In 2002, PokerStars ran the first-ever World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) – to recreate the World Series of Poker vibe. That online poker tournament series became a central part of online poker's playbook. Since then, big online tournament series caught on like fire across multiple poker sites.
Now every major poker site from 888poker to GGPoker to partypoker to PokerStars has their own signature tournament series. And often - it runs multiple times per year. Needless to say it’s great news for us poker players because there’s a ton of money to be won. So if you want to get in on non-stop online poker tournament series action, here’s all you need to know.
To get the maximum value out of these tournament series, which are giving out quite literally millions of dollars in guarantees and prizes, you should follow these tips:
This will involve you, first and foremost, allocating a poker bankroll to the series of your choice, whether it is the World Poker Tour on partypoker or the MicroMillions on PokerStars.
You should also look at the schedule ahead of release and plan out when you will play the events that both fit in your bankroll and have the most significant value. Plan the days you want to play and the events that fall in that time, and find out what time you can register (the EV doesn’t change much in what time you register).
Playing online poker tournament series can be stressful. Whether trying to track your buy-ins or specific hands or even managing the vast amount of tables running, it can be pretty overwhelming for those not used to it.
Thankfully, online poker tournament tools and software can help you manage everything, whether Holdem Manager 3 to track your sessions, Jurojin or Table Ninja to manage all your tables or even a tool like Flopzilla or GTO+ just to keep you sharp on your game.
Ask anyone who grinds online poker tournament series; they will all tell you that the biggest money is in the end stages.
Whether it is learning what ICM (independent chip model) to know whether the moves you make are profitable or learning bubble play to make sure you are not busting close to the money, understanding these aspects can take you from a loser in these online poker tournament series to a huge winner.
The most considerable money always comes at the end, so understanding how to get there AND how to take advantage is critical to winning as much money as possible in online poker tournament series.