Head Games: Fix the Costly Leaks in Your Tournament Game

Craig Tapscott: What advice can you share about leaks players have when it comes to bet sizing?

Faraz Jaka: If you’re an amateur who doesn’t feel very comfortable at the table, then bet the same amounts when you have it as you would when you don’t have it. Top pair, flush draw, bluffs; it doesn’t matter, bet the same amount. It’s not rocket science and its pretty old news to most of you. My second answer is the exact opposite. If you are a professional or just looking to add edges, then start mixing it up! Overbet when you have it, when you’re on a draw, and when you have absolutely nothing. Experiment with different bet sizes in every single situation and see what happens. Most times you’ll learn it’s just be better to keep doing your normal sizing. But every once in a while you might discover something new that works on particular opponent’s playing styles.

Matt Vengrin: The main mistakes I see people making are betting too much as a bluff. Let’s say you have 10,000, and your opponent has 10,000. The blinds are 250-500 and you open up in middle position with J T to 1,250. Your opponent calls you from the big blind. The flop comes down A 9 5. This is a fairly dry board; you can easily represent an ace. There is 2,750 in the pot. Your opponent checks to you and you bet 2,000. Your opponent now raises all-in, for 6,750 more. You just wasted way more than you needed to. We do not need to bet 2,000 to find this out. I would suggest in this situation betting about one-third the pot. I would bet about 900. What this bet does is force your opponent to make a choice. He either has to call, fold, or reraise (most likely all-in). We can find out the same information betting about 900 as we can by betting 2,000 (we save 1,100 in this case if he does have a hand and reraises all-in). Moral of the story – you can find information out way cheaper than most people believe. A bet is a bet, and will gain you the same information.

Chris Hunichen: Bet sizing is one of the most important aspects in becoming a successful poker player. Bet sizing can be used in two forms to help win a poker tournament. First, you can vary your bet sizing to deceive opponents into believing you have the goods when you don’t, so you can pull off successful bluffs, or vice versa, having them believe you don’t have the goods, when in fact you really do so you can get paid off on your big hands. The second way to view bet sizing is when you’re not the aggressor in the pot, but instead you are the one facing decisions on whether to call or fold. In this instance, very successful players going against inexperienced opponents can usually determine whether their hand is good or not by the sizing of their opponent’s bet on the river. By analyzing and remembering an opponent’s bet sizing during hands played against other opponents, you can usually find patterns within their bet sizing to give away some important information about the current hand. This leads right into the most common mistake that players tend to make; not balancing their bet sizes. Successful players will change up their bet sizing every hand, eliminating betting patterns, and making it more difficult to narrow down their hand range.

Craig Tapscott: What are the most common leaks you come across from both inexperienced and experienced players?

Faraz Jaka: I think many inexperienced players don’t realize how much hard work it takes to be good at poker. They also give too much credit to better players for having some natural ability that magically makes them good at poker. Go study the game, read books, watch training videos, read forums. Do everything you can do to learn everything that’s out there about this game. Pros aren’t just superhuman people with natural talent. Sure, some have innate talents, but the ones that actually last for more than a few years are the ones who put in a lot of hard work. To experienced players who have already put in the necessary work to learning the game, I’d say the most common thing I’ve seen neglected is putting yourself in position to play your “A” game. Many players have the ability to be much stronger players if they manage themselves better away from the table. This means living a healthy balanced lifestyle and being organized. Get some exercise before you play, eat healthy during tournament weeks, get a full night’s rest. Also, do a better job organizing your finances and keeping track of your overall expenses and tournament buy-ins.

Matt Vengrin: The most common mistake I see in tournaments (from inexperienced players) is not having a plan for a hand. When you choose to play a hand, you must become a storyteller. Most of poker is played with no cards, so the most compelling storytellers will have the most success. No matter what your hand, you can create someone’s belief of what you have during the hand. For example, if you reraise someone before the flop, bet on the flop, turn, and river they will probably give you credit for a very big hand. If they fold on the river, does it really matter if you have 2-7 offsuit or aces if the board is A-A-5-6-K? No, they folded and you won the pot. Be committed to your story of what you have, this will win a lot more pots than you might think. The most common mistake I see in tournaments from experienced players is not changing gears versus certain people. Have you ever played with that guy who has a lot of money, and likes to splash around in every pot? I have too. When I play against these types of players, I have to switch my game up. I have to be more patient and wait to hit a hand and bet for big value when I do. As long as you are constantly adapting, you will be ahead of the curve.

Chris Hunichen: One of the most common leaks is raising light when there are numerous 10-20 blind reshove stacks behind you. Most successful players these days are the aggressive players who can mix up their game really well and change gears when needed. It’s important when there are three or four reshove stacks behind you not to be opening light, because you are just going to spew off your chips when getting reshoved on continuously. As an aggressive player, there is no doubt that I open a lot of pots, but when you have these stacks behind you, its important to change gears, tighten up your opening range, and only open hands that you are willing to call wide reshoves with.

Another leak is flatting three-bets out of position. While most players feel their post-flop play is very good, playing pots out of position is always going to be difficult and in the long run, you are going to lose way more pots than you win. Unless you are willing to get really creative post-flop, flatting three-bets out of position is just not profitable in this game anymore. I personally almost never flat three-bets out of position, instead I either four-bet if I think the player is light (or if I have a strong hand obviously) or I just fold. Occasionally I will flat with a big hand or even a 5-6 suited kind of hand just for balance, but 90 percent of the time I am either going to four-bet or fold. ♠