Heads Up With Jeff Madsen & Scott Seiver

Jeff Madsen has been tearing up live tournaments since turning 21 and immediately winning two World Series of Poker bracelets. In total, he has more than $2.4 million in tournament winnings.

Kristy Arnett: Can you explain what stack-size limbo preflop is in a tournament?

Jeff Madsen: Stack-size limbo refers to a situation in which it isn’t clear, necessarily, what your play should be because you have a certain amount of big blinds — maybe in the range of 10 to 25. There are situations in which you could push, limp, or raise. It’s not clear-cut what you should do.

KA: In a “Full Tilt Tip From the Pros,” you refer to a specific situation in which you had 15 big blinds and it was folded around to you with pocket fours in late position. Can you talk about what went into your decision on what to do?

JM: I have a pair in late position, so I’m going to play it. It’s the kind of hand that if I raise three times the big blind and get pushed all in, I have the best hand lots of times, but I don’t like to call off my chips with a small pair. In this situation, I could push all in for 15 big blinds to put more pressure on, and avoid having to make a decision and possibly fold the best hand.

Scott Seiver is an experienced high-stakes shorthanded cash-game player, and he recently sat down with Card Player TV to discuss playing in and out of position against a maniac player at a six-handed table.

Kristy Arnett: When you are playing in a six-handed cash game and a very aggressive maniac is on your left, how do you know how to deal with him? How do you know when to four-bet light or just tighten up your opening range?

Scott Seiver: Basically, you want to do both of those things. You want to tighten up your opening range, and play fewer hands overall. The ones that you do play, you want to play in one of two ways: either very aggressively by four-betting, since you are going to have a tighter range because you’re playing fewer hands, or by trying to trap him by calling then check-calling. The maniac will never give you credit for having a big hand if you just call.

KA: Now, if this player is on your right, that’s the best situation. How do you take advantage of that?

SS: I would usually just call in position with a ton of hands, because this is what we want. We want to be able to play hands in position when we’re playing poker, and this maniac is going to let us. If he’s not going to slow down when he sees us calling a bunch, the more hands that we choose to call, the more hands that we’ll be able to play profitably.