean that you have to be emotionally invested in the tournament. You have to make peace with your losses and don't get overexcited from winning large hands. Winning or losing too much can push a player to making terrible missteps during the tournament.

Try to see each movement, whether good or bad, as a mere stepping stone in a long path, otherwise you'll find yourself trying to sprint and end up broke. Breathe deep after a big hand won or lost and take another logical look at the table and your current position. Be Zen with your decisions and become a better player at all times.

Poker Tournaments vs Cash Games

Contrary to tournaments, cash games neither have increasing blinds nor do players have to be knocked out to stop playing. This allows for a more singular playing style.

Beyond this, there are other basic differences:

• Cash games usually have minimum and maximum buy-in amount, but players can choose how much to use. In MTTs and SNGs, every player pays the exact same entrance fee.
• When losing all your chips in a tournament, you're out of the game for good (in most cases). In a cash game, you can simply buy in again.
• Cash can accommodate more risk-taking styles, whereas gambling too much in tournaments can negatively affect your ROI.

Notes on Cash Game Poker Strategy

Buy in for more than the minimum. Don't start your cash game with so few chips that you're already facing an all-in or fold scenario. Try to buy in at 100 times the amount of the table's big blind. In a $1/$2 game, spend $200. In a $0.05/$0.10 table, buy in for $10.

Play tight. With blinds staying constant and having the ability to re-buy your way in, there's much less pressure for players to have the largest chip stack or make foolish risks in an attempt to double up.

You can move. If you find yourself in a bad spot like to the right of a hyper-aggressive or tilting player, simply leave the table. If there's a fish at the table that you can profit off of, just change seats and only go against the manic player when you have better positioning than him or her.

A Detailed Look At The Poker Tournaments Best Suited To Beginners And Recreational Players

You have to be careful where you play online poker tournaments in 2020 – while some games are still very easy to beat, others are full of small stakes ‘pro grinders' waiting to take your bankroll!

This article highlights my picks of the best games for beginning players who are looking to build their experience at the same time as making some money. This was one of the original articles here at Sit and Go Planet, and has evolved over the years as the poker landscape has changed, sites closed and other sites become easier or more difficult to profit from.

Note: US Players now have their own article – US Online Poker Tournaments – and this one focused on the big international poker sites.

Instead of a list of 10 possible games, you will find more details on the top 3 in this latest update, followed by a quick run-down on the remaining 7. The idea is that, by giving more information on the top picks, I can better highlight the type of player who should be playing in each game – you can see more clearly which is the right game for you!

Planet Mark's List Of The Best Beginner Poker Tournaments – The Top 3

888 Poker Daily 'Blowfish' Tourneys - $1500 Guaranteed

888 Poker have built their brand as the go-to site for recreational and amateur players. Their 'fish' tournaments are great examples of how easy to beat their games are in comparison to many other sites. These are regular games (with the lower buy-ins running several times daily). I have chosen the $5 buy-in 'Blowfish' games as my top rec for beginners. There are $1, $12, $30 and up games too - each named after different fish. For me the blowfish hits a sweet spot of low buy-in and decent prize pool often guaranteed at $1500+. You'll find enough players to make winning one worthwhile, though the sharks and grinders are definitely not around...

This is just one of a long list of tournaments at 888, which is fast becoming the go-to site for players learning to play poker tournaments. They focus on people who play recreationally, rather than setting up their sites to suit the 'grinders' like some other rooms do. I recommend you check out the games, you will see the difference in the standard of play as soon as you join. I also recommend you look out for the regular 'Super Series' events - and the satellite qualifiers to live tournaments too.

Get up to $88 Free to try the games (£20 instead for UK players - no deposit or credit card info is needed)

New players at 888 get up to $88 free bonus to check out the games, with no deposit or credit card information needed.

You'll get $8 right away (as tournament tokens + cash game buy-ins) and then 10 more installments of $8 as you collect points by playing the games. You can still claim your 100% welcome bonus at any time.

888 are the big success story in online poker at the moment, they now the 2nd biggest site and still growing. If you enjoy tournaments, and love making profits - there is no better place to play. Check out www.888poker.com for yourself now!

Titan Poker Nightly €5 Rebuy + $20 Extra Free Cash Offer

Titan have moved their tournaments over to Euros... This makes great sense for the majority of their player base. In fact this site / network have not been available to US players since the UIGEA of 2006 - so using Dollars was more a legacy thing than anything. You can still deposit in whatever currency you wish. Titan are super-soft, thanks to the big sports-betting x-over traffic on the iPoker Network. In fact, I could have picked from a large number of tournaments, here are the key reasons for checking out the MTTs here:

1) The Super-Soft iPoker Network, and

2) The 'Steps' Qualifiers

The €5 Rebuy kicks off at 20:30 GMT each night, and has a €5000 guaranteed prize pool.,This is part of a schedule packed with lower to mid buy-in games, most with guaranteed prizes and all with guaranteed fish!

Key to the easy tournaments on iPoker are the big name betting site brands who are the backbone of the network. Brands like William Hill, PaddyPower and Betfair combine their players on a shared poker software back-end. This allows them to offer a huge poker site and big prizes, and also means they do not need to develop their own poker software. Combined with the killer rewards of Titan, and you end up with a combination which is hard to beat.

The great news is that every day, new players are crossing over from the sports betting parts of the site, so instead of hordes of ‘small stakes poker pros' – you end up playing a mix of new and recreational players. More fun, more profit and less abuse in the chat box!

Steps are 1-table tournaments, where you can win tickets to tournaments or the next level Step game. For example, you can play a €3 game and win a €5 entry which can be used for any tournament of that price.

You can grab and extra $20 on top of your first deposit bonus (already a 200% match). Just register with bonus code SNGPLANET and make your first deposit, and I will ensure that the $20 is added to your player account within 48 hours – simple. After that there are ton of promos and the amazing Titan Treasures loyalty scheme to keep your bankroll topped up.

I strongly recommend the iPoker Network for all beginning tournament players – check out the awesome Titan Poker for yourself now, because you will not find easier to beat poker tournaments anywhere else online.

UK Players Quick Note: If you are in the UK, then you'll need to play via Titan Bet (same site, different way in via their UK licensed site) - bonus info the same - www.titanbet.com

PokerStars.com 180 Player Sit N Go Tournaments

The biggest online poker site has created the ultimate training ground for poker tournament fans, in the shape of their massively popular 180 Player (20 Table) Sit N Go tournaments.

These games start every few minutes (as soon as they fill up with 180 players) and last for between 2 and 4 hours. You can start at the micro buy-ins and work your way up. If you are new to the poker tournaments I'd suggest getting your feet wet with a $2.50c or $8 Turbo games, and moving on up from there. 27 players get paid, up from 18 paying places previously. This evens out some of the swings - so you'll get more small cashes to keep your bankroll moving while you wait for those final table spots.

You'll gain experience in these games so fast that it will soon be time to move to bigger challenges. You wiz through the stages, and will be able to fine-tune your strategy for the early, mid, bubble and final table quickly and easily.

What is more, these games are very profitable. As long as you have some basic poker strategy knowledge you should see your bankroll grow. I have published a detailed 3-part guide to the 180's which you can find right here.

Many players miss the chance to claim up to 3 separate welcome bonuses at PokerStars (up to a max total of $600) This is a simple 2-stage process, first register your account - use Marketing Code PSP1111 from the drop down 'where did you hear about us' list. Next deposit with Bonus Code STARS600 (for all 3 bonuses). With the biggest choice of tournaments around, the sky is the limit once you have sharpened your game in the 180 SNGs.

Check out PokerStars.com for yourself now, because the180 Player Sit N Goes are a great way to build your bankroll in 2020!

Planet Mark's 10 Best Beginners Poker Tournaments – 7 More Great Ideas!

#4 – Party Poker Lucky Dollar – Extra Easy Games For Brand New Players

These run several times a day, and have a $1 entry fee while being restricted to players in their first month at the site. A simple idea to combine a low buy-in with a chance to gain tournament experience without the sharks around! Party Poker have a well developed tournament schedule, which includes a lot of qualifier games to enable smaller bankroll players to play for big money by winning their seat in a low buy-in tournaments. I have a section of the site dedicated to Satellite Qualifiers or you can find out more on the infamous Party Poker here.

#5 – PokerStars Daily Big's – Big Fields, Big Guarantees and Small Buy-Ins

PokerStars really do crush the other poker sites when it comes to the list of tournaments running each day. There are 13 games branded as the ‘Bigs', which have high guarantees compared to the buy-in. There are several at $11 and under which appeal to new players including the Big $2.20 ($5k guarantee), Big $3.30c ($6k), Big $4.40c ($15k), Big $5.50c ($20k), Big $8.80c ($25k) and The Big $11 which has a huge $60k guarantee each night. A great opportunity to make significant cash from a small buy-in!

#6 888Poker – Super-Soft Tournaments + $88 Free Bonus To Try The Games

888 Are the fastest growing poker site around in 2020, and when you look at their games, you will see that they are focusing on creating a fun, recreational site – rather than catering to the multi-tabling small stakes pros which infest some other sites. There are tons of tournaments on offer, and I like that the fields are smaller (in the 100's rather than 1000's), so you will not need to sit up for half of the night to reach a final table. Players from most countries can grab $88 free bonus upfront to try the games – you'll still get your deposit bonus after this if you like what you find. You can check out the cool tournaments at 888 Poker and grab your $88 via this link.

#7 – Full Tilt Poker – 90 Player Knockout Sit N Goes

Great for people who do not have hours to spend, 90 player Knockout Sit N Goes are like Mini Poker tournaments which are starting any time 90 players sign up. With 4 different buy-in levels to choose from starting at £3.30 these are fun games. Every time you knock an opponent out of the game you will get a bounty payment straight into your account, the rest of the entry fees make up prize pool for the last 9 players. You can read my strategy article on these cool games here.

Note: Full Tilt has now merged with PokerStars... you can still enjoy the software, though the player pools of the two sites are now combined. The 90's are no longer at the top of the tournament lobby, and so not as busy as they once were. You can still find these under the 'Sit N Goes' and then 'Multi' tabs.

#8 – Satellite Qualifiers At Titan Poker

Some players would like to emulate the famous Chris Moneymaker, and qualify for a live event where life-changing money is up for grabs. For beginners, I'm going to recommend Titan Poker once again. They have an established 3-tier system, where you win your way up to ‘SuperSatellites' which award prizes to games around the world including the World Series Of Poker, Aussie Millions, Caribbean Poker Tour and many more. This article explains more of what is on offer.

#9 – Full Tilt Poker Mini-FTOPS / PokerStars Micro Millions

A dual entry for number 9.

FTOPS stands for ‘Full Tilt Online Poker Series' and is an online tournament event with big buy-ins and equally big prizes. This runs 3 to 4 times each year and is followed by a ‘Mini-FTOPs' which re-runs the big event with buy-ins at 10% of the original price. As you might expect, this attracts huge fields and some very large prize pools.

PokerStars MicroMillions is a similar event, a series of online tournaments over 10 days, with smaller buy-ins and big prizes. This is the small stakes equivalent of their big money ‘World Championship Of Online Poker'.

Online Poker Tournament Strategy Books

Note: Full Tilt has now merged with PokerStars... you can still enjoy the software, though the player pools of the two sites are now combined. I am not yet sure whether the FTOPs brand will continue, or whether Stars will focus on the MicroMillions instead.

#10 – Smaller Buy-in Tournaments at Red Kings (MicroGaming) – Enjoying a resurgence in 2020

Red Kings were on the OnGame Network for a long time, and have now made the switch to MicroGaming (known as MPN) after OnGame closed. This site has always been focused on recreational players, and their solid bonuses and promotions continue on the new network. Look out for the deal where you get an extra $300 bonus the first time you are dealt the two red kings. MPN is attached to a lot of betting sites, which helps to keep the games soft - see RedKings Poker for more.

Planet Mark's Pick!

Online Poker Tournament Strategy 2019

Whew – What a list, If the choice of game is making your head spin then my top rec is the 'Fish' themed tournament schedule at 888 Poker – you'll find big (though not excessively so) fields, guaranteed prize pools throughout the day and (best of all) games which are much easier to win in than those at rival sites. You'll see the difference as soon as you check out the tables. See www.888poker.com and claim your no-deposit bonus of up to $88 to try out their real money games.

Best Online Poker Tournament Strategy

More Articles Covering Choosing The Best Poker Tournaments