In my inaugural column, I discussed how we can both spot and attack weakness in players at the table. Another situation that we often encounter is choosing how and when to attack various players by opening the pot. So, rather than attacking people who already have shown weakness in the pot, we have to choose what kind of players to target without seeing any action in front of us.
There are several methods we can use to do this, and I'm going to try to provide a few examples of each type.
One way to attack players is to figure out what kinds of players are weak post-flop and single out those players' blinds for raises. That gives you the double advantage of taking control of the pot preflop and having the weak player play from out of position. If I find that some players are particularly weak post-flop, I'll try to raise their blinds as often as possible in an unopened pot. I try not to be so overt with it that other solid players pick up on what I'm doing and reraise my raises, though. There is a bit of an art to recognizing how often you can get away with things before people start to pick up on what you're doing, but with some practice, it becomes second nature.
Another good way to single players out for target practice is by chip-stack size. This works better in the middle/later stages of a tournament when the blinds start to get high enough that people are more reluctant to get involved in big pots with marginal hands. Basically what you're looking for here are people who have the most to lose by playing a pot with you.
When you're the chip leader, this is easy. Everyone has a lot to lose by playing a pot with you, since you potentially can knock any player out. When you have a shorter stack, it becomes more difficult, because you don't have that same leverage. Even if you're the shortest stack at the table, though, there will always be players who have something to lose by playing a pot with you.
So, how do we know who has a lot to lose from playing a pot with us if we don't have a big stack? A general guideline that I like to use is that any player who has 15-30 big blinds and less than twice my stack size is a prime target to attack. If players have at least 15 big blinds, they are not so short that they're desperate to double up, and if they have fewer than 30, they typically are shallow enough that they're reluctant to take flops with people without a real hand.
Another example typically comes up in satellite play, where multiple seats are awarded. A quick online example is if you're playing the $11 turbo rebuy satellite to the Sunday million-dollar guaranteed tournament on PokerStars and it awards 24 seats, and with 40 players left, you're in 26th place in chips. The best players to attack are typically those in 12th through 20th place in chips. Those players are in good position to win a seat, and will be very reluctant to get involved in any pots with players who can dent their stacks, and I will continually raise into those players every chance I get, regardless of my cards.
The final types of players that I really like to target are those who have either won or lost a big pot recently. Players who have just won big pots are often very reluctant to give those chips back, and will play exceptionally tight for 15-20 hands after their big win. I like to try to find opportunities to attack these players, knowing that they're likely to play back at me only with a real hand. Conversely, players who have just lost a big pot are often prone to making mistakes. Even if they're sitting just fine in chips, they feel the need to get their stack back to where it was, and in a hurry. Doing so will often lead to them playing wildly and aggressively for a short period of time, and I like to capitalize on their play by getting involved in as many pots with them as possible.
Those are just a few examples, but, quite honestly, the best way to try to figure out what kinds of players to single out at the table for exploitation is to constantly be trying to put yourself in the shoes of your opponents. Try to think to yourself how it would change your strategy if you had their chip stack, or were sandwiched between the players they are. Think about whether they've won or lost any big pots lately, and how that may be impacting their play.
Listen to their table-talk and mannerisms to determine if they're getting frustrated by something; or, if they're in a great mood and joking around at the table, they may be just "happy to be there," and will just try to preserve their stack or even the "experience" of being in a certain tournament. At the
World Series of Poker, there was a lot of this. There were tons of players who just wanted to make their
World Series experience last as long as possible, and enjoyed being there. These players were easy marks for those of us looking for chips.
Really, the bottom line is that if you're constantly maintaining your awareness at the table, and always looking for spots to pick up chips even when you don't necessarily have a great hand, you'll find them in a lot of places. The examples above are good starting points, but the possibilities are limited only by your ability to pay attention to the players at the table and react to the information they're giving you.
Eric "Rizen" Lynch is a professional poker player who is well-known for his impressive online results. Read Eric's analysis on his blog (rizenpoker.blogspot.com), and check out his instructional videos, available at PokerXFactor.com.
