How to win more pots without having to rely on making a hand

Hello everyone,

I play a lot of online tournament poker especially with blinds that increase fast.


My weakness in the game is reacting too quickly to get chips with mediocre hands or waiting too late to make a move.


My question, are there strategies to combat opponents from calling when not always having a hand?

I'm assuming you're talking about becoming a better bluffer. I'm not a pro, but I've put together string of tips I wrote down for myself, mostly playing freerolls. Take a look and if a few of them help, then that'd be great Bluffing 101

raise with a good hand, raise, if your opponent sees your hand a couple of times, he will already think, then you can bluff or wait until he flies

Most of the time waiting too long in a fast structure is a disaster - you just fold too many chips hoping a premium hand comes along.

Instead play aggressively - raise playable hands more when it folds to you and c-bet often... especially at tight tables. Knowing when to keep betting and when to back off comes with experience.

Get good at playing like this and for the most part you won't mind calls because you are comfortable playing post-flop.

Sometimes you will lose, sure, but you will also build big stacks and make deep runs that will make your buy-ins back over the long run.

Good luck to you!

When you're loosening up your range.
What you are wanting to do is see more flops with suited connectors, and all pocket pairs. Playing Hands Like A4-A9, can get you into trouble if you hit the Ace, but not your kicker. Try to avoid getting married to those style hands for big bets.

Some players play a lot draws. If you put your opponent on a draw, you can typically take down the pot when the following is true:

(bet/odds)>(bet*players+pot)

For example there are 2 hearts and 2 diamonds on the board. You think they are dawing into either flush on the river. Not knowing your cards, they wouls think they have a 19.56% chance of hitting their flush.

If you were headsup, this means any raise over 32% of the pot makes it unprofitable for the player to call. You would usually get a fold.

You can use this same methodology for any draws that you think your opponent may have.

Well, there are many options.
It is more aggressive to play, and then everything is possible.

JonathanAReth said:

I'm assuming you're talking about becoming a better bluffer. I'm not a pro, but I've put together string of tips I wrote down for myself, mostly playing freerolls. Take a look and if a few of them help, then that'd be great Bluffing 101

Click to expand...

Did it help you in the game?

Yeah, these tips helped me become a better bluffer. Not perfect, but better.

The suggestions above all makes sense. Your question is the essence of winning tournament play. Most of the time (95% plus) I don't make any kind of potential winning hand. I try to stay away from A-small X hands as much as possible. Mid-range suited connectors are great if you do connect in some way with the flop, but the most of the time you're relying on fold/bluff equity. It's tough to get any fold equity if you don't overplay your hand from the beginning. I've watched enough Pros to know that skill just puts you in the running. In the end, luck has a great deal to do with winning tournaments.

I employ a basic triple average strategy to avoid being average stack come bubble time, it is perfectly fine to try and accrue chips however you want but you should tone it back if you are 2x+ the average...

It is not so often that good cards appear in our hands, so bluffing is the way out to get pots. If you fold every time you do not hit anything your opponents will get more pots than they really should.

The second reason is that if you do not bluff, your game will be 'stoned' and your opponents will know that you definitely have a good hand when it goes into a pot. Imagine, everyone folding when you have AA!?

The third reason is to put a lot of pressure on opponents. Some will be intimidated, playing passively, getting rid of better hands than yours. Others will be irritated, wasting chips, playing poorly.

You gotta better your bluffing game. 2/3 of your chips should be coming from well timed bluffs imo.