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Playing from the Blinds in Tournaments Part 2

John Cernuto

As I discussed last week, there are many factors that come into determining how you play from the blinds in tournaments, including your opponent’s position at the table. Of course, that’s not the only factor to take into consideration.

Throughout a tournament, everyone develops a table image that impacts how people play against them. Depending on your opponent’s style of play ? and how your opponent perceives you ? you might be able to play back at someone who is trying to steal your blinds from late position. As mentioned earlier, this is especially useful later in tournaments when the blinds are much bigger and antes come into play.

You always have the option of re-stealing at anytime in a tournament, but this isn’t a move you should make without some careful consideration. For example, if you’re worried about your opponent calling your re-steal attempt, I recommend not even attempting this play unless you’re holding a hand no worse than A-9. Preferably, you’re looking for something even stronger.

If, on the other hand, you think your opponent will fold to your re-raise, the cards in your hand shouldn’t affect your decision to make this play one way or the other. I’m not suggesting that you re-raise blind, but rather, that you shouldn’t let a weak hand deter you from playing back at an opponent you’re sure is going fold under pressure. If I know my opponent is going to fold if I re-raise, but I look down at 7-2, I might second guess myself and not make the move.

This concept may be a little difficult to pull off when you are playing online, so try to employ the “ATC Rule.” If you have a good handle on the situation and a strong read on your opponent, then Any Two Cards will do the trick. Make sure that you don’t try this too frequently because the success of a re-steal partially depends on your table image. If another player sees you making this move frequently, they might be willing to gamble with a hand they would normally let go.

For example, if there’s a kamikaze out there who just keeps firing away, I’m going to wait until I have position on them to pick them off. These types of players are too willing to gamble to make re-stealing a profitable play for me. There’s nothing worse than making a move with Q-4 and being called by Q-J. You should primarily be looking to re-steal against a relatively tight player who knows how to release a hand.

Sometimes, calling from the blinds can be a better option than re-raising. Again, the decision comes back to the criteria of your opponent’s position, playing style, and perception of you. In a recent tournament, I had a very aggressive player who not only raised a lot of pots, but continued to fire away at every street. When I was in the big blind, he made his standard raise and I looked down at pocket Kings. I chose to just flat-call because I knew I could get at least one more bet out of him. In fact, I check-called him all the way to the river because I knew he was hyper-aggressive and would read my flat calls as a sign of weakness rather than strength.

Remember, you have three options when you’re in the blinds and your default option should be to fold. However, players who win tournaments do so because they made the right moves at the right times. If you decide to either re-steal or flat-call from the blinds, it should be based on your opponent’s position and playing style. If you can learn to read these situations correctly, both your chip stack and your tournament success will grow.

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Bubble Play In Tournaments

Paul Sexton

I had just bubbled in the $2,000 Seven-Card Stud Tournament at the World Series of Poker*. I had a drawing hand and I ended up losing all my chips, which was a big mistake. I was embarrassed. I was talking to my Dad – Full Tilt Poker pro, Keith Sexton – and I said, “I can’t believe how unlucky I got.” He disagreed, and said my play was just incredibly stupid in regard to money and chip management, based on where I stood in the tournament. He was right.

People say, “You’re not playing to get into the money – you’re playing to win,” but when you make the money, you go from zero dollars to double your buy-in. The biggest jump in money outside of making it to the final table is getting into the money. I didn’t really understand that. Winning the hand that I busted on wasn’t important in the grand scheme of things.

The next tournament I played was the $1,500 Mixed Limit/No-Limit event. I got so low on chips I had to decide whether to take a chance, with slim odds of winning the tournament, or just try to hang on and make it past the bubble and then call it a day. By staying patient and paying close attention to the field, I managed to cash before I busted.

There are a number of things you need to be aware of in these situations, including the status of everybody else around you. Knowing how many chips you have in relation to the field is crucial in terms of helping you decide at what point you have to make the painful decision that you’re just going to have to fold hands to get into the money. You’re basically sacrificing your tournament, the chance to get to the final table, and your chance to win. But sometimes you have to do it.

You need to know where other players are in the tournament, especially the smaller stacks and what their situation is. How many stacks are below you? Where are they in relation to the blinds? I had a real low stack, three off the money in the mixed event, but I knew there were a couple of short stacks that were going to be forced into the blinds before I was. One player was at a shorter table than I was and another was under-the-gun while I was on the button, so I knew that I could be patient because they were going to have to play a hand before I was. That’s really important because, if you’re sitting there and you know you’re next with a hand like Ace-10, you’re going to have to throw your chips in. But if you have Ace-10 and another guy is going to have to make a decision whether to go all-in or not before you, then you can lay it down. Other players’ situations have a huge bearing on what hands you’re going to play.

Short-stacked on the bubble, I’m folding everything, including big pairs. Looking around the room, I knew that one player was going to be all-in in the blinds and that I had four hands before the blinds were going hit me. I had almost nothing in front of me – maybe 1,300 chips – and the average chip stack was around 33,000. Still, I would have folded pocket Kings on that hand because what’s the difference? Even if I triple up, I’m still all -in when the blinds reach me. All I’m doing is risking my money there. That pot is insignificant. I’d rather take my chances and hope that the other player who has to go all-in gets knocked out before me.

It’s sickening to bubble out in a tournament. People talk about it all the time. You go over it with friends. You figure out what you did wrong and if you make an improvement from the last time, that’s great. The cost of my lesson was my $2,000 buy-in in the Stud event. You can make the same mistake at a final table where it costs you hundreds of thousands of dollars, so I got off pretty cheaply. You never want to be forced to fold into the money, or a bigger pay day, but sometimes it’s just smart poker.

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Playing Large Fields

Howard Lederer

During the World Series of Poker, players are confronted with massive fields. For example, in the 2007 WSOP*, nearly 3,000 players bought into the first $1,500 No-Limit Hold ‘em event. Throughout the Series, it was common to see starting fields of 1,500 to 2,000. Many players who are accustomed to playing in smaller tournaments can be overwhelmed by the prospect of competing against so many people. Some feel they need to make major adjustments to their games in order to be competitive. They play faster than they normally would, playing marginal hands and looking for opportunities to gamble.

I think this is a big mistake. You should never alter your strategy to compensate for the size of the field. When you sit down to play in a tournament, you should concentrate only on things you can control. Whether you’re playing against 200 or 2,000 players, you should be focused on how you’re going to beat the other players at your table. Let the rest of the tournament take care of itself. If you manage to make good decisions against your opponents, you’ll have the opportunity to accumulate chips and survive as the field dwindles.

Think of it this way: if you were playing in a tournament where the blinds double every hour, the difference between beating a 300 person field and a 2,400 person field is a matter of surviving an extra three hours. If you manage to stick around, you’ll have the opportunity for a nice payday. But if you gamble excessively in the early stages and bust out, you’ve got no chance at all.

In any tournament, the determining factor in whether you should play a given hand is the size of the blinds. If you have 10,000 in chips and the blinds are 50 and 100, there’s no need to play A-J in early position. But if you have 10,000 in chips and the blinds are 1,000 and 2,000, you need to move in with that same hand. It’s the blind structure that should determine how you play, not the number of players in the event.

In the WSOP* Main Event, I’ve seen a lot of players feel pressured by the vast size of the field. But it’s a false pressure. The Main Event has a great structure. The blinds increase slowly, so you can play patiently and look for your spots.

You can’t win any large event in the first hour or the first day, so don’t worry about what’s happening elsewhere in a tournament. Play your game and do your best to beat the players at your table. It’s the surest path to success in any tournament, no matter the size of the field.

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Playing Heads Up

Team Full Tilt

Heads-up play is one of the most important aspects of poker, and many players could benefit from strengthening this part of their game.

Position is crucial in heads-up play. So is aggression and reading your opponent. In fact, playing aggressively in position can often be the deciding factor in whether or not you win the pot. You can have a much worse hand, but if you trust your reads, you can often take the pot with the right board.

Playing Position

I don’t recommend playing that many raised pots out of position – in other words, don’t call a lot of raises from the big blind. Hands like two face cards, A-8 and up, and pairs are worth re-raising with. Hands like 8-7 suited are fairly worthless because suited connectors like these can be easily dominated by larger hands and lose a lot of their value heads up.

In general, I’m looking for big cards like K-10. Even though these cards are easily dominated in ring games, they play much stronger heads up. If I hit a big pair with cards like these I can feel comfortable going with it, which is something that’s hard to do with middle cards like 6-5.

I’m usually going to do one of two things in the big blind when I’m heads up; fold or re-raise. My standard re-raise is between three and four times my opponent’s bet, and by pumping up the pot pre-flop, I’m making it difficult for my opponent to call me with marginal hands. If he does call, I can always make a post-flop continuation bet or lay down my hand if I’ve missed and my opponent leads out at the pot.

The only time I call out of position is when my opponent plays back at me by moving in a lot. My decision here comes back to paying attention to my opponent’s tendencies and going with my reads.

Reading is Fundamental

Reading your opponent becomes even more important in heads-up play. Because your opponent is likely to raise with a much larger range of hands heads up, making reads is much more difficult. Learning to gauge your opponent’s hand requires paying close attention to their patterns. Do they always raise the button? How often do they call your button raises? Do they ever re-raise from the big blind? Asking questions like these helps to narrow down their possibilities.

You have to trust your reads enough to act on them. If you sense strength, are you willing to lay down the second-best hand? If you sense weakness, will you apply the pressure it takes to win the pot?

In my experience in both ring games and heads up, many players try to accumulate chips too quickly. If you just sit back and wait for your opponents to make mistakes, you’ll end up with all of the chips in the end. For instance, you should avoid making pot-sized bets when smaller bets will usually accomplish the same goals with less risk. Sometimes half-pot bets are even too high and betting the minimum is enough to gather the information you need about your opponent’s hand.

This becomes especially true when your opponent becomes short-stacked. In these cases, I will usually limp on the button once they are around the 10 big blind range. If I do raise, I must have a hand I’m willing to go with because my opponent’s only options are folding or pushing. Some people think it’s weak to limp on the button, but I don’t want to keep folding semi-decent hands in this situation. By limping when my opponent is short, they have to decide if they want to gamble with a high-risk/low-reward all-in move to win one of my blinds.

In heads-up tournaments you want to play in position, trust your reads, and play small pots to build a lead. Once you have a 3-1 lead, then you’re looking for hands to gamble with against your opponent’s short stack.

I’ve had a lot of success using these principles in heads-up play; they were instrumental in helping me win the 2007 National Heads-Up Championship. Put these ideas into practice and you may find the extra edge you need the next time you’re playing heads up.

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Howard Lederer

This week, Full Tilt Poker launched Cap Games – a version of our Pot- and No-Limit games in which no player can commit more than 30 big blinds to any pot. The biggest cash games in the world, the ones that Jennifer Harman and Phil Ivey play in, use a cap when they play No-Limit Hold ‘em or Pot-Limit Omaha, and we thought you’d enjoy the experience as well.

For this tip, I am going to discuss some of the advantages of Cap Games over traditional big-bet poker, then I’m going to cover some strategic points that should help you when you first sit into a Cap Game.

Advantages of Cap Games

Most players reach a point where they grow uncomfortable with the thought of risking all the money they have on the table in a single hand. For example, say that a player in a $.50/$1 No-Limit game has done well and has built his stack from $50 to $300. He’s certainly happy with that turn of events but, if there’s another big stack at the table, he may be unwilling to stay at the table for fear of losing a very large sum on a difficult hand. In a Cap Game, however, this player can keep his seat, knowing that he can’t lose more than $30 on any single hand.

When a cap is in place, there tends to be a lot of action. Players open up their games when they know their losses will be limited and will commit for the cap on hands they might be more cautious with in a standard No-Limit game. So Cap Games can be action packed and a lot of fun.

Cap Game Strategy

For the most part, Cap Games play just like other big-bet games. But there will be some key pots where you can use the cap to your advantage. You’ll be able to take some shots at pots that you probably wouldn’t take in deep-stack games.

In particular, Cap Games offer great semi-bluffing opportunities. For example, say that you’re in a $1/$2 No-Limit Hold ‘em Cap Game and a player opens for a $6 raise. You think he’s weak and decide to re-raise to $20 with the 9c-Tc. The blinds fold and the raiser calls. The flop comes 2c-6c-Js. He checks to you and you decide to bet about the size of the pot – $40 – with your flush draw.

With this bet and the pre-flop action, you’ve reached the cap; you can’t commit any more money to the pot. That makes this flop bet a pure semi-bluff. There’s a good chance that you’ll force a fold and, if you don’t, you’ve still got about a 1 in 3 chance of hitting your flush on the next two cards. In a standard No-Limit game, however, this play could go very badly. You could be check-raised or called. If called, you could face a large bet on the turn after missing your flush. Either way, you might be forced to fold without having the opportunity to hit your hand.

Also in Cap Games, you can play some medium-strength hands more aggressively than you would in a traditional No-Limit game. For instance, you might be reluctant to commit 100 big blinds on a middle pocket pair, even if you felt your opponent was playing overcards and missed the flop. But in a Cap Game, you might play for the maximum on something like pocket 9s if you feel it is, in fact, the best hand.

In addition, there are more opportunities for slow-playing in Cap Games. Say that you hit a set of 5s when the flop comes 5d-7d-9c. You could be up against some sort of draw here and, in a standard No-Limit game, you’d probably want to bet so that you didn’t risk letting a flush get there for free. But in a Cap Game, you might give the free card. The draw will probably play for the cap no matter what you do, and if an opponent had overcards and missed the flop, he’d only commit money if he connects with the board on the turn.

In general, you don’t need to be so concerned about super-fine reads or making big laydowns in Cap Games. If you think there’s a reasonable chance you’re ahead, you can play for the cap without putting an excessive amount at risk.

Give our new Cap Games a shot. I think you’ll enjoy the more open style of play that accompanies these games. They really are a lot of fun.

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Fourth Street Decisions in Seven Stud

Keith Sexton

In an earlier article, Perry Friedman gave some guidelines as to what you should be looking for at the start of a Seven-Card Stud hand. Perry concentrated on third street, when you make your initial decision to proceed with the hand or not. For this tip, I’d like to go further down the road and talk about fourth street.

When playing Stud, fourth street is the last of the smaller betting rounds. On fifth street, the bets double, so if you decide to play beyond fourth street, your investment in the hand is going to be hefty.

On fourth street, I look to see if an opponent has picked up a card that has a relation to the door card (the first up card). If fourth street builds straight or flush possibilities for my opponent, I’m likely to muck a lot of hands; if it appears to be a complete blank, I’ll usually continue.

For example, say one player open-raised with the Qd as a door card, and I called with split 8s and a suited 6. If he catches a total blank (something like the 2c) on fourth street and bets, I’m likely to continue and see if fifth street brings either of us any help. On the other hand, I will probably dump the hand if my opponent catches anything between a Ten and an Ace, and I don’t improve.

I won’t know for sure if a Ten, Jack, King or Ace helps my opponent’s hand, but at that point, his board presents too many warning signs for me to continue. Many players will enter pots when they start with three big cards, so any high card on fourth street has the potential to make my opponent a big pair or get him closer to a straight. Either way, my eights are pretty flimsy.

Another sort of situation develops when I catch two-pair on the turn. Say that I started with a split pair of 8s and a 6. My opponent open-raised with the Qd and I called. The turn brings me another 6, giving me two pair. My opponent catches a blank and bets.

In a spot like this, I think raising is a big mistake because the two-pair is well hidden. If I raise on fourth street and happen to catch a boat on fifth or sixth street, it will be almost impossible for my opponent to continue with the hand after my show of strength. He’ll have to assume that I’ve hit and he’ll fold to a bet. If, however, I just call on the turn and then hit a 6 later in that hand, my opponent may continue with his pair of Queens.

Moving on to a third example, say I have Kings in the hole with the 6d as my door card. Again, assume my opponent open-raised while showing Qd on third street. In this spot I’m likely to just call my opponent’s raise on third street. If I were to re-raise with a 6 as my door card, I’d be announcing that I held a big pocket pair. My opponent would probably fold and I wouldn’t get any value out of a nice hand.

After I call the third-street raise, I’m hoping that the turn brings a card like the 8d. If my opponent then leads at the pot, I’ll raise, hoping to give the impression that I’m on a draw. Once my opponent has that impression, he’ll probably call my raise on fourth street. If fifth street appears to be a blank, he’ll probably call a bet there as well. I’ll be building a nice pot while holding a strong hand.

These are just a few situations you might run into on fourth street. If you play your hand correctly at this point, you stand to pick up some big bets on later streets when things go well, and save some bets when things go south.

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I’m best known in the poker world for my tournament success. I’ve won four World Series of Poker* bracelets, including the World Championship in 1996. With as much success as I’ve had in tournaments, however, I still prefer to spend most of my time in cash games. If I were to limit myself to tournaments, I’d miss out on some of poker’s most interesting aspects.

In tournaments, you’re constantly moving. The tournament director may move you so that he can balance tables, or your table may break. So, even if you’ve been attentive to your opponents’ tendencies, there’s a good chance that you won’t be able to exploit the information you’ve gained. In a cash game, however, you have far more time with a set of players. When I play a cash game in a casino, I might spend eight, 10, or 12 hours with the same group, so I have a longer time to study my opponents and exploit their weaknesses.

If I’m going to be playing with the same people for hours, I can create a table image that will benefit me over the course of my session. For example, when I first enter a game, I might make a series of unprofitable plays – some strange bets or bluffs. These plays may lose me a little bit of money, but they affect how everyone thinks of me for the rest of the session. Even if I shift to a more solid mode of play, some players will retain the idea that I’m a nut case. In a tip I provided a few weeks ago, I showed how developing this sort of table image can be used to great effect by representing a bluff.

In a tournament, however, it’s tough to profit from that kind of persona. You can spend an hour getting everyone to believe you’re a maniac only to be moved to a table of complete strangers. At that point, your stack will be decimated and your image will have disappeared.

In cash games, you also have the chance to track your opponents’ mood shifts over time. At various points in a session, a player may get tired, frustrated or just go on tilt. If you’re attuned to your opponents’ moods, you’ll find opportunities to profit from their weakened states. In a tournament, you rarely get a chance to take advantage of someone else’s tilt. Usually, the hand that gets a player steaming also busts them from the tournament.

While tournaments can provide for some great action, playing them exclusively can limit your game. By branching out and playing cash games, you’ll develop a completely different set of poker skills and be able to explore some of the more interesting psychological aspects of the game.

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Early Tournament Play

David Grey

Most players are aware of the significant advantages that come with having a big stack in a tournament. When a player has chips, he can attack and pick up pots by forcing those around him into a corner where they have to make tough decisions. Those who have short stacks are always vulnerable to attack by those who have managed to accumulate lots of chips.

Why can the big stacks be more aggressive? The answer may surprise you. In tournaments, the more chips you have the less each individual chip is worth, making it easier for the big stacks to throw more into each pot. It’s a strange concept, but one you should understand. To illustrate the point, say that you have 100,000 in tournament chips, and you lose 20,000 in a pot. You’re not going to be happy about the loss, but that setback is not nearly as devastating as losing 15,000 from a 30,000 stack.

When you have a lot of chips that aren’t worth much, you can be a lot freer to use them. You can go after blinds and antes without premium cards, or you can enter into race situations. If some hands don’t work out, that’s OK, because you weren’t risking much to begin with.

The benefits of having deep stacks are significant enough that I’m willing to take some risks early in a tournament that give me the chance to build up my chips. When I’m playing in position, I’m likely to call raises with hands that I wouldn’t play in a ring game or late in a tournament – hands like Q-9 suited or K-T suited. In a ring game, with these sorts of hands I’d be worried about being dominated and getting myself in serious trouble if I flop top pair. But early in a tournament, I can call with the hope of hitting the flop pretty hard. I’m looking for two-pair, trips, or some kind of big draw. When I flop a draw, I’ll have the opportunity to semi-bluff; if I hit two pair, I might take a lot of chips from an opponent who can’t get away from top pair.

Also, keep in mind that there are likely to be a higher proportion of weak players early in a tournament. You want to get as many chips from these players as you can before they bust.

Playing more hands early in a tournament does expose me to greater risks, but I’m fine with that. I’d rather gamble early and bust than cling to a short stack for hours on end. When I’m short-stacked, I know that one bad beat or one lost race will have me on the rail. I’d rather take some chances and try to accumulate a stack that can stand up to a little adversity.

So, in your next tournament, look for situations in early levels that give you a chance to acquire a big stack. You may bust, but if things work out, you’ll give yourself a far better shot at surviving deep into the tournament and having a big payday.

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John D’Agostino

Let’s face it; nobody takes up poker because they love the idea of sitting idly at a table while folding for hours on end. But, in a full ring game with eight or nine other players holding cards, it’s proper to spend most of your time folding because there’s too great a chance that one of your opponents holds a powerful hand.

But, in short-handed play when only three or four people have cards, you’re forced to open up. With the blinds coming around so frequently, you need to be playing and winning a number of pots just to stay even. And, with only a couple of opponents, you can be less concerned about running into a big starting hand. On most deals, everyone’s holding trash.

Here’s some advice for altering your strategy for short-handed no-limit cash games. Keep in mind that all the advice here is geared toward short-handed play while players have deep stacks. The advice given here won’t work especially well in a tournament, or against players who come in with less than 100 times the big blind.

My love of short-handed play is one of the reasons I play online so much. It’s rare to find a three- or four-handed table in a casino, but online, I can find short-handed games any time I want.

Pre-Flop Strategy

Three- or four-handed games are usually very aggressive, and I will never limp in. I open-raise or I fold. In a typical short-handed game, I’m raising one in every three or four hands when I’m not in the blinds. I recommend raising with every hand you’d raise with in a full ring game (big pair, AK, AQ). In addition, I raise with any pocket pair, including twos and threes. I’ll also raise with suited-connectors, such as 4s-5s.

What might be something of a surprise is that I’m extremely wary of hands that seem to hold some promise. Hands like A-J, A-T and K-J, are hands that most know to treat cautiously in a full ring game, but I will often fold these in a short-handed game as well. Why? Well, these are hands that are likely to get me in a lot of trouble. For example, if I were to raise with K-J, and the flop came K-T-3, I’m either going to win a small pot, after betting my top pair and seeing my opponents fold, or I’m going to lose a much larger pot as my decent hand goes down in flames against two-pair, a set, or an out-kicked top-pair.

It’s also important to note that A-J, A-T are just about useless against re-raises and must be mucked against most opponents. With a hand like 4s-5s, however, I can call a re-raise with hopes of catching a big flop (two-pair, trips) or a big draw, and then taking my opponents entire stack when I hit. If I miss a flop with a suited connector or manage to hit only bottom pair, I can easily fold to a flop bet. But if I call a re-raise with A-T and then catch top pair on a Ten-high flop, I may get in real trouble against a bigger pair. Or if I flop an Ace, I could be out-kicked.
Post-Flop Strategy

If a pre-flop raise from the cutoff or button has been called by one of the blinds, it’s important to make the most of your positional advantage. Keep in mind that in a short-handed game, your opponent isn’t likely to hold much of a hand and that even if he held something decent, chances are he missed the flop. (In hold ‘em, unpaired hole cards will fail to make a pair on the flop about two-thirds of the time.)

So, if I missed the flop completely while holding something like 6-high, I’ll almost always bet the flop. If I get called or check-raised, I’ll happily shut down. But, I pick the pot up often enough to make the bet in this situation worthwhile.

If, however, I’m holding a decent Ace and miss the flop, I’ll usually check. In a short-handed game, Ace-high can win at showdown, and taking a free card gives me a chance to hit my hand on the turn.

I’ll also bet most of my draws on the flop. Often, I’ll win the pot with a bet. Even if I’m called, I’ve got the added benefit of building a large pot. If I happened to hit my draw on the turn or the river, there’s a good chance I’m going to take my opponent’s stack.

Psychological Strategy

Short-handed play takes some getting used to. The pace is furious, forcing a lot of tough decisions in very short periods of time. The swings are far more dramatic than in a full ring game but, I think that after adjusting to the pace of the action, most players will come to love the excitement that accompanies short-handed play.

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