Twisted Oreos

Stick it to the Man!

2006-10-19T10:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, couple of suggestions relating to the prohibition of online gambling in the US.

1) Vote the bastards out.

2) United States online poker players could potentially wreak havoc with gold futures. I say let's do it.

3) If you see the man, stick it to him. Frist would be a good start there.

4) Long term memory. Keep it, for all of the cowards out there in the online poker gambling world, remember who they are and vow never to set foot in their online sorry ass for a casino excuse when this all blows over after we actually do stick it to the man.

5) Boycotts. Let's find something to boycott as a ymbolic gesture of our displeasure. Since booze, cigarettes, sex and gasoline are out, how about we boycott grapes....yeah grapes....Fuck grapes...that'll send a message.

6) Home games and pokerpaloozas. Underground drinking and gambling establishments. Oh yeah, now we're talking.

7) Puke on the people behind the legislation in the first place. The Brick and Mortar houses, race track sports establishments and the religious right. I plan to vomit in as many of these establishments as possible. I say ruin their gd carpets.

8) Protest creatively. Create some nice proposition bets related to heckling the political hacks that fell for this drivel.

9) Start a run on US Banking. Ooooh, I like that one. Let's pick a day and withdraw everything from our accounts. Get all online US gamblers to withdraw every penny from their banking institution on day number 270. Burn baby burn.

10) Groove on the rubble. Yeah, let's groove on the rubble.

This Post Speaks for Itself!

2006-08-16T09:06:00.000-07:00

Omaha Hi Hand Analysis/Situation

2006-07-31T19:02:00.000-07:00

Seat 1: waderaide (1,485)

Seat 2: poker_pat5000 (1,358)

Seat 3: Scarbrough (1,028)

Seat 4: bjudge16 (1,500)

Seat 5: SPAM MUSUBI (1,500)

Seat 6: knysch (2,601)

Seat 7: wildbilld111 (1,500)

Seat 8: jimbo069 (1,500)

Seat 9: Squib (1,028)

poker_pat5000 posts the small blind of 15

Scarbrough posts the big blind of 30

The button is in seat #1

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to Squib [Ah 2h Th 4c] technically, I should not play this hand in Omaha Hi due to the dangling 10, but I chose to as it was a bit cheap, early and it was suited to the Ace....it also turns out that I was able to limp with it.

bjudge16 folds

SPAM MUSUBI folds

knysch calls 30

wildbilld111 calls 30

jimbo069 calls 30

Squib calls 30

waderaide calls 30

poker_pat5000 calls 15

Scarbrough checks

*** FLOP *** [2d 4h Ts] I pair each of these cards on the flop, since the only real drawing hand out there to beat me is the low hand, which is a possibilty with so many callers, I have 6 outs to the boat. In addition, the only hand that really kills my outs is if someone else happens to hold two tens....

poker_pat5000 checks

Scarbrough has 15 seconds left to act

Scarbrough has timed out

Scarbrough checks

knysch checks

wildbilld111 checks

jimbo069 bets 30 probe

Squib raises to 300 Hey, look at me, I am actually in position with this hand. The checkers have all told me that they have not hit a set here, since the flop was a rainbow, there is no flush draw here either, making me think that my 2 pair is the best hand and that there are no real draws out there...if I allow another card to come, one of these hands could hit a set and corrupt my two pair. Since the only playable preflop starters for OHi, are AAxx and KKxx, I bet out here to take the pot. I don't want to slowplay this hand, or I lose it without hitting one of my 6 outs.

waderaide folds

Scarbrough is sitting out

poker_pat5000 folds

Scarbrough folds

knysch folds

wildbilld111 folds

jimbo069 folds

Uncalled bet of 270 returned to Squib

Squib mucks

Squib wins the pot (270)

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot 270 | Rake 0

Board: [2d 4h Ts]

Seat 1: waderaide (button) folded on the Flop

Seat 2: poker_pat5000 (small blind) folded on the Flop

Seat 3: Scarbrough (big blind) folded on the Flop

Seat 4: bjudge16 didn't bet (folded)

Seat 5: SPAM MUSUBI didn't bet (folded)

Seat 6: knysch folded on the Flop

Seat 7: wildbilld111 folded on the Flop

Seat 8: jimbo069 folded on the Flop

Seat 9: Squib collected (270), mucked

Completing in 7 Card Stud

2006-07-21T08:48:00.000-07:00

Completing your bring in in 7 card stud should be a RARE act. You never want to advertise the strength of your hand and there is almost no value in completing a bring in without a hand (bluffing). Let's just say that you are dealt AAA...if you complete, then what are you saying? You are saying, "Hey I have at least one more Ace!" and you may only get action from one player. That is a terrible value for that hand. Now let's say that you have 444...and you complete..here you are saying that "I am rolled up" and you might get folds all around. Not what you want.

Say you have nothing and you complete. You may run into another player with AA3 who will call you, and you have just let go of chips unnecessarily. Anyway, never advertise the strength of your hand unnecessarily. In 7 Card stud, you WANT action! If you push action away, you will just see your stack bleed away from the antes.

The biggest Douchebag play in 7 Card stud is to COMPLETE your Bring in! Do that as a short stack and players will likely raise and cap you just to put you in jeopardy. That play screams NEVER and I AM A DICK!

Now when would you make an exception? You are in position to the bring in, and your table is short. You show an Ace up with nothing under. You may want to complete to steal the antes and the bring in here, and because you will be first to act on 4th street. If you get a call from the bring in, then you must bet out on 4th street as well to induce the fold. If not, you better dump any unimproved hand on 5th. This is an over practiced bluff in 7 card stud and it only works well when the people that you are playing with actually see you fold hands with an Ace up...if you never fold an Ace up, then buddy, I want a game with you!

Completing a bring in would only ever be done if you are at a final table with few people left and you want to send a shiver up a good players spine. I would only ever do it, if I had a semi playable hand like QQ2 or 654sooted...and I would only do it to get into my opponents heads. I would never do it with a solid hand like 444, because I WANT ACTION!

7 Card Stud RnG games are some of the softest games online. If you would like to sign up at Full Tilt Poker (where there are some juicy stud donkeys) use the link on this site or use TWISTEDOREOS as a sign up code for a bonus.

Thanks for reading.

HORSE

2006-07-15T09:24:00.000-07:00

The biggest thing in HORSE is that you have to be very careful not to get to Razz with fewer than your opening chips, less normal blinds. For me, this means that I play very tight in the first round of LHE, as so many people chase with the low blinds.

O8, you just have to play the hands that make sense, which most of the time means that O8 will pass without you playing a hand, unless you have the BB. Usually, there is so much O8 action in the first session, only 3 or 4 O8 hands make.

This brings you to Razz and in the first round you can destroy, as players early will play poor starters, and remain in denial when you have the best hand. You do have to be careful, but by then you should have identified the better players at the table. I have almost ALWAYS taken the chip lead in Razz at this point.

Play the Stud hands normally, and by the time you get back around to LHE, you will have several short stacks who will push and with your chip lead you can sometimes chase and break a few players with the right odds.

LHE is the game that destroys players, much more than Razz in the later rounds. As blinds increase, you wind up playing a lot more LHE hands than any other, with limited chances to steal. If you go into the second round short stacked, you will need to get very lucky.
O8 in the second round will find the remaining short stacks pushing really bad hands. Here and in Razz is usually where the play gets down to 4, if you are lucky 3.

Then if you just play the games as you would normally, you have a very strong chance to win. Almost NOONE knows how to play Razz short handed. Think Dewey Tomco with a good starter and push the heck out of the others, you can bleed them here big time.

HORSE is available only at Full Tilt Poker at this time, although word has it that HORSE is currently being beta tested at Stars. FTP hosts a very popular big money Sunday night HORSE event that is a lot of fun.

Loose Aggressive Play

2006-07-14T17:07:00.000-07:00

This is a reply that I made to another Poker blog that I will be linking on the left. ColdE aka Huck has a nice discussion going on over at http://huckleberrypoker.blogspot.com/

I have experiemented with a lot of different styles of play, including as everyone knows Loose Aggressive. The two hardest styles to play are "calling station" and "weak tight"...those are generally big money losers.

There is another secret to playing a maniacal style of Poker, and that is to play much farther below your tolerance. In other words, make sure that you have TWICE the typically recommended bankroll for the limits that you wish to play.
This does two things:1) It increases your cojone factor and2) You can survive the severe swings of outrageous poker.

Another tip here is to micromanage your losses and that requires stellar post flop play and the ability to make quality reads on your opponent and trust your instincts. By micromanaging your losses, you want to be selective about the pots you play with "any two cards", and you still must play hands that can make in some manner without presenting you with very difficult post flop decisions.

That is why Panger is correct about Q2s being a bad hand even for a maniac. The better hands are middle connected cards, one and two gappers, ARagsooted (never ARag) and hands that can make big hands and give your opponent a difficult read.

You still have to vary your play as well, so that people will consider you a "dangerous douchebag with some skill"...silent but deadly.

Table Image

2006-06-25T09:17:00.000-07:00

Many online players like to limp in to pots with any two cards early in the hopes of catching a big hand, and many times they do, but this practice punishes them in later rounds. Establishing a tight table image early is essential and it will give your late preflop raises the respect that they deserve.

Those who have played loose early often wind up with a huge hand and get themselves called, only to see their Aces cracked when they get action from more than one player. From the sidelines, these are the players that love to claim that poker sites are rigged or berate someone for making such a bad call, but the player only has his early play to blame here.

The secret to establishing the proper table image early? Fold. Do not play marginal hands like A rag, tiny pocket pairs, low suited connectors, etc... stick to premium hands, it may take a bit of time to catch these hands early, but by folding, you will establish the image that you really need when you need to steal blinds and force out action later.

The importance of chat...

2006-06-03T11:00:00.000-07:00

Here is a pretty stupid video from the show Lost...but the poker chat, makes the show and the game a lot of fun.

Using Aggression

2006-05-29T14:17:00.000-07:00

Aggressive players win at Poker. Well, not all of the time...unless your aggression is controlled, it can get you into serious trouble. When I am playing, I love to use a players aggression against them. You can identify these players fairly easily: these are the players that never limp into the pot, but always raise, always. Aggressive players win a lot of hands by pushing their opponents off of their weak hands and generally will build a big stack, but unless this aggression is controlled, they will almost always give it away.

This type of player is a huge friend to you in a SnG. Often, this player will weaken a lot of other players to the point that they need to push with weak hands. They are the perfect player to face late in a SnG and expecially heads up. If you can do one thing against an aggressive player, it is to check your hand, especially with the best, or a very good hand. You will ALWAYS get action from an aggressive player when you check and with a reraise after he bets, you will either push him off of his weak hand or get you the action that you want.

In the graphic above, notice their are other signs of aggression in poker, and chat can also identify these types of players early.

Stud Hi Lo Quick Tip

2006-05-26T17:31:00.000-07:00

Of all of these cards, the one to fear is the 5. Pretty simple.
Always keep track of this card, especially how many have shown and folded. While a lowball flush can scoop you, so can a straight, but there is no lowball hand than can straight without that 5.
Track em.

Razz Tips from Trip aka Bender2006

2006-05-25T17:12:00.000-07:00

I am posting this here as the author wrote it based on this sites first post, which was an article that I wrote a while back on NLHE. Razz is essentially 7 card lowball, and Bender2006 is a solid Razz player.

It is quite long, but if you enjoy Razz, it is worth the read.

Razz Rule of Quarters

I know I've left some things out, please add to what I have left out, but I feel it's pretty good advice for razz tournaments. It's my approach and I have had success with it.

This is off my blog bender2004.blogspot.com

Following Squib's great section(twistedoreos.blogspot.com) on No Limit Tournaments. I want to do the same thing for Razz tournaments. If you want to read the rules on razz, go to http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/razz.php

Now then assuming you have knowledge of the game I'm going to use Squib's quarter timeline to base my game.

1st Quarter: Feeling out the table.

Basically, unless you know your competition from other games, you don't have any idea how your opponents play. Do they play big cards, are they loose, aggressive, tight, passive. Can they fold a hand. These are the questions you can answer for cheap.

To start I recommend you only play big hands or easy steals. What is a big hand???

Bender's rule of Razz #1. Big opening hands.

Big hands to me are any 3 card 7, or situation where say you have a low door card(Card showing) and it's an easy steal like a 2 showing, K-7 in the hole against the only other opponent left and he shows a Queen.

3 card 7's(7-6-5 as the absolute minimum) and spots where you can get a very easy steal without a fight such as a 2 showing against one final opponent who has brought in with a Queen on third street. These hands are either going to put you ahead for later streets or pick up the antes and bring in's.

Okay so you have played your 6-3-2 and you've gotten a little action say from a 5 showing. You must play tight during the first quarter. I can't recall anyone ever winning the whole tournament in the first hour or so but I've seen several people take an early exit. What makes razz so very different(and frustrating) from all other forms of poker is you always need a five card hand at a showdown.

How many times have you played holdem, had a straight draw on the turn and complete miss on the river. Now imagine just about every hand is like that. You're head will spin. In holdem if you have Pocket Aces, your hand will almost certainly be good without much improvement. Seven stud the same way. If you start with Rolled up aces, you likely will not need to improve to win the hand.

In razz, you always have to improve your hand if you're going to win.

A-2-3 as great as a hand that it is has to hit 2 of the next 4 cards to make a good hand. So back to the example of 6-3-2 against an opponent with a 5 showing. Unless you are Phil Hellmuth and you can look into his soul, unless you hit either something that for sure gives you the best hand, or make a four card 8 minimum, I recommend folding.

Example 1.

Suppose the boards look like this6-3-2-Tx-x-5-5

I recommend calling the bet or betting yourself. You clearly hold the best hand and can definitly can take a card off.

Example 2.

Suppose the boards look like this6-3-2-8x-x-5-8

Again you can take another card off. At worst you are only slightly behind, and you will be getting enough pot odds with the antes to put another bet in. For fifth, sixth, and seventh play your boards, but play tightly. If you hit bad cards early on, dump and just move on to the next hand. Allow other bad players to think that a T-8-9 on 5th street is solid.

Basically you are looking for one of three things,

1. To easily pick up the antes with a very easy steal

2. To get out for as cheaply as possible.

3. To take a good pot here or there from a sucker.

There will usually be enough inexperianced players or downright idiots to give you a nice start to your tournament.

The question is when do you go from Quarter One to Quarter Two?

I'm gonna copy Squib and say the same thing. After 1 hour of play or after 50% of the field has been knocked out.

To rehash what the best advice for the first quarter is. Play Big hands(3 card 7's or Steals with a very high chance of succeeding) Play tightly on later streets. Only stay in the hand with a large edge. Don't go gung ho without a wheel or boardlock(Which I'll explain later). Know that you cannot win the tournament in the first hour, but you can lose it.

2nd Quarter: Accumlating chips.

Okay you have survived some melees, a few ATM's 4 betting with K-Q-J-J boards so they can go back to playing holdem. You have a nice stack, round average. Now is the time to open your game a little bit. The betting after the first hour on Full Tilt Poker is 100/200 ante 15. With a little extra in the pot and a tight image established, you can open up a little more. Starting hands can now be increased to 3 card 8's (However I would use 8-6-3 as the worst of them)

Stealing the antes will be more of a key in the tournament. Don't be afraid to raise every now and again with say J-7 and a 2 doorcard against 1 good door card left to act. With a fair portion of donks knocked out by now, the remaining players have some idea how to play razz and will fold their T-K door cards accordingly.

As mentioned before look for spots where you have a boardlock.

Bender's Rule of Razz #2: Boardlock is your friend.

Basically a board lock is looking at your opponents 4 hole cards and your cards, you know for certain there is no card he can catch to win and you have a 100% chance of winning.

Example. Suppose you hold7-5-4-3-2-2

Your opponent hasx-x-8-9-8-7 You hold a boardlock over your opponent. The best hand he has now is 9-8-7-2-A and the best hand he can make on 7th street is 8-7-3-2-A. Your 7-5-4-3-2 beats that even without improvement. The easiest way to identify boardlock is to picture the two best possible cards he could have now and the best card he can catch on the end. If you can beat that, you are 100% to win the hand.

Remember this is limit poker. Don't be fancy and try and set up a large reraise. Fire shells into the pot. This is the spot where you have the goods, you fire. I still recommend you play fairly tight, but you have to adjust and fire a little more to stay in the hunt. To help with decisions on later streets and even 3rd street, comes the most important rule of any stud game.

Bender's Rule of Razz #3 PAY ATTENTION TO THE BOARD!!!!!!!!!!

This cannot be stressed enough. You get to see at least 7 cards aside from your own. The value of your hand will greatly be increased or decreased depending upon what cards are live to you.

Suppose you hold say A-2-3 and you see that 2 players have a 4, two players have a 5 and three players have garbage. 4 of your wheel cards are now dead. While still playable as any 3 card wheel(5 low) It is not worth playing for 4 bets. As cheap as you can try and take another card off and see how it affects your hand.

On the other end of the spectrum, say you have 7-4-A. 2 other players have a 7, two other players have a 4 and someone else has an ace. Fire like mad with this hand. 5 bad cards that could pair you are now dead and your hand value has tremendously increased. This same principle applies to all streets. If for whatever reason you have boardlock with Ten Low, cap it off if you can. But pay close attention to the board and how many cards are live. It separates good players from excellent players.

When does quarter 2 end? As Squibbles said Double the Bubble.

Review:1. Open up just a little bit, but not too much.

2. Look for spots where you can acheive boardlock.

3. Run more steals, on 3rd street and later streets where you have the best board.

4. Adjust your play to the chipstacks. Some will be much larger than yours, some much smaller.

5. Keep track of your chipstack, and build wherever possible.

3rd Quarter: Opening the bag of tricks.

Okay there are only a few players left and you're hopefully getting close to the money. This spot is where you need to gamble it up a little more if you want to win. If your main goal is merely to cash, play extra tight. But if you want to make big money, you have to go for the top 3 spots. In most razz tournaments the field may only pay 3 or 4 spots. This is the point of no return. You have to decide do I want to sit in a foxhole and try just to sneak in a cash or go charging for the big dollars. Personally I try and go for the win, but this decision is yours.

With that said, We will say hypothetically that the 8 players who make the final table will cash. Now that a majority of the players left are not donkeys, playing completely straight-forward will no longer work. You should still play tight. You shouldn't think you can win a pot with 5-K-Q showing, but now is the time to run a lot more steals, run a lot more bluffs.Your biggest prey will be small stacks, and players who are playing super tight trying to sneak in and can be run over.

Your opening requirements in early position should still be 8-6-3 or better depending on board. In later position, you can play hands like K-A-2 but only against medium door cards or super-tight players. After hour 2 of a tournament, you will be playing 300/600 ante 50. Stealing the antes more frequently will keep you in the game, and keep you building. If you find yourself low on chips, really step up the aggression.

Don't take in a suicidal hand, but don't be afraid to commit your chips with four to a seven low on 5th street. I'll show you few tricky plays that will work against sophisticated players.

1. The setup.

Suppose it's a 3 way pot and you have 9-3-2 and your 2 is showing. Your opponent to your right completes with a 7, someone else calls also with a 7, and it's your action. With your tight image in place, you might reraise with a 2 showing. Likely both players call. 4th street shows. 9-3-2-Ax-x-7-6x-x-7-Q You will have the image of having a really good hand in front of you. Bet again. 7-6 may drop if he had a 9 or higher in hand or will only call with a 7-6 draw. There is no chance a 7-Q is going to stay in knowing he's gonna face more action. 5th 9-3-2-A-7x-x-7-6-8 Bet again. Now the first opponent may have 8 low or a pair. He now must fear that you already have a 7 low made and even if he makes a 7 on the next card, he will have 7-6 and you will have that beat. He folds his hand and you take the pot.

There is luck involved with this play, but having your good cards showing and up front will help you win key pots. You set your opponent up with the intention to bet again if you catch well(even if you pair) against an opponent who catches marginal. You might get called down, but you have outs. Likely though players won't stay with marginal hands unless it's a massive chip stack or very low stack. You don't want to bluff these guys anyway though.

Bluff medium stacks, play legit against medium and large stacks, and gamble with low stacks. Harrington's Rule of Ten that applies to holdem also applies to Razz. If a low stack is ready to get it on, and you hold a semi-reasonable hand(K-A-2, 9-7-6, J-4-3) and it's costing you less than 10% of your total stack, go ahead and give him action. If you lose, no big deal but if you win it's one less opponent separating you from the money.

When you are on the bubble, keep attacking. People will play extremely tight at this point, and you can pick up enough pots to keep you in contention for a victory. Quarter 3 ends when you hit the promised land of the final table.

Recapping.

1. Decide, am I in to cash, or am I in to making the money. You may cash more often by playing tight, but the big dollars involved in winning more than compensate for several small cashes.

2. Open up your bag of tricks. Checkraising, trapping, setting opponents up, bluffing more often. Don't throw exclusivly fastballs anymore. Mix in some curveballs, sliders, breaking balls, even a knuckleball every now and again. Now is the time to keep your opponent guessing.

3. Gamble more. You have to give action to get action. Don't be afraid to take out some small stacks. Be a predator.

4. Keep your cool. In razz you will brick often. It is the nature of the game. By now you want to knock out a wall with your fist after brick-brick-brick. Let it go, be patient, and get ready to collect some more chips.

5. Be smart about your aggression. Put down hands where you are clearly beat. Dont play high door cards, your bluff potential is zero if your secret is out and the whole table knows you have nothing.

4th Quarter: The Endgame.

Congratulations and welcome to the final table. You may or may not have cashed by now. The fields in Razz are generally not huge so possibly you may have to get through 3 or 4 more players to make the money. That's okay, just continue the strategy from Quarter 3.

Crunch time. You see the seven players left in the game. All the money is now at one table. You see a couple large stacks(Hopefully you are one), a couple medium stacks(Not to be sneezed at), and a few very low stacks(Your early prey) Here is a loose example of a final table I played in a while back.Three Big Stacks started the final table. Myself, Katokat(A braclet race winner), and Bruinwoud(A top Stud 8/b player) Three Medium Stacks also started. RedSlick(A $30/$60 Cash game regular), Chickendog(A WSOPC Qualifer), and RageMachine(A former Razz Winner)Two Despratly Low Stacks Skins12345, and Spidermooch.

My strategy was to really punish Skins and Spider and force them to a decision. A loss to these two wouldn't hurt my chipstack much. I would only occasionaly bluff RedSlick, Chickendog, and RageMachine or go in with a legit hand. They had the ability to dent my stack. I would only play big pots with Katokat or Bruinwoud with big hands as they had the ability and the chipstack to cripple or possibly eliminate me.

My range of hands will vary depending upon which opponents are in the pot with me.In my tournament Skins took 7th and Spider 8th.

Six handed, play more aggressive. It is now more key to steal as it is less likely someone has a legit hand. They have to have the fear that you have it. Wait for someone to slip or go on tilt with this 5 or 6 handed game and punish. Likely what happens in a tournament since we are all greedy, the other players will gang up on the one player for a shot to move up a spot. That's what happened to RageMachine. He got low on chips, The 5 of us ganged up on him, and I gambled in a hand that held up to knock him out in 6th.

Bruinwould fell to the same fate. Got low, got punished, got knocked out.Three & Four handed(By now you are surely in the money).

At this point you have to think win. The only time this may not be true is if you are extremely low with another low stack and you think that you can move up a spot by holding on. Even here I would gamble 3 card 9's. Any time you can get a steal you do it. Hands like 3 card 9's in the right spot can be big.

Draws become big.

The betting is so big by this point it is conceivable to be able to get it all in there so the threat of elimination becomes bigger and bigger. Use this fear to accumulate chips and punish whoever is lowest at the table. If it is you, pick a hand and run with it. You will get some action, and with the right cards they can double you into contention. Luck will be key here. As a side note ChickenDog got low here and he got eliminated. Three handed Katokat, RedSlick, and Myself were all at very even chipstacks. RedSlick was the first to blink, I pounded him and Katokat finished the job.

Suppose you weather the storm all the way to Heads-Up. Well done man, but there's still one more opponent left.

This is where you change gears to super super aggressive.

Any time you have a door card that is a baby against a 9 doorcard or higher raise regardless. If he reraises, raise him back with good hands, call with all others. As soon as you see the paint cards on his side, fire fire fire.

As sooon as they come on your board, dump. Tens, Jacks, Queens, and Kings showing when you have a 9 or better should be target practice. Fire. Be very aggressive. Likely this will be a long drawn out process since it's limit and it's heads up. A lot of situations will be clear cut. But by opening your hands and playing aggressive you can weaken your opponent down.

Once he gets low, really start gambling. Finish him off. Hopefully that takes you all the way to the win and the big dollars.Heads up vs. Katokat I had about 75,000 to his 55,000. I played very very aggressive and also caught better cards. My 7:5 chip lead quickly became 2:1, 3:1, 5:1, 10:1. I did double Katokat up once, but continued charging, gambled on T-7 low and won the tournament.

Aggression pays heavily when the betting is this big so do it.Hopefully that leads to the win. When does the 4th Quarter end? When you have won the heads-up, taken the big dollars, and have a victory brew opened and consumed

Recap.

1. Find low stacks and pound on them. Medium stacks bluff occasionaly, play more legit. Big stacks, play close to the vest, only rumble with a big hand or steal with very high chance of succeeding.

2. Gang War. Though unspoken, generally the other stacks will bully and punish a low stack at the table. If the low stack is you, make a stand before you run too low on chips.

3. As the number of players at the final table goes down, your aggression must go up. By heads-up it should be extremely high.

4. Pray that your key hands hold and your key pots are big. Luck will be a big factor amongst players at the final table.Overtime.

Basic Razz Tips for all quarters.

1. Never bring in for completion. Read Perry's Article at www.Fulltiltpoker.com under tips from the pros. What applies there to stud applies to razz too.

2. Draw smooth, dont draw rough. It is much more preferable to have a hand like K-A-2-3-4 than 9-8-7-6-5. The 4 card wheel is a favorite.

3. PAY ATTENTION TO THE BOARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4. Keep your cool. Remember 5 card hands, every 3 card hand must improve to win. You will brick-brick-brick. But over the long-term the idiots who play jack door cards will go down in flames.

5. Try out some hand combinations on www.twodimes.net to get a feel for what odds beat what. For example.A-2-3 beats K-A-2 about 70% of the time.

6. You have to play to win. Get as much experiance at the play money SNG's and $5 SNG's as you can before you start playing real money. It's how I got my start.

7. Know that you may only see good cards 10% of the time. Even then only 1/2 the time will A-2-3- develop into even an 8. When you see these premium hands, play them. Most of the time they will be good.Best of luck and maybe you'll win the next razz tournament....Unless you go up against me, then yeah, good luck to ya

Practicing What You Preach

2006-05-24T17:02:00.000-07:00

In the past, I have participated in a forum for Poker discussion. Poker forums can be a lot of fun, or be a chore. In general, this forum has been terriffic. My play has improved dramatically just by playing some really terriffic online poker players.

There have been 4 seasons of team poker at this forum. I have participated in all of them, starting out as a whiny newcomer and then getting to know a whole lot of very good people, and less than a handful of complete idiots. That's a pretty good ratio for poker forums.

Last night was the final event of a 9 week event where NLHE, Razz, Limit O8, Limit Stud8, LHE, HORSE, PLO, Limit Stud, and in the final week, NLHE again. This was team poker, with an emphasis on individual play. No softplay, chip dumping, etc.. was allowed and this was enforced by a "Commissioner" who did a fantastic job.

My team won this event. My Captain did a beatiful job and was responsible for selecting players via an online draft in a drunken stupor. Her philosophy for the team, "I picked players that I wanted to play with because they were fun, and good."

In last nights final event, I was delayed by about a half an hour. I was blinding off, although players from all teams were not randomly stealing my blinds. That was class. When I arrived, I had lost about 270 of my 1500 starting chips to the blinds, so while several quality players had busted, including half of our team, I knew that I had to practice what I have preached.

Here are a couple of key hands for me (summarized because I do not have the hand history)

Key Hand 1: In position, I am dealt KQs, I raise 2 times the BB from the middle. The player seated to my left raises the pot, all others fold to me and I call. The flop hits KJJ, and I put all of my chips in. The player to my left thinks for awhile and decides to fold. A bit later he said, I folded my Aces there, you shouldn't have called my raise with that QJs.

Because I was short stacked and I know forumers to be tight players, I felt that only 2 hands could beat me. If I represented the set, and placed all of my chips in, and won with the hand, the player to my left would have been crippled having fewer than 5M to go. (Read Harrington II)

That was obviously a key, because I semi-bluffed him off of his hand.

Hand 2:

A very aggressive big money player is seated to my right. This person played in the 2005 WSOP and won MONEY. He is a very loose, calculated player who plays post flop hands extremely well. He has zero fear and will go all in every hand if he thinks the table is too tight. I watched him do this and get fold after fold until he was back in the chip lead. Anyway, aggressive, controlled maniac that makes money.

I am dealt KK, and the aggressive player to my left is BB. I limp into the pot from 1st position with my KK. I am going to gamble here and I want action and the assumption that I have a drawing hand. It folds around to the BB, who raises 3 times the BB. I call.

The flop hits 39K. Check to me, and I bet the minimum (a probe). The controlled maniac hates probe bets and minimum bets...pull that shit and he wants you all in...(notes are good to have, but I have played with and watched this player many, many times). "Controlled Maniac" bets the pot over the top of me, and I push all of my chips in quickly. (Online, this can be a tell for a drawing hand, even though this is not a drawing flop).

Cards come up and I have my set of Kings to his pair of 3s. The turn card hits and CM is drawing dead.

Hand 3:

I have now built a better than average stack and I have 4 people on the same team sitting to my left in order. One of these people is a very solid player who will push his high drawing hands hard hard hard to induce folds. He overplays his AKs, AKo and AQs all the time. Of course he is dangerous as he plays his pockets the same way.

I am dealt J10s. I limp. I was second to act and this quality player moves in with a pot sized bet. His typical move for a group 1 starter. All fold, and I call.

The flop hits J94. I check to trap. Solid player moves all in. I think about this player for a moment and realize that if I call, I will likely blind off in the next round so a call is dangerous for me. However, if I call him, I will put one of the best players out of the event. I take most of my time and decide that because I have seen him overplay his AKs, AKo and AQs many times in the past, I am going to call. Of course all of these hands give him good outs, but based on my past knowledge of this player, I call.

He turns up AKo. The turn brings a 10 and now he has a lot more outs, but thankfully the river is no help and he is out. This hand illustrates the danger of overplaying AKs.

Hand 4: Tables have rebalanced and Contolled Maniac is now on my left. I have a very good stack, but CM has a dominant chip lead and is pushing the table around a bit. I am in the SB and I am dealt AKs.

Everone folds around to me. I CALL. The flop hits K82 rainbow. I CHECK.

CM bets the pot which is a good size as the blinds are now high. I hesitate a bit and then move over the top of him all in. Only 2 hands have me beat, pocket 8s and pocket 2s. I don't think he is on these as he would have raised from the BB, at least with pocket 8s.

The hand turns up and CM has K9o, I have the better hand and it holds. CM now has the short stack and I take the chip lead, making the final table.

That is the value of playing AK properly. It becomes a monster hand when it hits and provides great value. Any raise from the BB and I would have likely induced a fold or an all in from the CM that may have induced me to fold my AK pre flop.

I finished 6th in this torunament, and my team finished 1, 2 and 3 to go on and win the 9 week event.

Great event and I may return next season.

Playing Ace King Properly

2006-05-17T10:37:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest leaks in poker among beginners is in the way they play Ace-King. Time after time, I have seen players holding AK; put all of their chips in pre-flop. In addition, many will continue to bet their AK after the flop even if they don’t hit a card, hoping for that magic turn or river only to lose everything to a better hand.

Even though AKs is a Group 1 hand, it should be played carefully. Here is an example.

Seat 1: Curls777 (770)
Seat 2: pay2see em baby (2,830)
Seat 3: the-giller (2,255)
Seat 4: kpone (1,615)
Seat 6: BoxerIsland (3,545)
Seat 7: havocrinaldi (1,955)
Seat 8: Squib (3,220)
Seat 9: luisameto (1,095)
kpone posts the small blind of 20
BoxerIsland posts the big blind of 40
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Squib [Ah Ks] Notice here that I am early to act. This is not a seat that you should be trying to steal blinds from in general.
havocrinaldi folds
Squib calls 40 This is the proper play early for many reasons. While there may not be a better pre-flop hand left to act, simply calling with this hand does a couple fo things: right here, it gives zero indication that I am holding AK, which is what I want.
Elx sits down
Elx adds 1,635
luisameto calls 40
Curls777 folds
pay2see em baby folds
the-giller calls 40
kpone calls 20
BoxerIsland checks 4 way action, either a big hand or a bust.
*** FLOP *** [4c 8d 7c] It's a bust. This flop is obviously a bad one for AKo especially since I am unsuited to clubs.
kpone bets 40 This player who is in position to act first, has obviously caught a small piece of this flop...he leads out with a probe bet to see where he stands
BoxerIsland calls 40 A call here, says a draw
Squib folds The right move. Calling here is just a recipe to give away chips.
luisameto calls 40 Draw
the-giller calls 40 Draw
*** TURN *** [4c 8d 7c] [4d] This card is a "freeze" card...as you can see by the checks.
kpone checks
BoxerIsland checks
luisameto checks
the-giller checks
*** RIVER *** [4c 8d 7c 4d] [6c] This board more often than not will not hit an A or a K...when it does and you have folded, don't kick yourself: what would you have done if this board hit a K on the river? Because of the turn card and the possibilty of a 4 slowplaying, would you put all of your chips in here? Be glad that you made the right play.
kpone bets 40 Because there was no action on the turn, kpone bets out another probe, he is trying to see where he stands and limit his losses if someone behind him happened to be slowplaying a 4
BoxerIsland calls 40 Call with a 7?
luisameto calls 40 Call with a 6, a lower pair or Ax?
the-giller folds
*** SHOW DOWN ***
kpone shows [3h 8s] (two pair, Eights and Fours)
BoxerIsland mucks
luisameto mucks
kpone wins the pot (480) with two pair, Eights and Fours
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 480 Rake 0
Board: [4c 8d 7c 4d 6c]
Seat 1: Curls777 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: pay2see em baby didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: the-giller (button) folded on the River
Seat 4: kpone (small blind) showed [3h 8s] and won (480) with two pair, Eights and Fours
Seat 6: BoxerIsland (big blind) mucked [6d Qs] - two pair, Sixes and Fours
Seat 7: havocrinaldi didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: Squib folded on the Flop
Seat 9: luisameto mucked [Ac 7s] - two pair, Sevens and Fours

Now consider the following alternative scenarios: You are dealt AK and you raise the pot. Most likely, you would push out the small and the big blind here, but that A7off may have played. Early in Sit and Go's, poor players will play Ace-anything. In this case, the dominated starter hand would have beaten AK...and cries would have gone out: DONKEY! BAD BEAT!

Had an Ace hit on this hand, and you merely called the Big Blind, a small raise or a check-reraise might induce the A7o player to get all of his chips in. Why? Because preflop, you did not raise with your AK indicating a stronger hand. The A7 may have had time to fall in love with his hand and pushed.

Modified Slowplay....The Probe Reraise

2006-05-16T14:54:00.000-07:00

Slowplaying can be dangerous, especially in early MTT play, however there is one type of slowplay that has allowed me to double up in early play time after time....here is an example with commentary.

Seat 1: Curls777 (660)
Seat 2: pay2see em baby (1,455)
Seat 3: the-giller (1,500)
Seat 4: kpone (1,440)
Seat 5: Bad_dog_As (1,365)
Seat 6: BADNEW3 (435)
Seat 7: havocrinaldi (2,805)
Seat 8: Squib (1,470)
Seat 9: Badbeets4me (2,610)
Bad_dog_As posts the small blind of 15
BADNEW3 posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Squib [Th Ts] This is a very good starting hand, but it falls outside of Group 1 hand choices for early play. It is worth playing, but unless the flop comes low and mixed, or you hit a set, you should be prepared to fold this to any paint hitting on the flop.
havocrinaldi folds
Curls777: u know im right, so great comeback
Squib calls 30
Badbeets4me calls 30
Curls777 folds
pay2see em baby folds
the-giller calls 30
kpone folds
pay2see em baby is feeling confused
Bad_dog_As calls 15
BADNEW3 checks
*** FLOP *** [Tc Js 2d] It's 7 to 1 to hit your set on the flop....here, I get lucky and make my hand....notice that this is a rainbow flop...if two cards or more cards flop suited, my play is going to be much different here
Bad_dog_As checks
BADNEW3 checks
Squib bets 30 This is the set up. A minimum bet after the flop is known as a probe bet. In early MTT play, most players recognize this as a sign of weakness, later players will see this for what it is, a sign of strength.
Badbeets4me raises to 120 The bait is taken.
pay2see em baby: beastie boys rock!
the-giller folds
Curls777 is feeling angry
Bad_dog_As folds
BADNEW3 calls 120 And another....the only hand that can beat me is a pair of Jacks...since there are now two people betting into this hand, I place one player on at least a Jx and the other on some kind of a draw. I don't have the short stack on any kind of an overpair, as preflop this player would have surely pushed his stack all in.
Squib raises to 1,440, and is all in This type of pot or all in reraise is known as a "squeeze"...on very, very rare occassions it is a bluff. Early in an MTT, almost never.
Badbeets4me: hmmm This is nice....the player is trying to put me on a hand here.
Badbeets4me: must have ace And I guess he is assuming I have AJ which make his call interesting, or he thinks I hit a lower card and am drawing to an Ace...not likely as an all in move here would be a very bad play.
Badbeets4me has 15 seconds left to act
Badbeets4me calls 1,320 It is early, so I think that he suspects that my probe/reraise all in is just a very fishy move.
BADNEW3 calls 285, and is all in Sometimes, a short stack will just make a "get me out of here desperation call"
Squib shows [Th Ts]
Badbeets4me shows [Jc Kc] This is a serious leak. Many players will overplay top pair early. Keeping this in mind, you can really build a stack to someone who overplays their hand like this.
BADNEW3 shows [2s 7s] I think he just wanted out.
*** TURN *** [Tc Js 2d] [8c] The turn is not a great card for me and gives the KJc a little hope...a bad beat here and I am seriously damaged. It can happen, but this is an example of a hand where the favorable odds win out.
Badbeets4me: nope
*** RIVER *** [Tc Js 2d 8c] [6s]
Squib shows three of a kind, Tens
Badbeets4me shows a pair of Jacks
Squib wins the side pot (2,070) with three of a kind, Tens
BADNEW3 shows a pair of Twos
Curls777: ha ha This player had just suffered a bad beat from BadBeets4me and was a little bitter about it....player names can sometimes tip you off to a player's abilities.
Squib wins the main pot (1,365) with three of a kind, Tens
BADNEW3 stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,435 Main pot 1,365. Side pot 2,070. Rake 0
Board: [Tc Js 2d 8c 6s]
Seat 1: Curls777 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: pay2see em baby didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: the-giller folded on the Flop
Seat 4: kpone (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: Bad_dog_As (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: BADNEW3 (big blind) showed [2s 7s] and lost with a pair of Twos
Seat 7: havocrinaldi didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: Squib showed [Th Ts] and won (3,435) with three of a kind, Tens
Seat 9: Badbeets4me showed [Jc Kc] and lost with a pair of Jacks

There were 234 people in this tournament. On this hand, I hit my goal for the first quarter and doubled up. I played very tight the rest of the way until 57 players were left. Money was at 27.
Unfortunately for me, I hit the Ace high flush on the flop, slow played it until the river, and was beat on the flop as my opponent had flopped the straight flush. Bad luck, which happens...I played my hand well and made one minor mistake in this tournament.

I saved a few hands for future posts.

Sit and Go Strategy: The Early Table

2006-05-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

Playing early when blinds are low

When playing in a sit and go early, you will not have a clue about the type of player that you are facing until you have seen several hands go by and at least a few showdowns. Here is what you should do.

1) Do not get involved in a hand (unless you have limped in the big blind).
2) Use the Hand History feature to look at hands that have shown down. Look at what the losing starting hand played. Did he go all the way with middle pair against a guy capping the nuts? If so, hope that he will share some of his chips with you.
3) Watch the players that do not get involved in early hands, or who get involved in very few early hands. Most of these guys will be your competition.
4) Fold all non Group 1 hands. (Group 1 = AA KK QQ JJ AKs) Playing AKo is okay too. Let all other hands pass unless you have position, then you can raise with Group 1 to Group 3 hands to steal. Remember this is early in a Sit and Go...letting go of hands playable hands until you have a read on your compstition is paramount.

I have used this strategy and found myslef 3rd in chips after the 30 minutes, with 2 and sometimes 3 players out.

When you hit a group 1 hand early

When you hit a group 1 hand early, you have to be aggressive in the extreme. With the exception of AKs and AKo, just push your chips all in. You should get at least 1 caller, with the best chance to double up.

Smooth Call with AKs and AKo. Why, because the poor players do not expect it and the good players will have a tough time putting you on that hand. Should you miss an A or a K on the flop, you must be able to lay that hand down to any bet. If you hit the Ace, and you are against a poor player who bets, you will find them over aggressive with A6o or 88 for example, and you can take all of their chips here....they won't have you on AK either.

Remember the early table is about reading your opponents and placing them on a playing style so that you can take advantage of them later.

Getting Started....

2006-05-14T12:31:00.000-07:00

Getting Started Playing Poker Online

Before depositing money, download the gaming software. Click the link to the left for Full Tilt Poker. Go through the basic registration process and select a name and a password.

Click around, and play a little bit on the play money tables just to get a feel for the interface. Understand that the play here is absolutely not representative of money play online.

Once you feel comfortable with the site, you will need to open an account with a third party payment processor. I use Neteller, and would recommend that, although there are others out there that are good and secure. You will need to set up an account and have your bank information handy. You will need to have your account verified by phone prior to moving money. This may take a little time, but once you are set up, it gets very easy. DO NOT LOSE your account code, password, and unique password…you will need all three to make deposits and withdrawals. You can make instant deposits at these sites, but there is a fee.

Okay, you have the poker software and a Neteller account. Check your Neteller account to make sure that your funds are available and then log out and close the screen. Open your poker gaming software and hit cashier. Use your Neteller account identification numbers and make your deposit. Very quickly, you will now have money on your gaming account.

Good Luck!

Where to start?

If you are new to online gambling, I recommend that you start by playing a Sit and Go. Avoid the multi table tournaments for awhile. Although these are tempting and a lot of fun, they can be very hazardous to your bankroll at the start.

Select a Sit and Go that makes sense for your bankroll and stick to No Limit Hold Em for now, unless of course you are skilled at Stud, Omaha or another, but know that these games online do not play like they do live.

When you play poker online, the action is much, much faster than live action and you will have fewer opportunities to read your opponents. The best recommendation that I can give you is to pay attention to the showdowns as well as how many hands each player enters. This will give you an idea of the loose players…the ones that you can take advantage of to build your stack with your quality hands.

Later on this blog, I will share an online Sit and Go strategy that has made me a lot of money.

Best of Luck!
Squib

The Rule of Quarters

2006-05-13T19:41:00.000-07:00

The Rule of Quarters: Online Poker MTT Strategy for NLHE

Over the past year and a half of online poker, I have taken notes, and studied play. I have evaluated my own play, and made notes of my mistakes. Needless to say, my game has grown and I have had some success cashing in MTTs, and I only play under this screen name, one entry per tournament.

While there are many, many better players than I who post to this forum, there are a few who are not. Constructive comments are always welcome, as this article is a work in progress. Once upon a time, at the old forum, I wrote an article on Sit and Go play, and received a few complements. This article expands on that and tackles the world of the multi table tournament (MTT).

I have identified four stages of MTT play, thus the Rule of Quarters.

Stage One: The Early MTT

“Any two cards can win.”, and people believe it, so they will play anything. The inexperienced player may be afraid to give up chips to a bluff, or fall in love with a marginal hand. They will almost always start with hands that will get them killed at some stage in the tournament. It’s free rolling time.

So how should you play? There are two schools of thought here, and both can be effective. The first says, involve yourself in a lot of hands, and push your weaker hands to build a dominating chip stack. The second is to play it tight. Unfortunately, if you choose the first, you will experience more bad beats and suck outs.

In stage one, I believe your play should be typical tight-aggressive. You should enter very few hands, and push hard with them. If you merely take the blinds, that is just fine. Save the tricks for later, just as you would in Sit and Go’s.

Playing tight early will help establish your table image as a very smart, conservative player, who can be deadly with a hand. The smart ones at your table will recognize this and avoid you. The poorer players will give you their chips with their marginal hands.

The early stage is where you should grind it out, slowly building your stack and doubling up every once in awhile. During this stage your enemy is boredom, as grinding it out and playing few hands can get dull, but beware. You still need to understand the table that you are at, before you begin multi tabling, or reading the forum, watching TV etc... In fact, you should avoid this altogether.

Always use the hand history to take a look at every showdown. Use the notes feature to identify the weaker players (and the stronger ones). This can help you immensely later on if you get rebalanced. I use a simple color code offered on Full Tilt Poker to rank players.

Here are a few rules for early MTT play:

Do NOT Bluff or attempt to bluff
Represent your hand (most of the players early, can’t read it anyway)
Don’t bother with stealing blinds
Understand that most players early will also represent their hands to you, telling you when you are beat, so lay your hand down accordingly
Trust your reads: inexperienced players will attempt a bluff without properly representing their hand, take advantage
Don’t be tempted to limp with a marginal hand
Identify the weak as well as the strong using hand history
Keep chat to a minimum and make liberal use of the mute feature
Understand the advantage of folding 3 cycles (tight table image, it will help you later when you need it)
Play one table at a time, and don’t worry about chip leaders and your relative position on the leader board

You goal for the early stage is to double your stack. If you do better, fine, but a double stack will put you in good position for the second quarter.

How do you know you have reached the second quarter? Easy, you have hit at least the first break, or 50% of the tournament players have been eliminated.

Stage Two: The Rebalancing Stage

Okay, so you survived Stage One and have successfully doubled your stack. You peek at the leader board and see that the chip leader has over 15,000 chips to your 3,000. Look at 10 to 20…most likely, they will have about double your stack. Fine, one good play and you are right there with them.

So what is happening now?

If it hasn’t happened already, you will be rebalanced soon. Occasionally, you may be fortunate enough to stay in one place with a strong table image; however you have to watch those who are rebalanced to you.

The herd has been thinned and most, but not all of the donkeys have been eliminated. (Not all of them, in fact a lot of times the guy with the chip lead is one of the biggest ones at this point, remember his name, he has your chips).

If you have been rebalanced, you have to continue to play very tight to establish the proper image, you will need it. As other players land at your table, watch your relative position and consider their stacks in relation to yours.

Now, you can begin to play some real poker. In stage 2, it is time to begin to misrepresent your hand, set traps, steal, semi-bluff, etc… You can pull out a few plays that your table has not seen from you before. It’s time to confuse them, but remember, this does not mean that you involve yourself in a lot of hands, as you can destroy your image very quickly (just go to a showdown with CBL, and it’s done).

Consider position. Use continuation bets to steal pots. If there is a flush draw showing on the flop, you will often get a caller, as there will still be players who chase here. In this situation, you can do a double continuation on the turn assuming that the flush card did not hit. Be in position, and make certain that the player you are involved with is a bit weak here.

Pull out the bag of tricks. One that has worked for me recently, when I have flopped the best post flop hand is to place a probe bet in first position. Often this will get a raise, as this is a typical weak play, and your opponent has you identified as a tight player, so he may try to steal this pot from you with a small or pot sized re-raise. Once a player has done this, I like to come over the top with another pot sized raise and this screams “I have just trapped you!” (This can occasionally work as a bluff, but be very careful).

Beware of slow play and offering attractive pot odds. Of course if you have quads, it may suit you to slow play it to the river, or use the weak probe/pot raise ploy to get action.

Here are a few suggestions for Second Quarter Play:

Steal blinds in position on occasion (better to do this one or two off the button)
Trap
Play a few unorthodox hands if you can limp, but be prepared to fold post flop
Use position for continuation bets
Don’t sacrifice your table image by showing down bad cards
Use your stack to kill shorter stacks with relatively strong hands (showing these down is okay, it will enhance your reputation as a killer at the table)
Talk it up a bit more….complement any player who wins and showdowns and wins with a poor or marginal hand (you want to encourage poor play)
DO NOT GO MENTAL against a bad beat (unless you are out, then feel free to hurl the mouse) Understand that every MTT is going to give you set backs, you just want enough chips to survive them
Watch the larger stacks carefully, and do no bluff them…look to double up off of them.

Your goal in this stage is survival. If you increase your stack GREAT, but survival is more important than amassing the chip lead…you may be up there anyway, if you are successful with your traps, bluffs, and steals.

How do you know you have arrived at stage Three? Easy, it’s “double the bubble”.

Stage Three: In it to win it.

Stage three is easily identified as that time in the MTT where the stacks are all larger, the donkeys are all gone, and the play is strong. If you have played online for awhile, you will recognize many of the names left in the game. They seem to be there every damn time you play. It becomes tougher to read hands and recognize when traps have been set against YOU.

Hopefully, your stack size is places you ahead of the bubble number, and if it doesn’t you will have to skip Stage Three and move straight to Stage Four. If you have a comfortable stack, then this is a very important stage, as you want to put yourself in good position for the money.

My recommendation is to moderate your play here. Position is everything. You will have difficulty getting action (unless you have the misfortune to get it all in with KK, only to see action from AA). Blind pressure gets very real here, especially for the shorter stacks that will push. Here is how you should moderate your play.

Position, Position, Position

Steal Blinds from the medium stacks (Stealing blinds can put you in position for the next stage, and when you are successful, you can double your stack with just a few good thefts. This is when your tight table image really works for you, and why it is so important to establish)
Recognize that short stacks will push all in now with marginal hands (an all in bet from a short stack should get called down with reasonable hands A10o for example, or pairs 88 and up)
Experienced players recognize the tricks, it is better to represent here
Identify those players that have tightened up prior to the bubble (these larger stacks will only engage you if they have a hand, so you can steal past them
Watch your M. If you have not read Harrington II, read it.

When antes are in play minimum bets usually give good pot odds, if you get involved in a hand, pot sized raises or all in bets ONLY. (all in bets if you are under 10M)

You recognize these players. When you are not in a hand, you should be taking notes, and if you can spot a weakness, make a note for next time!

Offer up to one quarter to one third of your stack to bust a short stack with reasonable hands (unless the stack is this short do not attempt to bust a player with anything less than a Group One Hand)

Your goal in this stage: get in position for the win while getting to the money.

How do you know when you have reached the final stage? Easy, you are in the money!

Stage Four: In the Money

Once you have made the money, you will notice that play suddenly loosens up a great deal. In fact, in smaller buy in tourneys, I have seen some people immediately throw all of their chips in order to double quickly or to just be done with it. Unless I have a monster, I like to be very patient and watch here. Let others call off the short stacks, a lot of time you will suddenly see three way and four way action here. Avoid it.

Hopefully, you have enough chips to wait out this post bubble wild action (it doesn’t last long).

Once this is over and done with, you will see frequent folding all the way around to the big blind. This is good as the table has tightened and the play is strong. Be patient and wait for your hand. Blinds are meaningful, and you have to pay attention to their affects on your stack. You want to make the final table and it you may quickly find yourself in all in or fold territory.

Pay attention to your stack and steal blinds if you will not place your stack below 10M if you get a caller. (10 M means that your stack is exactly 10 times the BB, SB and the antes). If you fall below 10M, you need to go all in or fold your hand. This action will allow you to steal blinds as players with moderate stacks will not want to risk their stack position to a strong hand. Of course, you will get called and potentially eliminated if you run into a strong hand or a large stack decides to take a shot at you with a marginal hand.

Inflection points also play a roll. In the money and especially at the final table it is not so much about seat position as it is about stack position and hand strength.

There is a very nice move that I have made, and I have seen several others make with strong hands and medium stacks. Usually, you would make pot sized bets to steal or play, but when you are down to the money, it is about eliminating players. When I am dealt a monster hand, let’s say AA or KK, and there is a short stack at the table, I like to put out a bet that is about 2/3rds of the size of the short stacks chip count. Usually the table will still fold around to the short stack, which if he has never seen this move before, may take it for weakness and put all of his chips in. A lot of players will not recognize the fact that calling off that additional 1/3rd of their stack is a given. I have eliminated a few short stacks late in tourneys with this play and it gets the attention of the other players.

For a thorough example of inflection points, see Harrington II.

Here are some final table tips:

Chip position, not seat position
Watch your M
Blinds are meaningful, steal with occasional all in bets if you are close to M
Patience Pays
Understand who is pushing and call them down with marginal hands if you are not going to sacrifice your M
Group 1 hands play hard
Make use of your notes
Showdowns are rare, unless you are all in
Watch the bubbles within the bubbles
If a tourney pays 18 positions, spots 7 through 18 do not get you a very good hourly rate, remember this and get yourself in good position for the final table
At this point, you are LIKELY to face suck outs, do not go MENTAL, if you fall victim regain your composure if you survive, and understand your M
Play it slow, ignore the chat, everyone is looking for an edge now
Understand that to win, you will need to get lucky…skill can get you this far, but luck is going to win it outright.

I hope you enjoyed this article. If you have anything to add, please do.

Squib

Note: Squib is an online poker player with an infamous inverted nipple who is a member of fulltiltforum.com. Squib likes to represent himself as a supreme donkey, but actually makes money playing online (primarily in Sit and Go’s and MTTs). Squib has withdrawn several times and survived all of the “cash out curses” enabling continued play on several sites.

The above opinions are those of Squib, although they have been collected over time from online play, articles, books and forums. Squib tips his hat to Dan Harrington, who has written the finest tournament poker book in the history of the game. Like many online poker players, Squib could not get over that hurdle and onto the final table with some frequency until the Harrington book. If you have not read this book, and are playing online you are simply and purely fucking nuts.