Often times, organized competition brings the best out competitive individuals. People enjoy testing their wits and skills against others over a set period of time and within a structured system. For years people have been playing in pool leagues, tennis leagues, bowling leagues and a whole host of different organized league competitions. Now that online poker has became popular, the past few years have lead to the emergence of poker leagues.
Poker leagues have became very popular, partly because first of all poker is popular and secondly that anyone can win any particular tournament at any given time (need we mention Moneymaker?), but winning a season long league points race in an organized and structured poker league is a much truer test of your relative poker skills. Combine that with poker players being very competitive and you get the foundation for poker leagues popularity.
Online poker has made joining a poker league easy. There are all sorts of poker leagues out there, ranging from the free roll poker leagues up to the buy-in real money online poker leagues, similar to the Poker League I’m currently playing in hosted at Mansion Poker.
There are many reasons I believe that playing in an organized poker league can greatly improve your poker play. First you have a pre-set schedule of table time that you are commitment to playing. Table time is important for anyone wanting to improve their game. If you know that every Wednesday 9PM you need to be sitting at your computer and ready to play in the league game then you will be sure and do so.
Just ensuring table time is only the start, league table time is typically more valuable as a learning experience than an average session at the tables.
League games will typically play more like a high dollar buy in event, even if the buy in modest. This is especially true if you make it deep into the tourney. League players are playing for more than the monetary value of the prize pool for the individual tournament. They are looking at what winning this tournament means to their overall standings and the ever present points race, and of course for pride and bragging rights.
League players are often times playing as much for pride and bragging rights as they are for the monetary prize pools. This leads to good poker.
Here is a direct quote from one of our league members:
“Nothing helps one's poker game more than going up against good competition (and Bill, too ), for lower stakes, when the competition is actually taking the game seriously (as opposed to the donk-fests these things often become.) It's like an Emory education at GA Perimeter College prices. Clark Howard would love it.”
~Der Fleisch
Playing with quality competition over a series of tournaments also gives you the opportunity to work on reading players and learning different player styles.
Simply put, if you plan to compete in the league you are forced to learn how to play against these different styles of players. If a league member is constantly raising your blinds, tournament after tournament, you are going to have to learn how to combat this. Once you figure out what to do to stop him from blind stealing, you can do the same the next time it happens to you at the poker table in a normal tournament. You are forced to adapt, and you have time to figure out what the best counter-move is for a player who is always stealing.
Keep in mind that not all poker leagues are created equal and make sure you find one that is right for you. What makes up a good poker league? That’s mostly personal choice, but here are a handful of things you should investigate before joining a league.
The first thing I like to do when finding a poker league is to do some league research and find out what leagues are available. One of the first things to look for is finding one that meets your bankroll requirements. If you are a high roller then you want to play in a league that keeps your interest, with substantial buy-ins, but if you are a beginner or if you are just working on your game then look for a freeroll league or a modest buy in. Leagues run from free up to expensive, just do some research to see what works for you.
If you’re like most of us, just find a league somewhere in the middle with a modest buy in that keeps it interesting enough for you to commit to play.
Next look for a league that uses a quality league structure and scoring system, not one that is arbitrary in length or that is unbalanced on how it calculates points. Look for a league that uses a competitive / fair league scoring system and that is updated regularly. Also make sure the timing schedule works out where you are able to play in the league.
After you decide that you like the league structure and buy in amount of a particular league, see if they have an active community. If so, join it and ask questions about the league. If the community looks like one you would like to become a part of, then join away. Most leagues have a forum, browse it and see what you think.
Finally, take a look and see what kind of league prizes and rewards are offered for the players. If they offer some kick ass prizes, all the better!
So, if you are looking to play in high quality poker competition and to seriously improve your game, consider joining a poker league and seeing why they are quickly becoming some of the most popular forms of organized competition taking place today.
