I am now into sit and go tournaments online and I badly want to win. Do you have any advice?

Thanks in advance!

Regards,
Quinonez
Quinonez,

In the early part of the tournament, play a solid, tight aggressive style. In the middle part to the bubble, you will want to steal more blinds in position and try and see flops cheap if you can. If you are short stacked, find a hand to make a stand with to try and double up. Once you have made the money, now is the time to try and go for the win. Push your big hands, and open up your holdings to try and pick up more pots. Play small pot poker preflop and push your hands when you flop strong.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I’ll be playing soon in a tournament with a $50 buy in, $1,000 in chips. The tournament will be composed of ten players, will run for five hours and which will be raised every hour. The players I believe are not so really big bettors however are not cheap. Can you give me any advice on how should I be playing?

Last time, I played a tournament with a set up like the one I have just described. Honestly, I don’t know if I played well back then. One player went out at some point however was because of bad betting.

Your help will be much appreciated.

Thanks!

All the best,
Mike Johnson
Mike,

If you are against a bunch of tight players, you will want to be a little more aggressive with your betting. You will want to open up your hand ranges a bit and see more flops. Try and control the betting if you can but do not get silly. If you encounter resistance and you do not have a hand, then get out.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I’ve been playing holdem for some time now. Well, in most of my games, I am the chip leader however I’m troubled as most of the time I also lost my chips in an instant.

Honestly, I am familiar of the basic rules with regards to what the chip leader should do, as being aggressive as well as being the lead bettor. Also, I can’t remember any instance that I made something really stupid. I’m not raising with any 2 cards most of the time.

Now I want to ask if you have any advice as to how one should play in case he or she is the chip leader. Another thing, how should one play when the blinds are not really a big factor as they should actually be at any event? Any idea?

I hope to hear from you in no time.

Thank you very much!

Regards,
Nicolas Adams
Nicolas,

If the blinds are not that significant, then I would sit back and pick my spots with the short stacks and the tight players. Do not get into big confrontations with other larger stacks. Most of the time that is why people lose the chip lead. Only tangle with the bigger stacks when you have a big hand.

Use your chips to bully around the smaller stacks etc. You can see a few more flops with a wider array of hands as the chip leader, but don’t go overboard with this. I would see cheap flops and not call too many raises with hands you are speculating with.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I will be playing soon where for $30 or $40, I will receive $100 dollars in chips. Blinds will be 2/4 4/8 8/16 16/32 24/48 32/64 and the game size, 7-9, maybe at some point just 6. Like as usual, blinds will change every after rounds.

More or less, the players who will be participating are average to below average players. Pre-flop raising will not be very evident and the pre-flop raises should be in intervals of big blind. Betting and raising from flop on could be any amount to all-in. Raising from flop will not be that apparent.

My worry now is that loosing up however playing suited connectors and K7 unsuited all night can be a lot of work. I might also not see pocket pairs.

Anything to share? Please, I need your advice.

Thanks!

Cheers,
Campbell
Campbell,

It sounds like you are playing a mixed Holdem tournament. Limit betting preflop and NL afterwards. In this type of game, you will want to see a lot more flops with various hands, but nothing that is too silly. Offsuited hands other than big offsuited cards can be tricky. Be a little careful with suited connectors as there will be a lot of players probably seeing the flop on occasion.

This is the type of tournament small ball poker works well in. See a lot of cheap flops and then punish your opponents when you hit the flop hard.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

For about a month now, I’ve been playing no-limit holdem. Most of the time I play online. Because I want to improve my skills, I started reading some books and articles from some websites just recently. Well, there’s one thing I notice, almost everything talks about assessing your opponent’s style of play.

I’ve tried to be observant then and started using some of the things I learned to my own advantage. In one of the tournaments I was in, I’ve caught somebody bluffing for a good pot. I’ve also tried to keep written records of the number of flops others saw, pre-flop raises and any bluffs or slow plays I picked up on, however I’m not yet sure if it brought really good results.

Now, I want to ask if what kind of moves by an opponent should I consider the most important. Any idea? And what sort of information should I be recording to effectively evaluate my opponent’s style of play?

Thanks in advance!

Regards,
Bailey
Bailey,

The most important thing to watch is their betting pattern. How do they bet their hands when they show strong hands? How do they bet when they bluff? Does the amount change depending on the hand? Do they have any mannerisms that give off the strength of their hand? Also, how does this change when they are in position or not? Figuring out their betting pattern is the quickest way to classify an opponent in most cases, especially online.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Yesterday, I was in a home game with $20 buy-in, 1 re-buy. The starting was 20,000 chips while the blinds started at 100/200. If I can remember it right, blinds then increase every 20 minutes. There were around 24 players at 3 8p tables. Pay top 5. Luckily, I was able to reach the final table by which there were 8 others. I believe those 8 belonged to the average type. Good for me as no one from them can’t figure out mathematical odds but they can distinguish good from the bad starting hands and love to see flops in Ax and any 2 paint cards.

At some point, when the blinds were 3000/6000, I have 22,000 in chips. For low stack, I was tied with two other players and because of this, I wanted to push in. Later, in third position, I was dealt AdKh and then for 22,000 moved in. Consequently, 1 caller appeared. Then flop came and brought 972, 2 spades. Turn followed and brought As. At such point, I was 81% favorite and he had the spade on the river for the flush.

Later on, I thought of limping in and so he will call however some stuff like him calling afterwards with Q high flush draw on the river and the like should be considered.

Now, for my question, do you usually limp in more and out play players after they have seen their flop considering they only have 2 more cards coming to make their hand and they don’t know how to figure out odds and outs and just like “seeing flops” with good cards? Please help me, I have already lost a number of times at such instance.

Thanks in advance!

Regards,
Nedwick
Nedwick,

With the amount of chips that you had there, pushing all-in was a good idea. You want maximum value for your chips and you had enough to pick up the blinds without confrontation. If someone calls and you win, you are in decent shape.

As far as limping in with big hands, you should stay away from that. You don’t want to invite people to outdraw you. Limping into pots should be reserved for hands you want to see a cheap flop with and catch lucky.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.