SSS1: How To Win A Small Buy In No Limit Holdem Multi-Table Tournament

For starters, I think it's necessary to say that you shouldn't expect to cash in these tournaments the majority of the time. If you can cash even 20% of the time, you're ahead of the game. A No Limit Holdem tournament is interesting in the fact that great holdem players can come out on top time and again. A great holdem player could make a living just playing in these sorts of tournaments (as long as they're playing what they can easily afford). The other end of no limit is that you can go broke on a single hand. No matter how well you've played in the tournament, one hand can break you. It might be a bad beat, or you get your money in with a good hand and you run into something better. In No Limit Holdem, a lot of things are almost entirely out of your control. By now, you should already know that playing well isn't always enough to win a tournament. In my opinion, I feel that some strategies and tips can be used in these tournaments to help advance you in the pay ladder. I specify in the title that these are strategies for "small buy-ins" simply because you can take advantage of the flaws that most of the players who buy into these tournaments have that you wouldn't find at a larger buy-in. For the most part, I'll be sharing general knowledge of poker mixed in with common sense.

Tip 1: Patience
Enter the tournament in a patient mood. If you're tilting from something earlier, it may force you to play worse than if you were clear headed.

Tip 2: Don't Gamble Early
This is a pretty key part of the strategy. You see so often that players will go all in for their ENTIRE tournament within the first hour (or even the first hand). Your best bet is to play tight aggressive for the first hour or so. This works well for you in two ways: First, by the first hour, a lot of the looser players will either be out, very short stacked, or big stacked and willing to donk off a lot of their chips. All three of these are good for you! Also, you're avoiding a bad beat by not getting involved with marginal hands. Don't feel the need to be the captain of the table and "keep a player honest." Simply watch this loose player lose his chips while you show patience and wait for a hand that you can potentially bust a loose player with. If someone is willing to give their chips away, make sure you have a good hand to call with so you can fulfill that player's wish!

Tip 3: When To Steal
Early in a tournament with the blinds SO small in comparison to stack sizes, don't even bother stealing the blinds with pre-flop raises with marginal hands. It's about weighing risks and rewards. Should I risk 90 chips to win 45? You'll have to take the pot down pre-flop a lot for this to be profitable in the long run, and most of the time it's not even profitable at your current table. Early in a tournament, players with lesser knowledge are ALWAYS getting the right price in their heads to make calls. Some players like to see a lot of flops early because they're cheap and you can potentially win a lot. This strategy also can backfire very easily when you run into a monster! You should consider stealing when the blinds get bigger. I usually like to say when both the small and big blind get to triple digits (100/200) it's a good time to start stealing. If you want a more conservative approach, start considering steals when antes come into play. Now with blinds at say 240/480 with a 25 ante, you could bump it up to 960 or 1440 to win 945 chips (720 from blinds + 25 antes from 9 players). That is a much better risk/reward than the previous 90 raise to win 45. Just getting away with this a couple times can put you from short stack to average stack.

Tip 4: Play the Player
Pick up on tells and ways players play. One example that you see often is when a player loses a big hand (especially on a bad beat) it seems that the very next hand they'll push in all their chips. If I'm in line to act before this player pre-flop and I get a monster, I may just smooth call the blinds. If that player is tilting and raises all in, i'll follow up with an all in of my own right behind him. This strategy is also really risky, especially since you could maybe still raise before the flop instead of smooth calling, and get the same result. The bonus is maybe you get YOUR all in called and look at improving your stack by more than 2 times over!

Tip 5: Bubble Play
Maybe the most stressful part of the tournament (especially a big one). Chances are that you've been playing for hours and you're looking at cashing with ease or you're on the bubble. We're all humans: NONE of us want to put in hours and leave with nothing to show for it! This is the mentality of every player who is one spot out of that bubble and worse. Even the players that are only a little ahead of the bubble are cautious. When you have a big stack and it's looking good that you'll cash, it's time to start taking a piece of the pie with some pre-flop raises. You can take down a SIGNIFICANT amount of chips using this strategy. This is a point in the tournament where I say "Some players are playing to cash while others are in a position to win". If you're in a position to win, then now is the time to add those free chips to your stack for later use. Even an average stack can use some leverage to bully with a pre-flop steal. This strategy is a little harder for some players because they're too cautious themselves to put chips out there with marginal/bad hands. Once you get the courage to make these risky moves, you'll see it paying off for you way more than it fails.

Tip 6: Final Table Play
At a final table, you're probably going to be running into some decent players. Some of them may be new to you that you haven't played the entire tournament. You may run into someone who was at your first table. If you are familiar with another player at the final table, that's an advantage that another player may not have, so use it. Make a mental note (or an actual note on the software) of that player and what he did in certain situations. The fact is that players don't change up their game dramatically enough for you to go against an instinct that has maybe been correct in the past.

Tip 7: Mix Up Your Play at the Final Table
No one else really does it, so you should. I like to do this by making some pre-flop raises with mediocre or bad hands and then show it. This is especially good when a small stack is in the big blind. They're likely to remember that you bluffed when 10% of his stack was in the middle, so he might reraise all those chips. Maybe next time, you'll have the goods, pot odds, or both to make an easy call. If you do get a monster from an early pre-flop position, try slow playing it, especially if your table has been showing a lot of aggressive pre-flop raises. Since there is a considerable amount of money in the pot before the cards are dealt, good players will know that they should get their fair share of free blinds, and this is a situation where you can reraise to get a call, or pick up an even bigger pot than you would've before. The key is to mixing up your play so your opponents won't know what to put you on. You just raised with 10 high and showed it, but now you're slow playing two Kings? The table will be unable to put you on a hand and the margin of hands you play now becomes greater in your opponent's minds.

Tip 8: Heads-Up at a Final Table
When you play someone heads up, I feel that the notes you have on that person should be considered a little bit less. This is because heads up no limit holdem is an entirely different game in itself. You kind've need to feel out how a player operates heads up. Is he the type to raise any Ace pre-flop? Would he smooth call the big blind with an Ace? Will he raise on the button with anything but fold to a pre-flop reraise? These are all things you need to find out before you get crazy with your chips. If they're playing tight or don't seem to be playing any differently than they would at a full table, you should loosen up and go after more pots. If they're betting and reraise a lot of pots, you can feel comfortable slowing down and hoping for big hands yourself, which may lead to a big payoff. In general, if you're heads up with a big stack you should play tighter so you don't find yourself calling 3 bets all the way to the river where the other player has their whole stack in. If you're a small stack, you should take more chances to steal some blinds.

Tip 9: Conceal Your Hand when Heads-Up
In heads up, I like to play a style where my hand could be anything from 7-2 off suit (cliche, I know) to AA. Just keep my opponent guessing. If the blinds are 600/1200 and I'm on the button, I could bump it to 2400 regardless of what my chip situation or hand is. If I have a great hand and get called, I can continue to extract chips and hope that I take down a big pot, and maybe the entire tournament. If I get called and I have a bad hand and miss the flop, I can let my hand go fairly easily because I didn't invest much in the first place. If we check it down to the end, that player will see that I raised pre-flop with 8 high and maybe come back over the top of my raise more often. Let's say that pre-flop raise to 2400 was with 8-6 off suit and the flop brings a 8-7-3 rainbow. It's a pretty boring flop and one that a pre-flop raiser wouldn't LIKELY hit. Also, I can somewhat assume my opponent missed the flop, since he would've been (again, I assume) calling with two big cards, like K-J off suit. Basically, you're getting a lot of information by risking a small amount and giving away NOTHING about your hand. You want to establish yourself as the type of player that could have AA or 8 high on any given hand for any sort of raise.

Tip 10: Get Away From A Bluff Gone Bad When Heads-Up
Some players may pick up that you're being too aggressive heads-up (unless they're being the aggressors). If you raise pre-flop and get called and try to continue raising after the flop and keep drawing calls and maybe reraises, be ready to lay the hand down. There is NO need to get tied down to a hand heads-up. If you're taking down pots pre-flop with 10 high raises, there's no need to risk your chips when your opponent is leading you in to what might be a trap. On the other side, maybe you make a monster hand and your opponent seems to have one too. You may want to make a double reraise in this case just to see if your hand really IS the best.

So those are ten incredibly valuable tips for no limit holdem tournaments. I think all in all, the best skill for poker is patience. Making smart plays at crucial points helps as well. And then there's that thing called luck that might come in hand too...

Poker is 60% luck and 40% skill? Here's a couple new percentages to look at

To whoever told you that poker was a game of cards, they were one step ahead of the game. If a person told you this, they were buying into what poker is REALLY about: People. It's somewhat ironic that a fellow human would tell you it's about the cards. In my opinion, poker is 33% about the cards and 66% about the players. The cards are important because there are going to be a lot of times when you have to show your hand down. All your antics prior to a showdown may have gotten you nowhere. Either you're going to showdown a bluff, a mediocre hand that may be the winner, or you lead a guy along the whole way while you show down the nuts. The other players, however, are the ones who will ultimately determine how much you make or lose. If you're like me (or any other decent poker player) you find yourself playing hands a certain/different way against one player that you would another; maybe playing the hand COMPLETELY different. When you "meet" players on FTP, you can find out fairly quickly (within the first hour or so) what type of players are at your table. I like to look at how a player plays over an hour more so than the first 10 minutes, first half hour, of even the first hand. You want to develop some consistency in what the other players are doing, and you won't get too much consistent information in only a few minutes, though you can still pick up some things. Anyway, when you see what players at your table seem to be doing, you make decisions based more so on the players than the cards. I'm a huge proponent saying that cards are more important early on in a tournament than later. I justify this because I feel there's a certain psychological edge to having a larger stack early on versus getting short stacked early on. I find it fairly consistent that players that lose a big pot and get short stacked early often don't have the patience to wait for good hands and play well, so they'll shove their chips in with little or no thought. Also, with a big stack early on, it'll set your confidence sky high. If you keep your confidence up and winning pots, you feel like you're at your best, and you'll find yourself playing better. This isn't to say that a big stack means you'll cash or that a small stack will make you go broke; I've seen and been in positions where I've made dramatic turn arounds for better and for worse. Generally speaking it seems that some, if not most, poker players lack whatever skill (luck, patience, skill) to turn around a short stack, or worse, maintain a big stack. Another thing to look at is blind play. Early in a tournament, it's not as wise or profitable to button raise with a Q high, even if it's been folded around to you. Later in a tournament, when the blinds are significant, i'd highly recommend a raise here. Unless of course the blinds have some maniacs, loose big stack players, or a small stack that might just reraise. That's a lot to think about. If you're going to try for a pre flop bluff raise, you should be certain that the blinds will just fold, allowing you to scoop in a considerable pot. If you get called, you may have the correct pot odds to call an all in reraise with Q high. Now it's not so much about cards, is it? Now, you're looking ahead at the table. What has the big blind been doing? Has the small blind been willing to just fold and let the big blind walk? Has the button player raised a fair amount of pots preflop? Did the big blind just lose a big hand and might be likely to just push in the rest of their chips? These are things to consider when you're in a No Limit Holdem tournament. On Sunday, I'll start up the Sunday Strategy Session with a quick lesson in "Low Buy In No Limit Holdem Multi Table Tournaments" where I'll provide some tips and strategies that have helped me win a decent amount of cash in these formats.

Setting Personal Goals and the Sit N Go Challenge

About two weeks ago, for whatever reason, I got incredibly excited about this random idea I had. The premise was basically playing in a preset number of sit n gos for various games and tracking the results much more closely than usual. I decided that 10 was a good number to experiment with. For someone like me, who goes into swings on playing sit n gos, I felt that 10 was a good number for getting my feet wet. I also feel that 10 is a good number to show consistency. You can win 1 sit n go fairly easily, you can cash in 5 sit n gos if you're running well, but 10 sit n gos is a solid way to show how things are working for you. I also decided that since I'd be playing different games, the buy in should be something fairly small that I can easily afford (remember, this was just an experiment). I came to the conclusion that the $2 + .25 games would be perfect for the test. Finally, I logged into FTP and checked out the possibilities. I knew that I wanted a variety of games, as well as 1 table sit n gos. I also figured that since No Limit Hold'em is my best game and the one i'm most comfortable with, most of the games should be Hold'em variations. So here is the list and the results:

• 6 handed NL Holdem: 2nd place=$4.20
• 8 handed HORSE: 1st place=$8
• 9 handed PL Omaha H/L: 2nd place=$5.40
• 6 handed Turbo PL HA: 4th place=$0
• 8 person heads up NL Holdem shootout: 1st place=$10.40
• 8 person heads up Turbo NL Holdem shootout: 8th place=$0
• 6 handed PL Omaha Hi: 5th place=$0
• 9 handed NL Holdem: 2nd place=$5.40
• 9 handed Turbo NL Holdem: 1st place=$9
• 9 handed PL HA: Didn't play because the game never filled up!

So, all in all, it was 9 sit n gos. After this experiment was over, and even during, I realized that these results were amazing! I had already made back my FULL investment of 9 sit n gos by the 4th or 5th match! After it was entirely said and done, I'd spent $18 on the sit n gos ($20.25 with entry fees included) and I'd made out with total prizes of $42.40 which made a net profit of $22.15. Needless to say, the results exceeded my expectations. I was realistically expecting to come out even or a little better, maybe like $30 total at the most. While my results were super impressive, there were various factors to consider when thinking back on this success. One of them, and maybe most importantly, is I was playing well and avoiding bad luck. This was essentially the key to the whole thing. Playing well can only do so much for you, but this was a combination of running good and playing well for the majority of the hands played throughout all 9 matches. Also, just as I assumed when constructing the plan, I avoided boredom by playing different types of games. Most players that I can think of play ONLY Hold'em and cringe at the thought of even playing a new game. I feel that the other games have made me enjoy poker as a whole way more, and have helped my Hold'em game by developing the skills the other games teach. As of right now, I have a list of 10 new sit n gos and I'm ready to repeat with a few different games. My approach, however, is still the same. I still plan to come out even or slightly ahead. After two sit n gos, I have $0 for one and a $9 win at the other, so things are starting off kind've where they left off, but it's still early in the process.

On a broader scale, this is maybe the first time in my poker life that I've set goals. Reaching those goals and going above and beyond was almost as fulfilling as a big tournament cash. In some ways, it could be more rewarding than it appears. Since it worked once, I'm likely to try it again and see if I can come out on top again. This process has also taught me about the huge value of patience in poker which leads to not destroying yourself over short term success. For example, I basically got crushed in the 6 handed PL Omaha Hi sit n go taking 5th place. I was getting some decent starting hands and some good preflop situations. However, the flop would either bring nothing or some backdoor draw that wasn't worth chasing. My thoughts were like "How can you completely miss so many flops in Omaha?" After my elimination, I was upset, felt outplayed, felt stupid. But, in retrospect, I couldn't care less about that sit n go, and I don't even remember too much about it. My other results (long term results) overshadowed that Omaha table five times over. Everyone has bad days in poker, and if they didn't, then you personally would never have good days (think about that one). You just can't allow yourself to get down on your play, even if you have a losing day, you're maybe just losing what you WON last week. Even when you're upset about poker, there's two sides to every coin, and when you're running bad, your side never falls. It's about keeping your head up, focusing on the game, and the ability to move on from one hand to the next.

Hey guys what's up? Long time no see...

Since my last post, a lot has happened for me on FTP. I won a $2 tournament with 309 players which made me $155. I also qualified for the Fantasy Poker Main Event Freeroll and came away with a cool $25 (which is totally gone now). Also, I encountered a bad beat that I took way more personally than ever before. In a tournament where the top 27 cashed and we had 38 people left, a guy raises under the gun for about 3.5 big blinds. He had well over the average stack, as did I. Well it came to me in middle position where i had pocket aces. Figuring a call from him or another low stack, I just reraised all in. Folded around to the original raiser who requested time before calling with KQ offsuit. Flops a K, turns a Q, and the rest is history. This fucking idiot goes on to win the whole thing. I was railing him on and off like "HOW do you make that call for your tournament with close to nothing invested? He claimed he was "tired and hoping to leave that hand." To me, this basically means that if everything went accordingly, he was trying to hand me a stack that was good enough for top 20 at that point in the tournament. Instead, this nappy player goes on to win around $130. While losing with Aces is always devastating (especially when you get all your money preflop) but I had been playing FLAWLESS and PERFECT poker for the prior two hours. Making stellar timing bluffs and maximizing profit on hands where I was giving just the right odds for people to call with mediocre hands. The icing on the cake is that this joker (viperucla was his screen name) goes on to win. In retrospect, I don't think that viperucla is a bad player, he has good results and I've seen him play well otherwise. As far as this blog goes, I have numerous ideas for posts I want to get to. Below is a syllabus of sorts for what I have in store.

• Setting Personal Goals: The Sit N Go Challenges
• Sunday Strategy Session: An in-depth look at various scenarios in poker
• Player Analysis: My opinions on how my live opponents play (I'll be using the format for rating the players based on the system used by Barry Greenstein at www.barrygreenstein.com)
• Inside the minds of Full Tilt Poker commonfolk

Later on tonight or tomorrow, I'll probably get right into the Sit N Go Challenges and explain that further.