Poker Articles

This past week has been very interesting, to say the least.  I did not play as well as I would have liked to, and it shows in my results.  There was a spout of about 40 SNG's where I played absolutely atrocious.  I barely won any hands, let alone whole SNG's.  Granted, I did run into more big hand vs. big hand situations this week than ever, I still played pretty badly during that stretch.  However, I was able to recover fairly nicely to come out with some respectable numbers.

One thing that happened to me, was that I started to care about my overall bankroll.  During Week 1, I never looked at the Cashier once during a session.  I didn't care about how much money I was making, I cared about how many SNG's I was winning and cashing in.  The money came secondary during Week 1.  And it did for the first 50-70 SNG's in Week 2, but than I got too money hungry, and began focusing on "Okay I need to win this and this to get to $1,500...etc... 

This is an awful way to look at the challenge.  Play for your numbers, not for the money.  Once you start caring too much about the money, your play is almost sure to suffer.  I became a victim of this during the middle stages, but am glad I was able to remember that as long as I played solid poker - I would come out a winner.

Another thing that happened to me, was I started to actually believe that I was going to lose an all in before any of the community cards were dealt.  This is one of the worst things that can happen to my poker game.  As you know, I play a very aggressive, push all in style - and when I don't believe I'm even going to win a hand, it forces me to make stupid plays.  For example, instead of raising 3xBB with a hand like A9o, I just pushed all in and hoped that I would win.  I didn't take into consideration stack sizes, my image, how likely they were to call/play back at me without a real hand.  I just wanted chips and didn't care how I got them, which was very stupid of me. 

I am shocked and extremely pleased to see just how many people are coming up to me at the tables saying that I've inspired them to start their own challenge, or wishing me luck in my journey.  I can't tell you how good it feels to have people cheer you on from the rail - even for a minute or two.  It, in turn, inspires me to play better poker.  So thank you to everyone who has wished me luck, not too mention the dozens of people who have added me to their MSN's to talk poker strategy. 

Anyways, here are my results from Week 2, and the Total Rolling Statistics.  Attached below is an article I've written about 4-Handed SNG play.  I'm always welcome to any kind of constructive criticisim, whether it be about my SNG play or my writing techniques.  Let me know what kind of articles you would like to see from me, as I am always down for writing some of my poker strategies. 
 
 
ROLLING STATISTICS - AFTER 150
 
Starting Roll: $1,124.18
Total Time: 38 Hours, 55 Minutes
SNG Played: 150
Ending Roll: $1,976.18
 
1st - 28 
2nd - 19   
3rd - 15
XXX - 84
 
ITM - 44.00%
ROI - 25.82%
BUY - $3300
RET - $4152
TOT - $852
$/H - $21.89
W/L - 27/10
 
 
ROLLING STATISTICS - AFTER 300
 
Starting Roll: $200.18
Total Time: 73 Hours, 55 Minutes
SNG Played: 300
Ending Roll: $1,976.18
 
1st - 67 
2nd - 38
3rd - 32 
XXX - 159
 
ITM - 47.00%
ROI - 35.88%
BUY - $4,950
RET - $6,726
TOT - $1.776
$/H - $24.03
W/L - 48/16

 
FOUR HANDED SNG PLAY
 
Four handed SNG play is something that doesn't get talked about it as much as it should.  Essentially, this one aspect of your SNG can determine a loss of your buy-in, or a 70% profit or so. 
 
It is extremely important to remember that aggression is the key to No Limit Hold 'Em.  So how does one be aggressive?  Well, you have to pay attention to the way your opponents are probably thinking.  
 
"You're opponents will think what you want them to think when you tell them what to think."
 
I personally show down all my good hands, as I find that people are more apt to give you respect for a big hand if you have only shown down big hands in the past.  Subconciously, people will remember "Oh yeah, Seat 3 has big hands when he raises, I should probably fold."  Clearly, showing your hand is designed for exactly that - to get people to believe you.  On the contrary, I will almost never show down a bluff if I don't have to.  Showing down raises with 89s or J4o isn't smart. You  don't want your opponents to loosen up, and think of you as a "bluffer."  You want them to tighten up so you can steal their blinds, and reraise their bets.  You don't wanna give any information to your opponents about the crappy cards you're willing to play.  And you are willing to play junky cards 4-Handed, raising and reraising your opponents who are weak...or who have to fold.  "Well I wanna make the money here, I'll fold my 2nd pair because he could have the king."

You want to play off your opponents fear of busting out in 4th.  Nobody likes the bubble, but if you play like you couldn't  care less if you bubbled, you will be shocked at how often you will be able to take pots down either preflop or on the flop.
 
It isn't very often that you have a premium hand like (AA, KK, QQ) or that you flop something huge (Straight, Flush, Boat),  so your job is to convince your opponents that you are just "catching good cards" or "gettin' really lucky flops".  Think about it, wouldn't you rather play a pot against someone who has shown down some medicore holdings, than a player who has
shown down nothing but monsters and winning every pot he has been in?
 
"You always want your opponents to think you are huge."
 
If you are lucky enough to get a high pocket pair 4-Handed, play it/show it.  Raise to 450 with QQ on the button at 75/150, and show it if they all fold.  If you get a caller, play it fast.  I personally like to make my moves quickly.  I find that you are more apt to get a call if you reraise all in very fast.  It's kind of like "YOU BET-I RAISE-ALL IN-CALL-YOU'RE OUT!" Don't give your opponent time to think about what you might have.  If this sounds kind of dumb...well, your opponents aren't much brighter, believe me. 

"Sunday Syndrome" is what I call part time players who play just love to "go all in!" because they learned it from the WPT on Sunday afternoon.  Bink, bink, bink.  You will see a lot of Sunday Syndrome in the low buy-in SNG's, so use it to your advantage when you are actually holding a monster.

Here are some of the things I remind myself when I get 4-Handed. 
 
1. Constant aggression.  I don't need a hand to raise these guys out of the pot everytime.
 
2.  Are these guys REALLY gunna reraise you without a premium hand?  How have they been playing?  Are they capable of being aware of their circumstances (Big stack taking advantage of our supposed fear?)
 
3.  What is my table image?  Can I reraise all in and not get called?  Can I raise 2x or 3x to steal almost every hand?
 
4.  On the short stack, how urgent is my situation?  Do I need to push with any pair?  Any ace?  Which guy is most likely to surrender his BB?  Attack the other short stack to get back into the game.
 
5.  Which guy(s) are playing to make the money?  Do I need to push them all in to fold or should I just raise a bit each time?
 
6.  Be a bully.  Make the SB fold to your BB because he is so scared that you are going to raise like you have been doing for the past 20 hands.  Make them afraid to raise your BB because you seem like a maniac and are liable to go all in at any time.

Things that shouldn't cross your mind 4-Handed.
 
1.  I'll just let these guys battle it out, then I'll open up my game when we get down to 3.
 
2.  I don't really need to steal their blinds, I have plenty of chips.
 
3.  I'm just gunna wait for a high pocket pair and go all in with it.
 
4.  I'm not getting any cards!  These guys are getting all the cards!  This sucks!

You don't play for third place, especially in a SNG.  You should be playing to win, or you shouldn't be playing at all. If the buy-in matters too much to you to lose, you won't be able to make the steals and raises you need to build a stack, to absorb that all in loss should it happen. 
 
"Make them react."
 
It's almost a never a bad play to raise an unopened pot during 4-Handed play.  Make your opponents guess if you have a hand that can withstand heat, or if you'd have to laydown to a reraise.  That's one of the beauty parts about online play.  If you are raising 3xBB or a variation of that, it's almost impossible to put you on a hand preflop - especially if you have been only showing your monsters.
 
Finally, remember not to play result oriented poker.  As long as you are making the right moves and betting and raising all the time, you're bound to finish ITM a lot more than if you play tight/weak/passive/walrus poker.  Be a maniac and raise, raise, raise!
 
-gidds