Poker Articles

Before we get started on this rambler, you need to know that I have played in exactly one (1) WSOP Main Event and that my lifetime live poker, big buy-in, gross earnings are $0 (zero dollars, which also equals zero Canadian Dollars and zero Turkish Lire).  We call this "Full Disclosure" where I come from. 

That being said, I've played in several big live tourneys and tangled with many of the greatest living pros, including Hellmuth, Mortensen, Tomko, Fischman, Farha, Cunningham, David Pham, Gavin Smith, and many others.  I've learned a lot from these experiences.  Those tourneys, together with the fact that I've played about 3 trillion online MTTs in the past year, have allowed me to accumulate a lot of observations and ideas (even if I haven't done a good job of implementing them live to date!).  So here are some ideas that I plan to incorporate into my battle plan this year at the Big One.

No Fear.  One of the best things ever posted on pocketfives.com was Devin Porter's article about how he succeeded in Aruba.  The "A-Ha!" moment for me in reading that article was the part where Devin said he was on the plane, thinking about how he was going to play the tourney.  He was thinking "ok -- I will start out tight and not make any mistakes..." when he heard two guys in the row behind him talking about the tournament.  One of them said something like "My plan is to play tight early, not make any mistakes..."  And Devin said to himself "Wait a minute: if I was thinking that way, and these guys are thinking that way, it probably means lots of players are thinking that way.  Let's not do what everyone else is doing!"  So Devin pulled a George Costanza!  He did the opposite!  He was aggressive and bold.  He played back when he sensed weakness.  He re-stole with nothing.  He played fearless poker.  And it worked! 

I can remember a hand during the very same tournament (Aruba) where I had something like KQ in the small blind.  It folded to the button and he made a 3.5x raise.  EVERY SINGLE ASPECT of the hand screamed for a reraise: I knew the player to be reasonably conservative, his raise felt a bit large and said "I don't want to be called, much less reraised", the player's body language indicated weakness, I had a ton of fold equity, etc.  If it had been an online MTT, there is simply ZERO chance I would not have reraised (or pushed -- I don't recall the stack sizes).  And yet I did not pull the trigger.  I can't recall how I rationalized it at the time -- you can always rationalize a timid play or any other kind of mistake.  Not gonna happen this time -- I will not pass up any opportunity to win a hand just because "it's the WSOP" or "we're almost into Day 2" or whatever.  I will not play to make Day 2.  I will play to win.  I will play the WSOP Main Event the same way I would play a large field MTT online, adjusting only to the players, not to the importance of the event.

And Capitalize on THEIR Fear

Many players will be thinking about this tournament just the way the guys on Devin's plane were thinking about Aruba.  "Don't make mistakes."  "Make it last."  "Make Day 2."  "Don't embarrass yourself!" etc.  Let's figure out who those players are, and pummel them about the head and neck.  Find the nits.  Figure out which blinds are consistently available for the taking, and take them.  Raise when they limp (but don't be blind to who and what is behind you when you do -- pick your spots).  Pressure the weak players relentlessly unless and until they catch on; then you can shift gears.

What About the Pros?

Obviously the top players have all kinds of styles, so there's no way to generalize too much.  But if you are sitting with a top pro, it's pretty safe to assume he knows what what we know -- that a lot of players are going to be timid, starstruck, even terrified.  And the pros don't know that you know.   So we need to use our expectation of his aggression and his expectation of our timidity against him (or her).  Look for a spot to reraise or even re-squeeze.  If you see the pro repeatedly raising limpers or reraising position raises, look for a chance to jump him.  He will put you on a monster and (hopefully) fold.

Example: Loose Aggressive Pro ("LAP") is in the small blind.  You raise from the cutoff with 88 and the button cold calls.  LAP reraises and it folds back to you.  Strongly consider re-popping this; even though it seems risky, it's probably your best play given the parameters I've outlined.

What I'm calling a "re-squeeze" would be like that hand GBMantis described from the 1k rebuy where he had something like K9 (his holding is fairly irrelevant) in the BB, and a presumably active, Scott Fischman-type raised on the button to 2k after several limpers.  Nick said he made it 6500, if I recall, and took it down.  That's just a masterful play.  But of course, conditions need to be just right.  Ask yourself: Has this pro made a similar play before?  Are you pretty sure he would make that play with air or marginal stuff?  More importantly, can he lay down a hand to you?  Or have you been caught already getting jiggy on a hand? 

If a play like this works, you will have one hell of a story.  And it will work more often than you think it will.

Bluff Smaller.

Another thing I have been thinking about a lot: if you whiff on a hand but also sense weakness from your opponent, especially if he is a pro (live or internet), strongly consider a value-looking bet instead of big bet for your bluff.  I did this to Carlos Mortensen (great guy, btw) -- I had air, like 45s, and missed my flush.  But a scare card (an ace I think) hit the river, and I bet like 40% of the pot.  He showed me 77 and said something along the lines of "You missed your nut flush but you hit your ace, eh?"  How many times have you seen a pro piece it together that he's being bought when the guy makes a suspiciously large bet?   So don't bluff big -- bluff smaller against the thinking players, especially pros.

The flip side of this idea is that you should consider making a big bet with a big hand, especially on the river where there's a failed draw out there.  You might get looked up.  I think I blew a chance to stack Phil Hellmuth in Aruba because I didn't shove on the river with 6s full (he said he had trip jacks but did not show).  Some guys (like Phil) love to make big laydowns, but a lot of great players will grapple with the hand very hard to see if they can put you on a busted draw and make a huge call, also.  Give them a chance to do that.

Don't Overestimate Your Stamina.

If you plan on winning, you need to be fresh and rested, and you need to concentrate at all times.  If you play 12 or 14 hours of poker and you are not rested, you will make mistakes.  At PCA, I let my mind wander during a card dead lull.  I finally got a playable hand: As7s on the button, but I hadn't noticed that the blinds had just increased, so I made a 2x raise instead of a 3x; that small mistake cost me when the BB called and check raised me on the flop (he later told me he would have folded for 3x).  Focus, grasshoppah!  And save your heavy partying for after the tournament, when we'll kick it in that suite that the Rio gives to the winners.

Final thought

As I said at the beginning, most of this stuff is not battle tested, at least not by me.  But I can tell you this: your chances are not good if your plan is to "be patient and don't make mistakes."  Fortune favors the brave -- that's my mantra for every MTT, including the 2006 WSOP Main Event.  Someone has to win -- why shouldn't it be a pocketfiver?  Good luck, everyone.

Steely