Thank F**k It's Bodog's Tourney Tips Friday!
Welcome back to our Tournament Tips column. For the next few Fridays, we'll be offering advice on how to survive Multi-Table Online events, which may give you the confidence to try Sunday afternoon's guaranteed $100k. We started last week with guidelines for the first hour so we'll now take through you the second sixty minutes.
You may recall the ticking bomb analogy and how it makes some players irrational. After the first break, although that is still true for some of the play, a lot of the self destructive types will have gone and so you will detect a few strategic changes.
However, don't be scared: try to deduce how your well stacked opponent amassed his chips – is it likely he won a coin flip, or did he hit an outrageous river card, or did he bet his two pair so well that he trapped one of the Yahoos? Observe his play - the answer should quickly be apparent and you can decide whether or not to tangle.
If it is either of the former and you are holding an average sized stack, you need to exploit his weaknesses as it is very likely he will be long gone before the final table. Remember, although the field is roughly half its original size, there will still be plenty of players who are inexperienced and not there on merit. If you isolate these individuals, you can easily double up and clear the bubble.
Always be aware that your stack size governs your play and don't forget this stage, is still a bit too early to worry about scaring people off with a big bet: if you flop a monster get those chips in.
If you then find yourself with in the top 5%, you can be pretty aggressive and raise a bit pre-flop but only pick on the average sized stacks: the desperados have nothing to lose and calling too many of their all-ins will deplete your stack.
For most events, you'll be ok as long as your stack is close to the tournament average, so keep an eye on the lobby and be aware of relative differences, but don't panic if you are below: even if you only have half the average, you're ok with about 10x the big blind as a double up keeps you in reasonable shape.
However, the second hour might see you going all in. It happens and you can't be scared of it – just don't it irrationally. You need an ace, two live cards or a pair – that's pretty obvious, but others will go for hands like K-T, which is quite often is covered by K-J, AK etc.
Just to bring that home – 97 has nearly a 37 % chance of winning against AK, but KT has only a 25% win rate against big slick.
Remember, your goal is to keep playing, keep seeing flops and if you keep close to the average stack, you're in great shape. If you are still alive after the second break, roughly 2/3 of the field will have fallen.
Next week, we offer tips on how to clear the bubble.
Go on away with you try it for yourselves play online with Bodog Poker. And don't forget Sunday is 100k Guaranteed Sunday!
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