Some tournament thoughts...

[totalise]

This year I have had terrible results in tournaments... I was looking through my records and have only won 5 tournaments all year, and whilst its easy to just blame our friend variance, and the fact that I dont play a whole bunch of tournaments, its probably not that.. so I spent a few hours last night going over my play and this is where I think I found my leaks, and decided to post them to generate some discussion and maybe someone is also suffering and it might help:



Small Pocket pairs:


these puppys are your money hand in cash games.. but the general structure of tournaments obviously means that as the blind levels get higher in relation to your stack, the value of these hands probably diminishes. I dont even know if thats true, but it feels true... in that they are still worth a lot late on, but not as much as the first few levels. Heres an example of what I mean:


standard $100 tourney.. your stack is 20BB. EP raises to 3*BB.. you have pocket 6's also in EP/MP.

I have been calling these raises with a large regularity, and I dont really know why. I probably blame such nonsense like "implied odds" and the like... but the main issue I see is that I dont always double up when I hit the six, and I tend to committ too many chips post flop when the flop comes benign like 229.. in the fabled words of the internet idiot "i put you on Ace King". I think spots like this where your upside isn't great.. folding is probably the best option, it feels to marginal


Blind on Blind

the easiest money in poker is to get a hand in the SB when I am the BB.. I just find it realllllly difficult to fold. If they have a stack that can fold to a jam, I nearly always jam. If they have a deep stack, I nearly always call to try and outplay people postflop. Granted I do ok in these spots, but the times I am wrong I feel like an expert marksman, I dont stop firing bullets... and get picked off much too often.  Pick better spots and just fold if you have a bad hand.. dont try and be a hero every single time your BB gets raised... and if you do defend, dont back it up with your entire stack.


Cutoff vs Button:

This is similar to the above... if someone from the cutoff raises, and the stacks aren't deep, I push in here with such a rediculous regularity. Now, the play itself is one of the biggest +EV spots in poker, as long as the person you are pushing against has a wide raising range and a small calling range... its profitable to do it with close to any two cards. The problem here is that I dont pick spots well enough... there are creatures out there that raise so infrequently, there raising range is almost the same as their calling range... trying to resteal against these animals is a sure fire way to just wank money down the drain.

Attacking weak blinds late on in the tourney

This is a problem I have on two levels:

1) I tend to attack them from ANY position on the table... this is too dangerous when the money isn't deep as people are quite likely to find a hand worth attacking with, and I end up making a reason to try and call... another donklegend comment "I put them on a range I can beat". Position is important when attacking bad players.

2) when other people raise weak players blinds... I ALWAYS put them on a steal.. fling the chips in the pot, and then get bounced when my 3/9os is no match for their JJ. Gotta pick spots better... making this play against people like PABLO will probably show a significant profit, but against typical opponents, they aren't aware of how weak the BB is. Stop outthinking yourself.


Getting impatient:

Nothing annoys me more then getting shit for cards and being on an agressive table.. I just find excuses all day and all night to try and resteal, or try and call and raise their c/bet on the flop. Its rediculous.... but I dont really know what the answer is. ..I'm pretty sure jamming into them is probably correect, but you gotta pick the right spots.. dont just jam into them because you are pissed off and getting frustrated... make sure you do it into people who raise light and call tight.

Dont try and be a hero

I saw some calls in my HH's that were absolutely rediculous. Heres one gem: blinds are 300/600 and I limp the button with TJc after 3 limpers, BB Jams a/i for 7k more.. everyone folds and I try to convince myself his likely hand is a small pair/AK and my equity is good enough to call. wtf... this is again known as "put them on a hand you can beat"... silly things like that.


You dont always have to keep growing your stack


Another mistake I make is that If my stack gets blinded down after 2/3 levels, it gets me a little frisky in order to try and rebuild it up. NL you dont need to do this, and against bad players they are willing to give you chips when you get cards...so it makes intrinsic sense to just wait for EV spots, rather then going out of your way to try and force them. Forcing things is a great psuedonym for "playing filth and hoping to get lucky and then make stuff up to justify it the times it works".. its just spewage. The spots to gain chips arrive frequently enough, I know what they are, why force the issue. Slap slap

Stop trying to slowplay when fastplaying makes more

I never thought I would be a villain of this, ever. Button raises, I get AA in the BB... and just call. Against some people, this is obviously the best play, against most people.. its a terrible play. They will call the raise/jam loads of the time.. so why the hell would you just call? yeah I know, fancy play syndrome.

Dont try and make people fold when they aren't folding


A real weak point, i know they are calling, they know they are calling.. and still I just send that stack into the middle on some kinda draw. Why? if I call on the flop I have the odds to call the turn, and if I hit the turn I will get all their chips anyways.. so why raise when you can win the same when you hit but lose less when you miss? Make sure there is FE before semi-bluffing.. otherwise the raise goes from a semi-bluff to a "willing to get your chips in with 35% equity" which is rediculous.


Its enlightening to spend a few hours looking at stuff like this and seeing just how bad you actually do play..... and to be quite frank its disgusting just how bad I have been playing in tournaments lately.. but this self analysis has really helped me iron out some massive problems in my tournament game and I heartily recommend you do the same from time to time.

Any thoughts/points are welcome

regards

T

[Nem]

If you read this before every tournament you play in, I'm sure your results will improve.

Good post.

[M3boy]

Great Post

I am sure EVERYONE will recognise most, if not ALL of these points in their own game.

Knowing them is easy - stopping them is the hard part!

[ifm]

I too have been looking at several of your points and now thanks to you there are others i recognise!!!
Small PP's i now pretty much discard to any decent bet or raise with them IN POSITION but only when the blinds are decent, it is shocking the way i used to play them.

Blind on blind i addressed a long time ago, i am not at all defensive of my blinds (apart from stt's when i'm trying to send a message to the table ). Don't get me wrong i will resteal from time to time if i feel i'm being bullied but generally that doesn't happen because i am fairly aggressive out of the blinds.

Impatience is dealt with either by firing up another table or reading articles on the net, i know, i know, i should be concentrating blah blah blah but for me killing the impatience is more +EV.

Position position position, i find it fascinating that i gave so little regard to this for so long, i now know it is possibly the single most important thing in poker!!!

Good thought provoking stuff, cheers.
When is the cash game article/book coming out?

[totalise]

Nem,

if I read this before every tourney I played in, I'd prolly bore myself to death!

Ifm,

Impatience is dealt with either by firing up another table or reading articles on the net, i know, i know, i should be concentrating blah blah blah but for me killing the impatience is more +EV.

yes this is pretty good, but if I played more tables I'd prolly end up a nutjob (more so then already)

When is the cash game article/book coming out?

forgot all about that tbh, my old man lost interest in poker.. stupid idiot.. and I've been too busy trying to win money. Its defo something I wanna do at some point, but with the WSOP being aired in america, i gotta be on red alert for the new little fishies swimming into the water. Sometime this yr though, maybe when I hit my target and take some time off and visit the galapagos Isles

[Nem]

Nem,
if I read this before every tourney I played in, I'd prolly bore myself to death!

[ACE2M]

the general impression i get is that your jamming way to much.
I try to get my whole stack in the middle as infrequently as possible without very strong hands.
Of course it has to be done a few times in a tourney but if a re steal attempt requires your whole stack you probably shouldn't be re stealing in that spot.

This is the way i play of course, i see plenty of people slinging it in left right and centre and winning so each to his own as it always is with poker.

[SupaMonkey]

Small Pocket pairs:


these puppys are your money hand in cash games.. but the general structure of tournaments obviously means that as the blind levels get higher in relation to your stack, the value of these hands probably diminishes. I dont even know if thats true, but it feels true... in that they are still worth a lot late on, but not as much as the first few levels. Heres an example of what I mean:


standard $100 tourney.. your stack is 20BB. EP raises to 3*BB.. you have pocket 6's also in EP/MP.

I have been calling these raises with a large regularity, and I dont really know why. I probably blame such nonsense like "implied odds" and the like... but the main issue I see is that I dont always double up when I hit the six, and I tend to committ too many chips post flop when the flop comes benign like 229.. in the fabled words of the internet idiot "i put you on Ace King". I think spots like this where your upside isn't great.. folding is probably the best option, it feels to marginal

I typically use the 5% rule here, i.e. i woudn't set mine with a small/med pp if it costs more than 5% of my stack. Generally this means early on i am set mining and late on in tourneys i'm folding these to preflop raises or raising unopened pots/preflop limpers with them.

[Pab]

alright mate, just had a quick read, ill post my thoughts in detail when i get a chance

[GlasgowBandit]

I too recognise many of thise traits.

the main thing for me is impatience.  When playing live I would say I am a very patient player and can fold all day long till I start picking up hands.  the reason for this of course is interaction when talking to the table I am picking up free information, when in-situ I can process that information much more quickly, I think this may stem from my working enviroment when I am having conversation with 2/3 folk at the same time sometimes more.

I think my bank roll and my personal finances would be better served if I stopped playing online.  I make to many basic errors and mistakes, think everybody is at it all of the time, when playing live I can respect peoples raises much more.

Some great thoughts there T and I think self analysis is something everyone should be doing. 

[Redbull]

Good post Totalise. I'm certainly guilty of many these.

It's interesting how over time I've become complacent and leaks that I had eradicated slowly creep back into my game. A good session of hand analysis is in order today I think.

PS. Your cash game post was probably one of the best posts I've read on Blonde and would encourage you to revisit it when you have the time! Definitely a candidate for Best of Blonde IMO.

[totalise]

alright mate, just had a quick read, ill post my thoughts in detail when i get a chance

quoting this in case you forgot, hearing your thoughts in detail would be really really good

[Pab]

whoops i had forgot yes, i sent some1 a PM with a few quick pointers on. Ill note down your points and formulate a response by late tonight or when i wake up 2morrow

[totalise]

awesome

good on ya pab!

[Pab]

 Might be better if i construct an article, wardonkey style about mtt play and see if they wanna put it on the main page