Online Poker Multi Table Tournaments: Early Stages Strategies

Joining multi table tournaments in online poker is a great way to hone your skills, learn from other players, and get large profits in the process. Multi table tournaments are scheduled tournaments that involve numerous players that rotate across multiple tables (thus, the name 'multi table').

If you are interested in joining this tournament, you probably want to win. You may be well-equipped with a reservoir of knowledge about poker plays, hand statistics, or even a great understanding of poker mathematics. But this is still not enough.

For online poker multi table tournaments, the key to winning is to have a corresponding strategy for each specific stage of the tourney. Here we will cover the effective strategies that you can use when in the early stages.

1. Your goal should be to endure, not to have a large stack

A common mistake that participants in the multi table tournaments make is that they think it's all about stack size. It seems reasonable, since a higher stack means more power over all other players in the table. It also means flexibility in wagering amounts.

Thus, players tend to go all in at the very early stages of the tourney, just to double or even triple the pot, and therefore, their stack. However, this is a very wrong strategy, since playing overly aggressive in the early stages means that you have a large chance of losing your chips much quicker too.

Hence, your goal should be to survive the early stages, and not build up your stack yet.

2. Play very, very tight

Patiently wait for the best hands, and play them as you see fit. Most of the time you do not even need to play aggressively, you just have to slow play. This is because other players will already be playing so aggressively, that you will double or even triple the value of your hand.

Do not be afraid of blinding out, as you will often be dealt even just a really good drawing hand. Remember, your goal is just to survive. For that to happen, you need to be really, really patient.

Expect to play less than ten percent of the hands dealt. But this will pay off, since other players are already shorting their own stacks without you doing anything.

The early stages of online poker multi table tournaments are perhaps the most loosely played stage. Do not join the fray, and instead adopt a conservative philosophy. Have survival as your goal, and play very tight with only the best hands. Chances are, you will be the one with the large stack, and you did not even have to play like a maniac.