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If you are sitting at home reading this article, chances are you’re just like me – you can’t get enough of online poker. Whether you’re in it for the thrill of the game or you’re trying to make a living, playing online offers several distinct advantages over the “live” game. The online game is a faster game, which essentially means more and potentially larger pots and more risks per hour than a standard B&M (brick and mortar) game. When you see a larger volume of hands, chances are that during each session you play, you are bound to see something that leaves you speechless, shaking your head, mystified, or (shudder at the thought) having to re-buy. In this column, each week we will take a look at a different hand that fits the previously mentioned criteria. My involvement in the hand notwithstanding, I will try to remain as impartial as possible, and for the hands that I didn’t win, I will keep my bitterness to a minimum. (At least, this is my intent)

For today’s hand of the week, I have a very interesting one for you folks. I recently played in a $100 buy in No-Limit tournament which featured 50 players. The top payout was about $2,000 with 2nd and 3rd place also receiving a nice little piece of change as well.

I played what I think was a fairly strong tournament from start to finish. I played rather conservatively in the beginning and only engaging in big pots and making big risks whn I was confident with the cards I was holding. Why the conservative play you may ask? Well, there are two schools of thought in tournament play. Some players like to take chances early with the sole purpose of building up their chip stacks and being able to outmuscle the competition the rest of the way. There is nothing wrong with this strategy other than its big hit or miss potential. Make the wrong move and you’ll be knocked out early and you can kiss your buy-in good-bye. Some players live and die with this approach. Personally, I don’t like to do this. I prefer to make smart plays early while others knock each other out and slowly build my stack. Then, once I’m at the final table, I open up a bit, take more chance and really go after it.

This was my approach and I was able to head into the final table with a slight chip edge just off the lead. I would try to use my chips to steal some blinds here and there because the cards just weren’t coming my way at all. Before long, 5 people had been eliminated and there were just four of us remaining. The next person out would not be getting any money whatsoever so as you could imagine play became extremely tight. In fact, it took 30 minutes for the last moneyless person to be eliminated. I wasn’t involved in the hand but someone must have gotten restless because it was the first poor play I had seen in a while.

In any case, with 3 players left, I had a two to one chip lead over my other two competitors who were about equal. At this point, I began studying how they were playing. One player was quite passive, folding to just about any real action while the other was a classic maniac, routinely going all-in on just about any other hand which really made me question what he was doing. In either case, I know how to approach these types of players. By not changing their styles, they are very predictable and easy to defend against and go after. Not surprisingly, the maniac eliminated the lamb and it was down to two, with $1,000 more going to the winner.

As I expected, he was very aggressive, either going all in pre or post flop in most of the hands. My counter? I have him out chipped so I’ll just sit back and wait for him to shoot himself in the foot. About 10 hands into the showdown, it happens. I was dealt pocket 10’s and he limped in as I acted first. The flop came down 10h-Ad-4c. I checked and he instantly moved all in. Well, I have a set of 10’s and unless this guy has a set of Jacks or Aces, he is done and I’m getting paid. Sure enough, the cards flip over and he paired up his Aces with a 2 kicker. What a dump play. This guy is drawing dead and I have my Visa bill paid for.

The lesson of this hand is simple. If you make yourself too predictable to your opposition, any player can pick up on what you’re doing and use it against you. In this case, it meant $1000 of predictability.

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