I'm reading a really terrific novel right now called The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt which has not been published in Canada yet so don't go looking for it unless you are reading this post after May 2011. The book is a western of sorts (in much the same way Oakley Hall's Warlock is a western) but is really just a story that happens to be set in the western American frontier. It tells of Charlie and Eli Sisters, hired killers who head into California at the height of the gold rush with instructions to seek out and kill a man. Eli, the narrator of the book, feels a sort of electricity as they enter into the gold mining territory and describes it as follows:
This perhaps was what lay at the very root of the hysteria surrounding what came to be known as the Gold Rush: Men desiring a feeling of fortune; the unlucky masses hoping to skin or borrow the luck of others, or the luck of a destination. A seductive notion, and one I thought to be wary of. To me, luck was either something you earned or invented through strength of mind. You had to come by it honestly; you could not trick or bluff your way into it.
Which sums up as neatly as anything what I think the proper approach to luck should be. I am glad for the further evidence to support my argument that reading good fiction will make you a better poker player
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Saturday, December 25, 2010
No-Limit Chinese Pineapple
After a couple hours the guy on my left started talking and soon the whole table started chatting like we were old buddies. Lefty was new in town and wanted to know about the different casinos. There was talk about how the Elbow River was a limit hold 'em place and that you could play omaha high at the Deerfoot. People talked about their favourite card games. This one older guy said how he liked to play pineapple. I asked what that was.
"Pineapple is just like hold 'em, except everyone is dealt three cards and they discard one before the flop," he replied.
"And there's Chinese pineapple," added the dealer. "That's where you discard one of your three cards after the flop."
People were generally loose and having a good time. An Asian guy listening to music on his i-pod pulled an ear-bud out to hear what all the talk was about. Hearing that it was just chit-chat, he went back to his music.
A new hand was dealt and it folded around to i-pod man, who put in a raise. The guy on my right, an Arab in a Yankees cap, called and the two of them saw the flop. I-pod bet half the pot and Yankee Fan called. After the turn, I-pod bet half the pot and Yankee Fan calls again. The river comes and this time I-pod just checks. Yankee Fan thinks very hard about what he should do. After a minute Yankee Fans asks I-pod how many chips he has, but because he is listening to music I-pod doesn't hear the question. Instead I-pod assumes that Yankee fan has checked and that it's time to reveal his hole cards.
"I just have ace high," says I-pod and the table erupts in laughter. Yankee Fan moves all in and I-pod, realizing what he has done, folds.
And that is why it is good idea not to listen to music at the poker table.
"Pineapple is just like hold 'em, except everyone is dealt three cards and they discard one before the flop," he replied.
"And there's Chinese pineapple," added the dealer. "That's where you discard one of your three cards after the flop."
People were generally loose and having a good time. An Asian guy listening to music on his i-pod pulled an ear-bud out to hear what all the talk was about. Hearing that it was just chit-chat, he went back to his music.
A new hand was dealt and it folded around to i-pod man, who put in a raise. The guy on my right, an Arab in a Yankees cap, called and the two of them saw the flop. I-pod bet half the pot and Yankee Fan called. After the turn, I-pod bet half the pot and Yankee Fan calls again. The river comes and this time I-pod just checks. Yankee Fan thinks very hard about what he should do. After a minute Yankee Fans asks I-pod how many chips he has, but because he is listening to music I-pod doesn't hear the question. Instead I-pod assumes that Yankee fan has checked and that it's time to reveal his hole cards.
"I just have ace high," says I-pod and the table erupts in laughter. Yankee Fan moves all in and I-pod, realizing what he has done, folds.
And that is why it is good idea not to listen to music at the poker table.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Tournament Strategy: Folding Your Way to Victory
It may sound silly but folding is sometimes the hardest thing to do, and this can be particularly true in tournaments.
I was playing an on-line free roll tournament yesterday with a massive 10,000 entrants. The top 250 players won entry into a tournament where real money could be won. This made the strategy interesting: whether you finished 1st or 250th, you got the same thing.
After a couple hours I was in 35th spot in a field with about 1,500 left. My strategy was just to try to keep my stack from shrinking and stay in the top 250 until the end. I picked on shorter stacks and avoided bigger stacks but the most important thing I did was that I folded. I folded a lot. As planned, by the time we got down to 250 players I was among them.
While I was folding my way to victory, I watched numerous others with much bigger stacks than mine play way too many hands and get knocked out. They played aggressively to build their stacks, but could not go into fold mode when doing so would guarantee they finish "in the money".
Although the tournament I'm describing is unique in it's pay out structure, I believe it illustrates an important point: In tournaments generally speaking, folding has power. Sure the all-in raise gets all the glory, but the humble fold is the move you need to perfect to become a great tournament player.
I was playing an on-line free roll tournament yesterday with a massive 10,000 entrants. The top 250 players won entry into a tournament where real money could be won. This made the strategy interesting: whether you finished 1st or 250th, you got the same thing.
After a couple hours I was in 35th spot in a field with about 1,500 left. My strategy was just to try to keep my stack from shrinking and stay in the top 250 until the end. I picked on shorter stacks and avoided bigger stacks but the most important thing I did was that I folded. I folded a lot. As planned, by the time we got down to 250 players I was among them.
While I was folding my way to victory, I watched numerous others with much bigger stacks than mine play way too many hands and get knocked out. They played aggressively to build their stacks, but could not go into fold mode when doing so would guarantee they finish "in the money".
Although the tournament I'm describing is unique in it's pay out structure, I believe it illustrates an important point: In tournaments generally speaking, folding has power. Sure the all-in raise gets all the glory, but the humble fold is the move you need to perfect to become a great tournament player.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Tournament Strategy: Pay Out Structure
If you are good enough and lucky enough to make it into the money, you will notice a dramatic shift in the play of your opponents. It's like somebody flipped a switch. Suddenly players who wouldn't call a raise without the absolute nuts are going all in with king queen off suit. What the heck is going on?
Most people make it a goal to get into the money, so they play really tight as that goal gets closer. You knew this and you exploited their overly conservative play (see Tournament Strategy: Getting Near the Money ) and it is hoped you built a nice stack grabbing all those pots everyone else was too afraid to contest. Now that everyone else has achieved their goal and made it into the money, they immediately start playing much, much more aggressively. Their thinking is that they have gotten their buy-in back, so everything above that is gravy. Guys who have been tight suddenly start playing very loose.
In my last post, we examined the blind structure of tournaments. From the same on-line tournament we looked at then, let's look at the pay out structure. This tournament had 348 entrants, each of whom paid $2.25 to play. The pay out structure was:
Place Prize
1. $174
2. $111.36
3. $83.52
4. $64.38
5. $48.72
6. $34.80
7. $22.62
8. $17.20
9. $13.92
10-12. $8.70
13-15. $6.96
16-18. $5.22
19-27. $3.83
28-36. $3.13
To make it into the money players had to finish in the top 11%. In addition to the entry fee participants also have to invest their time. In our example tournament over two hours had elapsed before the field was down to 36 players. So why are so many players content to make it their goal to just finish in the money? In our example, when you subtract the entry fee the fellow who finished in 28th place out of a field of 348 players made a profit of 88 cents.
It should never be your goal to just make it into the money. You need to set your sites much higher to make playing in tournaments profitable. That is why you should immediately tighten up when every one else starts gambling. Once you make it into the money, the goal is to move up positions. When much of the field is gambling, you can sit back and let the smaller stacks knock each other out. When you get a good hand, you are much more likely to get paid off by someone playing looser than you.
Most people make it a goal to get into the money, so they play really tight as that goal gets closer. You knew this and you exploited their overly conservative play (see Tournament Strategy: Getting Near the Money ) and it is hoped you built a nice stack grabbing all those pots everyone else was too afraid to contest. Now that everyone else has achieved their goal and made it into the money, they immediately start playing much, much more aggressively. Their thinking is that they have gotten their buy-in back, so everything above that is gravy. Guys who have been tight suddenly start playing very loose.
In my last post, we examined the blind structure of tournaments. From the same on-line tournament we looked at then, let's look at the pay out structure. This tournament had 348 entrants, each of whom paid $2.25 to play. The pay out structure was:
Place Prize
1. $174
2. $111.36
3. $83.52
4. $64.38
5. $48.72
6. $34.80
7. $22.62
8. $17.20
9. $13.92
10-12. $8.70
13-15. $6.96
16-18. $5.22
19-27. $3.83
28-36. $3.13
To make it into the money players had to finish in the top 11%. In addition to the entry fee participants also have to invest their time. In our example tournament over two hours had elapsed before the field was down to 36 players. So why are so many players content to make it their goal to just finish in the money? In our example, when you subtract the entry fee the fellow who finished in 28th place out of a field of 348 players made a profit of 88 cents.
It should never be your goal to just make it into the money. You need to set your sites much higher to make playing in tournaments profitable. That is why you should immediately tighten up when every one else starts gambling. Once you make it into the money, the goal is to move up positions. When much of the field is gambling, you can sit back and let the smaller stacks knock each other out. When you get a good hand, you are much more likely to get paid off by someone playing looser than you.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Tournament Strategy: Blind Structure
When the word structure is used in relation to a poker tournament, it is referring to two things: the blind structure and the pay out structure. Let's take a look at blind structure today.
Unlike ring games, the blinds in a tournament continually increase in order to force the action. If the blinds didn't rise then a tournament could go on forever. The blind structure simply defines how long each level will be and states how much the blinds are at each level. Here is an example of a blind structure for an on-line tournament in which participants start out with $15,000 in tournament chips. In this particular structure each level lasted for ten minutes, which is typical of on-line tournaments. Levels typically last longer in real-life tournaments .
Level--Blinds--(Antes)
1 10/20
2 15/30
3 20/40
4 25/50
5 30/60
6 40/80
7 50/100
8 60/120
9 80/160
10 100/200
11 120/240 (25)
12 150/300 (25)
13 200/400 (50)
14 250/500 (50)
15 300/600 (75)
16 400/800 (100)
17 500/1,000 (125)
18 600/1,200 (150)
19 800/1,600 (200)
20 1,000/2,000 (250)
This particular tournament actually lasted into the 25th level but I got tired of typing at 20. Anyway, you get the idea.
Knowing the structure is important because it allows you to plan your strategy optimally. You might like to wait for great hands but if the blinds are coming up quickly you might not have that luxury. Any time your stack falls below 10 times the big blind you enter the "all-in" zone where you are just looking for a hand to gamble on. As the blinds rise that important threshold can sneak up you, so be aware of it.
I play tight in the early stages because the name of the game is survival. I don't take unnecessary chances. But as the blinds come up, taking more chances becomes necessary to keep a healthy stack.
Note that at the eleventh level of our example the ante comes into play. At only $25, this might not seem like much but with nine players this adds up to an additional $225 in the pot before the cards are even dealt. At level 10 the blinds total $300, but at level 11 the blinds plus antes total almost doubles to $585. This makes the pot much more worthwhile to win. If you have been cultivating a tight image to this point, now is the time to exploit that and start attacking.
Unlike ring games, the blinds in a tournament continually increase in order to force the action. If the blinds didn't rise then a tournament could go on forever. The blind structure simply defines how long each level will be and states how much the blinds are at each level. Here is an example of a blind structure for an on-line tournament in which participants start out with $15,000 in tournament chips. In this particular structure each level lasted for ten minutes, which is typical of on-line tournaments. Levels typically last longer in real-life tournaments .
Level--Blinds--(Antes)
1 10/20
2 15/30
3 20/40
4 25/50
5 30/60
6 40/80
7 50/100
8 60/120
9 80/160
10 100/200
11 120/240 (25)
12 150/300 (25)
13 200/400 (50)
14 250/500 (50)
15 300/600 (75)
16 400/800 (100)
17 500/1,000 (125)
18 600/1,200 (150)
19 800/1,600 (200)
20 1,000/2,000 (250)
This particular tournament actually lasted into the 25th level but I got tired of typing at 20. Anyway, you get the idea.
Knowing the structure is important because it allows you to plan your strategy optimally. You might like to wait for great hands but if the blinds are coming up quickly you might not have that luxury. Any time your stack falls below 10 times the big blind you enter the "all-in" zone where you are just looking for a hand to gamble on. As the blinds rise that important threshold can sneak up you, so be aware of it.
I play tight in the early stages because the name of the game is survival. I don't take unnecessary chances. But as the blinds come up, taking more chances becomes necessary to keep a healthy stack.
Note that at the eleventh level of our example the ante comes into play. At only $25, this might not seem like much but with nine players this adds up to an additional $225 in the pot before the cards are even dealt. At level 10 the blinds total $300, but at level 11 the blinds plus antes total almost doubles to $585. This makes the pot much more worthwhile to win. If you have been cultivating a tight image to this point, now is the time to exploit that and start attacking.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Tournament Strategy: Getting Near the Money
In most tournaments the top ten percent of finishers are paid. These people are said to have finished "in the money." As you get closer to being in the money, play tends to tighten up considerably. People with small stacks are hoping they can hang on long enough and those with medium sized stacks don't want to make a big mistake with the money so near. This is the stage where if you have the courage to make some bold moves you can move up quite a few positions.
You have to be very careful when picking your spots. You do not want to tangle with a big stack here. You should have a good sense of who is desperate to make it into the money - these are the players who will be the easiest to bluff.
Because people are playing tighter than usual, a medium-sized raise here will have a similar effect that a large raise normally would, so this is a stage of the tournament where bluffing more is a good strategy. Don't be afraid of loosing your tight image - it is far more important to accumulate chips than to worry about image. In fact once you get in the money you want that maniac image.
If you do catch a big hand, play it exactly like you are running another bluff. If you change your betting pattern your opponents will notice and will know by the size of your bets if you are bluffing or not. Do the same thing whether you have A A or 7 2.
Don't be afraid to throw your hand away if someone plays back at you. Shrug it off. Forget about it. You only bet a modest amount anyway. If you are no longer getting any respect then it is more likely your legitimate hands will get paid off.
Pick your spots (your opponents) and attack.
You have to be very careful when picking your spots. You do not want to tangle with a big stack here. You should have a good sense of who is desperate to make it into the money - these are the players who will be the easiest to bluff.
Because people are playing tighter than usual, a medium-sized raise here will have a similar effect that a large raise normally would, so this is a stage of the tournament where bluffing more is a good strategy. Don't be afraid of loosing your tight image - it is far more important to accumulate chips than to worry about image. In fact once you get in the money you want that maniac image.
If you do catch a big hand, play it exactly like you are running another bluff. If you change your betting pattern your opponents will notice and will know by the size of your bets if you are bluffing or not. Do the same thing whether you have A A or 7 2.
Don't be afraid to throw your hand away if someone plays back at you. Shrug it off. Forget about it. You only bet a modest amount anyway. If you are no longer getting any respect then it is more likely your legitimate hands will get paid off.
Pick your spots (your opponents) and attack.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Tournament Stretegy: Bluffing
I don't write a lot about bluffing, mainly because in a ring game you can make money without ever having to bluff, so really why bother? Most players, particularly new players, bluff way too much and I don't want to encourage that kind of reckless play by writing posts on bluffing.
However if you are going to do well in tournaments, then you have to use every trick in the book and that includes well timed bluffs. I don't recommend bluffing in the early stages of tournaments when pots are small and you don't yet have a feel for your opponents. There is a saying in poker that you can bluff a good player but you can't bluff a bad one, and I think there is a lot of truth to this. Spend those early stages observing your opponents and try to discern which ones can be bluffed and which ones can't. Play very tight poker, so that your table image will work in your favour when you start running a few bluffs in the middle or late rounds.
By the middle stages, your focus begins to shift from protecting your stack at all costs to risking a bit to accumulate more chips. If you can steal the blinds every now and then you will keep your stack from getting eaten away. When and how depends on your read of your opponents. I'm sorry to say that there is nothing you can read on a blog or in a book that will prepare you for every situation, your own read on your opponents is the most important thing to guide you. All I can do is give you some tips.
Pre-Flop Bluffing Tips:
However if you are going to do well in tournaments, then you have to use every trick in the book and that includes well timed bluffs. I don't recommend bluffing in the early stages of tournaments when pots are small and you don't yet have a feel for your opponents. There is a saying in poker that you can bluff a good player but you can't bluff a bad one, and I think there is a lot of truth to this. Spend those early stages observing your opponents and try to discern which ones can be bluffed and which ones can't. Play very tight poker, so that your table image will work in your favour when you start running a few bluffs in the middle or late rounds.
By the middle stages, your focus begins to shift from protecting your stack at all costs to risking a bit to accumulate more chips. If you can steal the blinds every now and then you will keep your stack from getting eaten away. When and how depends on your read of your opponents. I'm sorry to say that there is nothing you can read on a blog or in a book that will prepare you for every situation, your own read on your opponents is the most important thing to guide you. All I can do is give you some tips.
Pre-Flop Bluffing Tips:
- Don't try a bluff if someone has raised the pot before you. Your goal is to either steal the blinds outright or to see the flop against a single opponent. The size of your bet should be calculated to achieve these goals. If someone has raised before you, it is more than likely they will call your re-raise and you may get other callers who feel "priced in". Suddenly you are in a multi-way pot with bad cards. Not good.
- Don't always try to steal the blinds with a raise from the button or the cut-off (right of the button) positions. People steal the blinds from these positions so frequently that doing so too often yourself will send signals that you are bluffing. If you fold when everyone has passed to you on the button from time to time, it will make your steals seem more legitimate. Once in a blue moon, try raising from early position. It goes against all poker wisdom to bluff from early position, so if you make even a modest bet from there you should get a lot of respect - if your opponents are good players.
Post-Flop Bluffing tips:
- Don't bluff against two or more opponents. It is more than twice as unlikely to run a successful bluff against two people than it is against one. It is foolish.
- Don't bet too much when you bluff. A small bet, particularly against a good opponent, is often just as effective as a big bet. This is counter to a lot of people who say "go big or go home". I think if you go big with nothing in your hand, then you probably will be going home. Remember the rule: don't risk a lot to win a little.
- Don't bluff an idiot. Bad players just don't lay their hands down very easily. Which makes them fun to play against when you have a great hand but bad targets for your bluffs.
Post-Turn Bluffing Tips:
- My favourite place to bluff is on the turn - after my opponent and I checked after the flop. If I get called, then I shut down and don't put any more chips into the pot. If I get raised, I fold.
Post-River Bluffing Tips:
- Assuming you don't have a hand, the only way you make it to the river is if you and your opponent have been checking it down all the way, so it's pretty unlikely your opponent has anything. Go ahead and bet half the pot, more often than not you will take it.
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