Getting Out of the Red Zone
In football, the teams that excel in the red zone are typically the teams you see at the end of the year. In poker, I think of the red zone as I the exact opposite – the last place you want to be. Getting out of the red zone means that you accumulate enough chips in the early stages to get into the art that is No Limit poker. To do this you need to at least be the chip leader at your table so that basically no one can bust you. In fact, in my game I have one goal at all times, that goal is to be the chip leader from beginning to end. Being the chip leader is much more important live because the play is tighter but that won’t stop me from going for the chip lead online as well. Weaker players fill the early seats of a tournament so if you aren’t playing pots with them it is a mistake.
Once you are out of the red zone you can take chances that your opponents can’t because you don’t have the same risks they do. Let me give you an example:
You have a marginal draw but technically the price is fairly close, if it is for your tournament life then you have to fold but if you have taken some chances early on and now you have some chips you basically can draw to anything that you believe is positive equity wise (though sometimes you will be wrong and that’s OK too). Having the room to make these moves can be the difference between needing to get lucky 2 or 3 times to win a tournament and needing to get lucky much more often playing a tighter style. That is the power of having the chip lead.
So what types of hands would you play and how would you play them? In the first 3 levels I am going to play any suited 2 gapper or better, suited Aces are like real Aces, basically anything that can flop the nuts. A hand like 56 has almost more value up front because you are looking to hit the flop and the person that acts behind you will typically have been aggressive and will continue making the pot big. This is in your favor because if the flop didn’t hit you square in the face you are out, if it did, your opponent can go bust with aggression and the tendency to get pot committed. You also have the first bluff at the pot which is very important on the turn. You would be silly to try and call with third pair, that isn’t the point of what we are doing in these levels, you are trying to flop the nuts or a reasonable facsimile and make the other people pay for their mistakes. Online, people have a tendency to play big pots so don’t be afraid to slow play your two pair on a K 5 6 flop because on the turn your opponent is likely to pot commit himself. At the same time you need to be willing to play short stack poker and lay down your hand if your 5 6 gets counterfeited.
In the first 3 positions off of the blind I like to have somewhat of a hand (although in my case “somewhat of a hand” can be 5-4), so now you ask yourself, what if they raise me? That depends, are you raising with your 54 and the reraise has made the pot so big that there is no art to the hand anymore? If the pot gets uncontrollable you should fold. The art of no limit is best applied when you can manipulate your opponent through different bet sizes on multiple streets. If they commit themselves pre-flop then you are just playing for showdown, there’s no art to that.
But let’s say you limp in and they make it 5 times at say the 25-50 level. In this instance you might start with 2500 in chips, absolutely you should call, this is a dream scenario. Not only can you bust this guy but if he makes a continuation bet he will have more than 1/5 of his or her chips in the pot and with these types of hands you can flop hands like a pair and a flush draw where you are basically not a big dog to many hands. Also, if the flop comes 5 5 K your opponent is going broke with AK (if he has KK, god bless him). Remember no limit holdem is a game of deception and that deception pays off biggest when your opponent has chips worth gathering.
With a style similar to what I am suggesting the important streets are the turn and the river. For example, you have a low suited connector and you make second pair. This situation is better later in the tournament once you have a stack but it can also be a stack builder. Let’s say in this instance you check raise with a hand like 85 (I mean honestly, how many people tell you how to play an 85s?) when the board is J 8 4. You kept the pot small and called a moderate preflop raise because you are hoping to hit a hand. So, your opponent calls your check raise, don’t shut down here! Folks this is a good hand for you post flop you have a lot of good scenarios here, you have a back door flush draw, on the turn if almost any baby diamond comes you have a hell of a drawing hand and you may still be in the lead if he called you with overs. This is also the type of hands that people just give you later in the tournament since they would prefer to just be all in or hit a big hand. There is a lot of sugar on the table to be had, don’t be scared to make some plays by keeping the pot small pre-flop.
The turn and the river are a little harder to explain but the easiest way to explain it is this: You are telling a story with your bets. Is the story you are telling logical? Does it make sense? Are you telling a story in German to someone who doesn’t speak German? If you don’t know the answers to these questions then you aren’t paying close enough attention. Every move that you execute should be based on something. While the information that you have may be incomplete, you should at least have some information and act on it in what you think is an appropriate way to win the pot. Don’t make it look like you are drawing to the flush and then bluff when the flush doesn’t come, you were setting up that play for a specific event that didn’t come, no need to follow through. Players default to calling in my opinion so I try to make them pay for that by manipulating them with bet sizes and frequency and also by limiting my bluffs to believable scenarios.
I realize that what I am suggesting is not the common way to play online considering most people are playing 6 tournaments at a time but if you aspire to play the WPT or WSOP events you should have nights where you focus on one or two tournaments and practice playing post flop. Plus it’s more fun. You also should be aware that playing this style puts a huge bulls eye on your back, people will want to beat you because you are dictating all of the action so sometimes you need to let them lead when you are drawing, but remember when you lose control of the pot this strategy becomes ineffective. So keep pots small and play a lot of them, manipulate your opponent on every street, tell a story that makes sense and your opponents will listen. That is the art of no limit holdem and with the right brushstrokes you can paint your way to the final table, but none of that is possible if you never get out of the red zone.
