Bodog Poker Tournaments

Not All Poker Tournaments Are Created Alike

I’m not talking about formats here, although you do want a good selection of different formats to look to match your ability and interests to a particular type or types of poker tournaments.  For instance, I play mostly heads up sit n’ go’s, since this best allows my high level skills to be leveraged to their best advantage, as heads up is the most skilled form of poker, given that you actively play every card that’s dealt.  As for the sit n’ go part, I do play heads up cash as well but people generally don’t want to play me and they can just leave the table.  At sit and go’s when I sit with them there’s nowhere to run and nowhere to hide and they have to play me.

So this is what all players should be looking to focus on, to play the type of tournament that best suits them, whether this be what you’re good at or even what you like.  The like part is actually more important than people realize, since if you like something you’ll be able to play a lot more of them, and even if you’re not that good at the particular format you like, you’ll improve faster at ones you are really interested in.

What I really mean by the fact that tournaments aren’t created alike is that skill levels differ quite a bit among poker sites and in fact there’s a huge difference between the ones having the best players and the ones with the worst players.  So I don’t know about you but the big thing I look for when I play tournaments is how profitable they will be for me, and this always goes back to the general skill level of the players that I will be competing against.  This also needs to be a concern for you as even if you play purely for fun, it’s a lot more fun to do well than not.

So many of the poker rooms that I review tend to have inferior competition at them which does make a big difference to your overall results.  Take, for instance, a standard 10 seat sit n’ go, where the top 3 get paid.  At a tougher site, this can drag on for a long time, where finally it becomes more or less a crapshoot when it comes time to determine who finishes in the money.  It becomes a shove or fold game, and the players who get dealt better cards become the lucky ones.  Now this isn’t any way to make money, since if things are that tight the only people who make a profit at these games are the house with their tournament fees.  This also applies to cash games as well, where if the table is so tight and no one has a distinct advantage then no one will make enough to overcome the rake.

So it stands to reason that these are situations that need to be avoided by ourselves, although very few players really pay enough attention to this.  That’s their problem though, and in fact these players tend to be the better ones out there and it’s far better for us that they tend to stay away from the poker sites with the most favorable conditions for winning, like Bodog Poker.  So if you’ve read my main review of Bodog you already know how fishy the players are there, and this definitely holds true where tournaments are concerned.  As long as there are fish at a poker site and a decent amount of them, that’s where I want to be, and I know that’s where you want to be as well, and Bodog is one of the best places around to make money playing tournaments.

Bodog’s Sit N’ Go’s Are A Great Choice

Sit n’ go’s in general are a great way for players who only have a modest bankroll to look to build it up.  Many of the world’s top online players started out with only a little money playing sit n’go’s, and ended up parlaying this into some huge bankrolls, some over a million dollars.  Now they didn’t make their millions at the sit n’go’s, but what these single table tournaments did for them was allow them to take advantage of the skills at the poker table that they had built up and accelerate their bankrolls more surely and safely than what can be accomplished at other forms of poker.

With sit n’go’s, there is more strategy involved, which means to us more opportunity for opponents to make mistakes.  I remember one that I played in at Bodog a few years ago where I got disconnected early on in a 10 man single table tournament.  I had lost my internet connection and it took quite a while to get back online, and of course the tournament was lost.  Much to my surprise, when I got back on, I discovered that I had finished in second place, as 8 people busted out before I did even though I wasn’t even there.  Now this is unusual even at Bodog but it goes to show you how poor play on the part of your opponents can really help you.

So I’ve been playing the sit and go’s there off and on since Bodog started and I now play the high buy-ins so I move around a lot these days and play at many different poker sites, but I can tell you from my own experience as well as that of my students that this is an excellent poker site to play sit n’go’s at, especially with those just starting out.  It may take you a while to learn enough to be good at them, but that’s true of any form of poker, and what you really want is the opportunity to maximize your edges against the competition, and given that sit n’go’s naturally allow this, and the softer completion at Bodog does as well, you can see why I am so high on these at this poker room.

Become King Of The Felt And Even Maybe  Win A Seat At The 2012 WSOP

Bodog Poker regularly runs a very exciting promotion for sit n’go players called King Of The Felt.  Each time you finish in the money at a sit n’go, you receive a ballot, and once a week they draw to see who will challenge the reigning King.  If you are drawn, then you get to play heads up against the current King with the winner taking home $1000 from Bodog and the crown. If you win, you not only get the money, you get the title, and next week you play once again for another $1000 against a challenger who is looking to take your spot.  You remain King until you are beaten, and if you win enough weekly heads up challenges you will even win a seat to next year’s WSOP.  This even has me excited.

Plenty Of Multi Table Tournaments As Well At Bodog Poker

For starters, there are plenty of multi table tournaments running at Bodog geared toward those with smaller budgets, including opportunities to win a seat at their biggest tournaments and events.  So those of you with smaller amounts of money to put in are certainly not going to be left out, in fact Bodog Poker is a fabulous poker site overall for those who are looking to play the smallest stakes and buy ins.  They also give you the opportunity to play in some premium tournaments just by using the poker points that they give you just for playing there.  So the entry fees range from zero right up to the big tournament of the week, offering a guaranteed $100,000 prize pool, where you can either enter directly for $150 + $13, or win your seat through their various satellite tournaments, with entry fees to suit every budget, from $1 on up.  So everyone can get involved in anything they offer there, including the seats they give away to the World Series of Poker, their prestigious Bodog Poker Open, and more.  Bodog sends several people to the World Series every year, and you could become one of them for as little as a buck.

So As You Can See, Bodog Is A Great All Around Choice For Tournament Lovers

As I’ve said, it’s the quality of the tournaments that matter the most when looking to choose a poker room to play tournaments at, which all boils down to the lack of overall skill as far as your competition goes.  This is definitely the case at Bodog Poker with all the non poker playing gamblers they have there, who are long on risk taking and short on poker knowledge.  When you combine this with all the other great things that Bodog Poker has to offer, including a real nice tournament setup, and especially given that they are going to be paying you to try out their poker site, then you can see why I’m recommending them to you.