Everyone has had some experience playing against a maniac whether it is in a cash game or a tournament. This maniac will make ridiculous raises or re-raises preflop and may push all in on the flop. These players can be very profitable to play against, but you have to know what you are doing. To beat a maniac you have to be willing to gamble when you have the advantage, even if it is only 60-40. You also need to very careful of your position, so you don't get picked off by a player with a better hand in later position.
Say you are at a table with a player who is constantly making large raises preflop. You know this player is a maniac and you want to pick them off. You need to be patient enough to make sure that when you re-raise them or put them all in, that you have the best hand. You don't want to call with QJ just because you think it is likely they have a worse hand. Wait until you have at least a medium pocket pair or an ace with a decent kicker. You want to make sure that you are at least 60% or better.
Against the maniac, you want to either raise if you act before them, or re-raise if you act after them. Since this player is a maniac and may push all in on the flop regardless of what it is, you have to be willing to play this hand for all your chips. Otherwise the maniac will win, since most of the time you will either miss the flop or be faced with overcards. You have to remember that most of the time the maniac will also have missed the flop as well.
If you hold AA or KK, you may want to set a trap for the maniac. Instead of reraising them, you might smooth call and let them hang themself on the flop when the make a large bet or move all in.
There will also be other players trying to pick off the maniac. You need to be aware of this when you are in early position. If you have A10, which you are certain will have the maniac beat, but get re-raised by anther player, you have to be willing to let you hand go.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Mulit Table Tournaments - Final Rounds
The key to the final rounds of a multi table tournament are reads and selective aggression. Once you reach the final table of a multi table tournament you will not be seeing any new opponents. Hopefully by this stage you will have played with many of these opponents earlier in the tournament and have a good read on them. It is very important to trust your reads and use them in making your decisions.
Usually the person who ends up winning a multi table tournament is someone who is aggressive and willing to take some chances. This means that you will have to loosen up a little. If you are on the button and their are no callers, you should raise it up to try and take down the blinds. Some multi table tournaments require that players also post antes in the final rounds. In this case, aggression is even more important as their will be alot of money in the pot pre-flop. When you are in position, you can play a much wider variety of hands aggressively. This should help you accumulate some extra chips. If you notice a tight or weak opponent, play very aggressively against them. The only players you want to avoid aggressive play against are those who are themselves very aggressive. These players may be better to trap. Don't try to bully them with marginal hands as they will be likely to play back at you.
You will also need to decide whether your goal is to try to win the tournament even if it means you may bust our early at the final table, or whether your goal is to play it safer and try to last as long as possible. If your goal is to win the tournament, you will need to be willing to gamble with hands such as middle pairs or hands like AQ, AJ. In order to win the tournament you will have to win some races and get lucky a few times. If you goal is just to hang on as long as possible, then you will want to stick to a very tight aggressive strategy where you only play the best hands or play good hands when you are in position.
As more players are eliminated, the value of your starting hands will go up. While A7 is not a good starting hand in early position when you have 10 players left, it is very good when you are five handed. You will need to play more hands as the table becomes smaller. Usually the player who wins will be one who plays aggressively, but is also able to read their opponents well.
When you are down to 2 or three handed, it is all pre flop play and reading your opponents. The blinds will probably be very high compared to your stack and you can't afford to make loose calls preflop. You need to read your oppponents well and either fold or play your hand very aggressively.
Usually the person who ends up winning a multi table tournament is someone who is aggressive and willing to take some chances. This means that you will have to loosen up a little. If you are on the button and their are no callers, you should raise it up to try and take down the blinds. Some multi table tournaments require that players also post antes in the final rounds. In this case, aggression is even more important as their will be alot of money in the pot pre-flop. When you are in position, you can play a much wider variety of hands aggressively. This should help you accumulate some extra chips. If you notice a tight or weak opponent, play very aggressively against them. The only players you want to avoid aggressive play against are those who are themselves very aggressive. These players may be better to trap. Don't try to bully them with marginal hands as they will be likely to play back at you.
You will also need to decide whether your goal is to try to win the tournament even if it means you may bust our early at the final table, or whether your goal is to play it safer and try to last as long as possible. If your goal is to win the tournament, you will need to be willing to gamble with hands such as middle pairs or hands like AQ, AJ. In order to win the tournament you will have to win some races and get lucky a few times. If you goal is just to hang on as long as possible, then you will want to stick to a very tight aggressive strategy where you only play the best hands or play good hands when you are in position.
As more players are eliminated, the value of your starting hands will go up. While A7 is not a good starting hand in early position when you have 10 players left, it is very good when you are five handed. You will need to play more hands as the table becomes smaller. Usually the player who wins will be one who plays aggressively, but is also able to read their opponents well.
When you are down to 2 or three handed, it is all pre flop play and reading your opponents. The blinds will probably be very high compared to your stack and you can't afford to make loose calls preflop. You need to read your oppponents well and either fold or play your hand very aggressively.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Multi Table Tournament Strategy - Middle Rounds
During the middle rounds of a multi table tournament, reading your opponents becomes more important. In the early rounds, sticking to a very tight, aggressive strategy should get you through to the middle rounds. During the middle rounds, you want to be able to use the reads you have on your opponents more and play a wider variety of hands. If the players in the blinds are weak, you should try to steal the blinds, even if you don't have good cards. If you always notice a certain player calling pre-flop with anything, but you know they will fold if you put in a re-raise, then go ahead and attack them. You don't want to be a total kamikaze in the middle rounds, but you should loosen up your starting hand requirements and use reads that you have gained to your advantage.
How you play the middle rounds will also depend on your stack size at this point. If you are short stacked, you will have to push all in before you get blinded down too far. Try to find a good spot to push all in. You don't want to re-raise all in with a marginal hand when there are already callers. If you can't find a good hand, try to move all in when the pot is unopened and there are not many players to act behind you.
If you are a medium stack, you should use your reads to make good plays. Be aggressive against weak players and small stacks. Be more cautious against larger stacks or very aggressive players. Try to stick to a fairly tight aggressive strategy, at the same time mixing your play up to keep opponents guessing. Often too many medium stacks think they don't have enough chips and will end up going all in with marginal hands. Be patient, and remember that a medium stack is usually only one double up away from becomming a large stack.
If you are a large stack, use your stack to bully smaller stacks when you have good position or you know your oppenents are very tight/weak. Don't raise too many pots with marginal cards, just because you are the big stack. Too much of this and you will quickly lose your stack. Be aware of small stacks whose only move is all in due to their stack size. You don't want to double them up by calling their all in with bad cards.
By: Logan
How you play the middle rounds will also depend on your stack size at this point. If you are short stacked, you will have to push all in before you get blinded down too far. Try to find a good spot to push all in. You don't want to re-raise all in with a marginal hand when there are already callers. If you can't find a good hand, try to move all in when the pot is unopened and there are not many players to act behind you.
If you are a medium stack, you should use your reads to make good plays. Be aggressive against weak players and small stacks. Be more cautious against larger stacks or very aggressive players. Try to stick to a fairly tight aggressive strategy, at the same time mixing your play up to keep opponents guessing. Often too many medium stacks think they don't have enough chips and will end up going all in with marginal hands. Be patient, and remember that a medium stack is usually only one double up away from becomming a large stack.
If you are a large stack, use your stack to bully smaller stacks when you have good position or you know your oppenents are very tight/weak. Don't raise too many pots with marginal cards, just because you are the big stack. Too much of this and you will quickly lose your stack. Be aware of small stacks whose only move is all in due to their stack size. You don't want to double them up by calling their all in with bad cards.
By: Logan
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Multi Table Tournament Strategy - Early Rounds
In the early rounds of multi table tournaments you want to stick to a very tight aggressive strategy. You should play only the top hands such as pocket pairs and AK, AQ, etc. You also need to be careful not to get all in post flop with only one pair. When the chip stacks are so big compared to the blinds, alot of players will call with anything and hope to hit a monster flop. If you can get all in preflop with AA or KK, this is a great situation, but you want to avoid races until the later stages of the tournament when they are unavoidable. Alot of players play almost anything in the early rounds because chip stacks are so huge compared to blinds. Some players will get lucky and flop a flush when they play hands like 9 7 suited, but since the odds are approx 118-1 of flopping a flush, most of the time you will be just throwing your money away. Too many times players with flop a straight draw or flush draw and throw away too many chips trying to hit their draw. When you miss, you are losing too many valuable chips, which will leave you short stacked. You want to keep your stack size as big as possible and hope to double up when you hit a set or get a premium hand like AA or KK. The most important thing in the early rounds is survive them and only play top hands which will give you a chance to double up.
By: Logan
By: Logan
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Types of Opponents
Types of Opponents
When playing poker, you will encounter many different types of opponents. Being able to recognize how your opponents are playing and what types of players they are, will allow you to make better decisions when you are playing against them.
Most poker players can be grouped into one of four categories: aggressive-tight, aggressive-loose, passive-tight or passive-loose.
The passive-loose player will call too often pre-flop with very marginal hands. On the flop, they will call when they shouldn’t and will often chase any kind of draw. This player is the easiest kind to play against. Don’t try anything fancy with them. Raise when you have a good hand, and bet when you think you have the best hand after the flop. Never try to bluff this kind of player, as they will too often call you. Straightforward play is the key here. If you do see a re-raise from this passive player, it probably means they have you beat.
The passive-tight player is a player who plays very few hands pre-flop. They will only play the strong starting hands. If this passive-tight player raises pre-flop this generally indicates great strength. You should not play the hand unless you have a really good hand. If you do see the flop against them, watch to see if they check or bet out. Often when these passive-tight players miss the flop, or are faced with a scary flop, they will check. You may be able to take the pot away from them with a bet. If you do bet the flop and the passive-tight player re-raises you, you should throw your hand away unless you have a very good hand.
The aggressive-loose player will play a wide variety of hands. They will usually come into a hand raising and are just as likely to raise with hands like QQ as 87 suited or even J9 off suit. They will almost always bet out on the flop. Against the aggressive-loose player, you want to wait for strong cards, and then re-raise them before the flop. That will either force them to fold, or to call you when you have a strong hand. If you hit the flop, or already have a big pair, you should continue to bet aggressively to make them fold. Otherwise, they may try to steal the pot from you or try to see a free card. The aggressive-loose player may even re-raise you on the flop with any kind of drawing hand, middle or third pair. If you have a good hand such as top pair with a good kicker, you should re-raise and force them to throw away their hand or make the bad call.
The aggressive-tight player is a player who will play only strong hands pre-flop. When they come into a pot with a raise, this indicates strength. They will almost always bet out on the flop, and if you try to bluff them, they may re-raise you or call. Against this type of player, you don’t want to bluff, as they are likely playing a very strong hand. In fact, it is best to avoid playing a hand with them, unless your hand is very strong. When you do have one of the really strong hands such as AA or KK, QQ or AK you can simply re-raise this player. Since they are tight they might throw away hands like JJ, 1010, 99 or AQ.
You will encounter other types of players at the tables, but most fall somewhere within these categories. You may find that a player is on tilt and continually moving all-in with any cards or calling with terrible odds on any draw. These players appear to be ‘maniacs’ In this case, you should wait until you have a strong hand and then play it aggressively against them.
By: Logan
When playing poker, you will encounter many different types of opponents. Being able to recognize how your opponents are playing and what types of players they are, will allow you to make better decisions when you are playing against them.
Most poker players can be grouped into one of four categories: aggressive-tight, aggressive-loose, passive-tight or passive-loose.
The passive-loose player will call too often pre-flop with very marginal hands. On the flop, they will call when they shouldn’t and will often chase any kind of draw. This player is the easiest kind to play against. Don’t try anything fancy with them. Raise when you have a good hand, and bet when you think you have the best hand after the flop. Never try to bluff this kind of player, as they will too often call you. Straightforward play is the key here. If you do see a re-raise from this passive player, it probably means they have you beat.
The passive-tight player is a player who plays very few hands pre-flop. They will only play the strong starting hands. If this passive-tight player raises pre-flop this generally indicates great strength. You should not play the hand unless you have a really good hand. If you do see the flop against them, watch to see if they check or bet out. Often when these passive-tight players miss the flop, or are faced with a scary flop, they will check. You may be able to take the pot away from them with a bet. If you do bet the flop and the passive-tight player re-raises you, you should throw your hand away unless you have a very good hand.
The aggressive-loose player will play a wide variety of hands. They will usually come into a hand raising and are just as likely to raise with hands like QQ as 87 suited or even J9 off suit. They will almost always bet out on the flop. Against the aggressive-loose player, you want to wait for strong cards, and then re-raise them before the flop. That will either force them to fold, or to call you when you have a strong hand. If you hit the flop, or already have a big pair, you should continue to bet aggressively to make them fold. Otherwise, they may try to steal the pot from you or try to see a free card. The aggressive-loose player may even re-raise you on the flop with any kind of drawing hand, middle or third pair. If you have a good hand such as top pair with a good kicker, you should re-raise and force them to throw away their hand or make the bad call.
The aggressive-tight player is a player who will play only strong hands pre-flop. When they come into a pot with a raise, this indicates strength. They will almost always bet out on the flop, and if you try to bluff them, they may re-raise you or call. Against this type of player, you don’t want to bluff, as they are likely playing a very strong hand. In fact, it is best to avoid playing a hand with them, unless your hand is very strong. When you do have one of the really strong hands such as AA or KK, QQ or AK you can simply re-raise this player. Since they are tight they might throw away hands like JJ, 1010, 99 or AQ.
You will encounter other types of players at the tables, but most fall somewhere within these categories. You may find that a player is on tilt and continually moving all-in with any cards or calling with terrible odds on any draw. These players appear to be ‘maniacs’ In this case, you should wait until you have a strong hand and then play it aggressively against them.
By: Logan
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Positioning and Starting Hands
Playing good starting hands and playing your position well are very important aspects of poker. These two concepts go hand in hand. What may be a good starting hand in late position may be unplayable in early position. There are three areas of position: early position, middle position and late position. Being in early position is a disadvantage since you will have to act before most of your opponents and your opponents will have a chance to react to what you have done. Being in middle position is better that being in early position, but is still not optimal. You will be able to see what the players in early position have done, but there will still be several players to act after you. Being in late position is the most advantageous since you can see what your opponents do before it is your turn to act. You will need to play tighter in early and middle position, which means only playing the strong starting hands. However, in late position you can play a lot more hands as you will have gained information about your opponents hands based on what they have already done before you.
Different poker pros advocate using different starting hands, but generally you will only play the strongest starting hands from early position. This is because you can play the strongest hands from any position, but if you play a mediocre hand from starting position, you may be forced to fold or make a bad call if you are re-raised. Let’s say you are in early position and you hold KK. An aggressive player in late position re-raises you. You know that this aggressive player might be holding anything and you can safely re-raise them without worrying that your KK is beat. However, if you decide to play a mediocre hand from early position such as Q10and you are re-raised by the player in late position, it is very hard to call. They might have you beat with any number of hands such as K9, A2, QJ, etc. When you are in middle position you can play a lot more hands, especially when no one has called in front of you. You must remember that there are still several players to act after you and that you could get re-raised. In late position you can play a wide variety of hands if the pot is un-raised. In fact, when you have any sort of playable hand in late position, you should raise if there are no callers. If you know that the blinds are both weak players who won’t defend, you should raise with any cards to steal the blinds.
It is important to note that if you are playing short handed or with fewer players at the table, that you should loosen up your starting hand requirements. At a full table of ten players you wouldn’t want to play A8 in early position, but at a table of 5 players, you would likely raise with A8. Also, how tight or loose your opponents are will influence how you play your starting hands and your position. At a very tight table, you might want to expand your starting hand requirement since you will be able to take down a lot of pots uncontested. However, at a loose table you want to tighten up your starting hand requirements and play very aggressively when you do have a good hand, since you will be faced with a lot of callers.
Before you sit down at a poker table, you should watch a few rounds to see how the players are playing. You can then use this information to your advantage. Try to sit to the right of a tight player and to the left of the aggressive player. Sitting to the right of the tight player means that most of the time you will be acting before them. That means you can steal a lot of blinds from them. If you raise they will likely fold and you can pick up the blinds. When you notice a very aggressive player, you will want to sit to the left of them, which means that most of the time you will be acting after them. Since this aggressive player will often be raising or re-raising, you don’t want to act in front of them because you will find yourself being raised too often. By acting after them you can re-raise them when you do have a big hand or you can trap them by just calling their raise and letting them hang themselves when they aggressively bet out on the flop.
By: Logan
Different poker pros advocate using different starting hands, but generally you will only play the strongest starting hands from early position. This is because you can play the strongest hands from any position, but if you play a mediocre hand from starting position, you may be forced to fold or make a bad call if you are re-raised. Let’s say you are in early position and you hold KK. An aggressive player in late position re-raises you. You know that this aggressive player might be holding anything and you can safely re-raise them without worrying that your KK is beat. However, if you decide to play a mediocre hand from early position such as Q10and you are re-raised by the player in late position, it is very hard to call. They might have you beat with any number of hands such as K9, A2, QJ, etc. When you are in middle position you can play a lot more hands, especially when no one has called in front of you. You must remember that there are still several players to act after you and that you could get re-raised. In late position you can play a wide variety of hands if the pot is un-raised. In fact, when you have any sort of playable hand in late position, you should raise if there are no callers. If you know that the blinds are both weak players who won’t defend, you should raise with any cards to steal the blinds.
It is important to note that if you are playing short handed or with fewer players at the table, that you should loosen up your starting hand requirements. At a full table of ten players you wouldn’t want to play A8 in early position, but at a table of 5 players, you would likely raise with A8. Also, how tight or loose your opponents are will influence how you play your starting hands and your position. At a very tight table, you might want to expand your starting hand requirement since you will be able to take down a lot of pots uncontested. However, at a loose table you want to tighten up your starting hand requirements and play very aggressively when you do have a good hand, since you will be faced with a lot of callers.
Before you sit down at a poker table, you should watch a few rounds to see how the players are playing. You can then use this information to your advantage. Try to sit to the right of a tight player and to the left of the aggressive player. Sitting to the right of the tight player means that most of the time you will be acting before them. That means you can steal a lot of blinds from them. If you raise they will likely fold and you can pick up the blinds. When you notice a very aggressive player, you will want to sit to the left of them, which means that most of the time you will be acting after them. Since this aggressive player will often be raising or re-raising, you don’t want to act in front of them because you will find yourself being raised too often. By acting after them you can re-raise them when you do have a big hand or you can trap them by just calling their raise and letting them hang themselves when they aggressively bet out on the flop.
By: Logan
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Playing Pocket Pairs Part Three
Sometimes, you will want to fold when you have a pocket pair if it is too expensive to play the hand. Let’s say you are in early position with 77. You raise, and then another opponent re-raises. Another opponent re-raises the raiser or moves all in. At this point it is probably too expensive to be playing this hand with only 77. It is very likely that at least one of your opponents has a bigger pocket pair, which will make you approximately a 4-1 underdog, something you never want to be.
By: Logan
By: Logan
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