I love this game. For those who don’t, the blinds are always 5 and 5, but the antes get progressively larger every level. So what you end up with is a large pre-flop pot but no one player any more committed to it than any other. The rules are otherwise the same as NLHE, but it’s really a very different game. You can’t just autopilot it the way you can other NLHE tournaments, and that gives a big advantage to people who actually understand poker and how to adapt to new situations.
The single most common mistake people make is folding pre-flop. In an unraised pot, you can be getting 100:1 or better to limp in. Even if it’s very likely that someone will raise, folding 72o UTG is still a mistake. Yet people fold constantly because they are used to folding junk hands.
I limp everything in early position. It’s an easy way to improve your relative position. You still have any two cards, you’ve put virtually no money in the pot, but now you get to see what happens behind you before you decide whether and how to play your hand. If I’m UTG+1 or UTG+2, I’ll even limp big pairs behind other limpers.
Another mistake people make is giving away blatant raise sizing tells. Often they’ll make very small raises when they want to discourage people behind them from calling with anything and larger, “serious” raises when they have big hands. Combine my early position limping with those sizing tells and you get this:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 320 Tournament, 5/5 Blinds 30 Ante (8 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Button (t3660)
SB (t4021)
BB (t10996)
UTG (t3654)
Hero (UTG+1) (t4263)
MP1 (t5358)
MP2 (t5841)
CO (t4660)
Hero’s M: 17.05
Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with 6♦, 7♦
1 fold, Hero calls t5, 1 fold, MP2 bets t15, CO calls t15, 1 fold, SB calls t10, BB calls t10, Hero raises to t333, 4 folds
Total pot: t315
Results:
Hero didn’t show 6♦, 7♦.
Outcome: Hero won t315
If my raise seems huge, it’s because MP2’s raise is actually very small. There are 285 chips in the pot when he raises to 15, so my raise is only about the size of the pot. I think it’s pretty clear none of these guys has anything.
I lost a big pot making a similar play:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 320 Tournament, 5/5 Blinds 60 Ante (9 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
MP2 (t8563)
MP3 (t5000)
CO (t21244)
Button (t5010)
Hero (SB) (t9510)
BB (t5957)
UTG (t3955)
UTG+1 (t9157)
MP1 (t4181)
Hero’s M: 17.29
Preflop: Hero is SB with 7♦, 4♦
2 folds, MP1 calls t5, 2 folds, CO bets t30, 1 fold, Hero raises to t555, 2 folds, CO calls t525
Flop: (t1660) 7♥, 4♥, J♦ (2 players)
Hero bets t999, CO calls t999
Turn: (t3658) 3♣ (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks
River: (t3658) J♥ (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks
Total pot: t3658
Results:
Hero had 7♦, 4♦ (two pair, Jacks and sevens).
CO had Q♥, 7♠ (two pair, Jacks and sevens).
Outcome: CO won t3658
Of course that’s the nastiest river in the deck. After seeing how wide this guy was willing to call pre-flop, I made the questionable decision to take this line against him:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 320 Tournament, 5/5 Blinds 80 Ante (9 handed) – PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
MP3 (t8338)
CO (t6564)
Button (t20123)
SB (t3597)
Hero (BB) (t8857)
UTG (t5727)
UTG+1 (t2537)
MP1 (t9362)
MP2 (t7472)
Hero’s M: 12.13
Preflop: Hero is BB with A♦, 4♦
3 folds, MP2 bets t11, MP3 calls t11, 1 fold, Button calls t11, SB calls t6, Hero raises to t777, 2 folds, Button calls t766, 1 fold
Flop: (t2307) 10♥, 10♠, K♥ (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks
Turn: (t2307) 3♦ (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t1153, Hero calls t1153
River: (t4613) K♠ (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t1200, Hero calls t1200
Total pot: t7013
Results:
Button had K♦, 7♠ (full house, Kings over tens).
Hero mucked A♦, 4♦ (two pair, Kings and tens).
Outcome: Button won t7013
On paper maybe this doesn’t look so bad, except for maybe his scary sizing on the river- it’s just so hard for him to have a hand that beats me and so much incentive to bluff. The thing is he tanked for a long time before checking the flop but then instantly bet the turn. It kind of felt like he was debating whether to bet a K, decided against it on the flop, and then knew he was definitely betting it when I checked to him again.
I lost the last of my chips shoving 55 over a raise and a call and getting snapped off by 77, nothing interesting there. It was a really fun tournament, though. I’d love to see Stars start running a weekly $215 Antes Up on Saturday or Sunday. Oh and I’m hosting the final table so I’m looking forward to seeing how people play there.