By
dapfunkera
Starting out, most tournament players learn how to play tight and make standard plays that might get them deep sometimes and even a few final tables---or even a win here and there. If you read enough posts or talk to enough players, you will hear the following over and over: “I just couldn’t get any cards to play with!” I have said it, I am sure we have all said it, but what I realized is I need a strategy to advance in tournaments when I am not getting dealt AA or KK every orbit.
I see so many players either unsure or afraid to take the next step. If you are one of those players, ask yourself if the following has happened to you: You are deep in a tournament and have been blinded down to about 10X the BB and you haven’t had a decent hand in forever. You are in the BB, and you wake up with AA. Someone raises it to 3X the BB, and you almost fall over pushing all-in. The player calls and by some miracle cracks your AA, and you are dumbfounded. We all have hands like this, so why are you waiting so long for that perfect hand when it can still be beat? I decided that I will never again be the tight player who's just waiting for the bad beat or forced all-in.
I began playing tournaments exclusively 6 months ago after playing mostly cash games for 4.5 years. I started out like most people, being an extremely tight player. I would allow my stack to drop down to 5XBB routinely, and I would slip into the money from time to time “to get my money back.” This worked, and I did well, but I wanted to routinely do well even if I didn’t get great cards. In the past, if I got decent cards I played very well and made smart plays, but when I didn’t get those cards I felt lost and just got blinded down until I bubbled or got a small cash. I had the ability to make some great plays and make nice reads, but if I was folding, I couldn’t use those tools to my advantage. To overcome this feeling of hopelessness when I didn’t get good cards, I began my transition from an ultra tight player to a complete player. I set out to develop an aggressive style of play that I could use when I didn’t get dealt great cards or when the table dynamics dictated that I play aggressively.
For most tournaments, I play solid poker in the early stages with nothing too fancy. As the tournament progresses, I try to stay ahead of the blinds picking up small pots here and there, but basically I stay away from huge pots unless I have the cards to back it up. Once the antes kick in, that is my signal to get more aggressive. Some people stay tight, and they might pick up a few more cashes than me, but I am now looking to win or go out swinging.
In order to switch on the aggression, there are a few things you have to look at. First is table dynamics. How has the table played? Who has been the most active? Who hasn’t seen a flop in 20 hands? Look up the people at your table using one of the online databases to see how they have done in the past or if they are playing at a higher buy-in than normal. Identify the top players at your table and be wary of them, as they might be trying to do the same thing as you. These are all questions you need to ask yourself, and as a side note you should not be watching TV, surfing the internet, on the phone, or sending IMs back and forth to people. Once you start paying attention, I am sure you will have a better idea how the table is playing out.
If the table is super tight, then I look to steal the blinds and antes any time I can. I won’t make many re-raises pre-flop, since the person has a better chance of having a hand if they have been playing tight, but I will bet or raise if the flop looks like it hasn’t hit them, and many times they will fold. I play all levels of tournaments, so you need to understand some players (especially at the lower buy-ins) might just re-raise all-in on a low flop with their AK even if they missed the flop, and that is the risk you take at times if you play more aggressively. Look for the small bets into a big pot on the flop, since these are usually feeler bets and a raise will often cause them to fold. If the table is playing very active, I might sit back a bit and wait for a decent hand or an opportunity to re-steal. I will take note of the player that keeps attacking the blinds and then re-raise them the next time they try it. I try and have at least a pocket pair or some sort of drawing hand in case they actually call me. You can build up your stack by doing this, but don’t get crazy since people will call you if you do it too much.
Now the endgame starts. This is when the adrenaline starts pumping and I feel truly alive. I can see the goal, and all I need to do is make the right moves to reach that goal. Once you get past the bubble (don’t forget to attack the people just hoping to cash), the real fun starts. Your stack will dictate your play. If I have a small stack, I am looking to get my money in with at least a drawing hand or pocket pair, but I avoid calling all-ins since I am not looking to be all-in unless I have a good read that I am ahead. If I bust, I just move on to the next tournament, but if I do double up, I now have a fighting chance!
With an average or slightly above average stack, I am still looking to pick up the blinds to stay away from becoming a short stack, but I am also looking for re-steal opportunities. Find the person who keeps making moves, and find your opportunity to re-raise him. Many times I push all-in on them, after which three things can happen: They fold and you increase your stack by 10 – 30% depending on the circumstances; They call and you are sent to the rail; You win the hand and are now sitting pretty with a big stack. Two of the three options are positive results! The last situation is where you have the big stack entering the endgame. Some people get too aggressive here, and shortly thereafter they are just an average stack or worse. I might see a few hands here or there, but I am not looking to get into a huge pot unless I have a read on the person.
The last part of aggression is making that big call late that will send you packing or set you up for the long run. This is extremely risky when you have a decent stack, since you are risking your entire tournament on this one call. Many players stay away from these big pots and will choose to wait for a better opportunity. Maybe I should do the same, since some times my read is wrong and I am eliminated looking like an idiot, but sometimes I would rather leave my tournament life up to me and not to a race situation that could bust me out.
*****
So let’s look at a real hand that helped me win the 9pm $22 rebuy on Poker Stars a few weeks back. This night for some reason had a large field (over 700) and first place prize of $16,075. Up until this hand, I was using many of the things I talked about, especially since I didn’t get great cards. I got KK twice, QQ three times, AK 6 times, and was never dealt AA in 530 hands. Playing my old tight style might have gotten me into the money, but I doubt I could have won with these cards and that strategy. I won through aggression and making great reads. The following hand is just one instance where I made the correct call and won a pot that made me the chip leader. I was seated at a table with a big stack and could easily have waited for cards, but this was hand 367, and over the next 163 hands, I was dealt KK once and AK once – both at the FT with only 5 players left. If I'd have waited, I likely would not have even gotten there.
So on this hand, I was dealt A10s on the button and I made a standard 3XBB raise to steal the blinds. The flop was kind of scary with a possible flopped straight, straight draw, flush draw, or even a straight flush draw, but I had top pair and top kicker. He was first to act on the flop and bet about ½ the pot – this seemed like a steal bet to me, since it looked like the flop might have missed me. He was playing very aggressive and kept re-raising people and seeing them fold, so I raised it up to 108000. He thought for a second and shoved all-in. This scared me for sure, and I was going to fold, but then I thought about it for almost my entire time bank. Here was an aggressive player who just put me all-in after my raise. If I fold, I still have a decent stack and could play on. If I call, I could be eliminated or be the chip leader with about 3 tables left. I didn’t put him on an over pair, since I thought he would have raised pre-flop. I also didn’t put him on AK, AQ, or AJ, since again I thought he would have raised pre-flop. If he had the straight, set, or two pair, then I figure he just calls my raise and puts me all-in on the turn. So I thought he most likely had K10, Q10, J10, or a flush/straight draw. His past aggression ultimately led me to call, and when he flipped A2o, I almost jumped out of my chair. I have reads like this backfire on me sometimes, but I am right more times than I am wrong, and in a tournament where I wasn’t getting the cards, this aggressive call with only top pair and no draw propelled me on to the win.
I made many more aggressive plays and great calls along the way, but this hand set it all up:
Seat 1: lfunk11 (370019 in chips)
Seat 2: Player7 (121593 in chips)
Seat 3: Villain (683781 in chips)
Seat 4: Player1 (104606 in chips)
Seat 5: Player2 (274284 in chips)
Seat 6: Player3 (297908 in chips)
Seat 7: Player4 (183116 in chips)
Seat 8: Player5 (49562 in chips)
Ante 600
Player7: posts small blind 6000
Villain: posts big blind 12000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to lfunk11 [As Ts]
Player1: folds
Player2: folds
Player3: folds
Player4: folds
Player5: folds
lfunk11: raises 24000 to 36000
Player7: folds
Villain: calls 24000
*** FLOP *** [8d 9s Td]
Villain: bets 48000
lfunk11: raises 60000 to 108000
Villain: raises 539181 to 647181 and is all-in
lfunk11: calls 225419 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [8d 9s Td] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [8d 9s Td 3s] [4s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Villain: shows [2h Ac] (high card Ace)
lfunk11: shows [As Ts] (a flush, Ace high)
lfunk11 collected 749638 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 749638 | Rake 0
Board [8d 9s Td 3s 4s]
Seat 1: lfunk11 (button) showed [As Ts] and won (749638) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 3: Villain (big blind) showed [2h Ac] and lost with high card Ace
For the average player out there, you may want to look back at how you play and decide if your style is working. Will it get you to where you want to be? Playing more aggressively can be really fun, but you will get knocked out sooner than you want at times. You will also win that huge hand here and there that can set up a nice win for you. What you end up doing is up to you, but if you are grinding it out without much success, then you might be ready to try something different.