When it comes to poker, everyone has an opinion. Well except those of you who have absolutely no idea what you're doing. Your only poker strategies are organizing your chips by colour and making the little markings on the side line up. For everyone else, you all have your ways of playing, and can be broken down and sorted categorically. Instead of merely pointing out the glaring flaws in the various "types" of players I encounter on a weekly basis, I'm simply going to share some of my opinions, observations, and strategies for NLH in the hopes that some of you might gain a more outside-the-box perspective on poker. The first, in my series of articles, is called: Playing To Win vs. Moving Up In The Money
Go big or go home. A popular extreme sport adage that you can apply to many different things, even poker. You see the concept of "Playing just to have fun" was apparently lost on me as a child. Call it over-competitiveness, but when I play a sport or a game, I intend on winning. Competition is what pushes us to improve. Poker is no exception. There are few things that will actually get me legitimately angry at the poker table, but one is when someone dumps chips or intentionally plays stupid because "they want to go home" or they lost some chips and they've just given up. If you're not here to try, stay home. It's as simple as that.
Now when it comes to winning a tournament there are many ways to try and do it. The easiest (well let's say the one with the least effort involved) is to just catch a hot run of cards and luck-sack your way to the finish line. For those of us who don't have an ass full of horseshoes, we have to put a bit more work into it. The best way to build a stack that will get you into contention is to start early. The beginning parts of the tournament aren't as crucial since the blinds and pots are so small. The key point is where it breaks into the final 2 or 3 tables, a couple levels in after the break. This is where the dynamic starts to change and you get a lot of players either pushing or tightening up. In either case this is when you want to get your hands on some chips so you can keep your stack at least average so you can make the right moves when good opportunities arise. I could go on for pages about basic strategy but that's not the point of this article. Lets move on.
The following examples are by no means risk free. In fact there is more risk than the standard play of simply waiting for a big hand. Sometimes a lot more risk. The upside is that with greater risk comes greater reward. You may face elimination a bit sooner than if you just grind it out, but if it pays off you'll be back in the game without the need for a big hand. Now when you do get that big hand to bring to war, you'll have a much bigger arsenal to throw at it.
Grinding your stack to nothing. aka "Seat Fillers"
There's at least one in every tournament. You know, the player that sits there blinding out, only playing premium hands. Grinding themselves down to 1 or 2 big blinds until they're finally forced all in and eliminated. Seat Fillers perplex me. I just don't understand how someone can grind themselves to nothing, without so much as last hurrah. It's disrespectful to your stack and disrespectful to yourself. If I'm going down I'm at least going to go down fighting. That way if I do make a double-up, I have a shot. Not just delaying the inevitable. If I find myself short stacked at the final table, I'll look to get my chips in with what I believe are live cards in high equity pots. Good situations would be a tight player finally pushing in what's left of his stack with what is most likely an ace. Even without another caller, I'm likely looking at 2-1 or even 3-1 depending on the size of my stack, as well as the blinds and antes. Hands I like in this spot are medium connecters like QJ,Q10,J10,J9,Q9,87,86. Suits are irregardless. Going in against the ace-rag with middle cards like J,10 makes me barely less than a coin-flip. As much as I hate the all-in coin-flip, I can't turn down the 3:1 payout with a hand that's only a 4:5 dog. If a cursed fate befalls me and I'm looking down at a measly 2 or 3 big blinds in my stack in early position, look for me to get it in there before the big blind comes to me. Situation is critical, and if I'm getting back into this i need chips now! I will almost NEVER wait until my big blind to push. I'd would rather get my money in under the gun with both blinds in the hand to attack. This way I get the best odds on my money. 2 big blinds left, under the gun? The other action doesn't matter, hell my cards don't even matter. It's time for that last hurrah!
The Implicit Delusion.
Implicit Collusion. The non-verbal agreement during a tournament for all those still in a hand, with a person all-in, to check it down to maximize the odds of eliminating them. I'm not here to convince you to do this. You should be doing it. It's a good play that I go along with the majority of the time. I want to discuss the times you SHOULDN'T go along with it, and no I'm not talking about when you have the nuts. During an all-in check down, I try to assess how this outcome will affect me. If it's a very cunning and dangerous player my best option is usually to make sure they're eliminated. There are times however that it's worth isolating out my colluders to try and take the pot for myself. First, if the side pot is enough to almost or fully cover my investment in the hand so far, I'll look for a good spot to isolate. With the side pot won I'm basically free-rolling the all-in. Another good spot is if I think they pushed on a weak hand I'll look to isolate. Usually after the flop. I also like to isolate if I think I have the best hand on the flop, but am likely to lose by the river. Top pair with a 10 is great on the flop heads up, but with 1 or 2 more callers in there I'm not likely to hold up by the river. The reason I like to make my plays after the flop is because I'm much less likely to be called by a medium hand or a draw. Most average players firmly believe a bettor in this situation must have the nuts, so they'll fold. This reason is also why I wouldn't try this against a beginner or a donk who's likely to call all the way down with his Ace high. I've found this to be a very profitable play when used at the right times, for the right reasons but most of the time the size of the pot, number of players remaining, or the odds of successfully taking it down make simply checking the better play. To make proper use of this play you have to be able to put aside the notion of playing with the table to knock the player out. Poker is NOT a team sport. If making a move at the pot rather than checking will put you in a better spot to win the tournament, have at it. You will encounter hostility using this play. People, get cranky about folding what would have been the winning hand and won't hesitate to berate your play. Don't let it discourage you though. You can simply smile as you use those newly acquired chips to eliminate them on the bubble.
These are just a couple of examples of how you can increase your chances of walking out on top. Some may come at the expense of your fellow players, but poker is war! If you're not ready to do whatever it takes to win, you should just stick to something less confrontational. Like solitaire. But be forewarned: sometimes you'll look like a genius, and sometimes you may blow it and look like an idiot. Remember, no matter how many players make it into the money at the WSOP, only the winner takes home the bracelet. Frankly I'd rather be the champ than an also-ran.
