Specific Tournament Situations and Tricks

Before the 2013 World Series of Poker (WSOP), I wrote a column in Card Player about common betting mistakes that I see many amateurs make at the poker tables. These errors included oversized chip betting, accidental raises, string betting, unknown antes and unawareness of short-stacked blinds.

Over the past year while travelling the circuit, many players have referenced this column during play. They may say something like “Why isn’t your finger on your ante?” or “Remember Bernard, I am short stacked in the big blind.” I am thrilled that so many players heeded my advice from this column. Furthermore, some players have asked if I could provide additional tricks and/or thoughts about tournament play.

Therefore, with the 2014-2015 World Series of Poker (WSOP) circuit season having just gotten underway, I decided to write about some very subtle tricks that I have learned over the years to be used in specific tournament situations.

Establish Aggressive Image Without Making a Bet:

Many times during a tournament it can be beneficial to establish an aggressive image. Sometimes, opponents will stay away from you, while other times, they will not believe you and pay you off when you have a monster hand. Thus, certain players will try to establish this image by betting aggressively early on and then utilize this persona to their advantage during later levels. However, there is inherent risk in doing this for amateurs, as they may not feel confident playing an aggressive style.

Several years ago, a fellow pro suggested a specific way to establish an aggressive image without even making a bet. I loved the following idea and try to utilize this technique every time the particular situation arises.

Situation:

When a new player arrives at a table, some people make an assessment of the opponent’s playing style based on their chips. For example: If the new player sits down with a huge stack of chips, people may assume that he/she is either a very good player or has gotten very lucky. Another example is if a new player arrives with a solid stack containing multiple stacks of ante chips, it could suggest that the player has played lots of hands and has been playing very aggressive. If you agree with this last assessment, you can take advantage of this situation.

The next time your table is about to break (within 30 minutes), I would begin to collect the ante chips. To achieve this, you can put out a larger chip to collect change (e.g. 500 chip when antes are 100 to get change every hand), or ask a player who has lots of ante chips at your table, if they would break a large chip for you before he/she racks up his/her chips. Many times this summer, I would arrive with a whole rack of ante chips, setting off an aggressive style image. In the following hand, it paid off handsomely.

Specific example:

During a $1,500 no-limit hold’em event, I employed this tactic and arrived at my third table of the day with a rack and half of black chips (blinds were 400 and 800, with 100 antes). Coincidentally, I was dealt K-K on my very first hand. Before I was even was able to unrack all of my chips, I raised from early position. While stacking the remainder of my chips, I got three callers including the big blind. After a rainbow flop of J-7-3, I made a standard continuation bet, but was quickly raised by the cutoff seat. After the other two players folded, I decided to shove all-in. Unfortunately for my opponent, he snap called with Q-J. After the board ran out clean, the dealer pushed his chips to my stack. Afterward, a player next to me said, “It’s good to be an aggressive player and also get dealt monster hands.” I just smiled and nodded.

What an interesting assessment considering I had just sat down.

Make Change To Influence A Fold

In today’s world, raising the big blind 2 to 2.5 times is very common. Although the advantage to this betting style is that you are risking less to steal the blinds and antes, you are also giving the big blind a great price to call with any two cards. Of course, many pros are comfortable playing post-flop (and in position) and this may not be a big concern to them. However, for many amateur players, post-flop play is often a precarious spot. Additionally, I feel that it is never bad to take a pot down uncontested; thus, you don’t want the big blind to call, just to call.

Here is a specific example to illustrate a specific situation that may help influence the big blind to fold instead of just call.

Specific example:

Imagine that the blinds are 200 and 400, with a 50 ante. While the small blind has put out two black chips, the big blind does not have small change and placed a 1000 chip in front of him. Sitting in the cutoff seat, you watch all the previous players fold and decide to raise to 950 with a marginal hand. After the button and small blind fold, the big blind taps the table, indicating he will call.

Often, in this situation, the big blind will feel that he/she doesn’t have to put any more chips into the pot and will just call with almost any two cards. This scenario almost becomes another time where he/she checks his/her big blind option. I witnessed this situation many times this summer where the person flipped over a very weak hand in the big blind to win the pot. A couple times the player even stated that they may have folded if the bigger chip was not already out there. In another event, one player did not realize a player had raised and thought he was checking his option. Only after he had won the hand, he admitted this and definitely would have folded if he had to put more chips into the pot.

My suggestion:

Always make change for the blinds (of course this situation could be for small blind as well). Now, when the action gets back to them, they will physically (and mentally) have to put chips in front of them to call. A very simple action but rarely do I see people execute this.

Get A “Larger” Stack For The Same Price

If I begin to get short stacked, and have only a couple of big chips left, I often make change for a couple of specific reasons. First, with the additional smaller chips, it will make it easier to put out my antes and blinds.

Second, if I do push all in, my “larger” stack will have the appearance of more chips. Of course, I will have the same value, but the greater number of chips sometimes gives the appearance of a larger stack. This technique used to work more back in the old days, but nowadays everyone asks for a count. However, the stack does look different and amateur players still make mistakes. Here is a specific example from this summer where I was able to take a pot down uncontested due to my “larger” stack size.

Specific example:

During a $1,000 no-limit hold’em event, this situation occurred during the 600-1,200 blinds level (antes 200). After losing a couple of big pots, I was down to 10,800 chips, which translated to about nine big blinds. With two orange chips (5,000 each), one purple (500) and three black (100 chips), my stack was pretty meager with six chips. Thus, I asked two players to make change for both of my 5,000 chips. Additionally, I put out a 500 chip for my ante to get more change every hand. When my first all-in situation occurred, the small blind had a solid stack. However, he quickly glanced at my “larger” stack and folded.

Later, when I pushed in again, the other opponent asked for a count. After the dealer stated 12,600 chips, the earlier small blind commented, “Oh, I did not know that you had so few chips or else I would have called.” Of course, I still could have won the earlier pot and maybe even doubled up (I had A-10 suited). Nevertheless, I still was able to take the pot down uncontested based on my “larger stack.”

Now that I have pointed out these specific situations, I’m sure that you will recognize them during the next several months. Good luck this WSOP circuit season and I hope to see you at a final table. ♠

Bernard Lee is the lead commentator for WSOP Circuit live stream, poker columnist ESPN.com, author of “The Final Table, Volume I and II” and radio host of “The Bernard Lee Poker Show,” which can be found on RoundersRadio.com or via podcast on iTunes. Lee is also a team member of RunGoodGear.com. Follow Bernard Lee on Twitter: @BernardLeePoker or visit him at www.BernardLeePoker.com.