hi guys long time again i havent updated my blog but i was very busy with life
so i decided the last 4 days to get gold star vip at pokerstars with that goal in mind i figured the best way to get those 3000 vpps is cash games so i decided to play five card draw cash games witch i dominate in the long run five card dra has also low variance way lower then nlhe mtts so let the challenge beginn
i hit 4 tables 1-2 at five card draw to warm up the day and i begun good my first session at draw for 4890 hands made me 2 buy ins profit at those levels and about 1000 vpps
second day i opend even more cash tbles to cut down the houers and raise my hourley profit so i was playng 5 to6 tables at all time for most of the day all regulars five card draw grinders where surprised to see me grinding again since i havent done it in a long while and as usual i get the deserved respect form them since i am kown to be a tuf draw player they dont fool around with me the mostly play straight against me the occasioanly bluff but most off the time they are straight forward play vs me with those guys and at thoose levels of play metagame is a big part of the game
here is one example of a hand where metagame is at his finest i am on the button with 3 regular grinders and 2 fish at the table holding AA992 utg raises to 6 us second position regular grinder raises to 18us 4th position calls 18us another regular so here i am thinking the only way i can win this pot is to outhink thoose guys since i have such a good image at the table and get a lot of respect from all regulars i figured the only way to win this pot is to pull a pat hand bluff to represent a bigger hand then the 2 regulars are holding which is minimum trips both of them so i min raise to 36us fish folded the 2 regulars called the min raise so i stand pat with my 2 pair representng a boat,straight,or ,flush and i fire after the draw 48us into them and they couldn call even with aaa or kkk that was the hands they are probaply holding to call such raises pre draw but i took that pot away from them and they both where from kiev most people i hear talking about the kiev draw players
in my opinion they are not anything special to be afraid of i like to play the kiev guys if you kow how to play them its easy money yesterday i busted 2 for there entire buy in so boys and girls stop having kiev fobia they are only 2 or 3 of them who are really good players but also beatable
so back to the challange in day 2 i made another 1200 vpps playng cash games so i get closer to the goal day 3 was a slow day had many bad beats and suckouts lost 100us for the day but i am still up over 3 buy ins at 1-2 so nothing to worry about it jsut variance
today is day 4 and i am missing 340vpps which i plan to start to earn now so i can start focusing again on mtts
mtts i havent played many lately i played 2 mtts 3 days ago the 30k nightly at stars which i finished 16th after kk loses to q2 he flopes 3 queens and the 33us mtt 15k guaranteed there i finished 14th another close finish ok il see if i can put up a few five card draw hands here
PokerStars Game #27500193178: 5 Card Draw Pot Limit ($1/$2) - 2009/04/26 1:36:27 ET
Table 'Penelope' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: onasis16 ($114.55 in chips)
Seat 2: pajarillogti ($151.15 in chips)
Seat 3: shadow_wins ($205.60 in chips)
Seat 4: ttraiderfan1 ($124.35 in chips)
Seat 5: danadoni ($127.05 in chips)
Seat 6: turnthree ($104.10 in chips)
shadow_wins: posts small blind $1
ttraiderfan1: posts big blind $2
*** DEALING HANDS ***
Dealt to onasis16 [Qs 2d 6s Qh Qc]
danadoni: raises $4 to $6
turnthree: calls $6
onasis16: raises $10 to $16
pajarillogti: folds
shadow_wins: calls $15
ttraiderfan1: folds
danadoni: calls $10
turnthree: calls $10
shadow_wins: discards 1 card
danadoni: discards 2 cards
turnthree: discards 1 card
onasis16: discards 2 cards [2d 6s]
Dealt to onasis16 [Qs Qh Qc] [4h Jc]
shadow_wins: checks
danadoni: checks
turnthree: checks
onasis16: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
shadow_wins: shows [3h Th 8d 8c 8h] (three of a kind, Eights)
danadoni: mucks hand
turnthree: mucks hand
onasis16: shows [Qs 4h Jc Qh Qc] (three of a kind, Queens)
onasis16 collected $63 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $66 | Rake $3
Seat 1: onasis16 showed [Qs 4h Jc Qh Qc] and won ($63) with three of a kind, Queens
Seat 2: pajarillogti (button) folded before the Draw (didn't bet)
Seat 3: shadow_wins (small blind) showed [3h Th 8d 8c 8h] and lost with three of a kind, Eights
Seat 4: ttraiderfan1 (big blind) folded before the Draw
Seat 5: danadoni mucked [4s 7s Jh 7c 7d]
Seat 6: turnthree mucked [Td Ah Jd 9d Kd]
PokerStars Game #27500529994: 5 Card Draw Pot Limit ($1/$2) - 2009/04/26 1:56:21 ET
Table 'Penelope' 6-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: onasis16 ($148.60 in chips)
Seat 2: pajarillogti ($129.30 in chips)
Seat 3: shadow_wins ($203.45 in chips)
Seat 4: ttraiderfan1 ($120.60 in chips)
Seat 5: danadoni ($112.80 in chips)
danadoni: posts small blind $1
onasis16: posts big blind $2
*** DEALING HANDS ***
Dealt to onasis16 [Ac 7h 9d 7d 7c]
pajarillogti: raises $4 to $6
shadow_wins: folds
ttraiderfan1: folds
danadoni: folds
onasis16: raises $6 to $12
pajarillogti: calls $6
onasis16: discards 1 card [Ac]
Dealt to onasis16 [7h 9d 7d 7c] [4c]
pajarillogti: discards 1 card
onasis16: bets $12
pajarillogti: folds
Uncalled bet ($12) returned to onasis16
onasis16 collected $23.75 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $25 | Rake $1.25
Seat 1: onasis16 (big blind) collected ($23.75)
Seat 2: pajarillogti folded after the Draw
Seat 3: shadow_wins folded before the Draw (didn't bet)
Seat 4: ttraiderfan1 (button) folded before the Draw (didn't bet)
Seat 5: danadoni (small blind) folded before the Draw
PokerStars Game #27500663850: 5 Card Draw Pot Limit ($1/$2) - 2009/04/26 2:04:29 ET
Table 'Penelope' 6-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: onasis16 ($150.35 in chips)
Seat 2: pajarillogti ($122.40 in chips)
Seat 3: lemonaide ($37 in chips)
Seat 4: big-george-5 ($195.50 in chips)
Seat 5: danadoni ($120.30 in chips)
Seat 6: sweetpe1230 ($62.45 in chips)
sweetpe1230: posts small blind $1
onasis16: posts big blind $2
*** DEALING HANDS ***
Dealt to onasis16 [Js 5c 7h Jh Jd]
pajarillogti: calls $2
lemonaide: raises $7 to $9
big-george-5: folds
danadoni: folds
sweetpe1230: folds
onasis16: raises $11 to $20
pajarillogti: folds
lemonaide: folds
Uncalled bet ($11) returned to onasis16
onasis16 collected $21 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $21 | Rake $0
Seat 1: onasis16 (big blind) collected ($21)
Seat 2: pajarillogti folded before the Draw
Seat 3: lemonaide folded before the Draw
Seat 4: big-george-5 folded before the Draw (didn't bet)
Seat 5: danadoni (button) folded before the Draw (didn't bet)
Seat 6: sweetpe1230 (small blind) folded before the Draw
PokerStars Game #27500984090: 5 Card Draw Pot Limit ($1/$2) - 2009/04/26 2:24:39 ET
Table 'Penelope' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: onasis16 ($153.05 in chips)
Seat 2: gebbe ($123 in chips)
Seat 3: lemonaide ($55.90 in chips)
Seat 4: big-george-5 ($227.20 in chips)
Seat 5: danadoni ($95.20 in chips)
Seat 6: sweetpe1230 ($50.70 in chips)
lemonaide: posts small blind $1
big-george-5: posts big blind $2
*** DEALING HANDS ***
Dealt to onasis16 [Jc 7s 4d 6d Jd]
danadoni: folds
sweetpe1230: folds
onasis16: raises $2 to $4
gebbe: calls $4
lemonaide: folds
big-george-5: folds
onasis16: discards 3 cards [7s 4d 6d]
Dealt to onasis16 [Jc Jd] [7c Qh Jh]
gebbe: discards 2 cards
onasis16: bets $6
gebbe: calls $6
*** SHOW DOWN ***
onasis16: shows [Jc 7c Qh Jh Jd] (three of a kind, Jacks)
gebbe: mucks hand
onasis16 collected $21.90 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $23 | Rake $1.10
Seat 1: onasis16 showed [Jc 7c Qh Jh Jd] and won ($21.90) with three of a kind, Jacks
Seat 2: gebbe (button) mucked [Ac Kh 3d Ah 8s]
Seat 3: lemonaide (small blind) folded before the Draw
Seat 4: big-george-5 (big blind) folded before the Draw
Seat 5: danadoni folded before the Draw (didn't bet)
Seat 6: sweetpe1230 folded before the Draw (didn't bet)
PokerStars Game #27501379042: 5 Card Draw Pot Limit ($1/$2) - 2009/04/26 2:51:02 ET
Table 'Penelope' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: onasis16 ($154.25 in chips)
Seat 2: gebbe ($88.60 in chips)
Seat 4: big-george-5 ($225.25 in chips)
Seat 5: danadoni ($118.10 in chips)
big-george-5: posts small blind $1
danadoni: posts big blind $2
*** DEALING HANDS ***
Dealt to onasis16 [5h 3d 7s 5d 3s]
onasis16: raises $4 to $6
gebbe: calls $6
big-george-5: folds
danadoni: folds
onasis16: discards 1 card [7s]
Dealt to onasis16 [5h 3d 5d 3s] [Ac]
gebbe: discards 3 cards
onasis16: bets $6
gebbe: folds
Uncalled bet ($6) returned to onasis16
onasis16 collected $14.25 from pot
onasis16 is sitting out
onasis16 has returned
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $15 | Rake $0.75
Seat 1: onasis16 collected ($14.25)
Seat 2: gebbe (button) folded after the Draw
Seat 4: big-george-5 (small blind) folded before the Draw
Seat 5: danadoni (big blind) folded before the Draw
PokerStars Game #27501417293: 5 Card Draw Pot Limit ($1/$2) - 2009/04/26 2:53:42 ET
Table 'Penelope' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: onasis16 ($163.30 in chips)
Seat 2: gebbe ($86.95 in chips)
Seat 3: boscology ($200 in chips)
Seat 4: big-george-5 ($224.25 in chips)
Seat 5: danadoni ($110.10 in chips)
gebbe: posts small blind $1
boscology: posts big blind $2
*** DEALING HANDS ***
Dealt to onasis16 [Td Qc As Ad 8c]
big-george-5: folds
danadoni: folds
onasis16: raises $4 to $6
gebbe: folds
boscology: calls $4
boscology: discards 3 cards
onasis16: discards 2 cards [Td 8c]
Dealt to onasis16 [Qc As Ad] [2d Ac]
boscology: checks
onasis16: bets $8
boscology: calls $8
*** SHOW DOWN ***
onasis16: shows [2d Qc As Ad Ac] (three of a kind, Aces)
boscology: mucks hand
onasis16 collected $27.60 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $29 | Rake $1.40
Seat 1: onasis16 (button) showed [2d Qc As Ad Ac] and won ($27.60) with three of a kind, Aces
Seat 2: gebbe (small blind) folded before the Draw
Seat 3: boscology (big blind) mucked [Kd Qd 7c Kh 5h]
Seat 4: big-george-5 folded before the Draw (didn't bet)
Seat 5: danadoni folded before the Draw (didn't bet)
PokerStars Game #27501448699: 5 Card Draw Pot Limit ($1/$2) - 2009/04/26 2:55:53 ET
Table 'Penelope' 6-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: onasis16 ($174.90 in chips)
Seat 2: gebbe ($81.95 in chips)
Seat 3: boscology ($185 in chips)
Seat 4: big-george-5 ($219.25 in chips)
Seat 5: danadoni ($121.35 in chips)
onasis16: posts small blind $1
gebbe: posts big blind $2
*** DEALING HANDS ***
Dealt to onasis16 [4s 5s 4d 4h Jh]
boscology: calls $2
big-george-5: folds
danadoni: folds
onasis16: raises $4 to $6
gebbe: folds
depp3456 joins the table at seat #6
boscology: calls $4
onasis16: discards 1 card [Jh]
Dealt to onasis16 [4s 5s 4d 4h] [Ks]
boscology: discards 3 cards
onasis16: bets $8
boscology: raises $8 to $16
onasis16: calls $8
*** SHOW DOWN ***
boscology: shows [8d Qc 8c 4c 8h] (three of a kind, Eights)
onasis16: mucks hand
boscology collected $44 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $46 | Rake $2
Seat 1: onasis16 (small blind) mucked [4s 5s 4d 4h Ks]
Seat 2: gebbe (big blind) folded before the Draw
Seat 3: boscology showed [8d Qc 8c 4c 8h] and won ($44) with three of a kind, Eights
Seat 4: big-george-5 folded before the Draw (didn't bet)
Seat 5: danadoni (button) folded before the Draw (didn't bet)
PokerStars Game #27501474381: 5 Card Draw Pot Limit ($1/$2) - 2009/04/26 2:57:43 ET
Table 'Penelope' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: onasis16 ($152.90 in chips)
Seat 2: gebbe ($78.95 in chips)
Seat 3: boscology ($227.80 in chips)
Seat 4: big-george-5 ($219.25 in chips)
Seat 6: depp3456 ($44.25 in chips)
boscology: posts small blind $1
big-george-5: posts big blind $2
*** DEALING HANDS ***
Dealt to onasis16 [4d 4c 2d Jd 7d]
depp3456: raises $2 to $4
onasis16: calls $4
gebbe: folds
boscology: folds
big-george-5: folds
depp3456: discards 3 cards
onasis16: discards 1 card [4c]
Dealt to onasis16 [4d 2d Jd 7d] [Td]
depp3456: bets $6
onasis16: raises $12 to $18
depp3456: raises $12 to $30
onasis16: raises $12 to $42
depp3456: calls $10.25 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($1.75) returned to onasis16
*** SHOW DOWN ***
onasis16: shows [4d Td 2d Jd 7d] (a flush, Jack high)
depp3456: mucks hand
onasis16 collected $89.50 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $91.50 | Rake $2
Seat 1: onasis16 showed [4d Td 2d Jd 7d] and won ($89.50) with a flush, Jack high
Seat 2: gebbe (button) folded before the Draw (didn't bet)
Seat 3: boscology (small blind) folded before the Draw
Seat 4: big-george-5 (big blind) folded before the Draw
Seat 6: depp3456 mucked [8h 8s 5c 8d Kd]
PokerStars Game #27501597457: 5 Card Draw Pot Limit ($1/$2) - 2009/04/26 3:06:27 ET
Table 'Penelope' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: onasis16 ($207.85 in chips)
Seat 2: gebbe ($77.90 in chips)
Seat 3: boscology ($241.15 in chips)
Seat 4: big-george-5 ($195.25 in chips)
Seat 5: danadoni ($115.35 in chips)
gebbe: posts small blind $1
boscology: posts big blind $2
*** DEALING HANDS ***
Dealt to onasis16 [Ad 8h 8d 2d 8c]
big-george-5: raises $2 to $4
danadoni: folds
onasis16: raises $4 to $8
gebbe: folds
Mr Patan joins the table at seat #6
boscology: folds
big-george-5: calls $4
big-george-5: discards 2 cards
onasis16: discards 1 card [2d]
Dealt to onasis16 [Ad 8h 8d 8c] [8s]
big-george-5: checks
onasis16: bets $10
big-george-5: calls $10
*** SHOW DOWN ***
onasis16: shows [Ad 8h 8d 8s 8c] (four of a kind, Eights)
big-george-5: mucks hand
onasis16 collected $37.10 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $39 | Rake $1.90
Seat 1: onasis16 (button) showed [Ad 8h 8d 8s 8c] and won ($37.10) with four of a kind, Eights
Seat 2: gebbe (small blind) folded before the Draw
Seat 3: boscology (big blind) folded before the Draw
Seat 4: big-george-5 mucked [6d Jh Qh 6h 6s]
Seat 5: danadoni folded before the Draw (didn't bet)
PokerStars Game #27502659736: 5 Card Draw Pot Limit ($1/$2) - 2009/04/26 4:20:28 ET
Table 'Penelope' 6-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: måka ($130.05 in chips)
Seat 2: gebbe ($89.60 in chips)
Seat 3: SouzBI ($44.50 in chips)
Seat 5: onasis16 ($127.10 in chips)
Seat 6: thatdude413 ($128.50 in chips)
onasis16: posts small blind $1
thatdude413: posts big blind $2
*** DEALING HANDS ***
Dealt to onasis16 [7h Td 3s Ts 7d]
måka: folds
gebbe: folds
SouzBI: calls $2
onasis16: raises $6 to $8
thatdude413: calls $6
SouzBI: folds
onasis16: discards 1 card [3s]
Dealt to onasis16 [7h Td Ts 7d] [2h]
thatdude413: discards 3 cards
onasis16: bets $6
thatdude413: calls $6
*** SHOW DOWN ***
onasis16: shows [7h Td 2h Ts 7d] (two pair, Tens and Sevens)
thatdude413: mucks hand
onasis16 collected $28.55 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $30 | Rake $1.45
Seat 1: måka folded before the Draw (didn't bet)
Seat 2: gebbe folded before the Draw (didn't bet)
Seat 3: SouzBI (button) folded before the Draw
Seat 5: onasis16 (small blind) showed [7h Td 2h Ts 7d] and won ($28.55) with two pair, Tens and Sevens
Seat 6: thatdude413 (big blind) mucked [2s 4s Ah Ad 6s]
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
heads up poker tips
hi all i know i havnt been updating my blog but i had a lot a things going on moved town now i live in playa de carmen mexico caribbean site of mexico awesome place so from now on i will be more online and playng again here is a article about heads up play enjoy
10 Heads-Up Poker Tips
From Heads-Up-Poker.org
Heads-Up Poker games, where you face just one opponent, are an exiting and demanding variation of the usual ring-game format. This article contains 10 tips that will get you winning at heads-up poker.
Heads-Up Poker Tip #1 – Position
Acting last after the flop is a huge advantage in poker. You get to see your opponent’s action before you make a decision on what to do. This allows you to win more with your good hands and lose the least when you are behind. In heads-up poker you will have position (the small blind / dealer button) half of the time – make sure you use this to your full advantage.
Heads-Up Poker Tip #2 – Aggression
Pre-flop your opponent will not have a strong hand most of the time. Combine this with the fact that unpaired hands will only hit the flop 1/3rd of the time and it is easy to see how aggression will win many pots when playing heads-up. After all, if you do not raise then you have not given your opponent an opportunity to fold!
Heads-Up Poker Tip #3 – Pot Control
Over time everyone gets their fair share of good and bad hands. Winners in poker make sure that they win bigger than average pots and lose smaller than average pots. Decide whether you have a ‘big-pot’ hand during play and plan your bets to win as many of your opponents chips as possible. Conversely manage the pot with a vulnerable hand so as to lose the least if you happen to be behind.
Heads-Up Poker Tip #4 – Reading Your Opponent
Work out as early in the heads-up game as possible what hands your opponent raises, checks and calls your bets with. Is this opponent likely to raise strongly with a flush draw? Will this opponent check a monster hand looking to check-raise or lead straight out? Will this player raise a marginal hand on the river if you have shown weakness, or instead call and see a showdown?
Heads-Up Poker Tip #5 – Adapting To Your Opponent
In order to take advantage of your reads on an opponent you must be ready to adapt your play. If they are too tight then raise more, if they call too often you should reduce your bluffs but raise larger amounts with a solid hand. If your opponent is too loose then you need flat call more often, sometimes re-raising as a semi-bluff when you suspect they missed the flop. What ever type of opponent you face, think through the changes to your play that will take maximum advantage of their style.
Heads-Up Poker Tip #6 – Folding
If you bet a medium strength hand heads-up and your opponent calls then there is a reason for this. It is up to you to work out whether they have a made-hand, a draw or is simply calling with the intention of bluffing later in the hand. If your hand is weak and your opponent continues to show resistance then you must be prepared to fold. Move on to the next hand with a minimal loss of chips rather than trying to force opponents off of hands when you are weak – it will make more in the long run!
Heads-Up Poker Tip #7 – Bluffing
Always look for profitable bluffing opportunities. If the flop comes with 2 suited cards or 3 to a straight then look out for those ‘scare cards’ on the turn. The next suited card could provide an excellent opportunity to steal the pot with a bluff. Remember in a heads-up match your opponent will not have a strong hand too often.
Heads-Up Poker Tip #8 – Vary Your Play
Just as you are trying to work out what your opponent’s bets, checks and calls mean – your opponent is trying the same thing on you. Become difficult to read by varying your play from time to time. This can include how you act with certain hands, your bet sizes or even the time spent making a decision. Varying your play means that your opponent is more likely to misread your hand, leading to greater profits for you.
Heads-Up Poker Tip #9 – Play Within Your Bankroll
Many situations in poker involve taking relatively small edges. A long term winner needs to be able to take every advantage available. Playing outside of your bankroll, at a level you would be uncomfortable losing at can lead you to play hands incorrectly. Make sure you are in the best possible winning position by playing within your bankroll.
Heads-Up Poker Tip #10 – Learn from Mistakes
Once your heads-up game is over you should take some time to analyze the hand-history. Look for what hands you played well and – importantly – hands you could have played better. The time spent here will quickly pay for itself as you improve to win future heads-up poker games.
10 Heads-Up Poker Tips
From Heads-Up-Poker.org
Heads-Up Poker games, where you face just one opponent, are an exiting and demanding variation of the usual ring-game format. This article contains 10 tips that will get you winning at heads-up poker.
Heads-Up Poker Tip #1 – Position
Acting last after the flop is a huge advantage in poker. You get to see your opponent’s action before you make a decision on what to do. This allows you to win more with your good hands and lose the least when you are behind. In heads-up poker you will have position (the small blind / dealer button) half of the time – make sure you use this to your full advantage.
Heads-Up Poker Tip #2 – Aggression
Pre-flop your opponent will not have a strong hand most of the time. Combine this with the fact that unpaired hands will only hit the flop 1/3rd of the time and it is easy to see how aggression will win many pots when playing heads-up. After all, if you do not raise then you have not given your opponent an opportunity to fold!
Heads-Up Poker Tip #3 – Pot Control
Over time everyone gets their fair share of good and bad hands. Winners in poker make sure that they win bigger than average pots and lose smaller than average pots. Decide whether you have a ‘big-pot’ hand during play and plan your bets to win as many of your opponents chips as possible. Conversely manage the pot with a vulnerable hand so as to lose the least if you happen to be behind.
Heads-Up Poker Tip #4 – Reading Your Opponent
Work out as early in the heads-up game as possible what hands your opponent raises, checks and calls your bets with. Is this opponent likely to raise strongly with a flush draw? Will this opponent check a monster hand looking to check-raise or lead straight out? Will this player raise a marginal hand on the river if you have shown weakness, or instead call and see a showdown?
Heads-Up Poker Tip #5 – Adapting To Your Opponent
In order to take advantage of your reads on an opponent you must be ready to adapt your play. If they are too tight then raise more, if they call too often you should reduce your bluffs but raise larger amounts with a solid hand. If your opponent is too loose then you need flat call more often, sometimes re-raising as a semi-bluff when you suspect they missed the flop. What ever type of opponent you face, think through the changes to your play that will take maximum advantage of their style.
Heads-Up Poker Tip #6 – Folding
If you bet a medium strength hand heads-up and your opponent calls then there is a reason for this. It is up to you to work out whether they have a made-hand, a draw or is simply calling with the intention of bluffing later in the hand. If your hand is weak and your opponent continues to show resistance then you must be prepared to fold. Move on to the next hand with a minimal loss of chips rather than trying to force opponents off of hands when you are weak – it will make more in the long run!
Heads-Up Poker Tip #7 – Bluffing
Always look for profitable bluffing opportunities. If the flop comes with 2 suited cards or 3 to a straight then look out for those ‘scare cards’ on the turn. The next suited card could provide an excellent opportunity to steal the pot with a bluff. Remember in a heads-up match your opponent will not have a strong hand too often.
Heads-Up Poker Tip #8 – Vary Your Play
Just as you are trying to work out what your opponent’s bets, checks and calls mean – your opponent is trying the same thing on you. Become difficult to read by varying your play from time to time. This can include how you act with certain hands, your bet sizes or even the time spent making a decision. Varying your play means that your opponent is more likely to misread your hand, leading to greater profits for you.
Heads-Up Poker Tip #9 – Play Within Your Bankroll
Many situations in poker involve taking relatively small edges. A long term winner needs to be able to take every advantage available. Playing outside of your bankroll, at a level you would be uncomfortable losing at can lead you to play hands incorrectly. Make sure you are in the best possible winning position by playing within your bankroll.
Heads-Up Poker Tip #10 – Learn from Mistakes
Once your heads-up game is over you should take some time to analyze the hand-history. Look for what hands you played well and – importantly – hands you could have played better. The time spent here will quickly pay for itself as you improve to win future heads-up poker games.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Attacking and Defending Dead Money in Tournament Poker
Attacking and Defending Dead Money in Tournament Poker
Moreso than any other form of the game, tournament poker is about attacking dead money. This is true first because there is so much of it, with most tournaments employing both antes and blinds to drive action, and also because the blinds and antes are so large relative to the average stack size. As a player’s stack dwindles and the blinds and antes rise, he may find that the money in the pot before cards are dealt represents a substantial portion of his remaining chips. Much of mid- to late-game tournament play revolves around attacking this dead money while simultaneously preventing one’s opponents from doing the same.
Although the term “dead money” is generally used to refer to money that is in the pot without a hand behind it at all (for example, antes or money from a player who has folded), I use it more broadly to refer to any bet or raise that a player makes that he would not make if he knew for certain that he would be called. This includes forced bets such as blinds antes but also bluffs, semi-bluffs, and blind steal attempts.
Most tournament players, even the losing ones, recognize the need to loosen their raising requirements as blinds and antes increase. Of course some are better at this than others, but most are aware of the concept. To varying degrees, most players in larger buy-in online tournaments also defend their blinds with loose calls and aggressive re-raises.
Attacking Dead Money
Fortunately, blinds and antes are only the most obvious instances where players put into the pot more money than their hand is really worth. A tournament player who wants to do better than break-even against the experts at the table must learn to make plays at them. This means recognizing situations where they have put money into the pot that they cannot defend and then attacking that money.
One of the most common examples of such a play is the re-steal. Suppose that you are in the Small Blind (SB), a weak-tight player is in the Big Blind (BB), and a strong tournament player is on the Button. If everyone folds to the strong player, he will likely raise a very wide range of hands hoping to steal the blinds, as the BB may be folding hands as strong as Ace-Ten. You can now re-raise the strong player, since you know that the amount of money he has put into the pot is way out of proportion to the strength of his hand. (More precisely, it is out of proportion to the range of hands he could have in this situation. Of course he may actually have a strong hand, but that is unlikely enough that your re-raise will be profitable.)
With this as a guiding example, it is possible to consider other common situations where good players bet or raise with hands that they would fold if not for the added equity they gain by sometimes winning the pot without a showdown. The continuation bet, where a player raises pre-flop and then bets into one or two callers on a dry flop that is not likely to have helped anyone, is another good example. A raise or check-raise against a continuation bet from a strong, aggressive player will often let you win a sizeable pot uncontested, provided you employ this tactic sparingly.
Similarly, if you raise from late position and a strong player calls out of the blinds, you should factor into your read of the situation the possibility that he expects you to be stealing and may be looking to make a play. If he then leads into you on a flop that you would usually continuation bet, you can consider raising or calling (with the intention to steal the pot on a later street). After all, if he had a hand, wouldn’t he wait to check-raise the continuation bet that he expects you to make?
It’s good to get into the habit of asking, “Does he need a hand to do this?” every time a strong player puts money into the pot. Let’s practice:
With blinds of 100/200 and a 25 ante, a good player open shoves his last 1200 chips into the pot from two seats off the button. Does he need a hand to do this? Not in the least: the pot represents about 40% of his stack, so he could be moving in with any two cards.
Now another good player re-raises to 2400 from the button. Does he need a hand to do this? Not really. He will likely recognize that the all-in player could have any two, so he can reraise to isolate with any hand that has about 40% equity versus a random hand. This includes such monster holdings as Queen-5 and 9-6.
If you are left to act, you could consider moving all-in to trap all that dead money in the pot. If the second player folds, as he’ll have to do quite often, you’ll have the opportunity to race against the all-in player’s random hand getting better than 4:1 on your money (no hand is a 4:1 dog against a random holding). Even if the second player does call, you’ll be getting very good odds and could still be up against something less than a monster, if he concludes that you don’t need a hand to move in on him. So although the action of raise all-in, re-raise, re-re-raise all-in suggests that everyone has a strong hand, this does not have to be the case at all.
Defending Dead Money
In Tournament Poker for Advanced Poker, David Sklansky famously argues that if “you are one of the best players in the tournament… you should avoid close gambles, especially for large portions of your chips.” (20) Perhaps because Sklansky does not go into great detail about what exactly counts as a “close gamble,” this advice has been misconstrued to justify some pretty atrocious folds.
The truth is that getting the best of good tournament players often requires making some big calls. It would be nice to accumulate chips simply by stealing and restealing, without ever having to risk a bad beat or showdown. However, the shallow stacks of most online multi-table tournaments mean that often, when a good, aggressive player makes a play at a pot, he will commit all of his chips. Since raising is not an option, the only way to take advantage of the situation is to make a big call.
For instance, if you raise Ace-9 from a steal position such as the Button and a good player moves all in from the blinds for four or five times the size of your bet, you should seriously consider calling, even if it will cost you most or all of your chips. Similarly, if you raise Ace-Queen and bet a dry flop like 2-2-7 rainbow, you should seriously consider calling a check-raise all in from a good player who called out of the blinds. Against weaker players, you should be more inclined to fold, as it is less likely that they are making a play at you.
The mistake many players make in this situation is evaluating their hands in a vacuum. They do not want to call off all their chips with no pair after the flop or a rag Ace pre-flop, and so they fold what is likely to be the best hand. In a spot where you would bet or raise a very wide range of hands, and your opponent is good enough to recognize this, folding one of the better hands in your range simply because it isn’t as strong of a hand as you’d like to have when calling off the last of your chips is going to be a mistake.
The correct approach is to consider the entire situation. Assign a realistic range of hands to your opponent that allows for the possibility of him making a play at you with a weaker hand than you might expect. Then, estimate your equity against that range of hands. Although it isn’t useful in the heat of the moment, analyzing the situation afterwards using a program like Poker Stove can give you a better feel for what kinds of hands you should be calling in similar spots in the future.
Conclusion
The examples I offer here will be old news to some. What I hope will be useful is the general framework I propose for chip accumulation during tournaments, especially against better players. Unlike in most ring games, which tend to revolve around implied odds, value bets, and complex bluffs set up over multiple streets, recognizing and attacking dead money is a critical element of tournament play. Blind stealing is the most well-known instance of this, but for exactly that reason, it is often not the most effective. More experienced players have learned to defend against this common tactic, and beating them requires learning to spot other situations where the strength of their hand is not likely to be commensurate with the size of the pot they have built.
Moreso than any other form of the game, tournament poker is about attacking dead money. This is true first because there is so much of it, with most tournaments employing both antes and blinds to drive action, and also because the blinds and antes are so large relative to the average stack size. As a player’s stack dwindles and the blinds and antes rise, he may find that the money in the pot before cards are dealt represents a substantial portion of his remaining chips. Much of mid- to late-game tournament play revolves around attacking this dead money while simultaneously preventing one’s opponents from doing the same.
Although the term “dead money” is generally used to refer to money that is in the pot without a hand behind it at all (for example, antes or money from a player who has folded), I use it more broadly to refer to any bet or raise that a player makes that he would not make if he knew for certain that he would be called. This includes forced bets such as blinds antes but also bluffs, semi-bluffs, and blind steal attempts.
Most tournament players, even the losing ones, recognize the need to loosen their raising requirements as blinds and antes increase. Of course some are better at this than others, but most are aware of the concept. To varying degrees, most players in larger buy-in online tournaments also defend their blinds with loose calls and aggressive re-raises.
Attacking Dead Money
Fortunately, blinds and antes are only the most obvious instances where players put into the pot more money than their hand is really worth. A tournament player who wants to do better than break-even against the experts at the table must learn to make plays at them. This means recognizing situations where they have put money into the pot that they cannot defend and then attacking that money.
One of the most common examples of such a play is the re-steal. Suppose that you are in the Small Blind (SB), a weak-tight player is in the Big Blind (BB), and a strong tournament player is on the Button. If everyone folds to the strong player, he will likely raise a very wide range of hands hoping to steal the blinds, as the BB may be folding hands as strong as Ace-Ten. You can now re-raise the strong player, since you know that the amount of money he has put into the pot is way out of proportion to the strength of his hand. (More precisely, it is out of proportion to the range of hands he could have in this situation. Of course he may actually have a strong hand, but that is unlikely enough that your re-raise will be profitable.)
With this as a guiding example, it is possible to consider other common situations where good players bet or raise with hands that they would fold if not for the added equity they gain by sometimes winning the pot without a showdown. The continuation bet, where a player raises pre-flop and then bets into one or two callers on a dry flop that is not likely to have helped anyone, is another good example. A raise or check-raise against a continuation bet from a strong, aggressive player will often let you win a sizeable pot uncontested, provided you employ this tactic sparingly.
Similarly, if you raise from late position and a strong player calls out of the blinds, you should factor into your read of the situation the possibility that he expects you to be stealing and may be looking to make a play. If he then leads into you on a flop that you would usually continuation bet, you can consider raising or calling (with the intention to steal the pot on a later street). After all, if he had a hand, wouldn’t he wait to check-raise the continuation bet that he expects you to make?
It’s good to get into the habit of asking, “Does he need a hand to do this?” every time a strong player puts money into the pot. Let’s practice:
With blinds of 100/200 and a 25 ante, a good player open shoves his last 1200 chips into the pot from two seats off the button. Does he need a hand to do this? Not in the least: the pot represents about 40% of his stack, so he could be moving in with any two cards.
Now another good player re-raises to 2400 from the button. Does he need a hand to do this? Not really. He will likely recognize that the all-in player could have any two, so he can reraise to isolate with any hand that has about 40% equity versus a random hand. This includes such monster holdings as Queen-5 and 9-6.
If you are left to act, you could consider moving all-in to trap all that dead money in the pot. If the second player folds, as he’ll have to do quite often, you’ll have the opportunity to race against the all-in player’s random hand getting better than 4:1 on your money (no hand is a 4:1 dog against a random holding). Even if the second player does call, you’ll be getting very good odds and could still be up against something less than a monster, if he concludes that you don’t need a hand to move in on him. So although the action of raise all-in, re-raise, re-re-raise all-in suggests that everyone has a strong hand, this does not have to be the case at all.
Defending Dead Money
In Tournament Poker for Advanced Poker, David Sklansky famously argues that if “you are one of the best players in the tournament… you should avoid close gambles, especially for large portions of your chips.” (20) Perhaps because Sklansky does not go into great detail about what exactly counts as a “close gamble,” this advice has been misconstrued to justify some pretty atrocious folds.
The truth is that getting the best of good tournament players often requires making some big calls. It would be nice to accumulate chips simply by stealing and restealing, without ever having to risk a bad beat or showdown. However, the shallow stacks of most online multi-table tournaments mean that often, when a good, aggressive player makes a play at a pot, he will commit all of his chips. Since raising is not an option, the only way to take advantage of the situation is to make a big call.
For instance, if you raise Ace-9 from a steal position such as the Button and a good player moves all in from the blinds for four or five times the size of your bet, you should seriously consider calling, even if it will cost you most or all of your chips. Similarly, if you raise Ace-Queen and bet a dry flop like 2-2-7 rainbow, you should seriously consider calling a check-raise all in from a good player who called out of the blinds. Against weaker players, you should be more inclined to fold, as it is less likely that they are making a play at you.
The mistake many players make in this situation is evaluating their hands in a vacuum. They do not want to call off all their chips with no pair after the flop or a rag Ace pre-flop, and so they fold what is likely to be the best hand. In a spot where you would bet or raise a very wide range of hands, and your opponent is good enough to recognize this, folding one of the better hands in your range simply because it isn’t as strong of a hand as you’d like to have when calling off the last of your chips is going to be a mistake.
The correct approach is to consider the entire situation. Assign a realistic range of hands to your opponent that allows for the possibility of him making a play at you with a weaker hand than you might expect. Then, estimate your equity against that range of hands. Although it isn’t useful in the heat of the moment, analyzing the situation afterwards using a program like Poker Stove can give you a better feel for what kinds of hands you should be calling in similar spots in the future.
Conclusion
The examples I offer here will be old news to some. What I hope will be useful is the general framework I propose for chip accumulation during tournaments, especially against better players. Unlike in most ring games, which tend to revolve around implied odds, value bets, and complex bluffs set up over multiple streets, recognizing and attacking dead money is a critical element of tournament play. Blind stealing is the most well-known instance of this, but for exactly that reason, it is often not the most effective. More experienced players have learned to defend against this common tactic, and beating them requires learning to spot other situations where the strength of their hand is not likely to be commensurate with the size of the pot they have built.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
BUBBLE PLAY
Ten Tips for Improving Your Bubble Play
Why are tournaments so profitable for the knowledgeable player? It’s because you are always getting a giant overlay. In a 180-man Stars tourney, for instance, you are competing against no more than 100 opponents, and quite often less. In other words, there are at most 100 other players trying to win the tournament. The rest are just trying to cash, and might as well be playing a different game altogether. These players are not competing with you for the top prizes.
In the early stages, they are playing to accumulate, just like you are. Their strategy is not intrinsically –EV, though their play may be.
In the money, most of them are happy to be there and will gamble up, and are too short to do anything else anyway. Again, their strategy is not intrinsically –EV here.
On the bubble, however, they are folding much too often and leaving a ton of money on the table. You need to put yourself in a position to scoop up as much of it as possible, as this is far and away the best opportunity you will have to accumulate chips. Here are some tips on how to do that.
1. Raise. Even if you know this already, you probably aren’t doing it enough. Never open limp. Not under the gun, not on the button, not ever. The odds are just too good that you will win it without a showdown. (This point is probably too strongly stated, but you get the idea.)
2. Fold. Just because A9 is ahead of your range when you push over a late position raise doesn’t mean you should call. There are a lot of players on the bubble who know you are stealing but are too afraid to push back, and there are a lot more who think the correct strategy is to wait for big hands and then ‘punish’ your raise. If it starts happening all the time, then you can loosen your calling range (and in fact find yourself in some very +EV spots of a different sort), but the first time someone comes over the top, they’ve probably got a hand. You can steal back the chips you are folding away in a single orbit, whereas one or two thin calls could cripple your stealing ability. There is so much easy money to be had without going to showdown on the bubble that you shouldn’t be eager to get there.
3. Target the Weak. The decision to open raise is determined by three factors, in order of importance: who is in the blind, your position, and your cards. You should start identifying likely play-to-cashers before the bubble even begins, and continue paying attention to who is not defending blinds and who seems to be making big laydowns.
4. Size Up the Competition. The play-to-cashers are not the competition. At this point, they are just giving away free money, and all you have to do is take it. But you still have to play poker with the other play-to-winners, who are also trying to scoop up all that dead money. These players will be a lot more willing to re-steal, steal raise, etc., and you need to adapt accordingly.
5. Look at the Chat Box. The dialogue in the chat box gives you a lot of clues about who is playing to cash and about evolving table dynamics. I’ve seen players say things like “I would have called if it weren’t the bubble”, “I’m folding JJ here”, and “Yes! Yes! Yes!” every time they win a pot. It’s like they want me to run them over.
Players will also comment on how often you’ve been raising, or threaten to call “next time.” Pay attention to these clues, as they can help you to make tough decisions when facing a re-steal.
6. Spread It Around. Most players take it personally when you raise their blinds. If you abuse the same player often enough, he will feel like he has to stand up to you, and you will have baited him into playing correctly. Conversely, many play-to-cashers will recognize that you are stealing but not particularly care as long as they don’t feel singled out. So if you raised weak-tighty #1’s blind the last two orbits, go after the player on his right this time.
7. Protect Your Blinds. If you call or re-raise out of your blind a few times, most aggressive players will back off, as there is usually much easier money to be found. Play-to-cashers will occasionally make weak attempts to steal as well, usually min-raising or open limping from late position. They will often back off of even reasonably strong hands when seemingly pot committed when faced with the prospect of bubbling out.
8. Protect Their Blinds. A good, aggressive bubble player on your right can really cramp your style, as he will always be steal-raising ahead of you. But don’t look at this as a thorn in the side, look at it as an opportunity: he is putting a lot of money into the pot that he can’t defend. His only options are to keep raising and donating to you, or to stop raising and let you get back to picking on the weak players’ blinds; it’s a win-win for you. If the play-to-cashers won’t defend their blinds, you should do it for them.
9. Make the Last Bet. Just because a player decides to see a flop with you does not mean he has a big hand. With so many players stealing, re-stealing, and defending, there are a lot people seeing flops without especially strong hands. More often than not, they are hoping to get a cheap showdown or bully you off of your marginal holding. If you play your draws aggressively, you’ll find that most players are no more willing to go to the felt after the flop than they were before. You just need to structure the betting in such a way that [i]you[/i] are the one pushing all-in, because it is a hell of a lot harder to call a push with a marginal hand than it is to push with a marginal hand.
10. Come Stacked. Although the bubble is a profitable time to push-bot, a 3x big blind raise from the table chipleader has a lot more fold equity than an 8x all-in from a short stack. Ninety percent of the time I choose accumulation over survival, but most tournaments have such juicy bubbles that it can be correct to structure your pre-bubble strategy around getting to the bubble with a stack that will allow you to steal. This may mean taking gambles when you’re short in hopes of doubling up to a healthy stack, or it may mean passing on thin gambles when losing the pot would leave you unable to steal on the bubble.
Why are tournaments so profitable for the knowledgeable player? It’s because you are always getting a giant overlay. In a 180-man Stars tourney, for instance, you are competing against no more than 100 opponents, and quite often less. In other words, there are at most 100 other players trying to win the tournament. The rest are just trying to cash, and might as well be playing a different game altogether. These players are not competing with you for the top prizes.
In the early stages, they are playing to accumulate, just like you are. Their strategy is not intrinsically –EV, though their play may be.
In the money, most of them are happy to be there and will gamble up, and are too short to do anything else anyway. Again, their strategy is not intrinsically –EV here.
On the bubble, however, they are folding much too often and leaving a ton of money on the table. You need to put yourself in a position to scoop up as much of it as possible, as this is far and away the best opportunity you will have to accumulate chips. Here are some tips on how to do that.
1. Raise. Even if you know this already, you probably aren’t doing it enough. Never open limp. Not under the gun, not on the button, not ever. The odds are just too good that you will win it without a showdown. (This point is probably too strongly stated, but you get the idea.)
2. Fold. Just because A9 is ahead of your range when you push over a late position raise doesn’t mean you should call. There are a lot of players on the bubble who know you are stealing but are too afraid to push back, and there are a lot more who think the correct strategy is to wait for big hands and then ‘punish’ your raise. If it starts happening all the time, then you can loosen your calling range (and in fact find yourself in some very +EV spots of a different sort), but the first time someone comes over the top, they’ve probably got a hand. You can steal back the chips you are folding away in a single orbit, whereas one or two thin calls could cripple your stealing ability. There is so much easy money to be had without going to showdown on the bubble that you shouldn’t be eager to get there.
3. Target the Weak. The decision to open raise is determined by three factors, in order of importance: who is in the blind, your position, and your cards. You should start identifying likely play-to-cashers before the bubble even begins, and continue paying attention to who is not defending blinds and who seems to be making big laydowns.
4. Size Up the Competition. The play-to-cashers are not the competition. At this point, they are just giving away free money, and all you have to do is take it. But you still have to play poker with the other play-to-winners, who are also trying to scoop up all that dead money. These players will be a lot more willing to re-steal, steal raise, etc., and you need to adapt accordingly.
5. Look at the Chat Box. The dialogue in the chat box gives you a lot of clues about who is playing to cash and about evolving table dynamics. I’ve seen players say things like “I would have called if it weren’t the bubble”, “I’m folding JJ here”, and “Yes! Yes! Yes!” every time they win a pot. It’s like they want me to run them over.
Players will also comment on how often you’ve been raising, or threaten to call “next time.” Pay attention to these clues, as they can help you to make tough decisions when facing a re-steal.
6. Spread It Around. Most players take it personally when you raise their blinds. If you abuse the same player often enough, he will feel like he has to stand up to you, and you will have baited him into playing correctly. Conversely, many play-to-cashers will recognize that you are stealing but not particularly care as long as they don’t feel singled out. So if you raised weak-tighty #1’s blind the last two orbits, go after the player on his right this time.
7. Protect Your Blinds. If you call or re-raise out of your blind a few times, most aggressive players will back off, as there is usually much easier money to be found. Play-to-cashers will occasionally make weak attempts to steal as well, usually min-raising or open limping from late position. They will often back off of even reasonably strong hands when seemingly pot committed when faced with the prospect of bubbling out.
8. Protect Their Blinds. A good, aggressive bubble player on your right can really cramp your style, as he will always be steal-raising ahead of you. But don’t look at this as a thorn in the side, look at it as an opportunity: he is putting a lot of money into the pot that he can’t defend. His only options are to keep raising and donating to you, or to stop raising and let you get back to picking on the weak players’ blinds; it’s a win-win for you. If the play-to-cashers won’t defend their blinds, you should do it for them.
9. Make the Last Bet. Just because a player decides to see a flop with you does not mean he has a big hand. With so many players stealing, re-stealing, and defending, there are a lot people seeing flops without especially strong hands. More often than not, they are hoping to get a cheap showdown or bully you off of your marginal holding. If you play your draws aggressively, you’ll find that most players are no more willing to go to the felt after the flop than they were before. You just need to structure the betting in such a way that [i]you[/i] are the one pushing all-in, because it is a hell of a lot harder to call a push with a marginal hand than it is to push with a marginal hand.
10. Come Stacked. Although the bubble is a profitable time to push-bot, a 3x big blind raise from the table chipleader has a lot more fold equity than an 8x all-in from a short stack. Ninety percent of the time I choose accumulation over survival, but most tournaments have such juicy bubbles that it can be correct to structure your pre-bubble strategy around getting to the bubble with a stack that will allow you to steal. This may mean taking gambles when you’re short in hopes of doubling up to a healthy stack, or it may mean passing on thin gambles when losing the pot would leave you unable to steal on the bubble.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
BLIND STEALING
You know the guy; he reads the first couple of chapters of Supersystem, which he is now using as a coaster, and he has learnt a dozen poker terms watching WPT. He was at my table last night in a Pokerstars 3 table SNG and spent the entire game telling people what they were doing wrong; "you don't call with that," "you don't raise that much," etc. This weinie made it very clear that he was only going to play the premium hands that were on his premium hands list, and he got crippled by J8o, at which point he reminded everyone how wrong the other guy was because he raised before the flop. Mr. Weinie got busted after he announced he had AQ and went all in "because I don't want anyone to suck out on me," at which point I called with probably the first hand I had got all night, pocket queens, and sent him home. I won the SNG btw, go me.
Its took me a long time to learn and many a reread of the gospel according to Harrington, but in a tournament the cards in my hand are several places down the pecking order whenever I make a decision. I used to 'make to money' a lot in tourneys and SNGs by playing solid and waiting for big hands, nowadays I probably make the money less often, but I make a hell of a lot more money because I am now making final tables in the MTTs and taking first place in the big SNGs (I don't play single table SNGs). The reason? Blind stealing. Blind stealing is my number one tournament tool and most of the time, by the hour mark I will either be the chip leader or I will be busted.
I won a stars 5 table SNG a few weeks ago and I swear I must have played more hands than anyone but barely had to show down any of those hands. I simply slowly built a stack in the early stages with premium hands, started blind stealing in the middle stages and by the time the FT was in session I had enough chips to do as I please. For most of the game I was getting things like 79o and K7s, but nobody else knew that. All they had seen was the few times I had made trips or caught a flop with AK, and I made sure they did see that.
Before I present my blind stealing guidelines let me quickly define it. For it to be a blind steal it is a preflop raise which has no intention of being called. Therefore the only starting requirement is that your hand is a poor one. You might want to start only blind stealing with hands that could potentially get you out of jail, like ace junk, king junk or suited cards (ie, something where you could donk out on somebody). The only other real requirement is that you have enough chips left to damage someone else's stack, because if they dwarf you in chips, they might take a risk to bust you out.
Don't steal until they're worth stealing: Blind stealing becomes very profitable in the middle to late stages of a tournament. There is no point taking any risks at all when you only stand to win 30 chips, people are happy to defend their blinds and see a flop. Wait till the blinds are at least 50/100 and are both something you want to win and something they wont want to lose.
Make sure you are the first to act: Don't try and steal if someone has entered the pot behind you, even if they just limped in they have invested in the pot and must have some conviction in their hand.
Only steal in late position. I personally wont blind steal unless I'm at least one place off the button. Anything earlier than that and you will run into a genuine hand.
Bet a random amount: Don't use the slider to dictate the amount you bet because it only selects a standard number of big blinds, type in a random amount. If the blinds are 100, bet 280 instead of 300. If the blinds are 200, bet 475 instead of 600 etc. This serves several purpose. Firstly it gives the impression that you have really thought about your hand carefully, whereas most people would otherwise think 'ok, he bet x 3 the BB'. Secondly, the chips will visually appear larger than it actually is on most poker rooms because they will be stacked in a different way, 475 on Pokerstars appears like more chips than 500 for example, silly I know but it works. Finally if you are planning on stealing a lot, you can in the long run save a few chips here and there by betting just under the standard x3 x4 bets.
Bet an amount that's big, but looks like it wants a call: Don't put 1000 chips into a 50/100 pot. Its not worth the risk because if you get called you almost certainly will lose. Also, people are sometimes more tempted by a potential all in bet than a smaller bet, figuring they could be in a coin flip and you don't want a call with a huge bet. Don't put a minimum raise in because only an idiot would fold (Therefore it might work on Pacific Poker). I suggest betting between 2.5 and 4 times the big blind, that sort of bet looks like it wants action. If they fold, every now and then tell them they made a good laydown, that suggests you had something like bullets.
Showdown your good hands: When you get AK, AQ, 99 etc make sure you raise them the same way. Then if you get a fold show them down. People are much more inclined to player note what they see than what they think you may have had, and player notes can be very misleading.
Don't stop doing it till you get caught out: Be very careful when you get exposed stealing, because people will start taking a stand against you with anything. When people keep calling or reraising you will have to tighten up and wait for a few hands. This will also pay you off when you do get a hand because you are more likely to get action when they think you have 7 high again. If you flop a monster: Push it all the way but if it gets showdown and cracks a big hand, get ready to change gears or pray to get moved to another table.
Realise when someone else is pot committed. Steal off the big stacks, steal off the medium stacks but avoid the short stacks. Pretty soon they are going to move all with a marginal hand anyway, so wait until you either have a hand or try and see a flop against them.
If you get reraised: Put on a little show, pause, type hmmmmm and eventually tell them that you are laying down KQ, you might improve their confidence against you but you will have kept your table image of playing big hands. Call the reraise if the pot odds are worth it, of course.
If you get called: Don't be afraid to make a continuation bet on the flop. You have after all represented a big hand and they only called you, so the chances are you are ahead in their eyes. If they call or reraise you at this point and you still don't have a hand, don't invest a single chip more and admit defeat (But perhaps type some BS about you think your jack kicker is no good help your table image)
Exploit the bubble: When you are a couple of places away from the money mark, if you have a good stack start raising slightly more than you have been doing, people will start throwing away their coinflip hands hoping you will take out some other sucker instead.
After you make the money: Tighten up a bit, people loosen up when they know they have definitely won something
Its took me a long time to learn and many a reread of the gospel according to Harrington, but in a tournament the cards in my hand are several places down the pecking order whenever I make a decision. I used to 'make to money' a lot in tourneys and SNGs by playing solid and waiting for big hands, nowadays I probably make the money less often, but I make a hell of a lot more money because I am now making final tables in the MTTs and taking first place in the big SNGs (I don't play single table SNGs). The reason? Blind stealing. Blind stealing is my number one tournament tool and most of the time, by the hour mark I will either be the chip leader or I will be busted.
I won a stars 5 table SNG a few weeks ago and I swear I must have played more hands than anyone but barely had to show down any of those hands. I simply slowly built a stack in the early stages with premium hands, started blind stealing in the middle stages and by the time the FT was in session I had enough chips to do as I please. For most of the game I was getting things like 79o and K7s, but nobody else knew that. All they had seen was the few times I had made trips or caught a flop with AK, and I made sure they did see that.
Before I present my blind stealing guidelines let me quickly define it. For it to be a blind steal it is a preflop raise which has no intention of being called. Therefore the only starting requirement is that your hand is a poor one. You might want to start only blind stealing with hands that could potentially get you out of jail, like ace junk, king junk or suited cards (ie, something where you could donk out on somebody). The only other real requirement is that you have enough chips left to damage someone else's stack, because if they dwarf you in chips, they might take a risk to bust you out.
Don't steal until they're worth stealing: Blind stealing becomes very profitable in the middle to late stages of a tournament. There is no point taking any risks at all when you only stand to win 30 chips, people are happy to defend their blinds and see a flop. Wait till the blinds are at least 50/100 and are both something you want to win and something they wont want to lose.
Make sure you are the first to act: Don't try and steal if someone has entered the pot behind you, even if they just limped in they have invested in the pot and must have some conviction in their hand.
Only steal in late position. I personally wont blind steal unless I'm at least one place off the button. Anything earlier than that and you will run into a genuine hand.
Bet a random amount: Don't use the slider to dictate the amount you bet because it only selects a standard number of big blinds, type in a random amount. If the blinds are 100, bet 280 instead of 300. If the blinds are 200, bet 475 instead of 600 etc. This serves several purpose. Firstly it gives the impression that you have really thought about your hand carefully, whereas most people would otherwise think 'ok, he bet x 3 the BB'. Secondly, the chips will visually appear larger than it actually is on most poker rooms because they will be stacked in a different way, 475 on Pokerstars appears like more chips than 500 for example, silly I know but it works. Finally if you are planning on stealing a lot, you can in the long run save a few chips here and there by betting just under the standard x3 x4 bets.
Bet an amount that's big, but looks like it wants a call: Don't put 1000 chips into a 50/100 pot. Its not worth the risk because if you get called you almost certainly will lose. Also, people are sometimes more tempted by a potential all in bet than a smaller bet, figuring they could be in a coin flip and you don't want a call with a huge bet. Don't put a minimum raise in because only an idiot would fold (Therefore it might work on Pacific Poker). I suggest betting between 2.5 and 4 times the big blind, that sort of bet looks like it wants action. If they fold, every now and then tell them they made a good laydown, that suggests you had something like bullets.
Showdown your good hands: When you get AK, AQ, 99 etc make sure you raise them the same way. Then if you get a fold show them down. People are much more inclined to player note what they see than what they think you may have had, and player notes can be very misleading.
Don't stop doing it till you get caught out: Be very careful when you get exposed stealing, because people will start taking a stand against you with anything. When people keep calling or reraising you will have to tighten up and wait for a few hands. This will also pay you off when you do get a hand because you are more likely to get action when they think you have 7 high again. If you flop a monster: Push it all the way but if it gets showdown and cracks a big hand, get ready to change gears or pray to get moved to another table.
Realise when someone else is pot committed. Steal off the big stacks, steal off the medium stacks but avoid the short stacks. Pretty soon they are going to move all with a marginal hand anyway, so wait until you either have a hand or try and see a flop against them.
If you get reraised: Put on a little show, pause, type hmmmmm and eventually tell them that you are laying down KQ, you might improve their confidence against you but you will have kept your table image of playing big hands. Call the reraise if the pot odds are worth it, of course.
If you get called: Don't be afraid to make a continuation bet on the flop. You have after all represented a big hand and they only called you, so the chances are you are ahead in their eyes. If they call or reraise you at this point and you still don't have a hand, don't invest a single chip more and admit defeat (But perhaps type some BS about you think your jack kicker is no good help your table image)
Exploit the bubble: When you are a couple of places away from the money mark, if you have a good stack start raising slightly more than you have been doing, people will start throwing away their coinflip hands hoping you will take out some other sucker instead.
After you make the money: Tighten up a bit, people loosen up when they know they have definitely won something
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