How To Get Yourself In Shape For Online Poker Tournaments

Playing in online poker tournaments, such as those you will find at bet365 Poker, can be a tricky business.

Firstly, there’s no defined finishing point, so you could be playing for hours and hours. Bigger tournaments can last days (albeit with breaks built in).

So, playing tournament poker online can be tough, so you need to prepare yourself for that!

Fortunately, you are not going to have to put yourself through a wide variety of physical exercises in the manner of Rocky – Cue Music!

But there are some simple steps you can take to help get yourself in the best possible physical and mental shape for online tournament play.

And here, we will take you through them step-by-step.

Preparing For Online Poker Tournaments – A Step-by-Step Guide

Step One – Examine the tournament detail

The first thing to do when you enter a tournament, or even before you enter, is to examine how the tournament is organised.

That’s more than just looking at the buy in. Is it a rebuy tournament, where you can buy back in after you are eliminated by paying another entry fee? How many chips will you start with? When will the blinds increase in value? How many players are registered?

Then check out what the cash prizes are (and where the cash out places begin).

The more you know about the tournament, its size, how it will be played and where you’ll need to finish in order to cash out, the better.

Step Two – Get as much rest as you can the night before

Tournaments can drag on, especially if you get into the cash out places and towards that final table. Therefore, you may need stamina and will-power just as much as your poker skills in order to play to your best.

So being alert, awake and attentive when you start and throughout the tournament is key.

As such, a good night’s sleep beforehand will be a great boost to you both physically and mentally.

You don’t see many very tired and sleep poker players landing the wins at the big tournaments, so you don’t want to be one of them!

Step Three – Mentally prepare for the tournament before it starts

It’s not the best idea to only start to think about the tournament and poker play when the tournament starts. Much in the same way you don’t see professional athletes saunter onto the track and start running without a warmup.

Doing some mental exercises, calculating the odds on a pot, or going over your ranges for the forthcoming tournament will get your mindset in perfect shape for when the tournament starts.

Plus, it will help you avoid those shockingly bad early tournament decisions which we all occasionally make!

Step Four – Set a SMART target for yourself in the tournament.

Poker players tend to play better when they have a target in mind and setting a SMART target  is a good idea.

SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely goals.

So, if you are a novice player, that may be reaching the latter stages of a tournament or the cash out places.

For an experienced player, that may be finishing on the final table, or even winning the tournament.

Your goal will link to your poker ability and experience. Don’t set yourself the target of a tournament win if this is your first poker tournament!

Step Four – Stick to your strategy – Don’t get tournament-blind!

When novices play poker tournaments for the first time, they often think they have to deviate from their usual game. They try to read too much into things, try too hard, play too many hands, bluff too often and in the end, usually end up eliminated early on.

If you have a solid poker strategy, then stick to it. The familiarity with how you usually play will help you make better decisions more often, and poor decisions less often.

However, we do add one caveat to that, which comes in step five.

Step Five – Be aggressive – You are going to need chips to stay in the tournament

There is a good reason why tight aggressive players are the most feared on poker tables. In tournament play, that is doubly so.

You are going to need chips to climb the leaderboard and stay in the game. Fall too far behind with your chips, and you could become a target for other players with larger stacks to eliminate.

The easiest way to avoid this is to be aggressive, but aggressive at the right time.

There is a feeling amongst novices that staying in a tournament is enough, especially when you get close to the cash out positions.

You can’t think that way if you want to improve. You need to be aggressive, commit to the right pots and show the right aggression to keep the chips coming in and your stack building.

And you must continue that aggression, especially later in the tournament.

Step Six – If your tournament has a break – use it!

Some tournaments come with breaks every so often and it is vital to use them wisely.

Sure, going to the bathroom, fixing a drink or something to eat is a good idea. But also check out your emotional state. Are you angry at a certain hand, or how you’ve played? Now is the time to cool down and get yourself mentally focused once again?

Feeling tired or lethargic? Then you may need to splash a bit of cold water on your face to get yourself awake and focused again.

Step Seven – Remember, you ARE going to lose – But do so the right way!

Even the very best poker players are eliminated from tournaments before the cash is handed out. So, you need to be okay with losing in tournaments.

Losing can happen for a variety of reasons, most often bad play, but also sheer bad luck can see you eliminated. And if you are going to be a winning poker player, you need to be okay with that.

You can often learn more about your game by analysing how and why you lost? Sometimes you’ll play great and still be eliminated. Other times, you’ll make mistakes and hit the right card at the right time.

Them’s the breaks in poker! And that’s partly why we love it.

And one final piece of advice I can give you, is play with a smile. Don’t get emotionally involved, stay calm and focus on every hand. The more you start to enjoy playing, the sooner you’ll get better at the game!

Want to try Online Tournament Poker?

Has this post given you the impetus to give online tournament poker a try?

If so then it is time to join a site, bet365 Poker, that offers an exciting range of games to play, including cash games, Twister Poker, Six-Max tables, Bounty Hunter games and of course, plenty of tournaments!

Sign up today using our special bet365 bonus code and you can also claim yourself a nice Welcome Offer too!

Check out the details in the link and remember – fail to prepare, then prepare to fail!