Forget Everything I Said
Over Christmas I had a good 2 ½ weeks off work to large it, catch up with some sleep and play some poker. The best laid plans of mice though … my car was off the road and I couldn’t get it fixed until the New Year. So I ended up playing a bit online and that was mostly it. Given some time to think instead of just play, play, play it finally dawned on me that I have been playing Hold-em like a twat for at least the past year.
What I was doing was playing a short-stack strategy that was based on the assumption that my all-ins would only get called by sensible hands like 99, AT and better. In real life that’s not what happens though is it ? This was finally brought home to me when I went all in with QJ in early position only to find the small blind going into a dwell-up and then calling for 2/3 of his chips with A4. And that was in a £100 comp !
If someone wants to make this move with A4 it’s his money (for the moment). If they are going to though, then my assumptions are way off the mark. And if your assumptions are wrong, your whole strategy can go in the bin. So, given some time to work some things out on my computer, I have developed a completely different short-stack strategy which feels a lot, lot better.
It feels better on-line, even in satellites. Especially in satellites. Pokerstars have a cool deal which I have only recently noticed. If you win a $200 seat in one of their multi-table sats, you don’t have to play the million runner up till 6 am on a Monday morning slugfest, you can get tournament dollars and play, for example, four $50 comps instead. So after rubbishing Internet multi-table comps and super-satellites generally for six months, when I actually play them they’re looking nicely profitable.
It also feels better in live tournaments. Cut off from Luton , I have played a couple of No-Limit tournaments in the Vic instead. And contrary to what I said below, these play exactly like Internet tournaments. People check-raising with hopeless hands because “I thought you had AK”. People losing half their chips and promptly shoving the rest in on the next hand out of sheer tilt. People calling big reraises with AT and saying “I know you’re winning” as they move the chips in.
So forget everything I said (if you haven’t already). I’m going to give a few Hold-em comps a spin. Especially the Luton festival in a couple of weeks, three juicy looking £100/£150 tournaments. I’ll let you know how it goes !
What I was doing was playing a short-stack strategy that was based on the assumption that my all-ins would only get called by sensible hands like 99, AT and better. In real life that’s not what happens though is it ? This was finally brought home to me when I went all in with QJ in early position only to find the small blind going into a dwell-up and then calling for 2/3 of his chips with A4. And that was in a £100 comp !
If someone wants to make this move with A4 it’s his money (for the moment). If they are going to though, then my assumptions are way off the mark. And if your assumptions are wrong, your whole strategy can go in the bin. So, given some time to work some things out on my computer, I have developed a completely different short-stack strategy which feels a lot, lot better.
It feels better on-line, even in satellites. Especially in satellites. Pokerstars have a cool deal which I have only recently noticed. If you win a $200 seat in one of their multi-table sats, you don’t have to play the million runner up till 6 am on a Monday morning slugfest, you can get tournament dollars and play, for example, four $50 comps instead. So after rubbishing Internet multi-table comps and super-satellites generally for six months, when I actually play them they’re looking nicely profitable.
It also feels better in live tournaments. Cut off from Luton , I have played a couple of No-Limit tournaments in the Vic instead. And contrary to what I said below, these play exactly like Internet tournaments. People check-raising with hopeless hands because “I thought you had AK”. People losing half their chips and promptly shoving the rest in on the next hand out of sheer tilt. People calling big reraises with AT and saying “I know you’re winning” as they move the chips in.
So forget everything I said (if you haven’t already). I’m going to give a few Hold-em comps a spin. Especially the Luton festival in a couple of weeks, three juicy looking £100/£150 tournaments. I’ll let you know how it goes !
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