The Small-Ball Approach

In my next two columns, I am going to discuss some tournament strategies that can be successful under specific circumstances. The most obvious strategy is the small-ball approach, made famous by the likes of Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth. This is the approach that most successful pros use or try to use, as it combines the following factors:



• It enables you to play a lot of hands – and if you are the best player at the table, you want to get involved in as many pots as possible to maximize your edge.



• It keeps the costs of entering pots relatively low. In other words, by keeping pots small, you avoid a situation in which your less-skilled opponents could get lucky in one monster pot at your expense.



• It reduces your chance of an early elimination. Because you usually will be involved in a monster pot only when you have the nuts or close to it, you will have to get quite unlucky to face an early exit.



• It helps you build your stack with relatively little risk. Assuming that you read your opponents well, you can pick up lots of pots when, based upon your read or the texture of the board, it seems unlikely that your opponent can stand the heat.



It seems like this should be somewhat of an optimum strategy, and that there would be no reason to ever use a different approach – right? Well, not really; there is a catch. The catch is that most of these top pros use this strategy in a successful manner because they are usually the best players at the table, and because they have an uncanny ability to read their opponents and to make courageous plays in situations that warrant it. But as a reader of this Card Player column, it is far from certain that you are actually the best player at your table! In fact, especially in tournaments with a buy-in of $1,000 or more, it is very likely that you will face two or three top pros, meaning that in all likelihood, you are just the third- or fourth-best at your table. And if these players who are better than you use this small-ball tactic, they are at a distinct advantage if you continue to use this approach in those pots in which both of you are involved.



This means that while it is clearly correct to continue using the small-ball approach against weaker players, you should instantly change gears in those pots in which you may face those who are stronger than you (especially if their post-flop play is stronger than yours, which most likely will be the case). A few countermeasures that you can use against them include the following:



• Simply play tighter, and avoid them. Let's say that you have a marginal opening hand like the Q 10 in the hijack position, but the money is very deep, and the very best player is on the button – and he's someone who you know loves to take flops against you with position. In that case, your marginally profitable opening raise (in most cases) now turns into a rather easy fold: You simply save your ammunition for when you can play in position against weaker players.



• Make the pots bigger in those hands in which you and the top pros clash – meaning that if you do play a hand with them, you should usually come in for a large reraise. Let's say that the top pro is on the button every time that you're the big blind, and he keeps pounding on you at every opportunity with his trademark small raises. Let's say that he again has open-raised for 2.5 times your big blind, and you have the 9 7. Don't just call and take a flop, "because this is an easy hand to play – as I should just about always know where I'm at." If you do this, you will still play on the pro's territory. After all, he is in the position he wants, in a relatively small pot as the preflop raiser, with position on you. If you decide to play this hand, make a big reraise to put your opponent to the test, to make the pot bigger, and to increase the luck factor slightly. Let's say that both of you are playing a stack of 90 big blinds, and you reraise his bet of 2.5 big blinds to about 12.5 big blinds total. Even with a decent hand like the K J or the A 5, this may be a situation in which he thinks he would be committing too large a percentage of his stack when not knowing where he's at – and he therefore will most likely just dump his hand. (Keep in mind that in all likelihood, he doesn't have a hand this strong, as he may have been open-raising from the button with a very wide range of hands.)



• Put them to the test early, and play your drawing hands in an extremely aggressive manner. Let's say that in contrast to my recommendations, you have decided to flat-call a raise to 250 total from the small-balling pro. You are on the button with the J 9. The flop comes Q 8 4, giving you a flush draw and a gutshot draw. The pot is 650, and now the pro bets out 425. Both of you have slightly more than your initial 10,000 starting stack. Against the small-balling top pro, you should play this hand in a hyperaggressive manner, and even if you run into resistance, you should be willing to come over the top for all of your chips. You know that he will almost certainly try to avoid making a big call for his entire stack this early in the event – as he will think that even after laying down the possible best hand, he will still have a healthy stack and can find "better" spots to get his money in. This means that middle set or better is the only "through ticket" for him. Even against hands like top pair or an overpair, you have considerable fold equity, and the hand you most fear (a higher flush draw) definitely will not be willing to call for stacks. So, in this situation, you quite clearly would be trying to use the pro's small-ball, risk-avoiding tactics against him – even if it means that in your eyes, you would be taking too big a risk with a hand that is not all that good.



Rolf has been a professional cash-game player since 1998. He is the author of the successful Secrets of Professional Pot-Limit Omaha, and the co-author of Hold'em on the Come. He is the creator and presenter of the hold'em four-DVD set Rolf Slotboom's Winning Plays. He is the first-ever Dutch Champion, and maintains his own site at

www.rolfslotboom.com.