On-Line Poker Strategy I

I have been playing poker on-line for about 2 years now, and I wanted to share the strategies I use. They are quite simple, and you have probably heard them before from other poker players.

These tips are all related to sit and go games. I usually play 9 or 10 person tourneys, but these tips are also effective in the 18 or 20 person tourneys.

Seven or More Players

Early position play:

In early position I will only play premium hands (pocket 9s or higher and AQ or higher). The last thing I want to do is get re-raised by someone I don't have a read on yet. Especially since they are so many different types of players in the on-line world. I have no problem folding an AT and waiting for the next hand. You have to be able to do that if you want to win in this game.

Middle position play:

Here I start to open up my hands a little bit. I'll try and limp in with A rag suited, or suited connectors. If I get raised by more than four times my bet, I'll fold; otherwise I'll call and hope for a good flop. If I don't hit the flop, I'm out.

Late Position Play:

Here my play is the same as middle position, but I'll raise with A rag suited and suited connectors (usually only if there are no raisers or callers before me). Here I usually raise 2.5 times the blind. I've noticed a lot of players are afraid of this raise. It's not the minimum raise, but it's pretty close. I usually don't get too many callers with this raise. People think it's a please call me raise, I have a monster hand. With monster hands I will raise the typical 3 or 4 times the big blind, and hope the blinds think I am trying to steal the blinds.

One thing to know is that if I am the short stack, all of these tips are thrown out the window. When I'm the short stack I wait for a big hand and go. If I'm on the button, and nobody has called or raised, K high will put me all-in (try and steal blinds). Otherwise I wait for A high or a pocket pair and go all-in.

Another thing I like to do is create a tight table image. It allows me to steal blinds later in the game (increases my bluffing power). To do this I play limited hands. Sometimes I show monster hands when nobody calls my raise pre-flop. And I will fold in the small blind if nobody has raised and I have nothing (even though it’s cheap).

That's it for now. Next I will talk about how my strategy changes when it’s down to 4 -6 players.