Chopping
Its 12:00 am and you find yourself at the final table after 9 hours of grueling play, and there are only four players left. Unfortunately everyone is pretty even stacked. Someone finally asks, “Do you guys want to just chop?” The day has been long, and everyone is starting to wear down. What do you do? Some pros advocate chopping if you can find an advantage to doing so. Other pros say absolutely not. In my opinion there are times where chopping can be beneficial. In the scenario stated above I think chopping would be the best avenue. The reason is because you are worn down and are likely to make mistakes that could cost you a lot of money, and everyone is even in chips. Most of the prize pool goes to first and second place, so if you finish third there is a significant decrease in profit. Chopping the money four ways will even everyone out.
There are plenty of reasons not to chop. If you feel that you are playing well, are alert, and you can see that your opponents are getting tired, then you might want to consider not chopping four ways. Since you are playing well, you can wait for your opponent to make a mistake and capitalize on it. At this point you may decide to play it out or make another deal. If you have a sizable chip lead over your players, then chopping shouldn’t be an option for you. If you are tired and fear that you might make a mistake, then offer to chop and give you a little extra on top.
One method that I like to use is chopping four ways and playing for an extra amount. For example, there are four players left and the remaining prize pool is $10,000. Each player gets $2,000 and then the table will play for the remaining $2,000. First off, this really speeds the game up. Players will start to play looser knowing they are guaranteed taking home a sizable return on their investment. The extra $2,000 for first is a great incentive to finish out the tournament, and it gives the winning player the ability to have a first place finish instead of a chopping finish.
Of course there are hundreds of ways to chop in tournaments, and there are thousands of different deals to be made. The main factor in chopping is assessing how you and your opponents are playing, how you feel, and what the chip stacks are. These are all indicators of how the rest of the tournament will proceed. If you feel you will benefit from a chop, then you should chop. If you feel that you are going to make 1st or 2nd place money, then you shouldn’t chop because you will lose out on a majority of what you could have won.
Pre-Flop Body Language
March 22, 2009 by admin
Filed under Poker Tells
When being dealt their hands, most players are focused solely on their own two cards, making decisions on what type of play they want to make. However, some of the most important information about an opponents hand can be deciphered to a great extent during these opening moments when they first peak at their cards. By understanding the meaning behind certain body language, you can give yourself an edge against players who are not paying attention to their natural emotions.
In order to catch these moments, you’re going to have to discipline yourself to not look at your own cards until it is your turn to act. Every pro in the world will agree with this habit, as it prevents your opponents from using your own body language against you. Now, look for the players at the table who are not waiting for their turn to act before looking at their cards. What do they do after they peak at their hand? Players that have general disinterest in their cards will look around the room or watch TV as if they don’t have a care in the world, most likely because they are about to fold when the action comes around to them.
On the other hand, if you see a player all of a sudden correct his posture, pull his chair forward and sit upright, you know he just looked at two cards he really wants to play, most likely a big pocket pair because small pairs and cards like A-J will not prompt most players to shift their body. I’ve even seen players reach for their chips pre-flop after looking at their cards, telegraphing far in advance that they plan on raising. You wouldn’t think someone would do something so obvious as that, but I’ve seen it myself.
It won’t happen every hand and it might not occur that often at all, but picking up on these slight tells can give you valuable information that will help you decide on how best to play that particular hand. And just because you think your opponent looked down at pocket aces doesn’t mean you need to throw your hand away if you can get in for cheap with cards like suited connectors, where you can possibly flop big against someone with a pocket pair who did not improve their hand on the flop. Keep your eyes open, and I guarantee you will see what I’m talking about.
Moving Up Limits
March 22, 2009 by admin
Filed under Moving Up Limits
After having several discussions with my colleagues about moving up in limits, I found that it is a common question that plagues most cash game players. When you are crushing the game, it is easy to assume that you should move up limits because you are doing so well. This can sometimes be the case, or the case may be that you lose everything you won in the higher limit and have to go down again. On the flip side, if you are losing, does that mean you have to go down in limits? I’ve found myself moving up and down several times in my career and I think that moving up in limits is all about taking shots and doing what is best for your bankroll.
Especially at lower limits it is hard to build your bankroll, so at some point you need to take a shot at the higher limits in order to build anything substantial. There have been times in my career that I’ve had winning months, and at the end of the month I’m left asking myself, “Where did all my profit go?” Quite obviously it went to bills or entertainment, leaving me with nothing to add to my bankroll or savings. This is why it is so important to play stakes that are going to give you the ability to pay your bills and add to your bankroll. However, there could be several factors holding you back like the size of your bankroll or your confidence.
Bankroll is extremely important when figuring out what game you should be playing. However, if your bankroll is suited to a 1/2 NL Hold’em game that doesn’t mean you can’t take a shot at the 2/5 NL game. Especially if you’ve been crushing the 1/2 game and have some extra profit, you should be taking a stab at the higher limits. Don’t just jump into the game blind though. Take a few moments to observe the table and find out if it is going to be a profitable game. There is nothing worse than moving up limits and finding out that it is tighter than the lower limits you just came off of. If this is the case you won’t win anything significant enough to build your bankroll. Also, if the table is too aggressive for your liking, don’t sit down because you will be too intimidated to play good poker.
Whether or not you win or lose when you take these shots, it is important that you return to the limit that you came from. Taking these shots at the higher limits is about building a bankroll for that limit and becoming comfortable with the stakes and level of play. If you stay at the higher limit and go on a bad run, you will put your bankroll in jeopardy. Your bankroll is the tool to your trade, so don’t lose it all just because you wanted to play the higher limit every day. Make sure that you are consistently taking shots and winning. When you have built up at least 10 bets from playing at the higher limit, then it might be time for you to consistently play at that limit. If you start running bad at that limit, don’t be ashamed of moving back down. When you have a bankroll suited for several different levels, it also expands your game selection. If you are a 2/5 NL player, you have the ability to play 1/3 if there is a great game going on, or you have the opportunity to take shots at 5/10 when you feel you might be able to beat the game. There is no reason you should be stuck at one limit forever, so as long as you are managing your bankroll and playing responsibly you should have no problem taking stabs are higher limits.
Picking Your Spots
March 22, 2009 by admin
Filed under Picking Your Spots
A major component of any poker session is being able to pick the right spots. This aspect is especially critical in bluffing. As stated before, you should never bluff just to bluff; it should be profitable to do so. If it doesn’t seem like it would be profitable, you shouldn’t do it. There was a hand that I witnessed recently where there was a total of 4 bets in the pot. No one seemed to be especially interested in the pot, as everyone was checking. On the river someone decided to put in a big bluff by betting $130 into a $20 pot. I am sure this guy was thinking he would just put a big bet that no one would call. Unfortunately for this guy, someone did call with bottom two pair. Not only was this a horrible bluff, but there was no reason to bluff at this pot. There wasn’t enough in the pot to justify bluffing as much of his stack as he did. In cash games, it isn’t as important to protect your blinds and bets because there is time to pick better spots where it would be more profitable to make a big bluff.
This can be a bit of a touchy subject in tournaments because every chip counts in a tournament. There are a lot of elements to consider in a tournament because of timed blind constraints. This theory applies to the tournament setting in bluffing postflop. In post flop play there should be risk/reward assessment when bluffin. If the pot is not worth risking a portion of your stack on a bluff, it may not be worth it to bluff in this situation. The best situation in cash games and in tournaments is to bluff when the pot is sizable enough to add to your chip stack, and when it seems probable that your bluff will succeed. In terms of tournaments, it would not be very profitable to bluff all in just to steal the blinds when they are at 25/50. It would be a better situation to bluff when there have been at least a few bets in the pot, and when the chips in the pot are going to add to your stack. Now, this doesn’t mean that you can only bluff at huge pots, but the pot size should be considered and the size of the bluff should be assessed in relation to the size of the pot. It could be very profitable to make small bluffs at smaller pots, but there is no reason to risk your entire stack for a pot that is going to do very little for your chip stack.
The same rules apply in cash games, but can be applied more stringently because there are no timed blind constraints. In cash games, players have the ability to wait for long periods of time for a good situation to bluff. The easiest bluffing situations arise in heads up play. However, don’t be afraid to take stabs at multiway pots. A few months ago I was sitting on a $2/5 NL table, and it had been raised $50 with 6 callers in front of me. I was in position, so I called. The flop came one over and two unders. It was checked around to me, and I made it $150 with no pair no draw. This was enough to take down the pot while not risking very much of my stack, and it was a generous pot to add to my stack. When choosing a good position to bluff in, the pot is the reward and therefore should be worth the risk you are putting your stack in.
Blinding Down
March 22, 2009 by admin
Filed under Blinding Down
Sometimes, when playing tournaments, it is hard to build a stack and the moves you make just don’t work against your opponents. If you don’t catch cards, this can be detrimental to your chip count. The tendency at this point is to wait for top 10 hands like AA or AK. Don’t let yourself succumb to this downfall! If you are waiting for these prime hands, they likely will not come around until you are whittled down to just a few bets. If this is the case, you’ll be lucky if everyone at the table doesn’t call just to get you out. When you are playing a live tournament, once you get down to 10 bets it is pushing time. In online tournaments, if you get down to 6 or 7 bets it is time to make a move. The purpose of this is you still have enough bets to entice someone to fold their hand to you. In most cases, if you start pushing with 10 bets, small pocket pairs will fold to you and you will get the ace rag to fold as well. This being the case, you can assume that the hands that are going to call you will be the prime hands like AK, AQ, AJ, AA, KK, QQ, and JJ. This is actually a relief because it means that you can essentially push with any live cards to these hands. If your all-in bet does not scare them off (as it should), then you have live cards to whatever they are calling you with. This increases the chances of you hitting a pair, two pair, or a flush (if your suited) and winning. Some live hands would include medium suited connectors, KJ, KQ, JQ, J10, or any suited face card. When looking for a pushing hand, there is a tendency to push with any ace. It is often better not to push with ace rag because you will almost always we called by a better ace. The idea is to have enough bets that you can still push someone off their hands, but have live cards in case you are called by a better hand.
Position is important when pushing with this range of cards. You should be pushing in situations that give you the best chances of stealing the blinds and antes. We are not actually trying to get called and double up with these mediocre hands, so it is best to push in late position when there is less of a chance of getting called. The positions that would be best are the cutoff, button, small blind and possibly the hijack. These positions will lessen the chances of getting called as half the table has already folded. Pushing in these positions will be vital to your survival in this critical state. The trick is not to feel powerless and become silent when you are a short stack. You can still make some moves to push around the big stacks because you can still put a dent in their stacks if they call you and lose. There is a lot of power in that when used correctly. Just be sure not to use it over and over as someone will eventually call you with any two cards if they feel you are just pushing the table around. Don’t get greedy. You are just trying to collect one or two blinds each round so you have that much more time wait for prime hands that you can double up with. Be patient and take advantage of good situations!
Sit & Go Quick Strategy
March 22, 2009 by admin
Filed under Sit & Go Quick Strategy
Personally, I love online Sit & Go tournaments. They can be entered and won in under an hour, feature a wide assortment of opponents, and allow cunning players to take advantage of weak fields to consistently place in the money well over 90% of the time. The reason so many players bust out early at a Sit & Go is because they don’t understand if they should be playing these small, single table events like a cash game or like a deep-fielded tournament. The answer is neither, at least not through all the stages.
Sit & Go’s require intense patience crammed into about 30-45min of poker. You won’t be able to use hours of information gathering to get to know your opponents, instead you’ll need to watch every bet, raise, fold from the get go to develop an immediate profile on everyone at the table. This profile can be limited in its usefulness since it’s based on limited knowledge, but it does help, especially when you get down to the making it in the money.
Here’s a quick three-step process to doing well at a Sit & Go. Will use the scenario that you’re playing in a standard 9-player tournament, no with special rules such as a turbo blind structure.
Early Round
The first stages of a Sit & Go can be played very much like a deep-stacked tournament. There are many schools of thought on Sit & Go hand selection, and I tend to agree with the methodology that you should stick to the top ten starting hands combined with proper positioning strategy. You don’t want to give up too many chips early on fishing with small pairs or even medium strength hands like K-J because they can be too easily defeated, and your goal is to make it to the money.
Unless you get a big blind special and flop big, you’re going to want to wait for the premium stuff, pocket aces, KK, QQ, A-K, etc. Many times in these Sit & Go’s you only need to increase your chip stack by 50% in order to cruise into a comfortable spot that will allow you have even more patience with your hand selection. Since you’re mostly playing just premium hands, you’re going to want to make sure you maintain good betting discipline when you pick up these cards. If you overbet and pick up just the blinds, you’ve wasted the hand. Maximizing your profits and the amount of chips you’re extracting from your opponents is incredibly crucial during the early stages of a Sit & Go, because if done right and you are able to double up quickly, you might be able to reach the top 4-5 spots with little difficulty.
Mid-Game/Money Bubble
The middle of a Sit & Go is when a few players have been eliminated and there are now a few big stacks at the table. At most 9-player Sit & Go’s online, only the top three spots are paid, so even though you’ve outlasted about half of the field, it means nothing unless you get into the top three. How to play your hands at this stage depends heavily on your chip stack. If you are the chip leader or runner-up, there’s a sound strategy in just waiting for the other players to take each other out, putting you into the money without much of an effort. This doesn’t mean you should fold your pocket queens, but it also doesn’t mean you should be calling off big bets with a drawing hand just because you can afford to. Don’t gamble too much here if you have a sizeable chip lead, remember that the goal is to make the money.
If you’re stuck with about an average to low chip stack, you are essentially now looking for an opportunity to double up. It is not advisable to raise all-in pre-flop unless you have a very premium hand and are confident you are going to get just one caller. The problem with going all-in pre-flop before making the final three is that the other players at the table will have tightened their play immensely, as they themselves will not want to be knocked out at this crucial stage. Big bets or moving all-in to pick up the blinds doesn’t make sense here usually, because the tournament hasn’t been going on long enough in a Sit & Go to make winning the blinds worth risking your tournament life.
Instead, you need to play tight/aggressive poker. Flop big, play big, it might be your only shot. Also pay attention to how the other small stacks are playing, as the short stack at the table is probably going to have to go all-in with something less than premium. Pay attention to his betting patterns to see if you can pick up when he’s about to shove with a mediocre hand and you can then possibly call and knock him out of the tournament.
When it’s down to the final four bubble, everyone is going to be waiting for the short stack to bust out. Very rarely will you see the big stacks at the table get into a betting war with each other at this point, they rather just make it into the money. If you’re the short stack in this situation, see if you can ID which, if any, players at the table raise constantly pre-flop. If there is such a player at the table and you pick up a hand worth going all-in with, let him put that extra bet out there so that you can steal it out from him and possibly even induce a call. Playing for small pots and the blinds aren’t going to help you on the bubble, you’re going to need to double up.
In The Money
This is the stage of the Sit & Go where everything that has happened up to this point strategy wise can and has to be thrown out the window. The super-tight play that was pitch perfect just five minutes ago will now result in you folding to every bet when you don’t have top pair. The inability to switch gears this quickly is what results in many novice Sit & Go players finishing third. They continue to wait for the nuts, meanwhile their more experienced opponents have completely switched up their styles and are now playing aggressive heads-up method poker, even though there’s still three people at the table.
Smart, aggressive players do well once they’re in the money at a Sit & Go. It is very easy to see if an opponent is going to fold whenever he didn’t get a great piece of the flop, and you can constantly one-bet that player into folding almost every time. Not only does this let you pick up some easy pots, but when they do call or raise, you’ll know they have a legitimate hand and maybe you need to back off a little and minimize your risk.
Much like how everyone picked on the short stack during bubble play, the same will usually happen with the final three players, especially if the short stack is considerably short. If you find yourself in this position, you’re not going to have many options other than shoving with a medium strength hand. Remember that in three-handed play, often any ace will be good, and even the smallest pocket pairs will usually start out as the favorite. It might not be the ideal situation, but you need to double up early on so that your overall stack will grow enough to become a threat.
If you’re the big dog and in the money, you need to learn how to play bully poker. You’re going to want to make sure your opponents are not seeing too many cheap flops and you don’t want to check on too many streets, especially if you’ve classified the opponent as weak. If you constantly hammer on scared players during this final stage, you’ll goad them into shoving with a medium strength hand constantly, just to try to ease up the pressure.
Trapping is a great way to knock out these timid players as well if you flop big, as you can often induce them to go all-in if they catch any piece of a flop or turn. Let them hang themselves on weak cards and you’ll easily be able to exploit these situations.
Play smart, gather information and be able to switch gears if you want to crush your typical Sit & Go tournament.