Thursday, November 03, 2005

A ridiculous rush - unfortunately in micro

I was a bit bored the other day and decided to waste my 2.50 freeroll winnings at Titan - so I played a DirtyDozen SNG (It's a 2.00+0.35 buyin 12 player Jackpot SNG). I have never, ever sat at a table with worse players. Came in second - after loosing a coinflip heads-up. I decided to continue playing at least one of these a day until I either bust or win the jackpot (4 wins in a row gets you a neat $2000). These are my stats right now:

Played 6, starting bankroll $2.50, current bankroll $36.40
Current streak 2 wins - best streak 2 wins
1:st 3
2:nd 2
3:rd 0
4:th 0
bust 1

ROI 240%
ITM 83%
Profit: $33.90
Profit/trny $5.65


The funniest thing is that I've actually come within inches of baggin the jackpot already - 3 of the 4 top finishes we're back to back - and both times I came in second I had a better hand getting outdrawn allin - heads-up.
I wish I had these numbers playing $20 or $50 SNG's....

edit: stats updated

Monday, October 31, 2005

Adapting your NLHE strategy to the game at hand

A lot of good/decent players always chant the same mantras: "Position is crucial", "Play the player" "Get all your money in the middle with the best hand". These are all generally good advice, but there are times to deviate from these gems of wisdom.

I have noticed a lot of ill-adapted play in specific situations. I firmly believe that you need to use somewhat different tactics in a MTT compared to satelite and again different tactics in a sit'n'go.

SNG:S

The main reason I'm writing about SNG:s first is that so far our league games are basically two table sng:s, and I'm witnessing some questionable play from some of our members. Often times this SNG-mindset is also applicable to our freerolls when not too many people have signed up. What I question is the occasional reckless early play by some of our members.

An extremely early (maybe 4:th or 5:th hand dealt) three-way allin after the flop at Absolute last time around, with one player holding top pair/top kicker the other flopping two pair(middle and bottom) and the third Gina - the italian eye-candy ;D ) flopping the nut straight made me think a bit.
Would I have put all my money in being player one or player two ? Sure there are times when your not focused and want to double up fast or go get a beer. But generally, when playing a serious game I would say no - I wouldn't - not with that board.

Early stages of tournaments are quite similar overall, however I would advocate an extremely tight approach early on in a sng. You have so few people to beat to the money that you can easily sit back early on and wait for monster hands and/or donks to (happily) take themselves out of your sng.

Middle stages of an sng I would play very much like I would play an MTT early on - still waiting for good hands, but with the occasional position exploit thrown into the mix.

Note that I would play this way basically regardless of my stack size. Even if I'm the bigstack in my sng there's no reason to throw chips around and double people up - only loosen your requirements a fraction - and only if you feel you can outplay people post-flop. Also try and estimate the risks of having to call an all-in with your mediocre hand.

When you've made the money positions in the sng is the time to switch gears depending a bit on the size of your stack. If you're shortstacked - you should consider push or fold mode. With the middle stack - I would probably fold everything except AA KK QQ AK. Hell, I would even fold one of these top-hands if the small-stack was allin and the bigstack had called. And as the bigstack you start raising every reasonable hand preflop.

Remember that success is not always about winning very pot! Stay tuned for the next edition where I'll try and go into sattelites and how to adapt to the payout.

Sunday, October 30, 2005

It's OK to fold a pretty hand

Yesterday freerollerz leage 2 game 3 kicked off. I got seated with tomonbass to my right and holis to my left. I respect the play of both of these players - when they tell you they have a hand - they're usually not kidding - and only on occasion will I look these pre-flop raises up with anything other than a killer hand. And I know tom's just red Harrington on Hold'em - so I'm no expecting great bluffs from him.

About half an hour into the game yesterday - kesaco on tom's right hasn't caught any cards apparantly and is nearing critical M. I'm pretty sure his waiting for a high pair or big slick to make a preflop push hoping to double up.

This hand kesaco is UTG - and goes all in....I've picked up AKo - but before I get a chance to call - tom reraises allin.....

So for the first time ever I muck AK preflop - apparantly holis picked up KQs after me and decided to fold too.
kesaco had J6o - tom AA and the aces held up.

edit: I had to come back and edit this entry after reviewing the hand history on this- it was as accurate as the weather report....