Betfair pro, Welsh tyke John Tabatabai, hops into the expert’s seat to answer your posers.
MANO A MANO
What’s a good heads-up strategy in a tournament where the blinds haven’t yet reached silly levels? How differently should I be playing if the opponent is aggressive/very tight?
Chris Bampton, Oxford.
If your opponent is at either extreme you want to play to that fact and let him think he’s in control. If, for example, he’s being ridiculously aggressive, you want to keep the pots as small as possible so you aren't all in pre-flop just gambling but get it in post-flop when you have a bigger edge. You can do this by limping or min-raising from the small blind with medium hands like 7-6 suited as well as big hands like Q-Q or A-Q. The reason is, if he is a maniac aggressive player then he will always be re-raising and by doing that he is trapping himself, most likely committing himself with big re-raises. IF he three-bets from the big blind a lot then it isn't worth min-raising with medium hands that he is going to blow you off of, so it’s best to limp and hope to see a flop. If he does raise and you fold you have played into his hands, confirming in his head that he is running over you. Soon, however, you will trap him with a big hand as he will most likely be unable to change gears.
CASH CONVERTER
Lately I’m finding that the same situation in online 6-max cash games is causing me problems. I play 25c/50c NL and I’m in the habit of raising with medium pairs from any position. The trouble arises when an opponent cold-calls in position and the flop comes low and raggy enough to give me an over-pair; for example, pocket nines on a flop of 4-5-7. I would usually c-bet this type of flop, but I’m finding more and more that my opponents are raising me and I don’t know how to play the hand from there on in. Are they raising because they suspect I’ve missed? Should I re-raise in this spot or flat-call and risk them catching up?
George Rollins, Southampton
Like all cash-based scenarios it really depends on your perceived image at the table and the specific player you are up against. Also your relative stacks are important.
Let's assume you are 100BB deep and the same opponent keeps re-raising you on "raggy" flops. Logic clearly dictates you are ahead statistically and that said, you have a very big hand - over-pairs aren't easy to come by in Hold’em. Depending on the size of your over-pair you can continue to act weak and trap by flat-calling the re-raise and checking the turn to induce further action from his bluffing range, value-betting range (smaller pairs) and hands that have you beat; this way you get action from a wide range of hands that you beat. However, if you just go all-in on the flop, bluffs and weak hands fold and you only keep in hands that beat you and a few good hands on the flop that you yourself beat. The fact that it seems you are always being raised on the flop indicates that others have noticed you are folding a lot on flops and are taking advantage of you or they have noticed that you are continuation betting with too high a frequency and are taking stabs at you based on certain flop textures.
Also, you have to consider that your opponent is capable of flat-calling a single raise with pocket tens-and-over to trap you. Most people would three-bet those types of hands pre-flop, reducing the range of hands that has you beat on the flop. In summary, with your bigger pairs like pocket queens-and-over I recommend calling to induce further action on the turn from a wide range. With your smaller pairs like 99-JJ it might be a bit too tricky for you to play them out of position if an over-card comes so it is probably best to re-raise in that spot.
SIGNS OF STRENGTH
Generally, what is the best way to counter very loose hyper-aggressive opponents in tournaments?
John Kendall, London
Do NOT show any sign of strength; a good hyper-aggressive player feeds off weakness. If they notice you haven't played many hands and all of a sudden start showing resistance or strength in a hand they will shut down unless they have something. If they do their usual pre-flop raise (depending on stack sizes, blinds, etc) it is a good play to just flat-call with your big pairs and trap them post-flop. These types of players will often fire multiple barrels while bluffing. Yes, you give them a chance to outdraw you by flat-calling but it is a fine balance between only winning their pre-flop raise and winning a large percentage of their stack by slow-playing. On the other hand, using the same logic, you can bluff him using your tight image by three-betting him pre-flop as he’ll have to give you huge respect.
TILTED
What tips can you offer for battling tilt at the tournament tables?
David Green, Edinburgh
Tilt is all about emotional intelligence. This has been my biggest flaw in poker for many years, and I have thrown away many tournaments because I tend to dwell in the past and keep thinking, "If only my aces held there", or "If only I’d won that pot I'd be chip leader." This type of negative thinking is extremely detrimental as it diverts your focus from the tournament onto things that you cannot control. The key is to be emotionally mature, understanding that no-one can ever play a tournament perfectly and that there is a huge amount of variance involved in tournaments. Knowing this, all you can do is play your best.
CHALLENGE ANARCHY
I’m planning my own little online challenge, trying to spin up $10 into $1,000. What’s the best way of going about it? Should I stick rigidly to cash games or decent good value tournaments, or a bit of both?
Mark McAdams, via email
I have done a similar challenge recently and as long as you are aiming to get to a low amount it is nearly impossible to not succeed as long as you stick to strict bankroll management rules. To be 100% safe, do not risk more than 5% of your bankroll in any cash game. If you ever find yourself with the equivalent of 10% of your bankroll on the table at one time, leave and restart with no more than 5%. It is OK to move up levels to take a shot but if you take a hit immediately, step back. Do NOT be afraid to move down a level to rebuild before moving up. If you stick at the higher limit and tilt the challenge is up and you have failed. Regarding MTTs, it depends on the percentage of your bankroll and your expected value in any given tournament. I would suggest playing cash mostly and mix it up with occasional “good value" MTTs, again never investing more than 5% of your bankroll in any given MTT. |
