We all dream of winning some huge online Texas Holdem tournament someday.  After all, big cash prizes and the potential for media coverage are usually the spoils of accomplishing such a feat.  Unfortunately, if we all went for the big tournaments every time, we’d go broke in the process.  So one must concentrate on trying to cash in on small tourneys in order to accumulate some winnings and playing in a short handed online tournament is a good way to do this.

And there are certain steps that must be taken in order to ensure one will do well when entering a short handed online tournament.  To begin with, you’ve got to realize that there’s only going to be about six players at the table so a different strategy is going to be employed than would be in a regular tournament situation. 

Now you’ll have a lot of chips to start with compared to the blinds and so you’ll want to avoid trouble situations early on and fold often.  However, when the blinds start increasing, you’ll need to take more risks so your stack doesn’t dwindle down to zero.  Hands that were a bit risky before might need to be played now in order to stay in the hunt.  Plus, other players should be close to elimination now and will be hesitant to bet against you.

If there are six players in this short handed online tournament, two might finish in the money and so things get really tight with three players left since no one wants to be the last to wind up on the outside.  This is another chance to steal some bets and add to your stack.

Once the only players left are the ones in the money, things start to get loose again and people won’t be so afraid to bet out.  The blinds will be higher too at this point so some type of action must be taken to stay in the game.  Try to play the player(s) instead of just the cards at this point and bluff if necessary.  It might be the difference between just finishing in the money and grabbing first place.  

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