How to become a winner not a player

[NorthernRed2]

Just an open question im starting to do well now in tournaments. Say 600 enter i normally make the last 100, with tips from Jez about being aggressive and playing tight early on. But i can't seam to make it from the fringes, i get bullied in the middle part of tournaments therefore i never become chip leader. Jez u mentioned in an another thread about bluffing online, but what can i do if i don't get any cards for an hour or so and get left behind.

[Jezza]

Re: How to become a winner not a player Hi Northern. When you reach the middle stages of a MTT tournament you must be careful not to drop too far below an average stack like you say. Its a gradual change from the tight stages earlier on into a more willing to play frame of mind. You should slowly start to raise more preflop to prevent this from happening - especially if noone has limped in before you. You can steal the blinds like this to prevent you from slipping when you are not getting any cards. Try to pick your targets (tight players - loose players who call anything you should not raise their blind unless you have something good) and don't necessarily do it from the button as a lot of common theory goes. Button raises invariably look like a steal when noone has limped in before them and this is usually what they are - you can get away with it one or two places off the button also. Sometimes I play back at someone putting in a button raise on my blind by reraising them large regardless of the cards I hold however this is a very volatile and dangerous play - basically you are crossing your fingers and hoping they were stealing (which is probable but not for sure - it helps if you have a good stack). Jez

[Jezza]

Re: How to become a winner not a player Incidently this "bluff reraise" move can be seen in the film rounders, where matt damon pulls it on johnny chan to great success. It is indeed a powerful (infact one of the most powerful) plays in NL hold em - but be careful when you pull the trigger with it. Jez

[dave]

Re: How to become a winner not a player The bluff re-raise in this situation would work best if you have built up a reputation as being quite a tight player wouldn't it Jezza? Otherwise you would read it as a bluff re-raise.

[Jezza]

Re: How to become a winner not a player It would definately help dave you are right - however even someone perceived as "loose" can pull this play on someone. To put a big reraise preflop - absolutely noone can come back over the top of you without AA KK AKs or POSSIBLY QQ - note this is in a game where people care about the money of course - in a freeroll noone is gonna give a fcuk and will call you with A2! And of course when noone is short chipped enough to be pot committed regardless. The top "loose" players in the world like gus hansen etc can be seen doing this sort of thing on the WPT an awful lot. You basically have to decide when your opponent is weak preflop to do it, an obvious blind steal is usually my target. Jez

[dave]

Re: How to become a winner not a player I guess it's like anything in poker. The higher the stakes, the more you can play "by the book". And I don't mean this in the way where you just work like a computer, I just mean you can play a bit more sophisticated poker.