As those who know me will attest, I am a pretty lazy individual. I often don't respond to e-mail from readers of my online journal (www.mattmatros.com/journal.htm) in a timely fashion, though I do usually respond to everyone eventually. It gnaws at me, though, that people take the time to write to me and I have difficulty finding an hour or two per week to respond to them. In an attempt to make amends, and because some readers of this column may have similar questions to the ones I've been asked, I'm going to share a couple of pieces of e-mail I've received recently. If you have a question and don't mind waiting a bit for the response, you too can send me poker questions anytime at
[email protected].
E-mail No. 1, from David R.: I can't seem to burst that tournament bubble, and I continue to find myself short-stacked late in tournaments. I see lots of loose players with huge stacks, and I am sitting with a short stack. What would your advice be for changing my play late in tournaments? I am a tight player in general, and try to be as aggressive as possible. I just can't get over that hump, and it is becoming very frustrating.
Matt's response: Tournaments are a tricky animal, because whenever you enter one, you seem to have two competing goals: staying alive as long as you can and getting all of the chips in the event. I say that you seem to have two competing goals, because the idea that you must stay alive in a tournament at all costs is often an illusory one. If you're fortunate enough to find yourself at a final table, then, depending on your chip count, it may benefit you to do whatever you can to survive to the top-three places. But for the vast majority of the tournament, and especially near the bubble (the portion of the tournament about which David is asking), the best thing you can do to increase your equity is to try to gather as many chips as you possibly can.
From the few brief sentences that David has provided, I can't be certain as to why he finds himself short-stacked in the late stages. But, I have a pretty good guess. Many players, especially those who describe themselves as tight, incorrectly place value on tournament survival. Because prize pools are so heavily weighted toward the top-three finishers, or at least the final table, it is imperative to accumulate chips and give yourself a chance to win. You have to risk busting out in order to accomplish this feat. Tight-aggressive players often fail to make calls for all of their chips, even when such calls would clearly have positive expected value, and even when they are fairly certain that they have the best hand. The "loose" players get huge stacks partially because they're willing to risk going broke. So, David, I see two solutions to your problem: (1) Be willing to make looser calls, and risk busting out, to try to grab more chips along the way. Or, if you really detest calling and putting your tournament life on the line, (2) start open-raising with trashier hands, and try to win more pots without showdowns. Of course, you can try some combination of both of these tactics. Such combinations tend to lead to final tables.
E-mail No. 2, from Dave S.: Since bluffing is an important component of a balanced no-limit hold'em game plan (especially in tournaments, where you absolutely have to accumulate chips), I'd like to know some general principles or ideas that you may have.
Matt's response: This is a good request, and maybe my response will help David R. get even further along the right track. To bluff successfully, first look for people who are folding a lot, and go after their blinds. This point may sound obvious, but stealing easy blinds is the lowest-risk way to go about accumulating chips. Implementing some good blind-stealing tactics will probably be the single-biggest factor that will take you from being tournament dead money to tournament threat. Here are a few other quick tips:
1. Bluff when you can believably represent something. If you raise preflop and get called, it's easy for an opponent to give you credit for a hand when an ace flops. On the other hand, it's not so easy for him to give you credit on a flop of J-4-2.
2. Bluff on the river. At that point, your opponent can no longer call, hoping to improve. He either has it or he doesn't. Especially if you've represented strength earlier in the hand, the river is often a good place to take down the pot. Just remember to bet your strong hands, as well, so that your opponents don't get too suspicious.
3. Bluff when your opponent would need a big hand to call you. This one is trickier to pull off, but an opponent will often fold fairly strong hands if you act as if you could have only a monster yourself. For example, if you check-raise with a board of A-K-Q-J, it's very easy for an opponent to think that you absolutely must have the straight. Plays like this one may take a little more experience, however, so don't try them right away if you're new to the whole bluffing thing.
I hope that you have obtained some new insight into no-limit hold'em tournaments from David's and Dave's inquiries. In my next column, I'll provide a recap of my experience in the
World Series of Poker preliminary events.
Matt Matros is the author of The Making of a Poker Player, which is available online at www.CardPlayer.com.
