The most popular online poker site Pokerstars has once again released a new style to online poker. The game is designed for players looking for fast paced action and has the format similar to a mix of a zoom cash game and a sit and go tournament. It is currently only available to play online at Pokerstars.
We’ve experimented with the new poker style and we wanted to share our initial findings. We will firstly discuss the basics and then go on to our winning strategy at beat the clock.
Basics:
Each player starts with $5000 chips and It is available at both $1 and $3 buy in levels. The game begins when 48 players register, it begins with some weird stopwatch animation. Blinds start off at $200/$400 with an ante of $80 and increase after every 60 seconds. The game ends after 5 levels again after every minute. The final level blinds are $500/$1,000 with a $200 ante.
| LEVEL | BLINDS | ANTE |
| Level 1 | 200/400 | 80 |
| Level 2 | 250/500 | 100 |
| Level 3 | 300/600 | 120 |
| Level 4 | 400/800 | 160 |
| Level 5 | 500/1000 | 200 |
Each ‘beat the clock’ game lasts only five minutes with one-minute levels, blinds move up quickly. You’re going to need to pick your hand wisely and get your money in the pot. The prize winnings will distributed according to the number of chips you have at the end. There are some simple tips you can use to dramatically increase your win-rate that we’ll discuss below.
OKAY SO, HOW DO I PLAY IT?
This isn’t about beating the clock, it’s about beating the players. Our strategy we have found to work best is to steal blinds, play aggressively, and pick spots against smaller stacks. These types of games are full of beginner players, who are using the bonus code for free poker tickets, currently been offered by Pokerstars.
“Beat the Clock” games are played with four player tables, which means half the time you’re in the blinds (small or big) and the other half you’re not (in the cutoff or on the button). This means you need to loosen up your play. If you’ve got three limpers in a pot you should be shoving with a wide range of hands. It’s sometimes easy to underestimate just how valuable winning these pots can be.
You should be trying to get your opponents chips in pre-flop with any A X or pocket pair. Though you should also be throwing away ‘air’ in most cases. Basically this is a fold / shove game. You shouldn’t be calling very often.
Like online poker tournaments, there is a bubble when the end of play is drawing. This is the stage where players try to fold hands to get in to the money. You should be applying pressure to any player that is doing this. Remember when thinking of limping into the money with a small stack, you’re losing money with anything less than 6000 so it’s probably not worth it.