The poker world has been taken to new heights ever since Chris Moneymaker won the Main Event at the World Series of Poker back in 2003.  Poker really hit main stream as you can watch it on a daily basis, you can listen to it on your radio, or one can browse the internet for articles, videos, and even receive poker strategy from the biggest names in poker.  While all the tools are there for an average Joe and an average Jane to use, a poker player must develop an online poker strategy that works for them.  If a player is not comfortable with the style of play they are performing then I don't think they have a chance at being successful.  I am going to discuss a winning poker strategy that works for me and the majority of my friends that play poker at a frequent rate.

The best hold'em poker strategy I came across in my years of playing on the felt is to conserve your chips early to eventually become the aggressor when the blinds and antes start to make a difference at the table.  Even though videos are all over the internet and pros are offering tips left and right, I still see new and old players throw their chips away when the blinds are relatively small (15/30..10/20) when I feel they can wait until the pots actually mean something to their stack.  When the blinds are that small I try and play quality starting hands, hands like pocket pairs, AK, AQ, and AJ.  Now just because I said pocket pairs that doesn't mean a player should get crazy with pocket deuces and lose their stack.  With low pairs like 22 or 66 a player wants to see the flop for cheap and if they don't hit their set they can fold and wait for a better situation.

Quality starting hands like AK and AQ to me can be the two most difficult hands to play in poker.  Yes they are very strong starting hands but these are also the hands players go broke on either because they play them incorrectly or they simply cannot fold an AK.  I am going to discuss a couple situations with the hand AK/AQ.  Let's say blinds are 200/400 and you have a stack of 7000 sitting on the button position and a player before you raises it up to 1200.  What do you do?  This may seem pretty obvious to some of the players reading this but too often I see people play this spot incorrectly.  Unless you have the greatest read ever on an individual then this is shove all day.  I say this because with your stack of 7000 and the blinds the way they are, a player's only move is to move all in.  If we were to call here and fold after bricking the flop, we are decreasing are stack by 1200 leaving ourselves with a vulnerable 5800 with the blinds increasing.  It's time to go all in and say ‘Good Luck' to yourself.

Now if the blinds are 15/30 and you have a starting stack of 3000 with the same raiser in front of you then you have options.  You can call and see flop then get out of the way if completely miss or you can put in a little re-raise to try and take the pot down right then and there.  The third option is where I see players bust so many tournaments when they don't need to.  I have to admit I've done this plenty of times when I first started out.  That option is to move all in on the opponent.  This move is probably the worst move of them all and that's for a couple of reasons.  One reason is because your stack is at 3000 and you risking you entire tournament life for 90 chips which doesn't add up mathematically.  Another reason is if you get called by your opponent then you will be racing as best because if a player calls you in this situation than odds are AK is the worst hand even though it looks pretty when you initially see it.  I know I have been discussing AK a lot but this is where I see players throw their tournaments away by shoving and praying.

When you are sitting down to play your next tournament remember these bits of advice.  Conserve and protect your chips early when the blinds are relatively low.  Choose quality starting hands when the tournament first begins and as the late stages come around your range of starting hands will increase.  Hands like suited connectors and A10/A9 when you have good position become hands where you can raise to try and steal blinds.  When the pots and blinds start to become beneficial to your stack than become the aggressor at the table.  Pick your spots and know the person you are playing; if a player is tight then attack him but if a player is aggressive its best to sit back and wait for your hand to try and pick him off.  Conserve then attack my friends and you'll be seeing blue finals tables in no time.  You only have one tournament life so use it wisely and hopefully these poker strategies will pay dividends.