Playing to win

Posted Saturday, November 01, 2008 in Tips and Tricks, Live Poker, Poker Ramblings
Poker Blog Comments 4 Comments  |  641 Views  |  Article Rating

Tip #1 - Don't be afraid to get felted. This holds true early in a tournament or cash game.

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Poker Blog by Donkeyherder
Donkeyherder said at 11:23 AM on Sunday, November 02, 2008

While I agree with this in general, I don't think this is true early in a tournament. You will rarely see consistent top players getting all in early unless they are sure they have the best hand. I think it is a major downfall to many amatuers. I you get allin early you are probably only going to win 50-60% of the time and even then only slightly increases your chance of getting in the money. That means half the time your completely out and the other half you have a shot but could still get busted out the very next hand anyways.

Poker Blog by Action Dan
Action Dan said at 11:55 AM on Sunday, November 02, 2008

I agree with what you said:" most top players rarely go all in unless they are sure they have the best hand" and tournaments aren't won in the early rounds.

If your afraid of getting felted your gonna bleed chips. The style of play of Pro's changes based on the type of tournament, short stack vs. deep stack, turbo vs. 20+ min levels.

In most of the tournaments I play in, a short stack tournament, you push your big draws and two pair or better and try to run over the weak players.

Poker Blog by Skootnasty
Skootnasty said at 7:03 PM on Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Well pushing big draws is rarely a mistake, unless you are certain your opponent has better than top pair. With that said anyone would commit with 2 pair or better. What are the buy-ins for these tournaments. It is usually hard to get your stack in early with a big made hand, assuming the buy-in was more than $20 and no re-buys.

Poker Blog by 50kopek
50kopek said at 9:23 AM on Thursday, November 06, 2008

Well, it depends of blind structure of the tournament and prize structure as well. Also if u guess u are playing against a pro, it might be a strong move to push all-in because he is more likely to wait better than a top pair to call in early stages (specially if u have large stack ). There is also some players that plays excellent with large stack ( Gus Hansen like ) and may like to gamble in early stage to play for winning-final table from the very beginning. As usual in poker it's hard to find a general rule ! :-)

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