Texas Holdem Poker
Just been playing a multi and went out relatively early. I play tight-aggressive and am a winning poker player when I play the 10 seater sit n go's but multi's usually are the death of me. Just there I got critically injured by someone that was calling with 3rd pair on the flop and made a runner runner straight with his other card!!!! I was betting my hand the whole way and making it nice and expensive for him but still he called?? I've tried to play multi's where you I don't get involved and then make my move near the end but often I find that some big stack will call your all-in or raises leaving you vulnerable to draws.
So what makes for good freezout multi table strategy with a large field of which many are total morons?? How do you ensure you are at the last few tables with the higher standard of players with a chip stack that will allow you to compete with them?
Multi tourneys are all about survival, discipline, and a bit of luck. Thats about it! I start off playing very tight, only premium hands only. I observe the people on my table and see what they do and what kind of player they are. I try to get information so i can use that later on.
Then, i shift gears and try to steal some pots by bluffing and playing very aggressive. I want to mix up my play because i dont want to sound too predictable. In multi tourneys, u have to really play smart because one bad move and your pretty much out. Also, u cant just fold everything and hope to grind it out. To be successful, u need to build a decent stack. Remember chips are Power... the more u have, the flexible u are.
So in conclusion, survive the early stages of the tourney by playing tight aggressive and pay attention to whats going on in your table, then find the right moments to build your stack gradually. Dont worry about doubling up too quickly... stealing pots/blinds will add up. Believe me! Then, of course u need some luck along the way. Every tourney player in here would agree with me and say that u need luck to win tourneys. You may need a lucky river to save u a few times. But if u want to be a consistent top finisher in multis, i just do the same thing over and over again.
I do very well at our home tournies and have came in the money about 80% of the tournaments. Yet when ever we play in a cash game i always end up even or down some money! how do you guys change up your strategy from cash to tourny or tourny to cash? also...do any of you just play tournies? because i am thinknig about just switching to playing just touramnets.
The two are completely different and strategies should be changed.
In a cash game it's all about stalking and pouncing. You have a somewhat endless time to sit around and wait for the cards you want. All-in becomes less vital because there is always another hand. Blinds never go up either. You can wait around and target a loose player or a tight player and not have to worry too much about changing gears.
A tournament is simply about survival. You don't have the priviledge to wait around forever because blinds increase so you must make your moves with the best cards you can get for the current situation. All-in becomes a very vital tactic although used a bit to the extreme by some people. As the opponents dwindle down and blinds go up your tactics have to change and you must play more aggressive or risk being blinded out. I've found a more defensive approach at the start of a T works well for me then switch gears to the offensive when the blinds start getting expensive. What many fail to understand about tournaments is how quickly chips can change opponents which means you have to change your tactics. Say a loose player is chip leader and you are playing accordingly then all of a sudden a tight player wins 80% of their chips and is now chip leader. Since the tight player now has the chips and won't be tossing them around like the loose player you have to switch gears and figure out how to get him to loosen his grip. It's all about survival by change gears to keep up with the flow.
Hope this makes sense.
Just wanted to relate a story that happened to me Friday night at a local card room in Sacramento, CA. The Phoenix is a friendly club with good staff, free food, in short a great place to play cards (no I don't work for them). Anyway I was playing 10-20 Hold'em and got a QJc on the button in a big multiway pot. I put them down and protected them, and the flop came up Qd,Jd,8c. Of course I raised and called by several players. Anway I bet my hand all the way, and the other two cards were a 7 and a 9. I was so focused on my top two pair that I didn't even notice they were both clubs or remember that my cards were also. I was only paying attention to the straight and the diamond flush draws. I was raised on the river, and thought I was beat, but the pot was so huge I had to call. The other guy showed a 10 for straight and I disgustedly tossed down my cards face up to show. The dealer didn't see the flush either, and turned my cards over when the player next to me said "Wait, didn't you have two clubs?" and the player on my other side said he saw them too. I realized I had missed seeing my flush, but as they say "cards speak". Before my cards were all the way in the muck I called for a floorman as the other guy was already raking the pot into his stack. The dealer said, I didn't call (she had raked my bet in instead of leaving it in front of me) and scrambled the cards. The floorman came over and said to just play.
I was pretty steamed, but managed to win a couple hands after that then took a break. I walked over to the floor manager and told him "That wasn't right what happened", and explained the situation. While I realize dealers are only human and can make a mistake, she should have stopped everything once I called for the floorman instead of scrambling my cards. He told me he would review the tape. Anyway about an hour later the dealer who made the mistake and the floor manager came over, apologized profusely and gave me $320 worth of chips. Like I said, class management. When I left the table I gave $100 to the guy next to me who spotted it.
This is just an interesting little swing of events I had playing earlier. The situtation is I'm playing at UB, a couple of tables at same time. On one of the tables, first hand I get, AA. I'm playing .10/.25 NL. I'm in the BB. a couple of people limp in, but I when it comes back to me I raise to $2.00. I get one caller. Flop comes K 6 4, two spades. I hate getting outdrawn, so I don't fool around, I push all-in ($25.00). He calls. The turn and river mean nothing. He turns up KK, good for a set of Kings. Needless to say, I'm down $25 immediately. I would have played it the same way again. I don't have any doubts that I played this hand the right way. If somebody gets KK and they get a K on the flop, well that is just tough, and I'll lose. I was a little shocked, but I tried to recover.
I tighten up my game a little, fearing that the 'tilt' could possibly be setting in. When I lose a big pot, bad things tend to happen, so I tried very hard to be even more selective with my starting hands. Over at a different table, a few hands later, I pick up QQ. I'm in a early position, and I raise $1.50 or $2.00 (can't remember). I get 2 callers. Flop comes something like 7 6 4. First guy checks, I raise to $7, hoping to take down the pot immediately. The man following me calls, then the initial man who checked re-raises to $14.00. I'm a little concerned here. I've already invested nearly $10.00 in this pot, and I've already had my AA chewed up earlier. I check his stack, seeing he has about the same as me ($25 before hand). The other guy only has another 4 bucks to throw in. I really didn't want to call or raise, but I felt the odds of getting beat by AA or KK were slim. I didn't think they were holding pocket pairs that hit a set. I decide I can't get intimidates or fear losing again, I go ahead and push the rest of my money in (another $10 or so). The short stack calls with the rest of his $4 or so and then the raiser calls my all-in. The turn and river help nobody. I don't feel so good, my cards flash-up, and then flash 'winner.' Needless to say, I'm throw a couple of fists in the air and try to figure out how I won the hand. I got back to hand history and see that the short stack held AJ, he was merely drawing for his ace. The big stack had JJ.
Hands like this always make you feel good that there are people out there who are willing to give you their money. Personally, I'm not sure I really liked how I played this hand or not, but I just thought the only that that was going to beat me was AA or KK, and it turned out neither player had these cards. I wouldn't have pushed all in with JJ, and I would have folded pre-flop with AJ. I don't understand their play, but hey, they put me up $10, down from $25.
Anyway, I'd just thought I'd share this interesting turn of events. Usually, when I start losing, I don't stop. When I start winning, that tends not to stop either during the session, but today was different.
