Poker Perambulation

They tell you wonderful things.  They are formulaic in nature.  If you last out the half hour, you know more about Flobbies or kinky fryers than you'd ever want or expect.   These tournaments I've been playing are infomercials.  People advertise just what they are ad nauseum.  From the min-better to the all-in king they are characters as striking as...

It is almost beyond belief.   They sit down and do the same exact thing over and over and over. You know just who, what, and where about them.  It is like you grew up on the same block.

One of the things I have preached early, late, and often was the ability to change gears.  What I didn't have was the patience to couple that to small ball poker.  Not only have I avoided that old nemisis of boredom tilt; but, I've now found that I've actually grown more patient.   Patience truly is a virtue and something I've struggled with all my life.

Gear change is every bit as important as cards.  It eliminates predictability and that is the nemesis that saddles most learning or limited tournament players.   When your tendencies are known, you are owned.   People just keep doing the same thing over and over.  

Implied odds are an ignored aspect in tournaments.  Many think it most applies to ring play. To a degree, they are right.  But, good use of implied odds in situational play allows the small ball player to work with lesser hands profitably. It is why Gus and Daniel can stack someone with apparent crap.  

Stack size ebbs and flows.  As it does, the cards you can play from strong or weak position vary.  This provides an enforced gear change.  Things tighten quite a bit from early or mid position.  But, until one's M reaches around a dozen, it isn't lost late.  

Playing seeming weak hands like Kjo and the like give up strength but provided is a trade off. They are easy hands to get away from.   You are trying to use read and post flop play to make them strong hands. 

Many will see your play of supposedly weak hands – especially early with a big stack – as a flaw revealing your loose tendencies . Bless them for it.   Many equate one's A-game with being  tight-aggressive.   Tight aggressive carries you to being the cards servant.  Then, that lousy pocket pair ends up stacking big starting hands.

The tendency is for players in general to place people on a range of hands.  I have a hard time doing that on a regular basis.   It is easier to accomplish against those tight players.  Those that tend toward loose-aggressive are a bit more complex but as vulnerable as any.  They are the mid-level ones I'll occasionally bluff where the pot is nice but the potential loss isn't crippling. They are +EV when the blinds start to move.

It all boils down to having a workable reason to be in or continuing a hand.  There is a factor of pot odds and stack size that enters the picture.   Everything I've talked about is right and then wrong.  Circumstance is unavoidable.  Every hand brings difference circumstances depending on who at the table is in the hand.  

Of course betting and bet sizing can also run near the top of the list.   Many ignore the cards, position and whatever in betting.   So many never get any information.   They pump from early position like they already have a straight flush.  They keep pumping out sized bets with total disregard for who or how ever many calls.  I love those people.  I'd almost buy them in if I could lock them to my table.  They do the heavy lifting for you.

The first hour in a tournament is one to gregariously survive.  You wish them all well and try to avoid lines in the sand.  I'm an easy lay the first hour.  That isn't to say I don't want to leave it with a solid stack.  There are enough weak players that you can usually accomplish that and still concentrate on being relaxed about it.  Small ball is about that. 

In the second hour, you open your game.  That isn't big bet aggression unless called for.  You use your reads and the stack you've built to play position more.  The blinds are starting to become important.  You want to know your outs and you should know your competition.  The idea is to try to take advantage of the situation.  Small is still the doctrine but you stop being the nice guy and try to go a bit more nasty about things.  You bring the other aspects into the game and aren't as ABC about things.

The third hour is everyone's enigma.  You'll meet the gamblers and some will be successful at it.  You get denied the low ball game that got you to that point.   You'll be right up to the river more than you like.   It a time where mistakes are magnified.  You want to survive and prosper and it seems like a desert or one of Poker Peaker's 14K mountains.  It is like the sign says, “Thimk” don't rush your game or calls. 

Making past the cheap money is the glory of all this.  It happens too infrequently.  When it does, there is a time for  real enjoyment.  It is all about pucker factor.   You want to stay loose and  evaluate well.  Still hoping you can keep a low ball approach but taking advantage of what is offered.

Again, I write something that is incomplete.  All is right in moments in time and the less optimal approach at others.  Winning is the goal. But there is another goal and that is the capacity to lose without dieing.  You can't expect perfection in life or poker.  When you can be wrong and live you've mastered low ball.

ADDENDUM:
Am I a good tournament player?  I have to say yes.  Great?  Hardly!  But, I made the second hour almost every time in these 5FPP tournaments.  It wasn't bad competition.  Pretty standard actually.  Most saw me well into the third hour and I did manage minor cashes in them. Actually, that was pretty simple.   Fatigue cost me at times.  The boredom tilt got close at others.  But, I typically lasted into the area of 3-figures remaining from a rather large field that averaged over 12,000.   It was disappointing that I couldn't do better but I'm not really ashamed.  As a matter of fact,  I was pretty close to my old form and that surprised me.

Maybe I'll have to play tournaments now and then.  HORSE ones seem appealing since I won that one last month.  I haven't played one since but I getting more tempted.  I didn't win much in all this.  It is about 4-bucks.  I can do better in a decent half-hour of ring.  But, it was fun again and that is why I play.

No related posts.