Value Betting River Card

Recently live poker has taken a bit of a backseat in my life and I have started grinding the online scene a lot more once again. However I have managed to get a few trips in which I have learnt some new skills which I will share in this blog.

In a recent interview Randy Lew (Nananoko) discussed what he thought the biggest mistakes players made at the 1/2 $ blind level were. He said that players often bet money on the end incorrectly. I have found that this also happens in casinos and in live games too. Players do not often consider the actual reason why they are betting on the last card. They are effectively saying that they think they have the best hand. However even if they do have the best hand they cannot get paid unless their opponent also thinks that they themselves have the best hand and will in fact call their bet. This means that if the player bets thinking he has the best hand and the other play is pretty damn sure that he is beat, he will often fold. Whereas if the player had checked the action to the opponent and this player still in the same situation before who believes his hand is no good and is probably sensing weakness from  the fact that the first player checked may actually fire a bluff bet out which the first player could call easily which if he had led out would not of had the chance at getting. This bluff inducing strategy is best applied in cash games when the stacks are deep or in the early stages at tournaments. The reason why this strategy looses effectiveness in the later stages of tournaments is as stack sizes shrink the bluff bet from opponents can often be an all in shove which are a lot harder to justify calling.

Another problem some players have with value betting on the river is that they do it too thinly. What is meant by this term exactly is that players bet on the end thinking they have the best hand when their hand is very marginal. The value they are looking to squeeze from their opponent just isn't there. A hand which is weaker than them would never call and only a hand which is stronger would call (or even raise)meaning that the player is intentionally building a pot in which they are quite unlikely to win. This situation occurs so many times in casinos and players can become very frustrated and angry when they make a bet on the river and find them selves facing an all in shove for their tournament. This is a strategy i like to apply when i think that my opponent is value betting far too thinly on the river. I don't always need a good hand to re raise with either as it is quite unlikely that they will be willing to put everything on the line. Having a tight and a very aggressive image also helps these steals to get through uncalled. 

Calculating ICM

Chapter 3: Stages of a Tournament

Welcome to my third chapter. In this section of the blog I aim to discuss how to use the different stages of a tournament to play hands differently in an attempt to gain an advantage. The main difference between tournament poker and straight up cash poker is that the blinds increase over time in tournaments forcing the action to occur where as in cash poker blinds do not increase as there is no need to force action, one other key difference is the option to buy back in, in the event of busting out. (Yes, there are tournaments which allow rebuys but I am going to exclude them for now). At the start of the tournament the blinds are relatively small in comparison to stack sizes. A common misconception is that this gives you freedom to play more hands than you would normally. The fact that it's cheap to play should not greatly influence your decision to play a hand, as mentioned in early chapters I have found playing tight aggressive is definitely the best way to play. The best way to obtain your tight image is to simply fold almost all of your early hands. People will quickly(1or 2hours) label you as a rock. This is useful as later on in the tournament when the blinds are higher and you start to steal more you will be less likely to get looked up by marginal hands.

In the middle stages of the tournament the blinds are now larger than when we first started (approximately ten times larger)and there is often a running ante which requires additional chips to be put in every hand. we have developed our tight image but we don't want to go crazy and destroy our reputation by raising and reraising every hand. However we do want to increase the number played slightly I always aim to win 1 or 2 hands every orbit of the table at this point of the game. This means our hand range in what we play should be opened up more and the number of bluffs we try and run should be increased.

The late stages of the tournament are normally considered when there are only a few tables remaining. At this stage of the tournament you should have knocked a few people out of the tournament and your image of being tight may now be wayning a little bit but people will still have large question marks about you. You will also have mental notes stored on all the other players. You should look to make the pots larger when playing against the weaker players remaining and try and keep pots small against stronger players at this time. As the blinds at this stage are so large and the antes are similarly crippling often when you get involved in a hand you should be prepared to go all of the way or fold as you cannot be playing and raising hands then folding too often this is a sure way to "spew" off your stack. Another interesting point to this stage is what is known as the bubble dash. This is where you get players who are not used to winning money and cashing they see the finish line and lock up shop until they stumble over it. These are the players we should be targeting as resistance to raises will be minimal all they want is a min cash. For a big finish this is the time we need to come alive and really bully the weaker players raising them and reraising them when they try something.

The final stages of a tournament known as the end game is where 75% of the money is at. We have made the final table and a few people have already been knocked out. We can no longer use the fear of finishing without winning anything as an advantage as everybody left is already guaranteed something.The game is short handed as there isn't a full table of players so we should be playing more the most hands we have played throughout the tournament. People who have the smallest stacks at the table should be targeted raising their blinds almost everytime you can. A common occurrence in live tournaments when only a few players remain is to talk about a deal where the Prize pool is split fairly. ALWAYS hold your own in negotiations and fight your corner and if it doesn't sound right, it probably isn't. However if your up against 2 or 3 very good players removing the variance by not playing on and agreeing to a deal is acceptable. I often like to chop the pot if there are only 2 players left. That is the biggest pay jump and it can hurt a lot to come second in a tournament.

 As always thank you for reading.

Chapter 2: Power of Position

My second chapter in this blog is on the power of position and various ways to manipulate people with the advantages it provides.

I decided to mention this particular subject first as I see it as probably the most important aspect of the game. Often it is even more important than the cards you actually get dealt. Proof of this statement comes in the form of a short anecdote about a fairly famous(youngest person ever to win a bracelet) professional player called Annette Obrestad who was trying to make the point I am raising here, by playing online poker tournaments whilst having a piece of paper covering her cards so she couldn't even see them. On one of her first attempts at playing solely on the power of position she took a 90 person tournament down.

Just to clarify what is meant by position, Position is where you are sat at the table in relation to the dealer button. The best position is the dealer button itself, with every other position anticlockwise gradually weaker until you reach the worst being the small blind.

The first and most obvious change to  how you play poker is to consider your position before you act in every hand. You should play fewer hands when you are in the worser of the positions and more when you are in the later and better positions. You should play the most hands from the dealer position as this is the best and guarantees you are always going to be the last to act after the flop.

Secondly as part of your considerations before acting you should look at everybody and what they are doing, especially as they look at their cards. I know it is tempting to look at your cards as soon as you get them or sometimes one at a time as soon as each one arrives. I assure this is not a good thing to be doing, and it is honestly surprising just how many degenerates in casinos cannot wait just a few seconds. Use this time to look at people especially the people who are going to be acting after you if they have been stupid enough to already look at their cards. I will mention in more detail later what is good to look for.

I will now discuss a few strategies which use the power of position starting with the squeeze play. This aggressive action requires a few pre requesists before a high chance of success can be assumed from attempting this move successfully. Firstly your image at the table should be that of a very tight player (somebody who doesn't get involved in many hands) and also that of an aggressive player. (somebody who is not going to give up and check it down, they will continue to hound you and potentially give you a decision for your whole stack ) Now it's fairly obvious to get an image like this you have to play like that. My style of play is most definitely stay tight early on and build up that image, it is more important than you may realise to help you bluff the bigger pots later. Back to the squeeze play, the squeeze play starts when you are in late position preferably the dealer and somebody in early position raises the blinds, then somebody else just calls the initial raise. The action is then folded to you. Your standard options are to fold, call or raise. Now as a tight aggressive player in this situation we should never just be calling here either raise or fold. The squeeze play is where we would stick in a slightly larger raise than normal. The action then returns to the original raiser who has a difficult decision to make because they are being told by you that your hand is better than his and the other caller. The fact that this extra person is still around as well will factor their likely decision to fold. Once the first player has folded it means that the second player will be making a mistake in continuing with the hand. Calling one raise then calling another from a different player is very weak it shows no strength in the hand and will result in facing a hefty bet on the flop almost every time. The squeeze play will get through more often than not making it a very profitable play later in tournaments. If you receive resistance from the original raiser and the second caller folds proceed with caution as there is a definite possibility of facing a monster hand. What you can take from this failed squeeze is information that the first player is very strong and that can help in the reminder of the hand.

Another common situation in tournaments where having position is crucial, is when somebody has raised to you and your in dealer position and you want to see a flop so you either raise or just call(calling being the more infrequently chosen option remember tight aggressive TAG) and you go to a flop and you miss everything but the original raiser checks to you. Often a sly bet here would win the pot, but if you don't feel that it would get through then there is no harm in checking to see another free card. When another bad card comes and you still have nothing and he checks again I always raise regardless of what cards I have. To me somebody checking twice is like them practically shouting at you to take their money. They have shown no strength at any point and it will be an easy profitable steal 90% of the time. The 10 % you get it wrong will be more than made up by the times you get it right.

The 2 moves discussed in this chapter are only a few of the advantages having position amounts to. In an attempt to keep this blog bite size I will end on just a few points to each chapter. Thank you for reading my blog again. Any questions or disagreements with my content I will be happy to reply too
contact me at matt_const@Hotmail.Co.uk

 

Chapter 1 Intro

Welcome to my first poker blog. I have decided to write this, as a way of reinforcing and clarifying ideas I have had over the last 5 years of playing succesful live poker in casinos across the country. I also wish to share my experience and knowledge with my friends if they care to read.

This blog is not written with the requirement of a high level of understanding of all the terms and casino slang associated with poker , however a general understanding of how the game is supposed to be played is assumed.

I will cover a variety of skills and strategies that help me to consistantly "cash" (place in a money position) and frequently win poker tournaments with a buy in of under 100 pound.

I often get asked what would i do if i got dealt 7 2, and I can never answer this question to peoples satisfaction because there is no set way to play any hand in this game the situation position and people you play with determine everything. The first few chapters of this blog will explain some key concepts concerning position and the stage of the tournament and how playing hands should be affected. The next few chapters will be about how to manipulate people into making the wrong decisions and subconsciously scream their holdings at you giving you obvious tells whether it is a good time to bluff or get the hell outa dodge. At the time of writing this i also have several more chapters planned on how to put people in uncomfortable situations where they have a decisions to make which even the best players would roll over and donate.

Thank you for reading the introduction chapter.