January 17th, 2008
I played my first ever $4.40 180 man game back on the 12th March 2007 when, if I am totally honest, I knew nothing about tournament play whatsoever. I busted in a pretty respectable 44th spot but I was primarily a cash game player and never really dedicated any time to these games although I did play two more games during March which included my first cash, a 16th place finish for $8.64, before going back to the cash tables once more. I stayed at the cash tables until the last few days in June when, after reading the Harrington On Hold’em series, I decided to take a shot at these tournaments once again.
With my new found knowledge I felt I’d be able to tear these games apart, in fact it was quite the opposite and I failed to cash in the next seven games I entered, with a 34th place the closest I’d come to hitting the money again. I analysed my game and searched various forums and found a few leaks in my game which I vowed to changed. Firstly, I was being overly tight, probably from misunderstanding Mr Harrington or maybe misapplying his theories, concepts and suggestions. I also found I was making moves far too early on when my stack had dwindled into the “Yellow” and “Orange” zones and I was picking the wrong spots to c-bet or steal. More work needed to be done and I tried to re-invent myself in a new style of play. I’d always been TAG, or what I thought of as TAG, but it seemed, that much like blondes, LAG’s had more fun! Now I wasn’t comfortable in trying to turn into Gus Hansen overnight but I decided that I needed to add something to my game, be able to change gears and ask questions of my opponents not sit back and answer there’s.
My change in style coincided seemed to have immediate results with me hitting my first cash for 8 games (15th place) and I was hooked. A couple more top 30 finishes passed me by before BOOOOOOOOM, a 2nd place finish for $144, my biggest cash to date! I was hooked but went through another 8 game spell where I failed to cash and my confidence dropped again. I then read a post on BodogAri’s blog and another article, which escapes me right now, about variance in MTT’s and I was shocked to read that BodogAri, one of the great MTT players, often suffered 40 game spells without a single cash or even coming near to cashing which picked me up again as I knew if greats like Ari suffered like this then it was just normal. I guess I just didn’t understand variance and I was probably over-estimated my abities. I went through hand histories, highlighted a few problem areas and it seemed to be coming together with four cashes from my next six games including one final table but it was short-lived and I don’t remember too much about them really because I was drinking heavily and taking pills and other drugs and I went on serious life tilt and my game eventually started to suffer. Really suffer.
It was a dark time for me and my drink consumption was very high and my drug consumption was escalating too. Everything around me seemed to be turning bad and I was in self destruct mode. I hid away in poker almost willing the bad beats and suckouts to happen so I could have something to moan about and over the next 13 games I didn’t cash a single time, my average finish was a lowly 84th, the highest I finished was 38th and my lowest point came when I had my worst finish of 173rd place. I decided to call it a day. Luckily I managed to sort myself out, get my girl, a new flat and all was rosey again! I really cut down on the drink and after a 2 month break from the 4/180 games I revisited them with a fresh mind and plan. I’d read about bubble play, watched some known pro’s online, and read dozens of hand histories from these games. I was ready to make some corn! Unfortunately the Poker Gods (amen) didn’t see it the same way and decided to not let me cash in my next five MTT’s taking my cash-less streak to a whopping 18 games! I was playing much better than my results gave me credit for though so stuck at them and eventually it really all came together, and thankfully in time for the Raise The River Challenge which I decided to enter despite not having enough money to play all the games! I shipped $20 to BurnleyMik, leaving me with 9 buy-ins and got to work. Eight days later I’d finished my ten games finishing 76th / 16th / 2nd / 54th / 38th / 8th / 15th / 109th / 35th / 39th. So in the 10 games in the challenge I hit three cashes, two final tables and another 2nd place which earned me 52 points and more importantly $196 prize money and $136 in playing profit! BOOOOOOM! Although I’ve only played 62 of these, here are some observations which you may find handy.
Get involved early on - A lot of people advocate not getting involved early doors and to let the donkeys knock themselves out. WRONG! They are easy cash so look to get involved with them. Limp or call small raises with suited connectors and pocket pairs hoping to hit a huge flop and stack the fish with top pair.
Look for the fish who doubled early on - I like to make notes on players with huge stacks at the 10/20 and 15/30 levels. I then look them up in Official Poker Rankings to see if they’re any good. If not then I make a note they’re willing to get their stack in early doors.
Don’t bother with early reads - There is no need. The early stages are so bad don’t waste your time trying to get int their heads. However, if you spot someone you think is solid it is worth making a not and looking them up on OPR.
Be willing to gamble early doors - Get two things into your head right away. Firstly, it cost $4.40 to play these. Second, they start every 15-20 mins so it’s not the end of the world to bust very early. I’ll call a shove with AK in the 10/20 levels almost always.
Keep an eye on the lobby - I always like to stay at least the average stack so I keep a close eye on the lobby. Coming to the first break check for stacks that have hardly played a hand and have been blinded away or have huge stacks. Don’t worry about iny stacks. Try to have at least the average stack when the break hits or you’ll need to get aggressive early.
Change gears after the break - Most players like to waIt for the antes to kick in before they change up a gear. I prefer the level before when people are conserving chips to steal blinds and antes. Attack the guys who are close to original starting stacks as they’re usually tight as a duck’s ass.
Learn to steal and resteal lightly - The vast majority of the fish hate aggression so learn how to resteal. If they come over the top again you can fold because they NEVER resteal a resteal! It’s a great way to pick up some decent free chips! Hands like 86o give you the chance to get away from aggression and make decisions easier. You have to steal a lot in order to survive these things!
Down to 35 players - This is essentially the bubble time and most fish clam up and hope to cash. Avoid really low stacks as they’ll call very wide against you but do attack medium and average stacks at will. Also, if you notice a big stack bullying take a stand and come over the top and your image will be great for the smaller stacks and they’ll avoid you. The key here is “Actually try to bubble, the table simply won’t let you do it!”
Bubble has burst - As 10th-18th are paid the same you’ll often see a flurry of all-ins as people don’t care. Stay tight here IMO but look for stealing oppurtunites. As you approach the final table bubble again try to bubble and they won’t let you. You can’t win the pot if you don’t bet!
Final table - The money is in the top three places so aim to get there by any means. You’ll usually have a huge stack, a big stacks and the rest in push/fold mode. Avoid the extremes and attack the similar stacks to yours. Controlled aggro is the key.
River raises - These are hardly every bluffs, in fact almost never.
C-bet like crazy! - Especially if you’ve restolen. Player A raises 3xBB, you reraise 3x his raise with T9o. Flop comes A48 and he checks, bet every time. Fish have to see a flop if they’ve put chips in the pot!
Bet/Bet/Check/Bet - This line works pretty well, especially up to the first break. Raise preflop, c-bet the flop (even if you hit), check the turn and fire on the river. A lot of the fish will call a flop bet hoping to hit a draw or miracle card on the turn then give up on the turn allowing you to take away on the river.
Don’t panic - Even with a smallish stack you’ll probably never be more than a double up to get you back in contention. Sit back and choose your spots carefully. Only push over limpers preflop with big pairs, AQ and AK as there is a big chance you will be called. Also, if you want to open-push be aware most will call with A5+ so you’ll be better pushing JT, 98s type hands.
Ask questions, don’t answer them - I like to be the one asking questions of my opponents not the one answering them. You have to accept that in poker a lot of the time you will be wrong in your decisions but if you fold TT to every raise you face you will not win a lot of tournaments. Always put pressure on your opponents. If you want to know if he has an overpair bet at him. If you want to know if he has the flush, raise him up. Pay for information and make your opponents squirm.
If you’ll call a river bet, raise the turn instead - Imagine you have JJ on the button and call an early position raise. Flop comes 496r. EP bets and you call. Turn is a King and villain bets half the pot I like a raise here. First if you call the turn and the river brings a ten then you’re likely to call any normal sized bet so by raising you have the chance to take this pot here and now and if he comes over the top then you can be sure your beaten and fold. By raising you get the chance to win the pot for the same price as calling the villain down. Aggression is key.
10 or 11/1 odds required for set mining - It’s often worth calling raises with pocket pairs hoping to hit a set as we all know sets are powerful hands and everyone knows it’s about 7.5/1 of hitting a set on the flop so people set mine with 7.5/1 implied odds which is wrong. This assumes that villain will stack off with his holding everytime you hit your set. This may be true if he has KK and you 99 on a 396 board but what if he has AQ on a 396 board? Having 10 or 11/1 implied odds make it much more realistic.
Forget short-term results - You need about 1800 of these to even start to know where you stand in them so a run of 10 straight defeats is nothing. Keep focused and remember the fish here are plentiful and they love to donate their chips to you!
Those are the main pointers I use when playing, thoughts?
Pudding over and out!
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
