1: Squeeze Play

Why do you raise in late position with marginal hands? To steal the blinds. So what do you do when there are callers behind a single raiser? Raise, of course. Put in a big bet so you’re not giving any value to call. If you get past the initial raiser you’ll usually get past everyone else. If they had a premium hand they would have probably re-raised so punish their weakness! Usually you need to make a pot-sized bet to scare others off. If the blinds are 100/200 and there’s a raise to 600 and one caller. Make it 2,000 to go and
watch their hands hit the muck.

HANDS: Any
TOURNAMENT CLOCK: Any
YOUR STACK: Medium to large

2: Pre-Imperilled Shove

Tournament players have become so accustomed to the short-stack shove [see 6] that they are far more likely to call with a weak Ace or a high cards than ever before, which is great if you have a genuine hand. The only problem is that once your stack is running low you can’t guarantee picking up a marginal hand let alone a premium one. Therefore, an all-in move with a stack of more than 10 big blinds will be a lot more respected than a standard short-stack shove. Although your risk-toreward ratio is higher you will be more likely to get your hands through. This move is important to throw in if the blinds are about to jump up a level because it will effectively cut your stack, and chance of making other players fold, in half. Picking up the blinds, or doubling through, will keep you in the race at the higher blind levels.

HANDS: A-K to A-10, K-Q, K-J, Q-Js, 10-10 to 7-7
TOURNAMENT CLOCK: Middle to late (when the blinds are about to change)
YOUR STACK: Low to medium

3: Short-Stack Shove

Tournaments are all about survival, but there’s no bigger sin than blinding yourself to death. So when your total stack is down to around seven to 10 big blinds it’s time to take a deep breath and stick your chips in the middle. And it’s even more important to look for the right spots to do this. Always make sure you’re the first into the pot (unless you have a monster) so that it puts the decision onto the other players at the table and they have no chips already invested. If the action is folded around to you be prepared to push with any Ace, any pair or suited connectors, where you think you’ll have live cards if someone calls. The closer you are to the button the looser you can be with your hand, purely on the basis that there are fewer players to get past. Likewise, if the players in the blinds are sitting on medium-sized stacks you should be pushing with any two cards. They’ll be loathe to risk half to threequarters of their stack with anything but a big hand. And even if they call, 7-9o will beat A-K suited a third of the time.

HANDS: A-x, suited connectors, any pairs
TOURNAMENT CLOCK: Middle to late
YOUR STACK: Low

4: Stop-And-Go

The stop-and-go is an old fashioned, but still great move to make when you’re in the blinds and starting to run low on chips and ideas. The tactic involves calling a late position raise – hopefully targeting a serial raiser – and whatever the flop comes you move all-in. You’re not making the preflop call on the odds it will help you (if it does it’s a bonus), but on the fact that two live cards will connect with the flop only a third of the time. Is it a gamble? Yes. Is it a gamble with the odds in your favour? Also, yes. You do, however, need to have enough chips left so that it’s not an automatic call for the raiser. It’s a great move to pull with a low pair if you think an all-in prefl op would get called because you’re forcing someone who probably hasn’t hit to a tricky decision if they want to see the fi nal two cards. If they’ve hit already then they would have hit by calling your all-in anyhow. But by pulling this move you’ve got an extra chance for survival.

HANDS: Any
TOURNAMENT CLOCK: Middle to late
YOUR STACK: Small to medium

5: Push The Flush

You’ve put in a healthy raise with two suited face cards and have got one caller, only for the flop to bring rags. But all is not lost – you’ve flopped a big flush draw. If you’re first to act and have your opponent heavily outchipped, try checking the flop to incite your opponent to bet, which they’ll do more often than not whether they’ve hit or not. Now hit them hard with a check-raise, pushing your entire stack in. If you find yourself short-stacked or it’s the middle-to-late stages of a tournament then you’re usually best shoving your chips in as first to act on the flop when a pot-sized bet accounts for a third of your chips. If your opponent calls with an overpair to the flop (but which is lower than both your hole cards) you’re actually still a slight favourite to win. Combined with the fact that you’ll often make a player drop their hand this semi-bluff shove is a powerful weapon to have in your arsenal.

HANDS: A-Ks, A-Qs, A-Js, K-Qs, Q-Js
TOURNAMENT CLOCK: Any
YOUR STACK: Medium to large

6: Fast-Play Monsters

At the start of low-stakes tournaments there are a lot of fish. These aquatic types will call huge bets down with top pair/top kicker because they’re blind to the fact that someone might bet two-pair or a set so hard. You’ll also get some terrible calls from players paying way over the odds for drawing hands, so make sure you punish them.

HANDS: A-A, K-K, sets, flushes and straights
TOURNAMENT CLOCK: Early
YOUR STACK: Any

7: Pay To Hit A Set

In the early stages of most multitable tournaments you have a lot of chips relative to the blinds, so losing a few of them early doors isn’t going to do much damage to your tournament chances long-term. In that case, paying over the odds with small or medium pairs in the hope of hitting a set is an absolute must. You’re about 8/1 to hit trips on the flop, but when you do hit, you’ll be in a great position to win a big chunk of chips from someone with an overpair. Your implied odds at this stage of the game are so big that it can be worth investing as much as 5-10% of your stack to try and hit a set. Pay over the odds, especially when you’re in position, as you might be able to take the pot by betting out on the flop even if you miss.

HANDS: 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, 6-6, 7-7, 8-8, 9-9
TOURNAMENT CLOCK: Early
YOUR STACK: Average

Article source: http://www.pokerplayer.co.uk/poker-strategy/tournament-poker/12310/7_small_stakes_mtt_moves.html

SIZE MATTERS

Recently bets have become smaller. When I first started playing it was very standard to raise three times the big blind, but nowadays players are favouring the min-raise. I started doing it before most people and now I don’t really like it.

Generally in big tournaments I’ll raise 2.5 times the big blind or even three times the big blind at the start because you’re always quite deep in the big tournaments. At the start many tournaments you’ve got 300 big blinds, but when the antes hit the average stack is 150 big blinds – on the next level the average will be 100 BBs.

Because you go from 300 to 100 in about five hours you have to adjust your play. So I adjust my bet sizing because of the stack sizes not my hand strength. If you just min-raise it’s harder to read the weaker players as they could almost have anything, but with 2.5x that’s not the case. I don’t mind giving the blinds better odds to call because you’ll have position and it’s a good spot to be in. You should keep your opening raise size consistent at every blind level so as not to give away information to opponents.

POWER OF POSITION

Being out of position makes it harder to win the hand, so I’ll often three-bet more than the size of the pot, whereas in position I’d make it smaller. So, say it’s 200/400 and someone makes it 1,000, if I’m the small blind I’ll make it about 3,200 as a standard three-bet. But from the button, I’ll make it 2,400 or 2,500. It’s to discourage callers, but you also want to do it with good hands because it’s pretty transparent if you raise big with bad hands and small with good hands.

A decent three-bet size over an open raise is about two-and-a-half times the bet. Earlier on, I might make it three times or if I’m up against a bad player, I’ll make it bigger to build the pot. A mistake even good players make is to raise too small for value against bad players.

The bad player is going to call a lot just based on his hand, not the size of the bet and by the end of the pot you can win more. And through bet sizing you’ve manipulated the pot, so if you make it bigger preflop you can bet more on each subsequent street. Against a bad player, I might pot in on each street as they’re going to call, it’s not the amount but about whether they like their hand.

POSTFLOP PLAY

Continuation bets have gotten smaller, and it’s gone from around two thirds of the pot to about half the pot. But I change my bet size based on board texture too. So say the board comes A-7-2 rainbow, I’m going to bet way less than if the fl op is 9♣-8♣-4♦.

The change of bet size is based on board texture not hand strength. On the A-7-2 flop their hand can’t improve very much so you don’t need to bet as much whereas on the 9-8-4 flop there’s loads of draws so you want to charge them.

You should definitely see the three streets postflop as connected and plan your bet sizing on the flop with the turn and river in mind, perhaps betting slightly bigger on the flop so that by the river you can get stacks in. Even good players will bet the flop without a plan for the turn, hoping to win the hand there and then.

Betting without a plan is bad and lots of players will now call one street routinely. So always have a plan. The flop is the key point of the hand where you can set up the rest of the plan. Set up what you’re planning on doing with your bet size so you can manipulate the size of the pot to what you’re trying to achieve. If you’re semi-bluffing with a flush draw, you are trying to build a pot so that if you hit it you can get paid off to the maximum.

If you’re setting up a bluff you can put the pressure on and if the right card comes off to represent then you can make it that much harder for opponents to call. But, you also need to be careful on making the pot too big if you’re bluffing. Sometimes you can make it such that a player can never really fold the river if they’re getting like 4:1 or something.

READING AND LEARNING

Being able to hand read is important as you can not only tailor your bet sizing to what you think they have, but also to what they think you have. And knowing how certain players bet with certain hand strengths is important. You can knock hands out of their range and a lot of players give a lot away with how they bet the river.

For instance, they might bet small with their marginal hands and pot it, or at least make it bigger, with their made hands. I had a hand in the WSOP Main event on Day 7 (Kelly finished 26th) where I folded A-K on an A-A-J-9-8 board when he bet really big on the river. He looked so comfortable and why would he bet so big without the hand? I felt if he had a worse ace he’d bet about half pot and I didn’t think he was bluffing either, so I was able to find a fold. I found out later he had A-8 and I’d made a good fold.

Stack size is key to bet sizing and is a reason why bet sizes go down as stacks get shallower because it’ll do the same job, add in position and board texture and they’re the three factors that determine if you bet big or small.

Article source: http://www.pokerplayer.co.uk/poker-strategy/tournament-poker/12295/play_like_a_pro_jp_kelly.html

This month, Keir gets help from 2011 November Niner Eoghan O’Dea and tries to master direct satellites while swotting up on some live tips before the big day. Will he finally bink a seat? Will he be in Ireland by Easter? And will he ever quit moaning about variance. There’s only one way to find out…

Eoghan O’Dea

The 2011 November Nine looks back on the WSOP and ahead to the Irish Open

How do you think last year’s Main Event went?

I was hoping to do a little better than sixth, but overall I can’t complain. At the time, coming in second in chips, I thought I’d do a lot better. I was disappointed for a couple of hours, but after a couple of drinks I was grand again.

Are there any hands you regret?

Not really. When I bluffed A-Q into Pius Heinz’s Queens it cost me a lot of chips, but I don’t really regret anything. I could have played a few things differently for sure, but you move on. I don’t want to think about it again in some ways.

How did you handle the pressure at the final table?

I enjoyed the build-up and I didn’t really feel too much pressure. I took about 60 people out there for support, and once I’d busted, we all just went out and drowned our sorrows for the next few nights.

Do you think the experience has changed you?

The money hasn’t really changed my life too much. I’m maybe a bit more relaxed now when I play poker, knowing I’ve got that money behind me. But the Paddy Power Poker sponsorship has been the big change.

And what’s next? Are you looking forward to the Irish Open?

Of course! It’s massive. It’s in my home town and I always want to play well every year. I’ve only ever had one deep run. I was pretty sick with food poisoning. I shouldn’t have been playing. I was in the toilet for the whole
first day and was sick all over the corridors. Everyone was looking at me like I was some embarrassing drunk.

What makes the Irish Open so great?

There’s no other tournament with the same craic. The bar is always packed and people are constantly buzzing and if you qualify online, the Sole Survivor €100k added bonus is pretty good value. The Irish Open has always been renowned as one of the biggest tournaments in Europe and the big names always make their way to it. Hold’em came to Ireland fi rst in Europe and Stu Ungar and people like that always used to make an appearance. It’s a great tournament.

Week One – Mr Romance

Playing in the Irish Open would be a highlight of my donk-filled life and I wanted it bad. So much so, that I kicked things off on Valentine’s Day. Up and down the country, men were treating their other halves to a ready meal and a discount bottle of wine. Me, I was stuck in a hell of min-raises and suck-outs (and not the good kind). While my girlfriend pleaded with me to close the laptop and show her some attention on the year’s most romantic day, I was too busy bubbling like a pro. One day, six back-to-back bubbles.

From $2 feeder satellites, to $30 rebuys, I was on fire, battling my way to heads-up only to blow up time and again. It would set the tone for the month and would ruin my mind (and possibly my relationship).

After help from Niall Smyth in month one, I had learned how to crush the feeder satellites and my new goal was to master the fine art of direct satellites. But that had to wait. Try as I might, I couldn’t win a tournament. And to make matters worse, I’d burnt the ready meal. In the sixth tournament of a tear-stained day, I got dealt pocket Aces heads-up, I raised, my opponent shoved and flipped over A-9. The board came 8-10-J-7-Q and I went to bed alone. ‘At least it’ll be good for the article,’ my editor told me. The girlfriend still hasn’t forgiven him.

Week Two – Cheap and Nasty

If week one was brutal, week two was downright nasty. That was until I entered a money-saving €4 satellite and finally ran-good(ish). After an uneventful few hours I was four-handed from a starting field of 35 and staring a €200 ticket square in its beady little eyes. Three-handed, still grinding. Heads-up, still grinding.

As Olly Murs murdered a ska mash-up at the Brits in the background, I was guilty of my own crime against humanity. My final opponent was what could clinically be described as a spew-monkey-mega-fish and I was picking off his overbets with ease. But then I was dealt 9-10 on the button and made my standard min-raise. Flop: 10-J-A. He bets half the pot and by now I’d picked up that this meant he was strong. I decide to flat call as the effective stacks were 40BB and I could raise any number of turn cards.

A second 10 on the next street was perfect. He bet, I shoved, he showed J-3. River… Jack. No one likes to bubble. But losing to someone who plays poker like a chimp bashing away at the keys in the hope someone will feed them a banana hurt more than my kick to the balls on Valentine’s Day. And that really hurtr.

‘You can’t let it get to you,’ Smyth told me afterwards. ‘Satellites aren’t easy.’ To better make me understand the finer points of direct feeders, Smyth looked round the back of his sofa and pulled out a hand history from his satellite into the Irish Open from 2011 (see below).

DIRECT ACTION

Smyth takes Kezay through key hands of his 2011 direct sat to the Irish Open

Hand 1: RIVER RUNNING

SMYTH’S HAND: K♣-9♥
STACK: 6,922
POSITION: Cutoff
BOARD: 8♠-8♦-A♠-2♥-K♥
WON/LOST: +9,500
PLAYERS LEFT: 19

The player on my right had been trying to outplay me all tournament, and when he opened from the hijack, I decided K-9 was strong enough to three-bet. I completely missed the flop but had to c-bet. When my opponent decided to flat call and check the turn I knew he wasn’t strong and could easily have a weak Ace or spades. He bet less than 20% on the river as a blocker bet but I was getting 5/1 on a call and even though I wasn’t beating much, it was too good a price to fold.

If you want to bluff in this spot, you need to give your opponent poor odds to call. If he’d put me all-in on the river or bet 60-70% pot I would have folded.  

Hand 2: LOOSEY GOOSEY

SMYTH’S HAND: K♠-J♠
STACK: 11,747
POSITION: UTG + 1
BOARD: 10♣-6♦-K♥-5♠-K♦
WON/LOST: 20,257
PLAYERS LEFT: 12

K♠-J♠ is a loose open eighthanded, but by this stage I was easily the most active player. I was three-bet from middle position and called to balance my range against my image. You always have to make sure you’re getting a good price when calling with marginal hands and be aware of your opponent’s stack size.

If I had been three-bet by a short stack, I would have folded but his three-bet was too small and we both had 50+ BBs. I c-bet the flop but would have mucked if re-raised, and decided to check the turn for pot control. I led out on the river to make it look like I missed with Q-J or 7-8 and I needed to get value from the hand in case he had sevens or eights. He shoved with A-4 and it was an easy call.

Hand 3: NICE BUBBLY

SMYTH’S HAND: A♣-Q♥
STACK: 47,848
POSITION: UTG
BOARD: K♥-10♣-4♠-8♥-8♠
WON/LOST: 30,032
PLAYERS LEFT: 5

This hand secured my seat at the Irish Open. It allowed me to just sit back and steal blinds without ever getting involved in big pots. The player on my left three-bet shoved A♠-9♠ into my UTG raise for 35BBs. No one does this to fool a big stack and it was a fairly easy call. If you fold your big hands like A-Q, A-J, K-Q in this spot you’re giving away too much value late on.

By shoving, my opponent was basically screaming he didn’t want to play a tricky hand. If he three-bets for a few thousand, he gets the same info as shoving his whole stack, it’s thoughtless. From there, I had 60% of the chips and it was just a case of applying pressure on the blinds and keeping my stack healthy.

Week Three – Back in the Game

Despite Smyth’s best efforts, by week three my heart just wasn’t in it. I needed either a glimmer of hope, or some fi lthy donkout to restore my faith in a higher power. And then like a drunk bridegroom it finally came. I won a €30 feeder satellite thanks in bulk to playing like an aggro donk, angry with the world and angry with my rub of the green. The bubble run was over!

Finally, I could try my hand at a €120 direct satellite. Finally, I could make headway on my trip to Ireland. Alas, poker is a cruel mistress. She lets you flirt with success, take it out for dinner and maybe get it home. But when you think you’re about to score, she whips down your pants and laughs. All the pre-game signs were good for the €130 satellite; just 10 players, a massive overlay and no relationship worries in sight. But I just didn’t have the bottle.

Limping out in a miserable fourth place, I turned to my missus for comfort. ‘Haha! You can’t even win a four-man tournament,’ she cried, not quite grasping the concept of starting fields. ‘Point and laugh.’ Clearly week one was still on her mind. ‘You’ve got to stop raising hands like K-Qo UTG,’ Smyth raged at me.

‘Eight-handed I’d just muck as more often than not, hands that give you action when you hit the fl op will have you beat. You also can’t call any three-bets with this as you will never know where you are. I never want to be giving up a hand when I raise UTG, so only play big hands, mid-connected suitors and all pairs as long as you are deep enough to profi tably call three-bets.’ Got that? (At least one of us has).

Week Four – One Last Shot…

Time was up. I had no more chances, no more bankroll and very little patience. There was just enough left from my original £500 stake to make one last run at Ireland and I stumped up €230 for that Sunday’s five package GTD direct qualifier. Fingers were crossed. Prayers were said.

115 players took their seats alongside me, all chasing the €5k prize. I’m not going to lie, around 45 of them were better than me, simple as that. Satellites are tough. The poor ratio of seats to players means you have to run like God to even come close, and I’d surrendered my faith by the fourth bubble of week one. But let’s not end on a bad note. I’ve had a hell of a time trying my luck on Paddy Power Poker, and with all the overlays and round-the-clock satellites, the site is perfect for those hoping to play their way to this year’s Irish Open.

I’ll still be in Dublin this April to follow Smyth and O’Dea, and I might even dabble in a side event or two. Who knows, maybe I’ll even discover what this world famous craic is all about. If you’re planning on playing in the Irish Open, or any other big tournament for that matter, make sure you pay attention to Smyth’s and O’Deas expert tips over this page. Trust them, they know what they’re talking about. Me on the other hand, well, just call me the Michael Jackson of poker, because I fecking love bubbles. And young boys. Only joking. I hate bubbles… Good luck!

Article source: http://www.pokerplayer.co.uk/poker-strategy/tournament-poker/12274/qualify_for_the_irish_open_part_2.html

WHY POSITION IS KEY

Every decision in poker is easier if you are in position, because you have more information. You get to act last, so you get to see what your opponents do before you have to reveal your action. Position is important in every form of poker, but it’s more important in a game like PLO than no-limit hold’em, as the board texture changes so much from street to street in PLO. In hold’em the hand values don’t always change that much from the fl op to the turn, but in PLO the nuts can change completely.

STACKS OF INFORMATION

Stack size goes hand in hand with position. If stacks are shallow and I raise on the button, the big blind could move all-in and take away my positional advantage by making position irrelevant. If stacks are deeper he can’t do that.

The deeper the stacks the tougher your decisions become when out of position. With deeper stacks there’s often play down the streets, and many complicated things can happen, so if you have position on every street it’s a huge advantage.

I would say cash game players (who are used to playing with deeper stacks) have a better awareness of position than most tournament players. What I find in tournaments is that play is not usually that deep. Perhaps 30-60 big blinds is the average stack throughout most of the tournament.

In cash games, especially live, you can be 300-500BB deep, which is a different form of poker. There’s more wiggle room down the streets which you just don’t get in tournaments. Practice will always do you good, and if you just play tournaments it’s a good idea to play some cash to practise position while 100 big blinds deep.

PLAYER DEPENDENT

I don’t think having a default range of hands you play from each position (depending on stack size) is necessarily a bad thing, but you should always be ready to adjust it based on what is happening at the table. So if people are folding a lot you can raise more, or if you’re getting three-bet often you can tighten up a bit.

As with most things in poker it depends on your opponent, so there are hands I would fold out of position to some players and not others, depending on my history with him, the position he’s raised from and other variables.

It’s not as simple as saying that calling out of position against aggressive players is unprofitable, as it depends how you handle aggression. There are ways you can take advantage of it, maybe slow-play some hands and take advantage of their aggression and use it against them.

BLIND DEFENCE

The standard opening raise size in tournaments has gotten smaller in the last few years, so if you’re in the blinds you’re getting great immediate odds, despite being out of position for the rest of the hand. Some say people are calling too much out of position because of this and that it’s a big leak, but it’s not that simple. It really depends on each person: some people fold too much and some people call too much.

It also depends on who the big blind is and against whom you’re defending. If you’re calling from the big blind, consider how aggressive the raiser is and how many problems he’s going to cause you postflop. If he’s quite passive postflop then you can call more. It shouldn’t be an automatic decision based on pot odds.

Just because it’s a min-raise and you have a certain hand, it doesn’t mean you should call – there are more factors to consider. Playing out of position against good aggressive players is going to cause problems, so maybe I won’t defend as much as normal unless there are other reasons.

Against really good players I’d give it up more, whereas against players who are more predictable postflop I can play, because if I flop a marginal hand I’ll know how much pressure they’ll apply and I can take it from there.

If there are weaker players in the blinds you should be raising wider in position. Any time you feel you have a good chance to steal the blinds you should definitely be raising more.

SHORT-HANDED PLAY

As play gets short-handed you’re going to be in the blinds a higher percentage of the time and find yourself playing out of position more often, but as it’s short-handed you have to play more hands.

Experience helps: if you play a lot of sit-and-gos you learn how to do this as you move from nine or six-handed to shorthanded, and you are forced to play more hands. Playing short-handed cash games will also help.

When you get heads-up you’re out of position for 50% of the hands. If you’re facing someone you think is better than you, one possibility is to make your raises bigger (depending on stack size) so that your opponent has less room to outplay you. Also, when you are deeper I think it is correct to raise a little bit more, especially if they’re a good player and they’re defending their big blind all the time if you just min-raise.

I think it’s always a good idea to keep adjusting and keep your opponent guessing. You don’t want to fall into the trap of always doing the same thing.

Article source: http://www.pokerplayer.co.uk/poker-strategy/tournament-poker/12250/play_like_a_pro_eugene_katchalov.html

With a £500 bankroll courtesy of Paddy Power Poker and some tuition from last year’s Irish Open winner and Sole Survivor, Niall Smyth, Keir’s dedicated his time to working the qualifying route and joining poker’s best for the craic in Dublin. This month he’ll show you how to breeze through feeder satellites. Who knows? Study our tips and you might even make it to Ireland before him…

Niall Smyth: The 2011 Irish Open Champ talks about his amazing year

In 2011, Irishman Niall Smyth took a €10 punt on the Grand National through Paddy Power before parlaying that €200 win into €650k. Here Smyth explains how he went from rags to riches…

What was it like winning the Sole Survivor competition and main event all in one?

That was crazy. Just before the final table there were still four of us left who had qualified through Paddy Power Poker, and when it got down to two of us I actually considered a deal. If we had both gotten to the next break together I would have probably split the cash. But my opponent got unlucky and I ended up pocketing the lot. It was the easiest €100k I’ll ever win!

Did the thought of the extra €100k ever affect your game?

Maybe for a round or two. I remember going to open one hand and thinking, ‘Ahh, I’ll just leave it’. [laughs]

Did you have many big cashes before 2011?

My best live cash before was for around €24k in the Irish Open a few years back. I’ve probably only played about ten live events with over a €100 buy-in, so to have two sizeable cashes isn’t a bad record. I’m not someone who plays 30 or 40 events a year. So I guess I just run pretty good live.

How did you win your seat last year?

I was off work with a head cold and my brother’s girlfriend asked me to put a bet on the Grand National. Luckily I picked the winner and whacked that €200 on a Paddy Power Poker qualifier. It was crazy. After I
won the main event, my story was all over the newspapers. I never thought it would be that big. In that first week afterwards, if you’d told me to appear naked on TV I probably would have. I was just so happy.

How has life changed since winning?

I’ve taken a year off my job to see which way the poker is going to go. Being a professional is always something I wanted to do, so I’m giving it a good shot. If I can’t make a wage then I’ll re-evaluate.

What’s so great about the Irish Open?

It’s just got an electric atmosphere. Ever since my first time there I thought it was special. There are loads of good people and loads of famous players, and if you’re not playing you’re hitting the bar and chatting to everyone. You’re all there for the craic!

Week One – New Beginnings

I’ve got a confession to make: I’ve never won an online satellite. Sure I’ve won the odd seat from clueless hacks in media tournaments, but the online game is an altogether tougher beast. Good thing Niall Smyth is on hand on to help me achieve Irish Open glory. Month one: how to smash up the feeder satellite donkfests.

To get the ball rolling, I registered for my first Route A €2 rebuy feeder and bossed the table. With everyone playing ABC poker, it was easy to spot those chasing draws and bully them out of pots, and I cruised into the next stage with my ego bulging. If only it was all that simple…

Stage Two offered one seat into that Sunday’s €215 direct event, and even with rebuys now a costly €17, I still ‘breezed’ through to another heads-up bout. The only thing that could stop me was an act of god… And that’s when my internet connection started played peek-a-boo. I eventually crawled back into the contest to find I had just 1.5BB left. However, a few generous suckouts later and the ticket was mine.

That Sunday, 80 runners sat down hoping to snatch one of the three €4,600 Irish Open packages up for grabs. I started well, but by 10pm a lack of postflop aggression had left me running on fumes. Needing an emergency double-up, I began shoving everything in late position. And it worked, mostly, until I shoved Q-Q from the cutoff only to lose to the button’s fishy call with A♦-J♦ and exit in 25th. A torrent of abuse ensued.

‘Your c-betting percentage was quite low and you seemed to just check any Ace-high flop when you didn’t have it,’ Smyth said in his post mortem. An Ace-high flop hits a raiser’s range much more than a caller’s, so bet close to 100% of the time when you have one or two opponents in the pot.’

Week Two – Enemy Number One

Even though I’d handled the feeder satellites with relative ease in week one, Smyth still picked holes in my strategy. I came into this project with my best MTT hat on, and regularly opened to 3x in the early levels, dropping to 2x once stacks became shallower.

‘2.5x is enough,’ Smyth claimed. ‘I know it sounds small but it adds up throughout a tourney, especially when bluffi ng.’ With this in mind, onwards I went to Route C and the €130 direct satellite that Thursday. Now in general, the more you pay to play, the tougher your opponents will be, and after busting out of too many €2 feeders to count, I upped the stakes and entered the €17 Stage Two rebuy hoping for the best. Enter IYBOYKO.

Sitting on my right, he opened almost every pot and had an annoying habit of hanging around whenever he and I caught a piece of the board. In the face of his relentless aggression, I limped into heads-up play with less than 10BB to his 40. Luckily, old IYBOYKO didn’t know what the brake pedal was, and after some terrible calls with bottom pair he went from big stack to massive underdog in a flash.

Recognising signs of tilt, I made a hero call with pocket tens on a J-8-Q-7-3 board and shipped a €130 ticket. That should teach the fish. (Or so I thought.) In my Thursday pre-game pep talk, Smyth talked about adjusting to the prize structure. ‘The lower the ratio of players to tickets, the tighter you should play. In a low-ratio tournament, remember that you don’t need to win all the chips to get your ticket. Often you will end up getting in with less than an average stack.

‘But for a 27-man tournament with only one prize, playing lots of hands and gambling a bit to accumulate chips is the best option, as you do need every chip to win.’ Wise words. Pity everyone around me was a raise-hungry maniac. After going into nit mode for several orbits, it finally came time to shove – into none other than my old friend IYBOYKO. I made a move for 18BB from the blinds with A♣-T♥ and he flopped quad eights to leave a little boy crying into a cushion like someone had just stolen €3,500 worth of lunch money. *Sniff*

Week Three – Bad Kitty

For those who can’t handle (or afford) the variance-induced headaches of qualifying in one feeder satellite after another, Paddy Power Poker runs the attractive Cheap Seats option. For just €4.40 you can play your way into the fortnightly Grand Final (with no direct buy-ins), and with qualifiers kicking off at a work-friendly 7pm each day, I decided to protect my roll and chase the cheaper option.

These satellites are incredibly soft, even compared to the €2 events, but the fields are much bigger. With more than 30 players chasing one seat, they run much like the €130 and €215 direct events, only with a bigger contingent of donks. And as was becoming a common theme, there were plenty of shoves with gutshots and middle pairs crashing around me.

With eight players left and the action slowing down, I sat out for a toilet break only for my girlfriend to start ‘meowing’ at players in the chatbox. Surprisingly, it didn’t help my image. What I can only assume were dog lovers began bullying me in position, and with 11BB I openshoved K-To from the small blind only to run into A-K and exit in seventh. My missus was the only one laughing.

‘Near the end the players on your left and right were walking all over you!’ barked Smyth. ‘With 15 hands to go you had 7-9s when an aggressive player opened from the cutoff. I’d have shoved my last 20BB on him. If you get called you’re never in too bad a spot and you will pick up the pot so often.’

And that’s not all. Apparently I was too tentative from the button and not willing to play it as a winner-takes-all event. I was working under the assumption that raise-folding with 20BB or less was a cardinal sin. Wrong again. ‘You folded your button too often. Near the end you can raise-fold rubbish on the button even with 18BB in my opinion,’ said Smyth.

Week Four – How Much!?

After a promising start to my satellite journey, I had hoped to be practising my Irish accent by week four. As it was, my bankroll was disappearing faster than you can say ‘to be sure’. So far Smyth had instructed me to annihilate the cheap seats and work my way up. But I decided it was time to drop the long-winded approach and start attacking the €17 and €30 rebuys. Big mistake.

Although I qualified for week four’s Sunday €215 satellite, I spent almost €140 in the process. And the month’s most puzzling hand lay in wait… In the third level, I opened to 2.5x with J-J and was min-raised on a rainbow 7-T-3 flop. My Spidey sense tingled. An eight on the turn gave me a gutshot to go with my overpair and I checked, only for the villain to overbet the pot.

I called, but on a blank river I checked again hoping for a cheap showdown. No such luck. Muck? Call? Be sick? All these options ran through my head when he shoved, before I angrily hit the fold button. ‘You have to make your mind up about it on the turn,’ said Smyth. ‘If you call then you have to call river. The villain’s line is strange. If he was a decent player I’d say he has a monster, as not many would take this line as a bluff.’

In the end though, it didn’t matter. With 22BB left I made a loose call with Q-T from the big blind, check-raised the 2-A-T flop, barrelled a four on the turn and called off my final 10BB when a river Queen hit me in the face. My opponent’s K-J was the bitter cherry on top of my Sunday of shit. ‘Looking at it coldly, it’s a fold because he’s never rasing all-in with worse,’ said Smyth. ‘But I don’t think I could ever fold in the heat of the moment.’

I ended the month with nothing to show for my efforts, but it’s not over yet. Next month it’s time for the big boy events. Tune in then to see how I get on.

BEAT THE FEEDERS

Niall Smyth shares his tips for taking down low buy-in feeder satellites

Buy, Buy, Buy!

In a turbo rebuy you should be topping up straight away, as it gives you more room to play with and allows you to make moves. It’s essential that you build a stack early on.

Donk It Up

If you struggle with aggression, play a few $1 tournaments and get a feel for what it’s like to be an aggro-donk. I don’t mean five-bet shoving 2-3, but understand when and where you can profitably ramp up the aggression.

No Fun UTG

On eight-handed tables, muck hands like K-Qo UTG. You can’t call threebets with these hands and if you hit the flop you will never know where you are.

Play To The Structure

If players have been rebuying a lot, and there is more than one seat up for grabs, tighten up. You don’t need all the chips in play to go through and can fold hands like Jacks to a shove. But never let yourself get so short that you don’t have any fold equity left.

Weekday-Play

If you’re planning on qualifying for direct satellites, play your events during the week. Qualifiers on Saturdays and Sundays are bulging with runners looking to gamble.

Luck Of The Irish

To bink a seat you need things to go in your favour. So don’t get annoyed if you’re not winning. Just get lucky!

Article source: http://www.pokerplayer.co.uk/poker-strategy/tournament-poker/12220/qualify_for_the_irish_open.html

Each tournament is a series of situations and decisions, full of missed opportunities, exploitation, concentration lapses and moments of cowardice. All that, aside from factoring in coolers, bad luck and being card dead, makes it damn hard to win a tournament, but let’s nail five of the biggest mistakes that are made and how you can avoid them.

1. Stacking off too early

What is the leak?

Anyone can get coolered, but stacking off too light, too early marks you out as a big flapping fish. Just stop it.

Why is it a leak?

If you lose your stack way before the money appears even on the distant horizon then you probably either got coolered or played badly. The former is merely annoying, but the latter needs addressing.

Losing an entire 100BB stack with Kings or Aces on a ten-high or Jack-high flop does not count as a cooler, it usually counts as bad play. Too many players are willing to get stacks in with one-pair hands and overpairs, and then berate their opponents for calling with ‘trash,’ even if the call was justified because you were willing to stack off with one pair.

How do we fix it?

Learn how to fold or go into bluff-catching mode if you’re consistently busting out of tournaments too early. If you’re a regular cash game player then you’ll probably have a better grasp of the earlier stages of a tournament thanks to more practice at deeperstacked play. You’ll also have seen how often big pairs get undone by flopped sets, two-pairs and combo draws in single-raised pots.

Unless you’ve got good reason to believe that someone is super-loose and spewy you can often go into bluff-catching mode or just pass on particularly coordinated boards. By adopting a check and call posture in the correct situations you might be able to extract value out of players with second pair or a weak top pair who might otherwise pass or only give you action with the hands in their range that crush you.

Is it perfect power poker? No, but in many smaller buy-in tournaments you’re not going to be playing the Jake Codys of this world, and you must adapt your play to the rocks and pedestrian players. Stop bundling in 60 or 70 big blinds in a single hand with top pair. It’s probably not good.

Another way of going broke less often is to reduce the number of hands you’re playing, because if you’re involved in fewer hands that’s fewer situations where you can go bust. Sounds simple? It is. Okay, the flip side is that it’s going to be harder to run up a monster stack, but if your problem is busting out too early then you need to focus on survival first and foremost.

If you’re going bust or losing large chunks of your stack with hands such as Q-T or T-7 then how about not playing those hands?

2. Picking the wrong fights

What is the leak?

Not adjusting to different player styles and subscribing to an egocentric view of the world.

Why is it a leak?

Every tournament has a broad spread of players, from super-tight rocks to kamikaze spewtards, total beginners to MTT pros. If you’re not constantly assessing the players at your table you can miss key spots and easy folds, and get yourself into unnecessarily difficult situations, such as playing good aggressive players out of position.

How do we fix it?

Cold hard honesty is the first step, and concentration the second. If there is a player whose game you rate, you might want to avoid tangling with them in marginal spots and instead focus on the players who appear to be softer and more exploitable.

Tougher players don’t have to be avoided altogether, but try to play them in position when you do engage them as it will help to level the odds or, even better, tip the scales in your favour. Making notes is a good starting point if you don’t do so already.

The act of typing notes will help you in the future and, perhaps more importantly, keep you focused in the here and now. By paying attention to your opponents you’ll be able to make folds that you wouldn’t be able to if you were playing generically, or bluff all-in over river blocker bets that you might otherwise give up on.

3. Blinding out

What is the leak?

Dribbling your stack down to just a few big blinds then busting.

Why is it a leak?

Letting yourself get blinded out of a tournament is one of the biggest schoolboy errors you can make. Yes, there are always exceptions, such as when playing in a satellite tourney or playing snug to creep into the money, but in most cases folding your stack down to below ten big blinds is a massive leak.

You’re letting yourself get to a point where your shoves are going to get called very wide and youhave probably been failing to take advantage of good spots.

How do we fix it?

When you find yourself with less than 30 big blinds you should start looking out for good three-bet shoving spots with hands that don’t necessarily always flop brilliantly, such as small pairs.

Imagine you’re down to 26 big blinds and a relatively aggressive player opens for 2.5 big blinds from middle position. You’re in the hijack with pocket eights. You can call off almost 10% of your stack in an attempt to flop a set, but you’re most likely to find yourself folding to a continuation bet.

A preflop raise could allow you to ‘get away’ if they come back over the top but, quite frankly, that’s a horrible play, leaving a third of your stack in the middle when you could easily be on the right side of a coinflip. If you shove you’ll often take the pot there and then, picking up as much as five or six blinds for free if antes are in play.

If you are called, either by the original raiser or one of the remaining players yet to act, which won’t happen frequently, you’ll often be a slight favourite against Ace-King or Ace-Queen and occasionally a four-toone dog against a larger pair.

Don’t get too results orientated when this happens – if it’s a good spot to shove then you should take it. And you could always suck out. In the right situations and against players with loose opening ranges you can shove a wide range of hands with around 20 big blinds: pairs, Broadway hands and even occasionally some suited connectors.

Sure, you’ll bust out spectacularly sometimes, but overall you’ll give yourself more chances to run deep rather than dribbling down to 8BB, shoving A-T and losing to pocket fives. Again.

4. Betting too big in the late stages

What is the leak?

Put simply, many players are getting their mid to late stage tournament bet sizing all kinds of wrong. You don’t need to bet as much.

Why is it a leak?

The best tournament players don’t open-raise for three or four big blinds, particularly in the later stages, where a min-raise becomes de rigueur among those in the know. Once play becomes a matter of shoving or folding, you can achieve the same results with a smaller bet that risks less of your stack.

How do we fix it?

In the later stages of a tournament when the average stack-to-blinds ratio drops, the minimum raise preflop becomes the most effective bet size. You’re still taking aggressive action to win the blinds and antes, but risking the very minimum when you’re going to be shoved on more often than flat-called.

When your stack is some 25-40BB deep those extra chips can quickly add up. Minor alterations like this can have large knock-on effects too. If you do get called then you can again risk less to win the pot on the flop, as there won’t be as much in there. And you can also alter your postflop betting in the later stages where proportionally smaller flop bets will have the same effect of picking up a shove or a fold.

Whybet a pot-sized 20k when an 8k c-bet will have the same result in the majority of cases?

5. Incorrectly calling three-bets

What is the leak?

There is a time and place for calling three-bets, and it’s not when you have no idea where you are or what you’re going to do.

Why is it a leak?

Calling three-bets, particularly out of position, can be a recipe for disaster for any but the very best postflop heroes. There’s been plenty written about calling three-bets when you’re deep enough with small or medium pocket pairs for set-mining purposes, but in the middle to late stages those situations will be fairly scarce.

Time and time again you’ll call a three-bet only to face a c-bet on a flop which you have missed or have only partially connected with. How much heat do you think you’ll be able to face with 8-9 suited?

How do we fix it?

There are two key options presenting themselves at this point: four-bet or fold. A fold is quite straightforward – you get rid of your hand and move on.

If you’re now making smaller raises preflop then you can get away fairly easily for a downtick of just a couple of big blinds. The other road takes you to four-bet city. Four-bet city is a fun place, but it’s also dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing.

If you suspect your opponent may be three-betting light then you’re going to win a lot of pots by coming back over the top with a four-bet. Occasionally they will come back over the top with a five-bet, at which point you can get it in with the hands you want action with and toss the ones you don’t.

It’s important to make sure that when you pull out a four-bet bluff it’s against either a thinking aggressive player, who will understand what you’re representing with the small four-bet and fold a lot of hands in their range, or an unthinking rock-ish player, who will muck all but the top of their range to make your four-bet profitable.

As a good rule of thumb you should never be sticking a third of your stack in preflop planning to fold to a reraise, as there are very few hands you aren’t getting a good price to call. In theory, four-bets polarise you to premium hands that you’re happy to get it all-in with and bluffs, and as such you can make that four-bet small – not that much more than a minraise over your opponent’s three-bet.

You should always plan what you’re going to do should your opponent come back over the top. Call their shove, move in over the top or pass? Don’t leave yourself humming and hawing: think before you act.

Article source: http://www.pokerplayer.co.uk/poker-strategy/tournament-poker/12196/5_big_tournament_leaks.html

Let’s define a big shove as a preflop all-in in a spot where you are deep enough to raise and react to what comes later. For example, say it’s folded to you in late position and you have 22 big blinds and everyone else at the table has the same. In this spot a player would usually just min-raise, but sometimes the best option is to shove your entire stack in.

This is a very common scenario in MTTs today, because beyond the first few levels (when antes come into play) everyone generally has around 25-30 big blinds. If you want to go deep in MTTs you need to learn when making a big shove is better than just raising.

It’s important to realise that the big shove is fundamentally not a good play. And intuitively it doesn’t make sense either. When you min-raise, your opponent has to decide what you’re going to do if he resteals. You get to fold your bad hands and call with your good hands. When you make a big shove you don’t get to make the final decision, and that seems stupid. But in the right situation it can be a very useful move, and let’s see why.

TIMES OF CHANGE

A few years ago nobody played back aggressively from the blinds, so it was profitable to steal from late position with a wide range of hands. I’m going to call a profitable ‘pure steal’ spot one where it is profitable to raise with any two cards.

If a pure steal is profitable then it is never correct to make a big shove. If your opponents are tight enough then if they resteal you can instantly fold your cards. It is never a good idea to make a big shove here. Unfortunately times have changed and players now play back much more frequently.

The main reason to make a big shove is to deny the big blind of profitable situations in which to flat call.The big blind will have 4.5-to-1 odds to call your min-raise, which is a very profitable situation for him to call with a wide range. He only has to put in one chip to win four and a half. Therefore by shoving 22BB you are denying your opponent this opportunity.

You can also induce some common mistakes by shoving. Most players fold too much and show too much respect to a big shove. If you’re on the button and shove 22BB a lot of players will fold A-5 offsuit from the big blind. They are definitely not folding an Ace to a min-raise. Also there are a few players who will call too light.

MAIN FACTORS

One of the main questions to ask yourself is: ‘Can I induce weaker hands to resteal?’ Let’s say you’ve got A-K on the button and 22BB. If the small blind would resteal with A-2 but not call your shove, then by shoving your A-K you allow the small blind to get away from their A-2. If the small blind is the kind of player who would resteal but not call with a range of worse hands, you are making a huge mistake.

You should also be asking: ‘Do I get blown off too frequently if I raise-fold?’ Let’s say you have J-T on the button. This is a pretty good hand, but not good enough to call a resteal. You can’t just fold it, so the solution is to put all your money in.

If you don’t make a big shove you always run the risk of playing a hand postflop, and one of the reasons you make a big shove is to avoid postflop play. This is another really important question: ‘How well does my hand play against my opponent’s range postflop and how well does he play postfl op?’

Clearly a hand like J-T is going to play better postflop than 2-2, even though 2-2 is a stronger hand. How well your hand plays postflop relative to how your hand plays preflop is very important. Observant opponents might realise that when you shove 22BB from the button your range probably doesn’t include A-T+ and 7-7+.

When you have those types of hands you are going to min-raise and try to induce a resteal from a weaker hand. When you make a big shove you can’t possibly have a strong hand, and this is really bad for you. When you shove 12BB you might well have Aces, but nobody in the world is going to shove 22BB with Aces. If you do the maths then against a range that doesn’t contain 7-7+ you can call with a super-light range.

Some players have realised this, and against a player who is making a lot of big shoves you can call with hands such as J-T. You are never too far behind and you almost always have odds to call given all the dead money in the pot. One small factor to consider is whether your opponent likes to slow-play Q-Q+ preflop. If he has this type of hand he may opt not to reraise preflop, but hope his opponent hits top pair and gets all the money in bad.

If your opponent might slow-play then it’s good to just min-raise hands that are pretty good but not amazing. If you min-raise and he shoves you can get it in. But if you min-raise and he just calls you can save yourself if you think he is slow-playing. Sometimes you can dodge sick coolers this way. You can min-raise with A-K and get called by Aces and dodge a cooler as you’re probably not going to hit top pair.

CASE BY CASE

Your approximate strategy should be to raise-call really good hands, raise-fold average hands and shove decent hands. It seems like a pretty reasonable strategy. The one-word description of it is polarisation. When you play cash games good players say your range should be polarised when you’re threebetting.

You don’t three-bet with hands such as A-J. If you’re on the fl op and the flop is J-9-2 you check hands such as 8-8 that are decent but not that good. If you don’t get into tough decisions it increases your EV. If your opponent resteals you can call. If your hand is garbage you can instantly fold if they resteal.

Make it easy for yourself with the marginal hands by just shoving in. Now we will look at more specific situations where we are assuming it’s been folded to you on the button and everyone has 22BB each.

PREMIUM PAIRS

With big pairs I will almost always raise rather than shoving. You gain so much value when your opponent defends with hands like T-9 and hits top pair against your overpair. Even if they get it in with a flush draw you’re ahead, and you get it in really good against a resteal.

If I was less deep and/or facing opponents who would never expect me to raise-fold I might shove these hands. If you min-raise this opponent you effectively reveal that you are raisecalling, which gives away the fact that you have a good hand.

This only applies against good thinking opponents. Very rarely I will shove big pairs against an opponent who has a specific read on me. Say someone has seen you shove Q-6 from the cutoff and min-raise Kings and he is a bit tilted, you might get a call. But I only do this about 1% of the time and I’m more likely to do it with nines or tens than Jacks or better.

MIDDLE PAIRS

The smaller the pair the less likely you are to hold an overpair, and you can’t really continuation-bet and call a shove. With these hands I am much more likely to shove prefl op so I don’t have to play postflop. Most of the time though I am still raising, as the value you get from inducing weaker hands to resteal is still huge.

You are still in position and you can often check behind and win the hand at showdown. I shove about 20% of the time if I have 22BB. A lot of people automatically min-raise and don’t think about how their opponents play. I shove them 40% of the time if I have 17BB.

Shoving is only worse if there are hands you dominate that won’t call a shove but will resteal. You are less afraid to get postflop versus good opponents. In general, good players are more likely to resteal with T-9 and defend with Q-J. They want to get it in with hands that are harder to play like T-9, where they can blow you off hands like J-T.

Good tournament players are adapting this strategy and will defend hands like Q-J as they can play well postflop. If you have pocket sixes, on what sorts of boards are you going to put all your money in? This is likely to be a set versus a straight or combo draw instead of a set against top pair. If you think your opponents are good then you lose less by getting postfl op with your middle pairs.

SMALL PAIRS (UP TO 5-5)

This is easy. You should almost always shove these as they suck postflop and you will so rarely hit a set. Their preflop value is extremely high relative to their postflop value. If you think your opponent will resteal with A-2 it might be better to raise-call 4-4 and 5-5. But only do this if you can make a strong case for an opponent restealing light.

STRONG BROADWAY HANDS

These are hands that I consider strong enough that you can raise-call for 22BB from the button. Usually I will raise-call with these because getting it in against A-x is so nice. Against opponents who like defending but hate restealing, I will just shove.

If you min-raise your pocket Jacks and they defend with T-9, this is good for you. But with A-K if they call with T-9 this is bad for you, as the board will often come three low cards and you will just get blown off the hand. If you min-raise A-K on the button you are rarely dominating them postflop.

Usually though, around 80% of the time I will min-raise, as most opponents will shove with hands like Q-J or 8-7. You would much rather get postflop against Q-J than 8-7 here, as Q-J hits the same sorts of boards as you, so you will usually get it in good if you hit. Against 8-7 they are going to fold if the board misses them and check-raise when they hit.

Obviously, getting it in against 2-2 when they would otherwise have folded is frustrating. Likewise if they only resteal with A-x and not K-x. Getting it in with K-Q against A-2 is extremely frustrating, so you may want to shove some marginal Broadway hands rather than raise-calling. With hands like K-Q I am usually shoving 22BB and I’m not crying the times they fold Q-J.

A-X HANDS

These hands have a higher preflop value than postfl op. I basically always shove these, as it’s normally a profitable shove. Hands like A-7s play okay postflop and get enough smaller Aces to resteal that it may be worth raising and reacting to their shove. But in general I shove A-x. You don’t want to induce a resteal and you don’t want to play postflop.

WEAKER BROADWAY HANDS

This includes hands like Q-9, K-T and J-9. With these hands I raise-fold around half the time and shove half the time. It depends on how likely they are to call with K-Q and K-J, or in other words how likely they are to put me on A-x. I am more likely to raise-fold if they defend smaller suited hands instead of restealing. In this case I would much rather let them call and play postfl op in position.

GOOD SMALL SUITED CONNECTORS

These are hands that are pretty bad, but are still profitable shoves. If I have a hand like 7-6 suited or 9-7 suited I only don’t shove them if I can treat it as a pure-steal spot where I don’t think my opponent is going to resteal that often. What you really want to avoid is getting it in postflop.

EVERYTHING ELSE

This is the same as above, except I fold instead of shoving. If I can’t min-raise as a pure steal I will just fold. There is nothing wrong with folding the button. Tournaments are so aggressive nowadays, you don’t have to feel bad if you fold the button sometimes.

IN SUMMARY

KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER

1. Big shoves are fundamentally bad. You are committing your stack when you don’t need to.

2. The main reasons you should shove are to prevent flat-calls and bad postfl op spots and to induce mistakes.

3. With the best hands you should tend to raise-call.

4. With the worst hands you should tend to raise-fold.

5. With the hands in between you should just shove.

CardRunners is the world leader in poker training with over 2,000 training videos, active strategy forums and other benefits focused on teaching you profitable poker. You can receive a CardRunners membership for free by joining Truly Free Poker Training.

Article source: http://www.pokerplayer.co.uk/poker-strategy/tournament-poker/12184/the_big_shove.html

While the debate over whether live or online players are better will rage on, it’s generally accepted that online players have better fundamentals due to the sheer volume of hands that can be played on the virtual felt. One of those fundamentals is knowing about stack sizes, and who better to talk to than Mickey Petersen, the newest member of Team PokerStars Online.

Size Matters

It’s important to recognise what you can do with your stack size and what other people are trying to do with their stack sizes. It’s important to work out who knows about stack sizes too, but if you are observant you’ll figure that out fairly quickly. Let’s look at various stack sizes and what to do with each one.

Short Stack

While open-raises have diminished in size in online tournaments, open-shoves have gone up in size. If you have ten big blinds then you are in an area where there are only two options: shove or fold. But if you have 15BB, and there are good players behind you still to act and they’re aware of general calling ranges, it makes sense to shove a lot of hands.

However, if you are on the button and the players in the blinds are weaker players, or tighter players who are only going to play back at you with the top 10% of hands, there’s no reason to  just shove. In this instance you can comfortably raise and fold, as if they play back then you know they have a premium hand.

Also, you can definitely raise and fold from a 15BB stack more often live than online. When you get shortstacked in lower buy-in tournaments I’d say you should be raising more often rather than open-shoving. In the bigger buy-in tournaments you are playing against better players, so you want to be able to do the same thing with your weak and strong holdings so they can’t put you on a hand.

If you have 12BB and are on the button, you don’t want to go all-in with A-5 and then just min-raise with Aces, because they’ll pick up on that and you won’t get action when you have a good hand. But in a small buy-in MTT if you raise from a stack of 15BB from the button, the blinds  might take a flop with a hand like T-7 or K-J.

The Resteal Stack

A stack of 15-20BB used to be seen as the ideal resteal stack size, as you could three-bet all-in  with it. In the last couple of years as the game has got more and more aggressive, people have  started calling resteals even lighter.

Nowadays even if you shove 15BB over an open it might be hard to get them to fold. The reason  this stack size is traditionally seen as a good resteal stack is that if you flat-call a raise preflop with a stack of 14-20BB you’re putting too much at risk and you’d much rather take the pot down  preflop.

If someone’s raised to 2.5x and there are antes in play, there could be 5BB in there to steal, and that’s a massive boost to a 14-20BB stack. With this stack size you don’t necessarily need to be  opening really tight – it depends on the stacks behind you. If everyone has stacks of around 25BB you can open more, because that’s an awkward stack size to play back with (it’s hard to three-bet fold with 25BB) and they can’t really just shove because it’s too much. However, if the stacks behind you have 12-20 big blinds then they’ll all be looking to resteal, so you should be opening less.

Mid-sized Stacks

In general it’s spewy to three-bet fold with a stack of 20-30BB. It’s a tough stack size to play,  because you can’t really three-bet too much and if someone three-bets you it’s a tricky spot too. If both stacks are in the 20-30BB range you’ve got enough to four-bet shove and get someone to fold.

However, players don’t tend to three-bet light too much from this stack size. When three-betting with this stack you’ll do it with a hand that will always fold if shoved on, or always call. You might think that three-betting light with a hand like T♠-9♠ is good, as if called you can flop draws, whereas in reality it’s better to do it with something like A♣-2♦ because then at least the Ace blocks some of the big hands your foe can have. However, if you three-bet to 8BB and someone shoves for 25BB you’re pretty much priced in.

The Big Stack

When you have a stack of 30BB+ you will see more flops and you can really open up and do things you can’t do when shallower. That’s when you start playing poker. Players absolutely defend too wide from the blinds because they figure they’re getting good odds, when in reality folding or three-betting is always better.

There’s a lot of merit to threebetting from the big blind to make a statement, especially in a live tournament. It’s good to get the first light three-bet in, especially if you’ve been somewhat tight.  That way, when you three-bet later with a genuine hand you’re less likely to get credit.

When your stack is 40BB+ you can do an even wider range of moves, like four-bets and five-bets,  and still fold. But you always have to be aware of the stack sizes. Even if you have 50BB, if everyone else has 20BB then you’re effectively playing 20BB poker.

Article source: http://www.pokerplayer.co.uk/poker-strategy/tournament-poker/12139/play_like_a_pro_mickey_petersen.html

Why do you need to steal? Every time you successfully steal the blinds and antes you’ve added chips to your stack without having to show your cards. In a tournament, as the blinds continually rise, it’s essential that you steal more than your fair share of them. However, you need to be aware of exactly what you’re trying to do. So be clear what your opening of the pot represents.

There’s a difference between being the opening raiser from the cutoff when you have K-J suited compared to 9-4 offsuit. The fi rst bet could be a value bet, while with the 9-4 offsuit you’re making a pure bluff or blind steal. As blind stealing has become standard practice, many confl icting bits of advice have emerged recommending various hand ranges for making blind steals. But what it comes down to is that if you’re coming into a pot with a raise your chances of winning it are better if you’re doing it with a hand of some value.

However, don’t lose sight of the fact that you’re making a steal. You expect your raise to be profi table because
of your favourable situation.

HOW MUCH TO BET?

As your blind-stealing bet is designed to win the pot without a fi ght, you should bet only as much as you need, not a chip more, to achieve the desired outcome (everyone folding). This will usually be between two and three times the big blind. However, you should be aware that in some tournament situations your bet doesn’t need to be that big.

For example, in the later stages of a fast tournament, when the average stack might only be 10 to 12 big blinds, simply doubling the big blind will usually have the same effect as tripling it, as players adopt a push-or-fold mentality.

The simple theory of blind stealing is that the later you are to act when the action is folded to you the more frequently you should try to steal the blinds. This means that a lot of your blind steals will be made from the cutoff and button. In recent years this part of play, especially in tournaments, has become very well known. This has meant that players in the blinds defend more liberally and will also ‘play back’ at you with a greater range of holdings, and often as a straight bluff.

This could mean that in some situations your ability to steal the blinds is seriously reduced because your raises just won’t win the pot often enough. Or at least it will feel that way. However, it still remains true that stealing from late position will usually be profitable. If the pot is passed to you on the button you only have two players to get your raise by to pick up those free chips, and their random cards will usually not be strong enough to call your bet.

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PLAYERS

However, don’t fall into the trap of stealing every time the action is folded around to you. Assess all the other factors at work in the hand before you raise. How is your stack looking? What are the players in the blinds like? What is their perception of you?

More important than the cards in your hand or the position you’re raising from are the players whose blinds you’re trying to pilfer, and the other players who are yet to act behind you. Put simply, if there are tight-passive players behind you and in the blinds, you can afford to open the pot as a steal very often. Unfortunately, the reverse is also true. If there are tricky-aggressive players behind you who will play back because they think you’re ‘at it’, or loose players who will defend their blinds, your opportunities to steal are much more limited. The big blind is the most likely person to ‘keep you honest’ because of the reduced price they have to enter the pot.

So pay them particular attention when considering your steal. Another vital thing to think about in tournaments when you’re weighing up a bit of blind theft is stack sizes. For a guideline of how your own stack affects your stealing options see the panel on the right. For now there are some general points to recall about the stack sizes of the players you’re stealing from.

In general you should steal less from big stacks and short stacks and more from the medium-sized stacks. This  is because big stacks can afford to defend – even push you all-in for your impudence – whereas short stacks are a lot more likely to move all-in with high cards or any pair, which could result in an embarrassing laydown.

Taken separately, these two elements are of use, but what you must do is combine your knowledge of the player and the stack sizes to succeed. For instance, you may be able to steal from a player with a big stack who is ultra-tight, or a short stack who is desperately holding on to make the money and will only play a big hand. So stay observant and play the player at all times.

STEAL UNTIL THEY STOP YOU

You should come to the poker table with an aggressive attitude, especially in no-limit tournaments. You must be ready to steal your way to victory, but you don’t have to come out fi ring from the fi rst hand. Your rule of thumb should be to try to steal the blinds until you’re given a very good reason not to.

Be aware of your image at the table, as the more you steal, the more people will be aware of what you’re doing. With some opponents this will mean they’re more likely to take a stand. And of course there are others that won’t. Our personal favourites are the players who say things like, ‘Yeah, just keep trying that, Sunshine,’ implying that the next time you raise they’ll fight back. But, invariably, they muck their hand again. Keep stealing from them incessantly and without remorse.

If you’re ever in doubt about when and why you’re stealing, just focus on identifying the correct ‘spots’ in which to steal, rather than worrying about what your cards are.

STACKED!

Your stealing options change greatly depending on your stack size. Here are some guidelines, based on the number of big blinds in your stack

16+ BIG BLINDS

● You have a big enough stack to try pure steals with a raise of three times the big blind.
● Your stack carries enough implied threat after the fl op to dissuade players from playing against you.
● If your steal goes awry you still have a big enough stack not to worry about being imperilled.

12-16 BLINDS

● You can steal, but be careful, because if you fail you’re turning yourself into a short stack.
● It’s better to try to reraise all-in with a hand or, if you can back your read, reraise all-in in the right spot as a steal.
● It’s better to try and steal to build your stack back up than to wait and be blinded down to short-stack levels.

12 BIG BLINDS OR LESS

● Move all-in. This takes courage, but making a normal raise invites others to either call you or move over the top, and with a diminished stack you’re out of options if either of these things happen.
● Moving all-in maximises your chances of taking the pot. If you’re called even a trash hand can beat premium ones. An alternative measure is to think about how much you can add to your stack by moving in.
● Any time you can add 15% or more to your stack by winning the blinds and antes you should consider moving all-in instead of making a standard opening raise.

Article source: http://www.pokerplayer.co.uk/poker-strategy/tournament-poker/12073/steal_the_blinds.html

Why do you need to steal? Every time you successfully steal the blinds and antes you’ve added chips to your stack without having to show your cards. In a tournament, as the blinds continually rise, it’s essential that you steal more than your fair share of them. However, you need to be aware of exactly what you’re trying to do. So be clear what your opening of the pot represents.

There’s a difference between being the opening raiser from the cutoff when you have K-J suited compared to 9-4 offsuit. The fi rst bet could be a value bet, while with the 9-4 offsuit you’re making a pure bluff or blind steal. As blind stealing has become standard practice, many confl icting bits of advice have emerged recommending various hand ranges for making blind steals. But what it comes down to is that if you’re coming into a pot with a raise your chances of winning it are better if you’re doing it with a hand of some value.

However, don’t lose sight of the fact that you’re making a steal. You expect your raise to be profi table because
of your favourable situation.

HOW MUCH TO BET?

As your blind-stealing bet is designed to win the pot without a fi ght, you should bet only as much as you need, not a chip more, to achieve the desired outcome (everyone folding). This will usually be between two and three times the big blind. However, you should be aware that in some tournament situations your bet doesn’t need to be that big.

For example, in the later stages of a fast tournament, when the average stack might only be 10 to 12 big blinds, simply doubling the big blind will usually have the same effect as tripling it, as players adopt a push-or-fold mentality.

The simple theory of blind stealing is that the later you are to act when the action is folded to you the more frequently you should try to steal the blinds. This means that a lot of your blind steals will be made from the cutoff and button. In recent years this part of play, especially in tournaments, has become very well known. This has meant that players in the blinds defend more liberally and will also ‘play back’ at you with a greater range of holdings, and often as a straight bluff.

This could mean that in some situations your ability to steal the blinds is seriously reduced because your raises just won’t win the pot often enough. Or at least it will feel that way. However, it still remains true that stealing from late position will usually be profitable. If the pot is passed to you on the button you only have two players to get your raise by to pick up those free chips, and their random cards will usually not be strong enough to call your bet.

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PLAYERS

However, don’t fall into the trap of stealing every time the action is folded around to you. Assess all the other factors at work in the hand before you raise. How is your stack looking? What are the players in the blinds like? What is their perception of you?

More important than the cards in your hand or the position you’re raising from are the players whose blinds you’re trying to pilfer, and the other players who are yet to act behind you. Put simply, if there are tight-passive players behind you and in the blinds, you can afford to open the pot as a steal very often. Unfortunately, the reverse is also true. If there are tricky-aggressive players behind you who will play back because they think you’re ‘at it’, or loose players who will defend their blinds, your opportunities to steal are much more limited. The big blind is the most likely person to ‘keep you honest’ because of the reduced price they have to enter the pot.

So pay them particular attention when considering your steal. Another vital thing to think about in tournaments when you’re weighing up a bit of blind theft is stack sizes. For a guideline of how your own stack affects your stealing options see the panel on the right. For now there are some general points to recall about the stack sizes of the players you’re stealing from.

In general you should steal less from big stacks and short stacks and more from the medium-sized stacks. This  is because big stacks can afford to defend – even push you all-in for your impudence – whereas short stacks are a lot more likely to move all-in with high cards or any pair, which could result in an embarrassing laydown.

Taken separately, these two elements are of use, but what you must do is combine your knowledge of the player and the stack sizes to succeed. For instance, you may be able to steal from a player with a big stack who is ultra-tight, or a short stack who is desperately holding on to make the money and will only play a big hand. So stay observant and play the player at all times.

STEAL UNTIL THEY STOP YOU

You should come to the poker table with an aggressive attitude, especially in no-limit tournaments. You must be ready to steal your way to victory, but you don’t have to come out fi ring from the fi rst hand. Your rule of thumb should be to try to steal the blinds until you’re given a very good reason not to.

Be aware of your image at the table, as the more you steal, the more people will be aware of what you’re doing. With some opponents this will mean they’re more likely to take a stand. And of course there are others that won’t. Our personal favourites are the players who say things like, ‘Yeah, just keep trying that, Sunshine,’ implying that the next time you raise they’ll fight back. But, invariably, they muck their hand again. Keep stealing from them incessantly and without remorse.

If you’re ever in doubt about when and why you’re stealing, just focus on identifying the correct ‘spots’ in which to steal, rather than worrying about what your cards are.

STACKED!

Your stealing options change greatly depending on your stack size. Here are some guidelines, based on the number of big blinds in your stack

16+ BIG BLINDS

● You have a big enough stack to try pure steals with a raise of three times the big blind.
● Your stack carries enough implied threat after the fl op to dissuade players from playing against you.
● If your steal goes awry you still have a big enough stack not to worry about being imperilled.

12-16 BLINDS

● You can steal, but be careful, because if you fail you’re turning yourself into a short stack.
● It’s better to try to reraise all-in with a hand or, if you can back your read, reraise all-in in the right spot as a steal.
● It’s better to try and steal to build your stack back up than to wait and be blinded down to short-stack levels.

12 BIG BLINDS OR LESS

● Move all-in. This takes courage, but making a normal raise invites others to either call you or move over the top, and with a diminished stack you’re out of options if either of these things happen.
● Moving all-in maximises your chances of taking the pot. If you’re called even a trash hand can beat premium ones. An alternative measure is to think about how much you can add to your stack by moving in.
● Any time you can add 15% or more to your stack by winning the blinds and antes you should consider moving all-in instead of making a standard opening raise.

Article source: http://www.pokerplayer.co.uk/poker-strategy/tournament-poker/12073/stealing_the_blinds.html