Just recently, I was in a one-table tourney online. Luckily, I made it to the final three players. If I remember it right, one of the two others was tight. I was a little looser then because I was the short stack. I believe the other one of the two was a tight aggressive; as he actually thought also.

With marginal hands, I took a few pots from him at some point. Eventually, I became the chip leader which caused him to drive nuts. Player A then folded, he was on the button. I then called the big blind 400 with K 8 off suit. Player C was next and raised to 800. I was in for 400 so I didn’t mind seeing the flop for another 400.

Finally, flop came and brought 989. I then placed 1,000 bet while player C went all in. I then called him. Later, he flipped A Q off suit over. Turn and river came however both of no help at all so I just took him out. He then went nuts and called me a fish and so on.

Now, in such situation, was calling his preflop raise just right? Another thing, in a tourney situation, do you have to play differently than you would more or less play in a regular event? Any thoughts?

Habin
Habin,

You do have to play differently in a tournament situation than you do in a cash game. When you are down to three players, it is right to call down with weaker hands. His main mistake was not raising enough. If he raised to say 1,500, I don’t see you staying in. I don’t know how much he had, but it may have been right to call for pot odds.

You weren’t a fish. He is just a weak player.

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I’ve just started playing online limit holdem. Occasionally, I play low limit tournaments with $5-$10 buy-in.

I’ve always been a keen observer. Well, there was one thing that really bothered me for some time, many players always call terrible pre-flop hands and then go on calling bets as well as raises. Well, I strongly believe that such kind of play won’t ever be beneficial, however somebody will always have something on the turn or if not on the river.

Do you think playing NL holdem tournaments will be the answer? Will this eliminate such kind of players or I’ll just hope when I’m already in higher limits? What do you think?

Thanks!

Phillips
Phillips,

It depends on the hands. Limit Holdem is different than No-Limit Holdem. Some hands that are considered bad hands in NL become playable in Limit depending on position, number of players in the hand, etc.

Playing NL will help some, but I would recommend educating yourself on Limit Holdem. Howard Lederer has a fantastic Limit Holdem DVD and Ed Miller has a book on Small Stakes Holdem. I would get one or the other and read up on the game.

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First, I would like to commend you for having a nice site. Congrats!

Well, just last night I was in a tournament with several friends. In late position, I got dealt pocket kings. Just one player then called the blinds therefore I decided to move all in.

At the table, there was one player in the hand who played aggressively. He had four times the amount of chips as I had then. Well, he had beaten several players so this was not that surprising. Later, a friend of mine who had A7s called the bet. Cards then came out and he ended up having an ace high flush.

Now, I’m thinking if I made a big mistake moving all in with pocket kings. Any idea? Also, I’m wondering if what were his reasons for calling.

Hope you can help me.

Thanks a lot!

Cheers,
Bratli
Bratli,

Without knowing more about the scenario regarding blind amounts and you stack, it is hard to say whether you should have went all in or made a strong raise. If you think that an all-in was the best way to take the pot down, that’s one thing, otherwise a strong raise may have done the trick in most situations.

As to why the player called your bet, it is hard to say. He may have thought you were on a steal and thought his suited ace was good. Not knowing more about your chip stack, the blind amount, and his stack makes it hard to gague whether this was a super poor call.

Taken in the context presented, he made a really poor call and you got unlucky.

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The other day, I was in a no limit tournament with a $35 buy in by which everyone had $1500 worth of chips. I was two seats removed from the button when the blinds were still $25/$50. I remember I had Kh-Qh then. Few minutes passed and four players limped in.

Eventually, I raised to $300 while big blind and one limper decided to call. Flop as expected came and was Jh, 7d, 4c. Afterwards, it was checked to me and I placed another bet, once again it was $300. Big blind finally went all in while I called. My call was actually based on two over cards, a back door flush, and back door straight draw.

In the end, I lost to a AK off suit. I believe I didn’t survived that long because of the wrong moves which made me short stacked. Do you think it was just a bad luck or there was really something wrong with how I played?

Thank you very much.

All the best,
Praml
Praml,

You played bad in this hand. With all those limpers, you either fold K-Q or just limp in yourself. You may have been raising your position, but as you saw, this only knocked out two players.

Since you raised, the continuation bet on the flop was not a bad idea, but calling the all in was. Never call an all in based on backdoor draws and overcards to the board. As it turned out, you had 3 legitimate outs to win, and that was 3 queens. You had 12% to hit your hand at this point.

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I’ve read a magazine focusing mainly on casino stuff. In one of its articles, it was stated that “If you just call somebody on the river rather than raising them, you hurt all other players in the tournament. It’s not ethical poker, so don’t do it”. I don’t exactly understand what it means. Can you help me?

Thanks!

Regards,
Crocker
Crocker,

The only thing that I can think that this article is talking about is just calling on the river when you have the nuts. In tournament poker, if you do not bet or raise with the nuts on the river, then this is considered soft playing, which is a form of cheating.

Otherwise, there are many times that calling on the river is the appropriate play. Don’t worry about that unless you have the nuts. If you have the nuts, raise.

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I joined a 10 buy 8 man tournament Monday night. Later, it was down to 3 handed and in terms of chips I was second. At some point, player leading in chips beaten the other player. He had one or two lead advantage over me going into heads up play. Well, it appeared to me as a not so big advantage as when I play heads up, I open up a lot and will play almost any cards and so for that I end up calling and raising with marginal hands while hoping to have some action and fun.

Honestly, I find my approach pretty much effective however when I play with a certain player who would normally fold without a good hand and wouldn’t call bets or raises on the flop without mid to top pair, things are a bit different. In case I play with such kind of players, I would normally call raises hoping to bust someone later. Once I remember my stack decreased in an instant because of the blinds and minor dry spell. I had A9c and then went all in. Then with jacks he called and because no one had an ace he won.

How do you find the way I play? I’m now on great trouble as I don’t know if my strategies really make sense. Do you know any good strategies?

Thanks and nice site!

Regards,
Schwenning
Schwenning,

Your strategy is a good one but when you play tight players you need to be careful when they play back. Don’t stay in a hand with a tight player when they play back at you hoping to catch lucky. Usually all you will catch is 2nd place.

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