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Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Don’t play smart against `not so smart` people
Check out my latest post on Poker Banroll Blog Don’t play smart against `not so smart` people
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Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
PokerBRB.com
Starting on Tuesday, September 2 I will be a weekly contributor at poker bankroll blog. I ecnourage you to check out this up and coming site, to read my weekly posts there of course and become a member of this growing poker community.
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Grinding then throwing it away
I saw what I thought was a really bizarre play last night that got me thinking about what motivates players to do what they do. I was playing at two 10/20 cent no limit cash tables at the same time and was ahead a few bucks and would describe the play at both tables as being relatively donkey free zones.
In order to set up the play that really caught my attention you have to know that the maximum amount you can bring to the tables I was playing at is $20. There were 2 players who both had around $50 when I sat down and they generally stayed around that level for the 15 minutes or so that preceded the hand I am about to describe. I would describe both of them as being relatively good players who seemed to be grinders. At the time of “the hand” I had doubled my buy-in of $7 to 14. Don’t ask why I only bought in for $7 at a table that had so much money at it quite yet, I’ll explain a theory I have been working on in a future post. Now back to the hand …
I was in the BB for all of 20 cents, 1 limper before the action got to the player on the button (one of the $50 stacks) he went ALL IN, and the next player to act (SB) was the other big stack. He tanked for a bit then CALLED, WOW, these 2 guys that have been grinding through a profitable session at a conservative table are suddenly both all in with 40 cents in the pot! What cards did I have? 8 4 off suit ;-( But, I thought to myself. Can I call this? Of course I knew the answer was no but suddenly I am thinking, call and lose (the most likely scenario BY FAR) or fold and continue to play smart poker. Of course, I folded but it reminded me that even against good players (I think I can at least describe myself as a decent player) you don’t know what they are thinking or what motivates them which adds an interesting level of complexity to the game. My thought process was I’ve got $7 invested here, I’m ahead about $4 on the other table, if I call and hit something crazy my $7 investment will have turned into $42, if I lose I go to the other table and continue to grind to try and make back my losses. I folded!
The initial raiser turned over AQ diamonds, the caller turned over AK offsuit and the flop came 883, the set I didn’t pay for. Blank, blank on the turn and river and AK took down a big one. Look, the point of this blog is not to justify that I might have called with 84 because that’s a call in a situation that I can’t make. The interesting (to me anyway) observations on that hand are 1) Why would you grind your way to a profit just to throw it away like that? And 2) You never know what someone else is thinking or what motivates them to make a particular play.
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In order to set up the play that really caught my attention you have to know that the maximum amount you can bring to the tables I was playing at is $20. There were 2 players who both had around $50 when I sat down and they generally stayed around that level for the 15 minutes or so that preceded the hand I am about to describe. I would describe both of them as being relatively good players who seemed to be grinders. At the time of “the hand” I had doubled my buy-in of $7 to 14. Don’t ask why I only bought in for $7 at a table that had so much money at it quite yet, I’ll explain a theory I have been working on in a future post. Now back to the hand …
I was in the BB for all of 20 cents, 1 limper before the action got to the player on the button (one of the $50 stacks) he went ALL IN, and the next player to act (SB) was the other big stack. He tanked for a bit then CALLED, WOW, these 2 guys that have been grinding through a profitable session at a conservative table are suddenly both all in with 40 cents in the pot! What cards did I have? 8 4 off suit ;-( But, I thought to myself. Can I call this? Of course I knew the answer was no but suddenly I am thinking, call and lose (the most likely scenario BY FAR) or fold and continue to play smart poker. Of course, I folded but it reminded me that even against good players (I think I can at least describe myself as a decent player) you don’t know what they are thinking or what motivates them which adds an interesting level of complexity to the game. My thought process was I’ve got $7 invested here, I’m ahead about $4 on the other table, if I call and hit something crazy my $7 investment will have turned into $42, if I lose I go to the other table and continue to grind to try and make back my losses. I folded!
The initial raiser turned over AQ diamonds, the caller turned over AK offsuit and the flop came 883, the set I didn’t pay for. Blank, blank on the turn and river and AK took down a big one. Look, the point of this blog is not to justify that I might have called with 84 because that’s a call in a situation that I can’t make. The interesting (to me anyway) observations on that hand are 1) Why would you grind your way to a profit just to throw it away like that? And 2) You never know what someone else is thinking or what motivates them to make a particular play.
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Monday, August 25, 2008
Control or "slow down" bet
Most players know about the different types of bets you can make in poker, whether they know what they are called or just what their purpose is. Every time you place a bet you should be doing it with a particular purpose in mind, the timing of the game, your position and chip stack as well as the purpose of your bet all combine to give you a sense of the amount to bet.
Sometimes the purpose is to sweeten a pot you are very confident you are going to win, in this case you probably bet low, intentionally giving your opponents the odds they need to put more money in “your” pot.
There’s the “information” or “feeler” bet where you think your hand might be good so you bet to get some information from your opponent. A smallish bet is often enough to get the information you are looking for.
There’s the continuation bet, where you raised before the flop and bet after the flop regardless of whether or not the flop helped you. This bet is similar in a lot of ways to the information or feeler bet and is a standard play. If you don’t overuse it, the continuation bet can be very effective. Remember that the continuation bet is a standard play. Good players often know it's coming before you have a chance to toss your chips in the pot, so it’s not uncommon for someone to check raise a great hand when they are anticipating a continuation bet, so proceed with caution.
There are numerous other types of bets which all have their place including the trap, hammer and flat out bluff among others. The purpose of this blog however is not to describe all of them so much as one particular bet I like to use and think is underutilized, I call it the “control” or “slow down” bet. Fairly self explanatory but I’ll illustrate it with an example.
You’re in a 6 person tournament with 4 players remaining, blinds are 50/100 and you pick up 10D JD in the big blind. The player under the gun has 1,500 chips and folds. The player on the button (who you have classified as loose and mildly aggressive but not a bad player) min raises to 200, the small blind (who you have classified as tight and has folded to raises when he was a blind) calls and you call as well. All 3 of the players in the hand have roughly the same number of chips, 2,500. You definitely want to see a flop with this hand but don’t want to put in a big raise because the small blind who has been super tight showed strength when he called the first raise, and of course a re-raise can be an invitation for the player who started the action to shove them all in.
The flop reveals 2C 8D 9D giving you an open ended straight flush draw. Remember that “people who chase straights and flushes arrive on planes and go home on buses”. The small blind checks. What you REALLY want in this situation is to see a free or at least a cheap card but you are confident that if you check the player who started the action will put in a big bet and possibly go all in. The way I recommend playing this is to put in a bet of the amount you are comfortable paying to see the next card in an attempt to control the size of the pot and slow down your opponent. Sometimes (though rarely) this bet will take down the pot right then and there which you definitely don’t mind, but that is not the purpose of this bet, all you want to do is slow down your opponent so that you can see the next card at a price you don’t mind paying. This tactic will NOT always succeed in slowing down your opponent but I think it’s a useful tactic worth employing when you really want to see the next card and have reason to believe your opponent might shove if you check.
PS If he goes all in here, I recommend folding and waiting for a hand you are willing and able to take control of from the beginning.
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Sometimes the purpose is to sweeten a pot you are very confident you are going to win, in this case you probably bet low, intentionally giving your opponents the odds they need to put more money in “your” pot.
There’s the “information” or “feeler” bet where you think your hand might be good so you bet to get some information from your opponent. A smallish bet is often enough to get the information you are looking for.
There’s the continuation bet, where you raised before the flop and bet after the flop regardless of whether or not the flop helped you. This bet is similar in a lot of ways to the information or feeler bet and is a standard play. If you don’t overuse it, the continuation bet can be very effective. Remember that the continuation bet is a standard play. Good players often know it's coming before you have a chance to toss your chips in the pot, so it’s not uncommon for someone to check raise a great hand when they are anticipating a continuation bet, so proceed with caution.
There are numerous other types of bets which all have their place including the trap, hammer and flat out bluff among others. The purpose of this blog however is not to describe all of them so much as one particular bet I like to use and think is underutilized, I call it the “control” or “slow down” bet. Fairly self explanatory but I’ll illustrate it with an example.
You’re in a 6 person tournament with 4 players remaining, blinds are 50/100 and you pick up 10D JD in the big blind. The player under the gun has 1,500 chips and folds. The player on the button (who you have classified as loose and mildly aggressive but not a bad player) min raises to 200, the small blind (who you have classified as tight and has folded to raises when he was a blind) calls and you call as well. All 3 of the players in the hand have roughly the same number of chips, 2,500. You definitely want to see a flop with this hand but don’t want to put in a big raise because the small blind who has been super tight showed strength when he called the first raise, and of course a re-raise can be an invitation for the player who started the action to shove them all in.
The flop reveals 2C 8D 9D giving you an open ended straight flush draw. Remember that “people who chase straights and flushes arrive on planes and go home on buses”. The small blind checks. What you REALLY want in this situation is to see a free or at least a cheap card but you are confident that if you check the player who started the action will put in a big bet and possibly go all in. The way I recommend playing this is to put in a bet of the amount you are comfortable paying to see the next card in an attempt to control the size of the pot and slow down your opponent. Sometimes (though rarely) this bet will take down the pot right then and there which you definitely don’t mind, but that is not the purpose of this bet, all you want to do is slow down your opponent so that you can see the next card at a price you don’t mind paying. This tactic will NOT always succeed in slowing down your opponent but I think it’s a useful tactic worth employing when you really want to see the next card and have reason to believe your opponent might shove if you check.
PS If he goes all in here, I recommend folding and waiting for a hand you are willing and able to take control of from the beginning.
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Thursday, August 14, 2008
Funny what you can rationalize
Last night I played two $5 6 player tourneys again, finished second in one and third in the other. This made my run over the past three nights 5 second place finishes and 2 thirds.
As always, I continue to look for lessons and things to improve upon and today’s message is to start being more aware and more honest with myself about my game. Don’t get me wrong, I think my game has been pretty good and getting better but here is how I came to the conclusion.
I had been telling myself that 5 second place finishes and 2 third place finishes in my last 7 games was pretty good, managed to be in the money 71% of the time and all that. When I told my buddy about my recent streak he immediately said “better work on your heads up play”. How did I react to that statement? Hmmm. Pause. Think about it. A bit deflating but …. good point.
In the seventh game of this streak we were down to three, blinds are 100/200 I’ve got about 2,000, SB about the same and BB 5,000 and I raised on the button pre flop with AC JD (check my blog from yesterday, even though this situation sounds like a replay of yesterday’s blog, I assure you it is a different hand in a different tournament with entirely different circumstances but sadly the same result). Flop brings 8C 7C 2C and I am not thinking this hit my opponent’s range but he shoves and has me covered. Maybe he’s on a draw, could this be trips, an over pair, a high club and he is bullying? Obviously I have the draw to the nut flush but I am not liking the way this is playing out. I am a big risk/reward guy in all aspects of my life, and can sometimes talk myself into taking a large risk if the potential reward is great. I “rationalize” that every now and again you go in behind but it’s okay to do it if you are aware of the risk you’re taking, hit a club on either of the next 2 cards and I win this hand, maybe even an Ace or Jack will take down the pot (although I admit I thought this was unlikely). So, I chuck them in and he turns over 3C 6C for the made flush. Why did he call my raise? He was the big dog, my raise was only 3 times the BB, he was taking a stand to slow down future raises, who knows? Neither the turn nor the river reveals a club and I am out in third.
We’re in a new tournament within minutes, this time I am a coach not a player and I am not feeling like I am in a position to help anyone out given the burden of wearing my new donkey collar, but there I was watching and discussing. Some unknown player makes a very similar call to the one that ended my tournament moments earlier and the second his cards are revealed I think two things almost simultaneously and say both of them out loud. “What a moron” followed by “that’s what I just did”. Funny how every now and again we can rationalize bad decisions even when we know better.
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As always, I continue to look for lessons and things to improve upon and today’s message is to start being more aware and more honest with myself about my game. Don’t get me wrong, I think my game has been pretty good and getting better but here is how I came to the conclusion.
I had been telling myself that 5 second place finishes and 2 third place finishes in my last 7 games was pretty good, managed to be in the money 71% of the time and all that. When I told my buddy about my recent streak he immediately said “better work on your heads up play”. How did I react to that statement? Hmmm. Pause. Think about it. A bit deflating but …. good point.
In the seventh game of this streak we were down to three, blinds are 100/200 I’ve got about 2,000, SB about the same and BB 5,000 and I raised on the button pre flop with AC JD (check my blog from yesterday, even though this situation sounds like a replay of yesterday’s blog, I assure you it is a different hand in a different tournament with entirely different circumstances but sadly the same result). Flop brings 8C 7C 2C and I am not thinking this hit my opponent’s range but he shoves and has me covered. Maybe he’s on a draw, could this be trips, an over pair, a high club and he is bullying? Obviously I have the draw to the nut flush but I am not liking the way this is playing out. I am a big risk/reward guy in all aspects of my life, and can sometimes talk myself into taking a large risk if the potential reward is great. I “rationalize” that every now and again you go in behind but it’s okay to do it if you are aware of the risk you’re taking, hit a club on either of the next 2 cards and I win this hand, maybe even an Ace or Jack will take down the pot (although I admit I thought this was unlikely). So, I chuck them in and he turns over 3C 6C for the made flush. Why did he call my raise? He was the big dog, my raise was only 3 times the BB, he was taking a stand to slow down future raises, who knows? Neither the turn nor the river reveals a club and I am out in third.
We’re in a new tournament within minutes, this time I am a coach not a player and I am not feeling like I am in a position to help anyone out given the burden of wearing my new donkey collar, but there I was watching and discussing. Some unknown player makes a very similar call to the one that ended my tournament moments earlier and the second his cards are revealed I think two things almost simultaneously and say both of them out loud. “What a moron” followed by “that’s what I just did”. Funny how every now and again we can rationalize bad decisions even when we know better.
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Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Poker mathematics
As I mentioned in my first blog post while trying to describe my style of play, one of the very important styles and factors is poker mathematics. The mathematical player puts a lot of emphasis on pot odds, implied odds, possibly position, the likelihood that his opponent is holding what he is representing etc. As I mentioned, I think this is a very important part of poker and I will state here that I think it is one of the things that separates decent/good players from really good/great players. But, I truly believe that when analyzing the “data” we have to be aware of the fact that a lot of factors are at play and that without having all or in some cases even any of the rest of the story the “simple” math can sometimes be misleading. Let me explain.
A friend (who I would describe as an excellent and very knowledgeable player who is more mathematically inclined than I am) installed poker tracker, in a nutshell poker tracker is a very interesting and complex bit of software that analyzes and interprets your play in a very useful and granular method. It can tell you for example, exactly how many times you played a given hand and what the results were, in terms of chips won or lost. I sent him my tournament data to analyze (thousands of hands played primarily at 6 player tables that range in buy-ins from $2 to $50) and it classified me as an aggressive player, which I would not disagree with at all. But, while I think the software and the data it spits out is useful and I am really looking forward to digging into my data to see what I can learn from it, I think that raw data without proper context can be misleading. I’ll explain.
Last night he told me that while reviewing the data he saw that I voluntarily put money in the pot and lost a fair number of chips on A J offsuit. That was interesting data indeed but I need context that I am not sure the software can provide, I’ll let you know if I am proven wrong once I dig deeper into the software but for now here is my point.
Right after hearing that I have lost a lot of chips with A J offsuit I played a $5 6 player tournament, (these tourneys pay $21 to first and $9 to second) I would say I played that tournament conservatively (by my standards) and was caught in the grind that sometimes happens when you are on the bubble. We were down to three players and the blinds were $200/$400. Over a period of about 20 hands my stack fluctuated between 1,800 and 3,000 of the 9,000 chips in play, and I would say that the other 2 players were doing about the same. During that period a lot of blinds were being stolen, I took some and gave some as did the other 2 players, not a single raise or all in had been called and quite a few small blinds were folded to no raise. It was clear the game had ground to the point where players were trying to see who would survive. I was probably not more or less aggressive than anyone else during that period. With the blinds still at 200/400 I was on the button with 1,815 chips, over the next 2 hands I would have 1/3 of my chips committed from blinds alone. Guess what I picked up in that spot? A J offsuit … I am not kidding. So what’s my play here? All in. Small bind folds, BB calls with KK (ouch), I don’t hit and my tournament is over.
So check this out from a purely mathematical standpoint. I lost 1,800 chips on one hand where I voluntarily chucked my chips in the pot with A J offsuit. Most of the tournaments I play start you off with 1,500 chips so that loss cost me more than if I picked up AA on the first hand of a tournament and called some donkey who was all in with 9 10 and hit a straight on me. Let’s say for the sake of argument that the average pot size I win is 300 chips, I’d have to win 6 of those pots with A J offsuit to break even from this one loss alone. I am not saying the software or analyzing your game in this manner is a bad thing in the least, in fact, I am excited to take a look and see what it reveals about my game. But I do know that no matter what it tells me I might still toss all of my chips in the pot with A J offsuit if the situation seems to warrant it.
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A friend (who I would describe as an excellent and very knowledgeable player who is more mathematically inclined than I am) installed poker tracker, in a nutshell poker tracker is a very interesting and complex bit of software that analyzes and interprets your play in a very useful and granular method. It can tell you for example, exactly how many times you played a given hand and what the results were, in terms of chips won or lost. I sent him my tournament data to analyze (thousands of hands played primarily at 6 player tables that range in buy-ins from $2 to $50) and it classified me as an aggressive player, which I would not disagree with at all. But, while I think the software and the data it spits out is useful and I am really looking forward to digging into my data to see what I can learn from it, I think that raw data without proper context can be misleading. I’ll explain.
Last night he told me that while reviewing the data he saw that I voluntarily put money in the pot and lost a fair number of chips on A J offsuit. That was interesting data indeed but I need context that I am not sure the software can provide, I’ll let you know if I am proven wrong once I dig deeper into the software but for now here is my point.
Right after hearing that I have lost a lot of chips with A J offsuit I played a $5 6 player tournament, (these tourneys pay $21 to first and $9 to second) I would say I played that tournament conservatively (by my standards) and was caught in the grind that sometimes happens when you are on the bubble. We were down to three players and the blinds were $200/$400. Over a period of about 20 hands my stack fluctuated between 1,800 and 3,000 of the 9,000 chips in play, and I would say that the other 2 players were doing about the same. During that period a lot of blinds were being stolen, I took some and gave some as did the other 2 players, not a single raise or all in had been called and quite a few small blinds were folded to no raise. It was clear the game had ground to the point where players were trying to see who would survive. I was probably not more or less aggressive than anyone else during that period. With the blinds still at 200/400 I was on the button with 1,815 chips, over the next 2 hands I would have 1/3 of my chips committed from blinds alone. Guess what I picked up in that spot? A J offsuit … I am not kidding. So what’s my play here? All in. Small bind folds, BB calls with KK (ouch), I don’t hit and my tournament is over.
So check this out from a purely mathematical standpoint. I lost 1,800 chips on one hand where I voluntarily chucked my chips in the pot with A J offsuit. Most of the tournaments I play start you off with 1,500 chips so that loss cost me more than if I picked up AA on the first hand of a tournament and called some donkey who was all in with 9 10 and hit a straight on me. Let’s say for the sake of argument that the average pot size I win is 300 chips, I’d have to win 6 of those pots with A J offsuit to break even from this one loss alone. I am not saying the software or analyzing your game in this manner is a bad thing in the least, in fact, I am excited to take a look and see what it reveals about my game. But I do know that no matter what it tells me I might still toss all of my chips in the pot with A J offsuit if the situation seems to warrant it.
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Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Focus on the decision not the outcome
Last night I played three $5 6 player no limit tournaments and I finished in second every time. What I found interesting in this series of tournaments was the decisions I made and the winners made not the eventual outcome.
My game and understanding of the game has been steadily improving for a number of reasons – 1) because I am playing a lot 2) because I have been coaching someone a lot 3) because I try to read about the game as much as I can 4) because I have a couple of people I talk to a lot about the game in general, their games and mine 5) I continue to watch a fair bit of poker and really pay attention to the analysts and 6) because I started this blog. The last one may seem odd but as I am playing I find myself thinking about all of the same things I used to … my image at the table, other players’ images at the table, position, chip stacks, point in the tournament, who pays how much for draws, trying to put my opponents on a hand etc….. But, since I started this blog I also find myself looking for things to write about, whether it’s a specific situation or something more subtle I am learning as I evolve. Last night I think I saw a pretty good example of my evolution and I thought I would write about it today in case it can help someone else.
As I mentioned, I finished second in three straight tournaments, by not finishing first in all of them I left a few bucks on the table, but that’s not the point, the point is to evolve and learn and grow and get better at the game. Poker is all about the decisions you make and although a complex game with many variables it can all be boiled down to getting your money (and someone else’s) into the pot when you have the best hand.
In the first tournament last night I was the chip leader by a significant margin when we got to heads up. I put my opponent all in 3 times (over the course of several hands) and all 3 times I had the best hand and all 3 times he hit what he needed to win, he was lucky to the point where he actually commented on it, which I find is pretty rare. When I was all in with my last 140 chips (compared to his 8,860) he was behind and hit. Of course, by then it was over but I thought I would mention that he won 4 times going into the hand behind.
In the second tournament I was way behind in chips, roughly 1,000 to 8,000 and blinds were 100, 200 so I had to act quickly and was clearly desperate. As it turned out, I went all in ahead and he hit but in this tournament it only happened once because of course, he had me covered.
The final tournament played out a little differently, when we were down to three players I was the low stack and went in behind and the board hit the straight for a split. Eventually, I ended up heads up as the low stack and battled to get it to about even, I pushed all in with KQ suited hoping to steal the blinds and to change the pace as he had been pushing me around for a bit, and he called with AK and took me out.
So, 7 all-ins in 3 tournaments and I was ahead 5 out of 7 times. Not bad. And, not bad that I got to heads up in all 3 tournaments in the first place, so rather than lament the fact that the outcome could have been different I chose to focus on the fact that I played well and more often than not I made the right decisions.
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My game and understanding of the game has been steadily improving for a number of reasons – 1) because I am playing a lot 2) because I have been coaching someone a lot 3) because I try to read about the game as much as I can 4) because I have a couple of people I talk to a lot about the game in general, their games and mine 5) I continue to watch a fair bit of poker and really pay attention to the analysts and 6) because I started this blog. The last one may seem odd but as I am playing I find myself thinking about all of the same things I used to … my image at the table, other players’ images at the table, position, chip stacks, point in the tournament, who pays how much for draws, trying to put my opponents on a hand etc….. But, since I started this blog I also find myself looking for things to write about, whether it’s a specific situation or something more subtle I am learning as I evolve. Last night I think I saw a pretty good example of my evolution and I thought I would write about it today in case it can help someone else.
As I mentioned, I finished second in three straight tournaments, by not finishing first in all of them I left a few bucks on the table, but that’s not the point, the point is to evolve and learn and grow and get better at the game. Poker is all about the decisions you make and although a complex game with many variables it can all be boiled down to getting your money (and someone else’s) into the pot when you have the best hand.
In the first tournament last night I was the chip leader by a significant margin when we got to heads up. I put my opponent all in 3 times (over the course of several hands) and all 3 times I had the best hand and all 3 times he hit what he needed to win, he was lucky to the point where he actually commented on it, which I find is pretty rare. When I was all in with my last 140 chips (compared to his 8,860) he was behind and hit. Of course, by then it was over but I thought I would mention that he won 4 times going into the hand behind.
In the second tournament I was way behind in chips, roughly 1,000 to 8,000 and blinds were 100, 200 so I had to act quickly and was clearly desperate. As it turned out, I went all in ahead and he hit but in this tournament it only happened once because of course, he had me covered.
The final tournament played out a little differently, when we were down to three players I was the low stack and went in behind and the board hit the straight for a split. Eventually, I ended up heads up as the low stack and battled to get it to about even, I pushed all in with KQ suited hoping to steal the blinds and to change the pace as he had been pushing me around for a bit, and he called with AK and took me out.
So, 7 all-ins in 3 tournaments and I was ahead 5 out of 7 times. Not bad. And, not bad that I got to heads up in all 3 tournaments in the first place, so rather than lament the fact that the outcome could have been different I chose to focus on the fact that I played well and more often than not I made the right decisions.
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Monday, August 11, 2008
Some hands play themselves
I saw an interesting situation play out online in the middle of a $5 6 player no limit tournament I was observing/helping someone through.
She had K 8 in the big blind, 2 limpers which included the player on the button and the small blind. Flop came KK8 for the full house on the flop. The odds of hitting a full house on the flop when you are not holding a pocket pair are 1087 / 1 - truly like hitting the jackpot!
So, I tell my friend to check it … you don’t want to scare anyone off. Small blind makes a pot sized bet of 180, I tell her to call but not too quickly, the player on the button called as well. The next card put an ace on the board that offered the possibility of a flush draw. Things were looking good (assuming someone might pay for a flush draw). Small blind checks, I advise my friend to check hoping the player on the button might bet. He does, also a pot sized bet, small blind folds and we call. River draws a blank that neither completes the straight nor the flush. With the small blind folded we are first to act. I rarely check in this spot with only one other player in the hand, hoping my bet looks like an attempt to steal and my opponent hit something, anything, or is just not that good of a player. So, we bet half the pot, button goes all in and has us covered, we call.
He turns over AK for the better full house; ours (which we flopped) was kings over 8’s his was kings over aces. We’re out of the tournament and left a little stunned.
These are the kinds of hands people remember and talk about so not surprisingly it came up at our home game later that day. I have thought about this hand a fair bit and concluded that no matter how it was played it would have turned out the same way. Any of the three players in the hand could have gone all in at any time and we would not have folded the full house we were so lucky to flop and he would not have folded trip kings with an ace kicker on a rainbow flop. Once he hit the better “fully” we figured the ace was more likely to give him 2 pair, a straight draw or a flush draw so we weren’t going anywhere. Truly the only way anyone was going to fold was to hit the wrong button! This is online poker after all. ;-)
There are MANY situations where you can outplay your opponent during a game but to me this hand served as a reminder that sometimes, some hands just seem to play themselves.
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She had K 8 in the big blind, 2 limpers which included the player on the button and the small blind. Flop came KK8 for the full house on the flop. The odds of hitting a full house on the flop when you are not holding a pocket pair are 1087 / 1 - truly like hitting the jackpot!
So, I tell my friend to check it … you don’t want to scare anyone off. Small blind makes a pot sized bet of 180, I tell her to call but not too quickly, the player on the button called as well. The next card put an ace on the board that offered the possibility of a flush draw. Things were looking good (assuming someone might pay for a flush draw). Small blind checks, I advise my friend to check hoping the player on the button might bet. He does, also a pot sized bet, small blind folds and we call. River draws a blank that neither completes the straight nor the flush. With the small blind folded we are first to act. I rarely check in this spot with only one other player in the hand, hoping my bet looks like an attempt to steal and my opponent hit something, anything, or is just not that good of a player. So, we bet half the pot, button goes all in and has us covered, we call.
He turns over AK for the better full house; ours (which we flopped) was kings over 8’s his was kings over aces. We’re out of the tournament and left a little stunned.
These are the kinds of hands people remember and talk about so not surprisingly it came up at our home game later that day. I have thought about this hand a fair bit and concluded that no matter how it was played it would have turned out the same way. Any of the three players in the hand could have gone all in at any time and we would not have folded the full house we were so lucky to flop and he would not have folded trip kings with an ace kicker on a rainbow flop. Once he hit the better “fully” we figured the ace was more likely to give him 2 pair, a straight draw or a flush draw so we weren’t going anywhere. Truly the only way anyone was going to fold was to hit the wrong button! This is online poker after all. ;-)
There are MANY situations where you can outplay your opponent during a game but to me this hand served as a reminder that sometimes, some hands just seem to play themselves.
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Friday, August 8, 2008
All in all the time!
Have you ever met an all in all the time donkey? They come in various varieties and sometimes wear disguises.
If you’ve played free tournaments or even low buy-in games online you have undoubtedly met the all in all the time donkey. Heck, you might even be one of them. If you are, stop doing it or stop playing poker, really you should stick with slot machines. What all in all the time says is that you believe poker is a game of pure chance so slots are more your speed.
I ran into the all in all the time donkey at a tournament once at my local casino where you see way less of that kind of thing, I think mainly because the tournaments cost real money, require effort to get to and can be intimidating for beginners. Come to think of it, it was the only time I have seen this type of donkey at a live tournament. At any rate, I heard a great quote about the all in donkey at that tournament. Keep in mind that I play quite a few tournaments at that casino ranging from 20 to 100 players where the buy-in ranges from freeroll to $400. This particular tournament was a freeroll with about 60 players so you can imagine the mix of players.
As we drew seats I recognized 3 guys who I had played with on a number of occasions, two of them I would describe as very good and one I would describe as loose but competent, I also recognized a woman I ended up heads up against in a pretty big tournament a few months prior (she’s very good) and the rest were clearly new to the game. Early in the tournament one of the poker newbies kept chucking all his chips in the pot and would stare down every player as they folded. After several all ins one of the better players (seated to my left and in the big blind) held his cards and said “I really like these cards” the all in donkey said “then why don’t you call” to which he replied “the ONLY time I can’t outplay you is when all of our chips are in the pot”. That summarized it and clarified the all in donkey in a way that made perfect sense to me.
The question I suppose is how do you play against this person? If you know my style you’ll not be surprised to hear me say that we need more information before we can assess the situation.
There is no clear answer to this question but I will share some thoughts through a couple of different scenarios. Remember that these are guidelines and many other factors come into play such as chip stack relative to the table, number pf players remaining, position etc. The fact that I am even outlining a scenario on how to play the all in donkey reminds me that it is easy to focus on him when he’s at your table, but don’t lose sight of everyone else at the table. Ultimately, the sooner he’s gone the better. Although ideally you would like to be the one to separate him from his chips, do keep in mind that the main thing you want ... him gone.
Scenario 1
Early in a tournament and donkey and I have a similar amount of chips.
If he acts before me and goes all in I look him up with JJ QQ KK and AA only. If I act before him I raise with all of those hands plus AK and maybe 10 10 depending on my position and the other players at the table. As a general rule I have found that the poker player who pushes doesn’t like to be pushed back.
Scenario 2
Heaven forbid you end up heads up against this donkey. Actually, I mention heads up because I think you will agree or find (if you end up heads up in a lot of tournaments) sometimes the player who is not an all in donkey decides to become that guy when heads up. When you’re heads up you typically can’t sit and wait on too many hands. If you’re the short stack pick a “decent” hand and hope to hit. If I’m short stacked and playing the all in guy the number of hands I won’t call with is a shorter list than the hands I will call with. If you’re the big stack one strategy is to simply call from small blind when you pick up a premium hand and wait for him to toss the rest of his chips in the pot and quick call him. Alternatively, you can mix it up when you’re first to act by putting all of your chips in the pot … remember that usually this type of player likes to push but not be pushed.
Ultimately, if you are playing heads up against someone who insists on making it a coin toss, pick a hand that you are comfortable with and flip the coin and let the chips fall where they may.
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If you’ve played free tournaments or even low buy-in games online you have undoubtedly met the all in all the time donkey. Heck, you might even be one of them. If you are, stop doing it or stop playing poker, really you should stick with slot machines. What all in all the time says is that you believe poker is a game of pure chance so slots are more your speed.
I ran into the all in all the time donkey at a tournament once at my local casino where you see way less of that kind of thing, I think mainly because the tournaments cost real money, require effort to get to and can be intimidating for beginners. Come to think of it, it was the only time I have seen this type of donkey at a live tournament. At any rate, I heard a great quote about the all in donkey at that tournament. Keep in mind that I play quite a few tournaments at that casino ranging from 20 to 100 players where the buy-in ranges from freeroll to $400. This particular tournament was a freeroll with about 60 players so you can imagine the mix of players.
As we drew seats I recognized 3 guys who I had played with on a number of occasions, two of them I would describe as very good and one I would describe as loose but competent, I also recognized a woman I ended up heads up against in a pretty big tournament a few months prior (she’s very good) and the rest were clearly new to the game. Early in the tournament one of the poker newbies kept chucking all his chips in the pot and would stare down every player as they folded. After several all ins one of the better players (seated to my left and in the big blind) held his cards and said “I really like these cards” the all in donkey said “then why don’t you call” to which he replied “the ONLY time I can’t outplay you is when all of our chips are in the pot”. That summarized it and clarified the all in donkey in a way that made perfect sense to me.
The question I suppose is how do you play against this person? If you know my style you’ll not be surprised to hear me say that we need more information before we can assess the situation.
There is no clear answer to this question but I will share some thoughts through a couple of different scenarios. Remember that these are guidelines and many other factors come into play such as chip stack relative to the table, number pf players remaining, position etc. The fact that I am even outlining a scenario on how to play the all in donkey reminds me that it is easy to focus on him when he’s at your table, but don’t lose sight of everyone else at the table. Ultimately, the sooner he’s gone the better. Although ideally you would like to be the one to separate him from his chips, do keep in mind that the main thing you want ... him gone.
Scenario 1
Early in a tournament and donkey and I have a similar amount of chips.
If he acts before me and goes all in I look him up with JJ QQ KK and AA only. If I act before him I raise with all of those hands plus AK and maybe 10 10 depending on my position and the other players at the table. As a general rule I have found that the poker player who pushes doesn’t like to be pushed back.
Scenario 2
Heaven forbid you end up heads up against this donkey. Actually, I mention heads up because I think you will agree or find (if you end up heads up in a lot of tournaments) sometimes the player who is not an all in donkey decides to become that guy when heads up. When you’re heads up you typically can’t sit and wait on too many hands. If you’re the short stack pick a “decent” hand and hope to hit. If I’m short stacked and playing the all in guy the number of hands I won’t call with is a shorter list than the hands I will call with. If you’re the big stack one strategy is to simply call from small blind when you pick up a premium hand and wait for him to toss the rest of his chips in the pot and quick call him. Alternatively, you can mix it up when you’re first to act by putting all of your chips in the pot … remember that usually this type of player likes to push but not be pushed.
Ultimately, if you are playing heads up against someone who insists on making it a coin toss, pick a hand that you are comfortable with and flip the coin and let the chips fall where they may.
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Thursday, August 7, 2008
Know your place
I ran into an interesting situation last night that ended up costing an opponent his “tournament life”, his profit and the sad thing is, it could have been avoided.
Here’s the scenario. I was playing a 6 person 1,500 chip sit and go, we were down to 3 players (top 2 make money) and I had roughly 5,500 of the 9,000 chips in play. The short stack had 1,000 and the other guy who should have gotten a walk to second had the remaining 2,500 chips.
On the hand in question I picked up A 9 of clubs in the big blind. Blinds were 300-600, the short stack folded on the button and would have 60% of his chips in play on the very next hand, and the player with 2,500 chips raised my big blind to 1,200. You know, nobody likes being raised when they are in BB but most of us acknowledge that it happens from time to time. The problem is that this guy had raised my BB way too often - I haven’t gone back to look at the logs but he raised my big blind and I folded way more often than I am cool with.
Before we get to how the hand played out I’ll explain the point of this blog. Be aware of who you’re picking on and how often you’re doing it, and be aware of the situation. It seems this guy wasn’t aware of either. Why would he continually want to push the big stack around when he was one spot away from finishing in the money AND the guy in third was just about broke, nearly all in on the next hand and had shown no signs of being a very good player? The other very basic poker lesson here is this - by raising too often pre-flop any decent player will conclude you’re capable of raising with any two cards, because nobody is dealt premium hands that often.
So, I was tired of him stealing my blinds, I concluded he will raise on position only with disregard for who he is raising and his position in the tournament. Nobody had looked him up on any of the previous raises so his strategy had been profitable, it was time to put an end to it, put him in his place, remind him that he was pushing around the big stack who could end his tournament life and hopefully he would realize that in all likelihood we would be playing heads up for first soon. He called. J J WHOA! Had I been wrong about this guy? Actually – not a chance. He had raised WAY too often and I decided to push back at one of the wrong times. I flopped an Ace, turn and river drew blank-blank and he was out of the game. Next hand I won the tournament.
I realize I got lucky on that last hand and my opponent couldn’t lay down JJ but it's the hands that preceded this showdown that ended up costing him his tournament life.
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Here’s the scenario. I was playing a 6 person 1,500 chip sit and go, we were down to 3 players (top 2 make money) and I had roughly 5,500 of the 9,000 chips in play. The short stack had 1,000 and the other guy who should have gotten a walk to second had the remaining 2,500 chips.
On the hand in question I picked up A 9 of clubs in the big blind. Blinds were 300-600, the short stack folded on the button and would have 60% of his chips in play on the very next hand, and the player with 2,500 chips raised my big blind to 1,200. You know, nobody likes being raised when they are in BB but most of us acknowledge that it happens from time to time. The problem is that this guy had raised my BB way too often - I haven’t gone back to look at the logs but he raised my big blind and I folded way more often than I am cool with.
Before we get to how the hand played out I’ll explain the point of this blog. Be aware of who you’re picking on and how often you’re doing it, and be aware of the situation. It seems this guy wasn’t aware of either. Why would he continually want to push the big stack around when he was one spot away from finishing in the money AND the guy in third was just about broke, nearly all in on the next hand and had shown no signs of being a very good player? The other very basic poker lesson here is this - by raising too often pre-flop any decent player will conclude you’re capable of raising with any two cards, because nobody is dealt premium hands that often.
So, I was tired of him stealing my blinds, I concluded he will raise on position only with disregard for who he is raising and his position in the tournament. Nobody had looked him up on any of the previous raises so his strategy had been profitable, it was time to put an end to it, put him in his place, remind him that he was pushing around the big stack who could end his tournament life and hopefully he would realize that in all likelihood we would be playing heads up for first soon. He called. J J WHOA! Had I been wrong about this guy? Actually – not a chance. He had raised WAY too often and I decided to push back at one of the wrong times. I flopped an Ace, turn and river drew blank-blank and he was out of the game. Next hand I won the tournament.
I realize I got lucky on that last hand and my opponent couldn’t lay down JJ but it's the hands that preceded this showdown that ended up costing him his tournament life.
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Thursday, July 31, 2008
Let the donkey have some chips
There’s a scenario that happens surprisingly often in online single-table tournaments which used to bother me but since I have found it can set the table for a profitable session I‘ve come to enjoy it.
Here’s the scenario. Early in the tournament 2 or 3 players end up with lots of chips in the pot, raise before the flop, healthy betting after the flop, turn and river. At the showdown you find out that 1 or 2 players had legitimate hands and 1 donkey was on a wing and a prayer, significantly behind until he hit a runner-runner 3 outer to win the hand.
When I first started playing online I found this scenario and the donkey frustrating and annoying even when I wasn’t in the pot. Now I have sort of come to expect to see that kind of play every now and again and actually have found it can be quite helpful as long as I wasn’t the player who got burned. Here’s why.
When that kind of scenario plays out here’s some of what happens.
1) A bad player has a lot of chips.
2) He took them from a player(s) who appears to be at least decent.
3) Who would you rather battle, a guy who has chips because he plays well or a guy who has chips because he got lucky and is clearly a donkey?
4) Much of the attention of the table is on the player(s) who took the bad beat and the donkey who laid the beating. Sounds like you’re under the radar doesn’t it? Since your objective is to win the tournament not to be the center of attention, that’s probably a good thing.
5) You’ve got at least one decent player who might be fuming, most people don’t make their best decisions after taking a bad beat. Don’t get me wrong, some people recover alright but I still think this can tilt things in your favor a little.
When I face this scenario I tighten my game, pick my spots a little more carefully and push a little harder when feeling good about a hand. So far that strategy has worked out alright and I save myself the aggravation of being annoyed by how some people play.
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Here’s the scenario. Early in the tournament 2 or 3 players end up with lots of chips in the pot, raise before the flop, healthy betting after the flop, turn and river. At the showdown you find out that 1 or 2 players had legitimate hands and 1 donkey was on a wing and a prayer, significantly behind until he hit a runner-runner 3 outer to win the hand.
When I first started playing online I found this scenario and the donkey frustrating and annoying even when I wasn’t in the pot. Now I have sort of come to expect to see that kind of play every now and again and actually have found it can be quite helpful as long as I wasn’t the player who got burned. Here’s why.
When that kind of scenario plays out here’s some of what happens.
1) A bad player has a lot of chips.
2) He took them from a player(s) who appears to be at least decent.
3) Who would you rather battle, a guy who has chips because he plays well or a guy who has chips because he got lucky and is clearly a donkey?
4) Much of the attention of the table is on the player(s) who took the bad beat and the donkey who laid the beating. Sounds like you’re under the radar doesn’t it? Since your objective is to win the tournament not to be the center of attention, that’s probably a good thing.
5) You’ve got at least one decent player who might be fuming, most people don’t make their best decisions after taking a bad beat. Don’t get me wrong, some people recover alright but I still think this can tilt things in your favor a little.
When I face this scenario I tighten my game, pick my spots a little more carefully and push a little harder when feeling good about a hand. So far that strategy has worked out alright and I save myself the aggravation of being annoyed by how some people play.
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Wednesday, July 30, 2008
A few of my poker beliefs
I thought today I'd share some of my poker beliefs.
I don’t believe poker is a game of chance despite the fact that luck is involved.
I don’t believe you can make any decision without having all of the information. For example, new players will often ask me something like this - I had J 9 suited in the small blind, the player before me put in a minimum raise, I called, and that was okay wasn’t it? The only possible answer I can give to a question like that is maybe. There are simply way too many other factors I would need to have information on before I could tell you what I “think” was the right play.
I don’t believe you should get angry at the person who is willing to pay a lot for a draw. You might not like the outcome 20% of the time (or so) but if you want to sit at my table and my game and pay for draws all night, then pull up a chair and make yourself comfy. Can I get you a drink?
I believe your buy in gives you the right to play your game the way you like. I really get frustrated by people who get angry because someone at the table made a particular decision. I have seen A LOT of decisions that made me scratch my head (at the poker table and in every other area of my life) but that’s life.
I believe it is poker not solitaire. I love this quote from Doyle Brunson as a response to a kid who put him all in, when Doyle called the kid asked in an angry tone "How could you call with that?" and Doyle responded "We're Playing poker, Not Solitaire!" That's poker is another one of my catch phrases, I usually pull this one out when I go in ahead and lose the hand ... it helps keep me sane.
I believe in not going broke in an unraised pot. I have heard different people try to explain this one but the way I take it and what I try to keep in mind is to not risk much on a small pot. Here's an extreme example of what I mean. I was watching/coaching my lady through a small stakes online 6 person tournament the other day, she picked up A 9 off suit in the big blind early in the tournament, blinds were 10-20, all 6 players had roughly the 1,500 chips they started with. There were 4 people (including her) in the hand for a total of 80 chips. The flop came A A A - no kidding, she flopped quad aces ... a rare thing to be sure. Right away I say to her CHECK THIS! Before I can get the words out the small blind goes all in! She calls, everyone else folds and the small blind turns over 4 5. Granted this was a $2 tournament and this is a really extreme example but I think it illustrates the concept of not going broke in an unraised pot. Wouldn't a pot sized bet have induced folds if he had stealing on his mind? Maybe.
Would love to hear any feedback you might have.
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I don’t believe poker is a game of chance despite the fact that luck is involved.
I don’t believe you can make any decision without having all of the information. For example, new players will often ask me something like this - I had J 9 suited in the small blind, the player before me put in a minimum raise, I called, and that was okay wasn’t it? The only possible answer I can give to a question like that is maybe. There are simply way too many other factors I would need to have information on before I could tell you what I “think” was the right play.
I don’t believe you should get angry at the person who is willing to pay a lot for a draw. You might not like the outcome 20% of the time (or so) but if you want to sit at my table and my game and pay for draws all night, then pull up a chair and make yourself comfy. Can I get you a drink?
I believe your buy in gives you the right to play your game the way you like. I really get frustrated by people who get angry because someone at the table made a particular decision. I have seen A LOT of decisions that made me scratch my head (at the poker table and in every other area of my life) but that’s life.
I believe it is poker not solitaire. I love this quote from Doyle Brunson as a response to a kid who put him all in, when Doyle called the kid asked in an angry tone "How could you call with that?" and Doyle responded "We're Playing poker, Not Solitaire!" That's poker is another one of my catch phrases, I usually pull this one out when I go in ahead and lose the hand ... it helps keep me sane.
I believe in not going broke in an unraised pot. I have heard different people try to explain this one but the way I take it and what I try to keep in mind is to not risk much on a small pot. Here's an extreme example of what I mean. I was watching/coaching my lady through a small stakes online 6 person tournament the other day, she picked up A 9 off suit in the big blind early in the tournament, blinds were 10-20, all 6 players had roughly the 1,500 chips they started with. There were 4 people (including her) in the hand for a total of 80 chips. The flop came A A A - no kidding, she flopped quad aces ... a rare thing to be sure. Right away I say to her CHECK THIS! Before I can get the words out the small blind goes all in! She calls, everyone else folds and the small blind turns over 4 5. Granted this was a $2 tournament and this is a really extreme example but I think it illustrates the concept of not going broke in an unraised pot. Wouldn't a pot sized bet have induced folds if he had stealing on his mind? Maybe.
Would love to hear any feedback you might have.
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Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Poker and me
I spend a fair bit of time playing, thinking about, talking about, reading about and watching poker. I play online, in tournaments at a casino near my home and in a weekly home game. It’s a rare day that I don't play any poker. Mostly I play no limit Hold'em tournaments but I do play some cash games and I like to play some HORSE from time to time to sharpen my game. For those of you who don't know HORSE it's a game where the play changes every few blinds from Hold'em to Omaha (sometimes Hi/Low) followed by Razz, Seven Card Stud then Stud (Hi/Low "E"ights or lower - hence the E). I intend to use this blog to share my thoughts on a variety of poker topics and hopefully get some feedback from other players.
There are many adjectives people use when describing a poker player's style and approach to the game, I'll try to use a few of them to describe my game. Like most players with any experience worth talking about I mix it up and definitely do not play one style 100% of the time, in fact when I am playing well and seriously I will switch my style several times during a long tournament.
The "math" poker player. For this player it's all or at least mostly about odds, pot odds, implied odds, the odds that his opponent might be bluffing, the odds his opponent is holding what he is representing, the odds that he will hit the card(s) that will make his hand and likely see him take down the pot. I'd say I am about 30% that guy. I definitely find myself calculating the pot odds when contemplating a play, I think about implied odds when I am not the last to act and I think about how much I have to bet to give the odds I want to give to a player when forcing the action.
The "people" poker player. I am somewhat a people player but I find that term can be overused and misleading, but I'll still say I am 30% that guy. I'll hear someone who doesn't know much about poker say something like "don't play the cards, play the people". Well, the main problem with this approach is that poker is a game where deception is rewarded and any decent player will change their style from time to time. The other problem is that in order to play the people not the cards you have to have a pretty good sense of your opponent and in short online tournaments (where I spend a lot of my time) getting that kind of read is not always easy and a mistake can be costly.
The "situation" poker player. That's me more than any other style and in some ways the situation player is a combination of the math guy, people guy, blind stealer, bluffer and grinder who can play tight, aggressive or loose and switch gears at any time. This player makes decisions (and again this is mostly how I play) based on trying to interpret all of the things happening at the table.
Here are some of the things I think about while playing a hand. Position. I play position a lot, but keep in mind that as a situation guy my brain is trying to absorb a lot of info so position alone is not an easy thing to explain. For example, if I pick up a real premium hand like KK under the gun with 3 very loose pre-flop raisers behind me and one or more of them has a low chip count I might limp into the pot even though my preferred play by far is to raise in that situation. Other times I'll fire at the pot to try and take it down right then and there, depending on the situation.
Another important thing I think about is my image at the table. I am always aware of how many hands I play, am I limping into pots or pushing people around, how many times and how recently have I pushed someone off the pot without having to show my hand? I work at managing and or altering my image at the table a fair bit.
How the other players are playing and what is their image at the table? I look for all of the things mentioned above in other players. Is this guy a limper? How many times has he raised pre flop? How many chips does he have? Does someone have to stand up to him and put him in his place soon? Will it be me? Will he pay good money on a draw? Etc.
The fact of the matter is that many great books have been written about the complexities, subtleties and nuances of poker and that is not my intention with this blog. I guess I am simply using this first post to outline my approach to the game even more than my style of play. I like to think I am a cerebral player who tries to decipher all of the information available and use that info to make as many good decisions as possible and I suspect that should tell you a lot about me as a player.
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There are many adjectives people use when describing a poker player's style and approach to the game, I'll try to use a few of them to describe my game. Like most players with any experience worth talking about I mix it up and definitely do not play one style 100% of the time, in fact when I am playing well and seriously I will switch my style several times during a long tournament.
The "math" poker player. For this player it's all or at least mostly about odds, pot odds, implied odds, the odds that his opponent might be bluffing, the odds his opponent is holding what he is representing, the odds that he will hit the card(s) that will make his hand and likely see him take down the pot. I'd say I am about 30% that guy. I definitely find myself calculating the pot odds when contemplating a play, I think about implied odds when I am not the last to act and I think about how much I have to bet to give the odds I want to give to a player when forcing the action.
The "people" poker player. I am somewhat a people player but I find that term can be overused and misleading, but I'll still say I am 30% that guy. I'll hear someone who doesn't know much about poker say something like "don't play the cards, play the people". Well, the main problem with this approach is that poker is a game where deception is rewarded and any decent player will change their style from time to time. The other problem is that in order to play the people not the cards you have to have a pretty good sense of your opponent and in short online tournaments (where I spend a lot of my time) getting that kind of read is not always easy and a mistake can be costly.
The "situation" poker player. That's me more than any other style and in some ways the situation player is a combination of the math guy, people guy, blind stealer, bluffer and grinder who can play tight, aggressive or loose and switch gears at any time. This player makes decisions (and again this is mostly how I play) based on trying to interpret all of the things happening at the table.
Here are some of the things I think about while playing a hand. Position. I play position a lot, but keep in mind that as a situation guy my brain is trying to absorb a lot of info so position alone is not an easy thing to explain. For example, if I pick up a real premium hand like KK under the gun with 3 very loose pre-flop raisers behind me and one or more of them has a low chip count I might limp into the pot even though my preferred play by far is to raise in that situation. Other times I'll fire at the pot to try and take it down right then and there, depending on the situation.
Another important thing I think about is my image at the table. I am always aware of how many hands I play, am I limping into pots or pushing people around, how many times and how recently have I pushed someone off the pot without having to show my hand? I work at managing and or altering my image at the table a fair bit.
How the other players are playing and what is their image at the table? I look for all of the things mentioned above in other players. Is this guy a limper? How many times has he raised pre flop? How many chips does he have? Does someone have to stand up to him and put him in his place soon? Will it be me? Will he pay good money on a draw? Etc.
The fact of the matter is that many great books have been written about the complexities, subtleties and nuances of poker and that is not my intention with this blog. I guess I am simply using this first post to outline my approach to the game even more than my style of play. I like to think I am a cerebral player who tries to decipher all of the information available and use that info to make as many good decisions as possible and I suspect that should tell you a lot about me as a player.
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