Full House
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Mount Holly, NC
Posts: 813
|
|
Section 7
In this next section I will address the often asked question of; “When do you start loosening up your play?” The short and simple answer to the question is whenever I think it is appropriate. Right now you are thinking….ok, thanks for being a smartass…but that does not really tell us anything. Deciding to loosen your play generally is a “seat of the pants” type of decision that is derived from getting your reads and taking notes on a player, to overall table texture. You can loosen up you play against a single player or player type, of you can completely shift gears and start playing loose/aggressive against everyone at the whole table. In general I will wait until the blinds have reached at least the $50/$100 level to even consider broadening the spectrum of hands I will play…In the early levels of a SnG, my play could fairly accurately be characterized as weak/tight. I will limp very few hands and will let go of them easily if I feel that drawing is not worth it. Some people disagree with my style of play and I am fine with that…it works for me and I am very adept at changing gears when I need to. If you have trouble taking a step back and pulling yourself out of a “rut” and changing you play up radically this style will not work for you. In the early running I will not aggressively contest a pot unless I have large pocket pairs like A-A, K-K and Q-Q….or if I flop a set or strong straight/flush draw. To me the chips are far too valuable at this point to lose a significant portion of my stack drawing at a hand that I don’t really need to be in. As previously stated this is the time I sit back and watch what other people are doing. Does a particular person bluff a lot…do they like drawing at flushes with any two suited cards…do they over-bet vulnerable hands to protect them?
By playing this way I accomplish a few things; first I give myself time to get a few reads and decide what type of table this is going to be. Next I let the wild and crazy people go to work on each other and either build a stack or cripple themselves. Finally I portray an image of being weak/tight…usually the only people that notice this is the players directly to my right and left. This image can work to your advantage when you do have a big starting hand since they will either over raise in an attempt to steal your blinds or if you limp/min-raise they will re-raise your big hands trying to push you off. This works fairly well throughout the tournament because people want to believe their reads are correct and figure that one time you had a big hand and will try it again and again…..which means the next time they try it, you play it the same way you did previously – even if you are holding 7-2o. The third time you play with them be sure you have a very strong hand because you are getting called….they will not believe you any more. This is actually a good thing, it starts confusing them like I said they want to believe their reads are good but they can’t reconcile the read with how you are actually playing so it throws them off their game. Once you trapped them and have them somewhat cowed look for a good spot to steal a pot with complete junk. A good spot is at maximum 2 positions off the button when everyone has folded to you…bump it up enough to get the blinds to fold (4-6x BB) then show them the crap you just stole with. At your next opportunity pull the same move with a top notch hand except really over bet it….then show it again. What this does is causes confusion and even occasionally anger. They have no idea what cards you will play and for what amounts you will play them for. Once you have your opponents thoroughly confused….that is when you loosen up your play…this usually takes to the $75/$150 or $100/$200 for those of you that need a goal to shoot for. However that is not a hard and fast rule, I have had to loosen my game up very early because everyone was playing ridiculously tight and the opportunity was there or even had to wait until the game got to the bubble at $250/$500 blinds because the remaining player could not be shaken and they were very tight/aggressive. If you can help it, do not significantly loosen your play until you are down to 5 players….short handed, hands like middle suited connector go up in value and hands like K-T become very playable. Typically if I have any kind of medium to big stack I really turn it on when it gets down to four players. It is at this point many people start “playing not to lose” instead of playing solid poker. Big stacks will try to eliminate a small stack given reasonable odds, but for the most part the middle and mall stacks are playing to survive….and are willing to give up the blinds in order to survive. You simply have to be very aware of position at this point, do not limp a hand if the small stack it yet to act behind you unless you are willing to play for all their chips. Other than that…raise..raise..rasie, and put pressure on them all and build your stack.
Once you make it into the money it is time to consider shifting gears once again and possibly letting it all hang out…depending on what your stack is. Consider this…who has the most to lose once you are down to three? Big stack, middle stack or small stack. Well the small stack likely is just relieved he squeaked into the money and will be willing to gamble up to try to win…if not, oh well. The big stack, easily has the most to lose, he is ahead and wants to win….so you as the middle stack need to attack the big stack and avoid the small stack unless you have a very strong hand. The big stack will not want to play speculative hands with you as the middle stack since you can do significant damage to him…therefore he will more readily lay down mediocre cards. However if you do get a small PP or decent A-x do not be afraid to bet the exact amount the small stack has. For some reason betting the exact amount has a psychological effect on the small stack…essentially saying I have a very good hand and I know you have little to lose, but if you choose to play this with me it will be for all your chips. It seems like a much more direct personal attack than pushing all-in (less like a steal) and it prevents you from getting caught if the big stack actually has aces or kings this time. I know this all seems a bit basic, but my purpose for laying this out is to describe how many people play in these situations…so you can play them differently. Once you are ITM, no matter what your stack size it is time for you to attack relentlessly, do not be the weak big stack because you want to protect you lead…you have more chips than everyone else…use them. You have already gotten your buy-in plus a few dollars back, it is now time to play for first where the big ROI is. You would think by playing this way I would have a bunch of first place finishes and even more 3rd place finishes….but that is simply not the case. I have a ton of 1st place finishes and nearly as many 2nd place finishes and very few 3rd place finishes. When you have you opponent confused and perhaps a little fearful of you, they tend to make bad decisions or mistakes that you can take advantage of. Pay attention to what your table is doing and then loosen up your play when it looks most appropriate.
Section 7 Summary
• General time to loosen up
• Play in a way that sends “mixed messages”
• Be very aware of position when you do loosen up
• When you can, attack on the bubble
• Once ITM become ruthless
|