Tips on How to Win the Bodog Poker Open IV

by Bodog Poker | Oct 15 2009

The Main Event of the Bodog Poker Open IV will be worth a lot more than usual to the winner. Besides winning what should be $50K or more, Bodog is going to make the new champion an instant poker celebrity. The winner will have articles about them published in Card Player Magazine and the Bodog Beat and will be given their own poker blog to share their championship adventures with their new fans. If that's not enough incentive Bodog is also adding on an extra $25K to the prize pool this year. Like most Main Events, the Bodog Poker Open will have the typical deep stack structure that we see for almost all the bigger prize pool events.

Success in a tournament like the Bodog Poker Open IV Main Event requires a little bit of strategy as well as a little bit of luck. Just having one of them on your side won't make you a champion, and you can't control your luck, so getting prepared for the tournament with a strategy in mind is all you can really do. Regular tournament strategy is pretty straightforward - it's all about the size of your stack and the size of the blinds.

Playing a deeper stacked event affords the player more time to be selective in the early stages of the tournament. Starting chip stacks are generous enough that players can play a tight game, waiting for premium hands or strong position plays with medium strength holdings. You should bet hands that you feel are in the lead for value, and keep bluffs to a minimum. Try to avoid getting all your chips in without the absolute nuts, and try to win medium-size pots that don't put your tournament life in danger.

As a tournament like the Bodog Poker Open IV Main Event progresses, your decision to change your level of aggression should be determined by the size of your chip stack compared to the size of the blinds. If your chip stack shrinks to an amount where the blinds are taking 10% or more of your stack you'll have to start to increase your level of action to increase your chip stack, through either stealing small pots or doubling through an opponent. No one knows how to do this better the Dan Harrington; and he explains it all in his book series Harrington on Holdem.

If you manage to find yourself deep into the late stages of the Bodog Poker Open IV you would have outlasted some of the best online poker tournament players in the world. You would have either beaten out Bodog pros like Justin Bonomo, David Williams, and Evelyn Ng, or you'll possibly be seated at the final table with some of them. Final table strategy dictates that you play your favorable position hands with aggression and you get out of the way when other players are battling aggressively for a pot. Any player that goes out before you pays you tens of thousand of dollars.

If you can stick to that general formula, and you're lucky enough to get some cards, you could be the next big thing in poker as the new Bodog Poker Open IV Main Event Champion