Losing Left – Why Stack Size (and thereby Tournament vs. Cash) Matters

Last week I introduced my “new” rule about playing weak hands out of position in online tournaments. Basically my theory is based on the fact that I can wait out these situations and hope for either a) a better hand later, or b) a passive opponent that assists me to a showdown cheaply. I also relied heavily on the fact that blinds chop away at a stack quickly in a tournament.

This week I want to talk about the exception that makes the rule. What happens when I have 10,000 chips and the blinds are 25/50 for the next 15 minutes online, or 40 minutes in a brick and mortar? Am I going to play this situation the same way? Well, I will say that this will be my general rule for tournaments. However, the deeper the stack sizes are, the more I’m willing to make an exception. Also, reading the board can’t be dismissed. If there are draws out there, then a called bet by a positional player becomes weaker based on the chance that they are chasing a draw.

The definitive example of this exception comes in cash game play. While the game is technically “table stakes”, ultimately the amount of money that can be won is only limited by how many times players reach into their deep pockets. There is some money out there to be made in value with middle pair. While my intention is usually to keep the pot small, in a cash game, or a deep stack tournament, the best way to insure a small pot it to be sure to take control of the pot, which means taking the lead after the flop.

Here’s another example- top pair, mediocre kicker. But with a deeper stack (and as important my opponents had deep stacks), I was able to take control of the hand on the flop, and put it away on the turn when it became apparent I had the best hand.


*********** # 1 **************
PokerStars Game #39510252010: Tournament #241450085, $0.25+$0.00 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (25/50) - 2010/02/09 19:32:10 PT [2010/02/09 22:32:10 ET]
Table '241450085 10' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: amour59 (1615 in chips)
Seat 2: horizon58 (2975 in chips)
Seat 3: shaydushane (6155 in chips)
Seat 4: CgCook38 (4910 in chips)
Seat 5: moneymaica (750 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 6: clingfree (2550 in chips)
Seat 7: lexxl19 (8900 in chips)
Seat 8: JimmiBlY (9540 in chips)
Seat 9: TJ1812 (6960 in chips)
amour59: posts small blind 25
horizon58: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CgCook38 [Th Ah]
shaydushane: folds
CgCook38: calls 50
moneymaica: folds
clingfree: folds
lexxl19: folds
JimmiBlY: calls 50
TJ1812: folds
amour59: folds
horizon58: checks
*** FLOP *** [8s As 6d]
horizon58: checks
CgCook38: bets 100
JimmiBlY: calls 100
horizon58: calls 100
*** TURN *** [8s As 6d] [9c]
horizon58: checks
CgCook38: bets 350
JimmiBlY: folds
horizon58: folds
Uncalled bet (350) returned to CgCook38
CgCook38 collected 475 from pot
CgCook38: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 475 | Rake 0
Board [8s As 6d 9c]
Seat 1: amour59 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: horizon58 (big blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 3: shaydushane folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: CgCook38 collected (475)
Seat 5: moneymaica folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: clingfree folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: lexxl19 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: JimmiBlY folded on the Turn
Seat 9: TJ1812 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

The Poker Pod Home Game

Yesterday I managed to win the Poker Pod home game! It was tough throughout. I had to suck out a river queen to trip up against AA and KK early on.

To add to my successful day I competed against 7 others in the Attu home game and won a marathon session. :D Quite a poker day!

Losing Left – Small Pot, Pretty Please

The biggest problem with players to your left is that they will get to see what you do before they have to make any decisions. It seems that recently I’ve been crushed online while out of position, especially when I have a small hand – top pair, okay kicker or weaker hand. The strategy I try to employ is pretty basic: invest the smallest amount of chips in order to get to a showdown.

This presents one very basic problem, and it’s where a positional player gets his power. If I check to invest no chips, I am showing that I am weak (which I am, of course). An astute player can bet any two cards and I am likely to fold. If I bet I am increasing the pot size (which is already going against my strategy). Either way, I have no idea how the other player feels about their hand, even after he acts behind me.

In online tournaments, I should check nearly every time when I have a mediocre hand. The reason is that I simply won’t know either way whether I have the best hand. Checking keeps the pot smaller, tying up fewer chips from my stack. Since the blinds are ever increasing toward the size of my stack, I need to find better places (then mediocre hand, out of position) to invest them.

Here’s a great example:

PokerStars Game #39149867931: Tournament #238986486, $3.00+$0.40 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2010/02/02 19:17:35 PT [2010/02/02 22:17:35 ET]
Table '238986486 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 2: Betty73 (905 in chips)
Seat 3: nedoshlo (1550 in chips)
Seat 4: CgCook38 (1975 in chips)
Seat 5: jefferson577 (1415 in chips)
Seat 6: mad pounder (2560 in chips)
Seat 7: amyi (3980 in chips)
Seat 8: Simonelli2 (2530 in chips)
Seat 9: Bakster (7085 in chips)
Betty73: posts small blind 50
nedoshlo: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CgCook38 [Ah 8h]
CgCook38: calls 100 I've been trying to limp more with playable hands before I reach that iffy 10 rounds left level. This is part of that strategy.
jefferson577: folds
mad pounder: folds
amyi: calls 100
Simonelli2: calls 100
Bakster: folds
Betty73: folds
nedoshlo: checks
*** FLOP *** [Qc 6d 8c]
nedoshlo: checks Alright - Second pair, best kicker. My new strategy says check nearly every time. Instead I....
CgCook38: bets 300 ....into a 450 chip pot
amyi: folds
Simonelli2: calls 300
nedoshlo: folds
*** TURN *** [Qc 6d 8c] [Th]
my bet on the flop increased the pot size by over 130 percent!! Not quite the desired result with one opponent still remaining. I'm still out of position with the pot now at 1050 and 1575 left in my stack. What do I do now? I should check and fold to a bet here. That Th didn't help me and helped so many hands that may still be out there. 9Tc, 79c, TT, JTc, AKc, ATc.
CgCook38: checks
Simonelli2: bets 300 I'm beat bad right now, but I don't want to admit it. A stupid bet on the flop begets a stupid call on the turn...
CgCook38: calls 300 after all, I have five or fewer outs, I'm being offered 3.5 : 1 odds, and I only need to invest nearly 20% of my remaining stack. This is the kind of losing poker that I've been playing for months online. I need to get away from it.
*** RIVER *** [Qc 6d 8c Th] [Qd]
CgCook38: checks No miracle card on the river. Thank goodness. The villain took down the pot with a full house, sixes over queens. I was drawing dead on the turn. I shook this off and managed to place third in the tournament.

Losing Left

How many millions of chips, how many hundreds of dollars have been lost to the person sitting to my immediate left? When I started poker I had no idea what position meant. I had no clue of the various advantages gained when acting last. I couldn’t begin to formulate plans for protecting chips from those on my left, simply because I did not realize I needed protection.

I am temporarily assigned to Attu Island right now. My plan for this trip is to look over my last 100 hands played on PokerStars. Specifically I will be looking at hands where I was out of position. Where I am looking to improve is the following areas:

1. Having a small hand and keeping the pot small.
2. Extracting chips with a monster hand.
3. Getting medium strength hands to showdown.
4. Staying away from bluffing at the wrong times.

Hopefully this will improve my game. I’ve been doing better over this period (last 100 hands) and I’d like to know what’s changed.

1st Annual Billy Watson Memorial Tournament, Results

Last Saturday brought our Sitka Poker group to the Bell Residence for the first annual Billy Watson Memorial Tournament. This year’s event was a $5 rebuy with the first buy-in from each player donated to the Hard Six program of TLC in Mesa, AZ. Hard Six is the program responsible for bringing Billy back to our family after years of drug abuse. Each day he struggled with emotional instability and addiction, and my family and I are grateful for the strength he showed for so many years.

23 players showed up for the tournament on Saturday. Along with other donations, we were able to gather $300 for the cause! The tournament itself was fast paced and gut-wrenching (as rebuys tend to be). There were 82 rebuys and 21 add-ons, making the total prize pool $515 after the charitable deduction!

My brother Erick flew up from San Diego, and my Dad (and Billy’s best friend) flew up from Arizona to participate. I was so very glad they made it, and I hope that wherever we hold the tournament next year, we can have even more family members participate. This was my tournament though, as I fought through the brutal blinds schedule (the tournament lasted only about 4 hours), the extremely tough field that our group comprises, and the other three money winners to take 1st place overall.

Thank you so much to everyone that participated! Thanks again to those that donated on the side. Thank you, thank you, thank you! to the Bells for hosting! And I hope to see a lot more people next year!

The winning hand:

Late night poker:

Cash game followed. Joe the Pro ruled!
Winners: Yours truly: 1st, Betty 2nd, Emy 3rd, and Tammy 4th.