Weekly Sit & Go Tip: 1st Place or Bust
For the past two months or so, I’ve found myself playing Sit & Go’s almost exclusively, in fact currently I am up to 11 straight cashes in S&G’s at the moment. Both recently and long before my current streak, I had the opportunity to both play and observe a lot of S&G action when all the remaining players at the table were in the money, which is normally the top three spots of a typical nine player single table freeze out. What I noticed from my time is that far too many players focus mainly on simply making it in the money, and then all but completely toss their strategy away after that. What happens is they become content to simply take 3rd place, which gives them their entry investment back plus a little profit, with emphasis on the word “littleâ€.
If you’re playing Sit & Go’s competitively and looking to actually use these events as a way to build up your bankroll, you need to understand that the only way to truly be profitable at S&G’s is to always strive for 1st place. 3rd and even 2nd place money won’t be enough in the long run to sustain your roll if/when you go on a downward swing in your poker career, therefore once you get into the top three spots during a S&G, it’s now time to aim for the stars.
Despite no longer being on the money bubble, many players will continue to fold decent hands and wait for one of the other two players at the table to eliminate the other. While this will work once in awhile, often times this will put you at a large disadvantage in chips heads-up, greatly lowering your chances of a 1st place victory. Instead, you want to aggressively play medium strength hands like A-8 and better, hoping to either take down the blinds of weak/tight players, or to pressure them to move all-in with less than preferred cards.
As a final thought, in order to stay in contention for 1st place during the final round, you cannot let your chip stack stray too far below the equivalent of ten big blinds. At this point, doubling up won’t put you into a comfortable chip position and you’ll be forced to go all-in again before you’d like to. If you do start get near the ten big blind mark, you’re going to need to open up your hand selection fairly wide to include not just any A-X combo, but also probably K-X and even Q-X if the situation is dire enough. You simply can’t afford to just fold constantly and let your stack disappear; you need to make a stand. Remember, play for 1st or don’t play at all!
Dream Team Poker
A new facet of poker is beginning to open up with the concept of team poker tournaments. Last November, The Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas hosted a team poker event. This event was private and only open to the industry, but it had such a following that Dream Team Poker decided to make it a public event. On March 27-29th Caesars Palace will be hosting the event for any team of three that would like to play. The scoring system is different than regular tournaments, as the two top finishing team members accumulate points for their team. The strategy is a little different than most tournaments as well. There might be an advantage to having one teammate play super aggressive in order to gain as many chips as possible. If there is a tough opponent, one teammate might try to play every hand against him in order to try to bust him out. Team poker opens the doors for new concepts of play and strategy.
For their first public event, Dream Team Poker has had an overwhelming response of interest. They’ve even had to close registration three days before the event starts because they have already sold out the capacity of their room. As of now, there are more than 10 teams on the waiting list to be allowed to play the event. This $1650 buy in tournament ($550 per player), is not shy of its celebrity players either. Johnny Chan, Shannon Elizabeth, and Michael Binger are just a few that are signed up on teams so far.
Dream Team Poker Saturday at Caesars Palace Las Vegas
photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Dream Team Poker fills the Tournament Room at Caesars Palace Las Vegas
A stop by the Caesars Palace Poker Room Saturday evening during the Earth Hour of darkness found the lights on and the cards flying. Seven tables of players remained as they worked their way down to 27 players to end the day. WSOP Main Event champions Phil Hellmuth, Tom McEvoy, and Jamie Gold remained among the finalist with chips.
Dream Team Poker sold out the tournament with 170 three man teams registering by last Friday. This should be good news to all poker players because it demonstrates the continuing strong interest in poker and poker tournaments.
While other forms of casino gaming are losing their popularity to the hard economic times, poker retains its popularity and draw power. Another important consideration is the number of big name players that signed up for this $550 buy-in tournament. The action continues on Sunday at 12:30 PM in the Tournament Room at Caesars Palace. Stop by to see poker's latest incantation, Dream Team Poker, is so popular.
More photos from Saturday's first day of the Dream Team Poker Tournament at Caesars Palace Las Vegas after the jump.
photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Phil Hellmuth, holder of a record 11 WSOP bracelets, studies Tom McEvoy's play
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Tom McEvoy, 1983 WSOP Main Event Champion, watches the action at his table
photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Erica Schoenberg had chips and a chair late in the day
photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Jamie Gold, 2006 WSOP Main Event winner, takes time away from charity work to play
photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Beth Shak has chips late in the day
photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Bryan Micon was in the hunt late in the day
photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Hal Lubarsky, blind poker player, plays late
photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
More Dream Team Poker team colors hang in the tournament room at Caesars Palace
4th Annual Happy House Poker Tournament April 25, 2009
Nancy Cartwright gives voice to Bart Simpson
For a fourth consecutive year Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson, will host the Happy House Poker Tournament and BBQ at her Northridge, California home on Saturday, April 25,2009, 1 - 6 PM. All of the proceeds will go to Happy House and its Mission to Build Better Families. Entry fee for the poker tournament and all of the amenities is $50 prior to April 10th, after that the price goes to $60. The winner of the event will receive a seat in Brad Garrett's poker tournament to benefit Maximum Hope Foundation and the Dream Foundation.
Poker players for the tournament should arrive by 12:30 PM, thirty minutes before the 1:00 PM command of "Shuffle Up and Deal" begins the eliminations. All poker tournament entrants must be 21 and up.
Be sure to bring the kids as there will be plenty of games for the younger members of the family. If you're coming for the party a $15 contribution to this most worthy cause is appreciated. Kids under 12 are free.
For information and/or to reserve seats or attend the BBQ: RSVP (818) 882-7483 or email: adam@happyhouse.org. Address to be provided upon RSVP.
photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Brad Garrett playing at the 2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship at Caesars Palace
Muck’it Revisited
photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
It's easy to be successful at poker if you redefine success
Calling an All In With Ace Rag
Earlier this week I was playing a tournament online and had pushed my stack of $22,000 with AQs. The blinds were at $1,000/$2,000 with a $300 ante which was high enough that I couldn’t just raise with my stack, and I was hoping to double up if I got called. Sure enough I was insta called by the big blind who had $30,000. I considered that I was against a pocket pair, AJ, AK, or KQ. No, I was happily surprised when I was called by A3 off suit. Thankfully there was no bad beat story, and I was able to double up. It was very surprising that the BB decided to call me with such a weak hand considering that I had been showing solid hands the whole tournament. The fact of the matter is this happens all the time. Someone goes all in and anyone with an ace feels obligated to call. This is a misunderstood theory.
Ace rag is not a good hand to call an all in unless someone is going all in blind. Even then, you only have one over card to whatever they are going all in with (excluding small pocket pairs with are a coin flip anyways.) You have to consider what kinds of hands your opponent will push all in with. In the best circumstances you are 57%-43% against KJ off suit. Against a pocket pair you are 30%-70%, and any bigger ace has you dominated. This does not prove to be very good odds when calling off most of your chips to someone’s all in. Even in the instances where you have someone covered by a substantial margin, the odds that they are pushing with a bigger ace is considerable. In most cases, it is not worth it. When calling an all in, you want to avoid doubling up the short stacks because they can quickly become a force at the table. You want to give yourself the best chances of taking them out and adding their chips to your stack. In the case of calling an all in with a low grade hand like A3, just fold it and wait for a better opportunity. It would be more beneficial to wait for a better hand or a better spot to take advantage of their chips.
Folding a Hand: Not A Terrible Idea
How many times have you been sitting in a game and watched someone call numerous big bets all the way to the river, only to flip over some weak hand such as second pair when the board was full of big cards and/or flush/straight draws? The phrase “getting married to a hand†is quite accurate, as players that suffer from this tendency have trouble letting go of a average/drawing hand until death do you part. Strong poker playing is not just about when to call and when to raise, but sometimes more importantly, when to fold.
The good thing about folding is that it really isn’t too hard to figure out when you should do so. If you’re playing online, there are a ton of hand calculators that you can use simultaneously while in a game that will help you make the correct fold/call/raise decision in almost any situation. However, if using tools and knowing the math on your own isn’t your strong suit, you need to be able to identify the warnings signs of when you might be behind in a hand, as well as when its time to chase a draw or not.
Numerous factors can play into this decision. Flopping second pair against one opponent is somewhat strong, while flopping second pair against multiple opponent’s can be very dangerous. Normally the only way you can improve your hand at that point is to hit trips on the turn or river, and very rarely will the pot odds add up correctly to warrant doing so. Against even a single opponent there are still many things to consider, such as your opponents chip stack, position, what knowledge you have of his previous hands, etc. There are normally so many variables to consider in these situations that making the correct play can be very hard to deduce. If your opponent is first to act and he bets into you, most of the time you’ll need to lay it down and pick a better spot
Keep in mind that the goal in poker is to minimize losses and maximize profits. With a weak pair or drawing hand, you are not going to be able to get a lot of chips out of a opponent who’s hand you can beat, but you can give up a lot of chips trying to do so. Don’t get married to your hands, develop fold discipline and have the patience to put your money in at the right time as often as possible.
Don’t Bait The Sharks
Play enough poker and you’ll run into players who just seem to outflop and outplay you every step of the way. Unfortunately, many of us can only take so much of this abuse and will try to constantly attack and take chips away from these opponents, only to find that more often than not we just end up losing more chips. If you have a maniac at the table that’s just playing terribly, you need to just pick the right opportunity to strike. However, if you’ve identified legitimately skilled players sitting in your game, you need to develop the mindset to stay away from them and get involved in pots with the weaker opponents at the table.
Thinking about playing this way and actually doing it, however, can be difficult. No one wants to be taken advantage of at the table, but if you really break down the components of what’s happening, you’re just getting a taste of your own medicine. Any good poker players knows that you attack the weaker players at the table far more often than you do the experienced ones. This doesn’t mean you should fold premium hands to the best player at the table, but it also doesn’t mean you should be reraising him constantly just to get him to lay down a pot.
The most important thing to remember is that at its core, poker is about making money. None of the players at the end of the night are going to remember if someone got the better of you in every hand, all they’re going to think about is the money they personally won and lost. The point is, don’t put too much thought into having to look tough or like someone who will defend their cards til they go broke, you will not be admired for such play.
Ideally, you’ll want to avoid the sharks at your table unless the situation is heavily in your favor, such as when you flop a set or a comparative monster hand. Use these occasional moments to take a few pots off the best opponents at the table, and then go back to pressuring the weakest ones. Your stress level will lower, your profits will rise, and you’ll have a better overall experience.
Friday Night Action
There are days where I just want to stay in bed and munch on chips and dip all day while playing multiple tournaments online. However, I have to motivate myself to get in the shower and drag myself to the overcrowded casino because it is Friday night and the games are supposed to be good. These days it seems like such a hassle to get in my car and drive to the casino because the economy isn’t that good and there just isn’t as much easy money being thrown around. More often than not I’d rather just play online because it is more convenient and there are softer games to be found. None the less, I get myself primped and ready then head for the casino.
Thankfully when I get there the games seem good and they have a selection to choose from in case I get stuck on a dreadful table. My game is actually decent and I like the action that is going around. The standard preflop action is raised 5 times the big blind with an average of four callers. It doesn’t take long to figure out who are the loose players and who are the tight players. The best part about this table is the big stacks are actively building pots, but they are not aggressively trying to take it down post flop. This is a great table for a medium to small stack to build off of. I limp into several pots with a wide range of hands including AK-J10, any suited ace, suited connectors, and suited gapped connectors. With a table that is fairly loose preflop, I opened up my range of hands when it was opened for a standard raise. On a tighter table I would probably fold a large range of these hands for a raise unless I was getting great odds, but on this table I knew that the two big stacks were raising with anything, and the other callers were most likely calling with two face cards or pocket pairs.
It only took about two hours for this method to become detrimental to my chip stack. I was getting a lot of suited connectors in late position, and I was calling the raises preflop and missing. Even more frustrating is I couldn’t find any good spots to pull off a bluff to recuperate some of my losses. At this point I was definitely considering going back to my standard hands for calling a raise. Once again the pot was raised 5x the BB, there were three callers in front of me, and I noticed this lady was already getting her bet together to call. I looked down at 6s 7s and said to myself, “Ok one last time we’ll give this a try.†I called, and to my surprise the lady minraised. With the three callers in front of me I reluctantly called as well. The flop came out 6h 7d 9d. It checked around to me, and I checked seeing that the lady was already counting chips to bet. She bet half my stack and I moved all in. She called with aces and luckily didn’t hit a set. I was grateful to double up as my method finally paid off.
For me, calling raises with a wide range of hands works best when you are doing it against a tight player or when there is big pot building action. When playing against a tight player I open my range of hands tremendously because I know what kinds of hands he is playing based on his raise. If I miss the flop, I can easily lay the hand down. In multiway pots, I like to call with a wide range because the investment I put into hitting my hand is worth it in regards to the pot size. Also, if you can determine who the tight players are on the table and they are involved in the pot, you can be fairly sure that they have each other’s outs. I try to avoid calling raises with mediocre hands when the participants are looser players or other players that play a wide range. It is more difficult to play against these players when you hit two pair with your suited connectors. For all you know they have a straight or higher two pair. When trying this strategy out, it is good to make a plan for the amount of chips you are willing to play loosely with. There is no point in calling so many raises and missing that you become desperate to double up. Consider your cards and position in relation to your opponents cards and position to make better decisions on when to call a raise. Make a plan and if it doesn’t work out you’ll have to start waiting for good hands. When you get a good hand you can limp reraise with it to take down the pots preflop.
Dream Team Poker at Caesars Palace March 27-29
photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Phil Hellmuth during the 2008 WSOP ME TV table
Plan to be in Las Vegas this weekend for the finish of the NCAA national college basketball championship? Think you'd enjoy watching the biggest stars of professional poker playing in an all new Team format poker tournament? Would it be even better if you could play on one of the teams? You can get on the wait list right now at the Dream Team Tournament site. May I suggest a speedy visit to online registration because this Dream Team Poker Tournament is sold out.
photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Mike Matusow playing at the 2008 WSOP Main Event TV feature table
Registration closed when the cap of 170 teams was reached on Monday. Teams not registered may still get in if they get an early spot on the wait list. Successful wait list entrants will be notified Friday at 6 PM. Play begins Saturday and continues though Sunday. Event details are available at the Dream Team Poker site .
photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Jerry Buss, poker pro and owner of the LA Lakers
More than 500 players will be involved in this weekend's play to determine the best team of 3 poker players. Many of the 500 will be well known stars of professional poker. Smart money is saying the team of Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow and Jerry Buss is the favorite to take it all. Both Hellmuth and Matusow played deep in the 2008 WSOP Main Event and continue to play well. Los Angeles Lakers owner and high stakes poker player, Jerry Buss, completes the talented trio. Buss has demonstrated he can play with the best so this team being the odds makers favorite is not surprising.
photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Lacey Jones during the 2007 WSOP ME
Another team to watch for is the all female gang of three consisting of Lacey Jones, Mario Ho and Tiffany Michele. Ho demonstrated her card sense in the 2007 WSOP Main Event when she became the last woman with chips. Michele finished 17th in the 2008 WSOP Main Event for a $334,534 payday. Lacey Jones has played major tournament poker for a number of years and knows her way around the male dominated sport.
photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Maria Ho mucks her cards during play at the 2007 WSOP Main Event
Even as we watch the somber dismantling of Las Vegas' once unstoppable economy it comes as a small consolation that the sport of poker can still sell out the house. When a $550 buy-in ($1,650 /team) non-televised poker tournament can quickly sell-out to a group that includes many of the games biggest and best players it sends a loud and clear message that poker, casino poker, and tournament poker are here to stay. Maybe someday Internet poker will join the list, again.
photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Tiffany Michele was the final female championship hope. She finished in front of 6,827 players to claim $334,534 for 17th place.
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WSOP Info is your source to online poker news and information regarding the WSOP 2008. The World Series Of Poker is the largest Poker event in the world.
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