Bodog's Tourney Tips Friday!
Welcome back to our tournament tips column.
If you have been following our posts every Friday, you may recall that we noted that these events require that you remain calm amidst the pressure of a ticking bomb. Well, this time, we will guide you through the period of the tournament up to the bubble. This is when the tick-tick provides the strongest influence on play. Most players become highly cautious, desperate to make sure they are not the player to depart one off the money.
This section of play also forces you to think about what you want from the tournament.
Do you want to try and win it or is it more important for you to finish in the money?
Obviously, the biggest factor is the size of your stack. Let's say you have entered a 500 player tournament. It's down to 100 players and the top 80 get paid. If you have an average stack size and you are in the top 40, you should be playing to win.
However, it becomes a harder decision if you are 75th, or, eek, 85th. What do you do then? Some of it is a personal decision – what is your style?
Here is an even worse dilemma – there are 82 players left. The person in 82nd has just gone all in. He's called by the guy in 81st, also all in. The chip leader decides to call as he has a chance of knocking them both out. You are on the button, 79th place. You peek in the hole. Pocket kings. You are very likely to have the best hand.
However, because the action is multi-way, and assuming another pocket pair, an ace and suited connectors, you will go broke roughly 55% of the time. But can you let the small stacks improve?
OK, you should probably call in most cases, but hopefully the example illustrates that some decisions can be made for personal reasons and there are no right or wrong answers. If you are playing to win – call - you have the greatest chance of taking the pot; but if you are just looking for first tier payout, you can fold.
Let's look at another scenario: you have found yourself in the top 40 and there are 90 players remaining. This is a great opportunity to hoover up some chips by attacking the stacks of the players that are close to the poverty line. If you stack allows and you have position, throw in a 3x raise to attack the blinds: most players will not call, particularly those in 60-80th place as they have too much to lose.
Be careful trying it against the desperadoes because they may blow up in your face, but it is a powerful technique. At worst, it will stop you from leaking money through blinds and at best you can add as much as 20% to your stack, depending on how tight the action is.
In the final scenario, let's make you one of the desperadoes. There are 88 remaining and you are 87th. You only have 4bbs left and you will have to act. Unless you are hoping for a miracle, your first objective is a heads up call. Multi-way will kill you. Unfortunately, some experienced players will take advantage of your predicament. If you have to raise from early position, you may find two large stacks calling your bet and then checking down the action to maximise the chance of knocking you out. Some argue that is unethical, others that it is good play. Whatever the answer, you need to avoid it.
Try to be first in, from late position. Ideally, one of the blinds will be a short stack and you might pick up enough to pay for another orbit. However, at some stage, you are going to be called.
Try to avoid cards which could be duplicated, particularly kings with a bad kicker. If you are not blessed with a pocket pair or an ace, you need to maximise your chances of live cards – remember you can beat AK with any two cards roughly 37% of the time. That might be as good as you are going to get.
If you are luckily enough to survive, your next glance has to be at the lobby to see your new placing. If you had 4xbb when you went all in, you now should be in the money, but only just.
And that's when it becomes personal again: how big a slice of the $100k guaranteed tournament do you want? Got your juices flowing? Then check out Bodog's $100k Guaranteed Tourney this Sunday.
Submit Your Comment