Bodog's Tourney Tips Friday Is Here!!
It is time again for tournament tips and if you've been following these since week one, you should be ready for some strategic guidelines for the stage leading up to the final table.
OK, we have to start with a cold dose of reality – we can't give you any hard and fast rules for how to negotiate the post-bubble phase of the tournament. The classic, frustrating, piece of poker advice that the greybeards gasp to the bum-fluffs is 'It depends'.
Look at how often it works:
Should I call, raise or fold with AQ, first in, from mid position?
I'm on the button with 99 and a player has opened with an all-in bet which takes 1/3 of my stack – should I call?
Last hand, I paid the small blind and I need to go all in on before the blinds reach me – which hands do I play?
See?
Well, maybe we can help with the last one – pairs, aces, or two live cards – and your position is important. (See Week 3)
Poker is a beautiful game that will penalise anyone who thinks there are set ways to act. There can be no conventional wisdom. Look at Gus Hansen – he is one of the most successful players on the live circuit and he plays in a way that few can copy without going broke.
At the top level of a tournament, you have to know your opponents. By this time, you will have been playing for 3-4 hours. Hopefully you have been placed at the same table for a while – your aim is to know the players so well that when one croaks, it is almost like a death in the family (and the survivors fight over the money)
For example:
Is that short stack a kamikaze?
Does that raise from the big stack simply mean he is stealing blinds? If so, what do I want to do about it?
Is that player a Grandpa anxious about rising energy costs?
You have to be able to make those reads under pressure. You'll need to know betting habits (most of us, as much as we hate it, become predictable), card selection and profile.
Check out a book called The Psychology of Poker by Alan Schoonmaker. Although he's a fan of waffling, he outlines the different types of player you will meet at the tables.
Tight/Passive – these players will enter few pots and rarely bet unless they have a monster but will usually call down. Think poker's answer to Cliff Richard.
Tight/Aggressive – again, enter few pots but will frequently raise when involved and try to dictate the action. Not big bluffers, they try to maximise the gains from their few hands. Frank Sinatra in Vegas mode.
Loose/Passive – will play lots of hands but don't force the action. Typical call stations. Early Bryan Adams.
Loose/Aggressive – nightmares. Impossible to read. Play lots of hands and raise many. Usually don't get this far, but when they are good, they can be unstoppable – like Gus Hansen. When they are average/poor, think Ozzy Osbourne.
Your job is to be poker's equivalent of a music mogul and know how to exploit the talent. Tight/Aggressive is usually the style to play but, as you should recall, there can be no conventional wisdom.
However, the real problem is that the best players find your weaknesses and exploit them.
How do you stop that?
Well, all of the different styles Schoonmaker identifies have problems:
TA – can fold too many times.
TP – calls too often and doesn't extract the max value from his holdings.
LP – leaks chips by seeing too many flops and can pay-off too many hands.
LA – leaks chips and bluffs too often.
Isolate your opponent as best you can and change your game accordingly. The pressure of the money will be intense by now and few hands will go to a showdown – that means that adopting a loose aggressive style can pay dividends.
You need to develop an intuitive feel for the table and adapt accordingly. Remember the advice 'it depends' – your job is to know exactly what it depends upon: if you study your opponents you will make many wise decisions and we'll see you at the final table.
Cor blimey you should be full of poker joy by now. Put the theory into practice, get cheeky and see if you can hot-foot it over to Las Vegas for the WSOP Vegas.
Submit Your Comment