A shift in strategy

Partly due to increased experience, partly due to what I believe is a better knowledge of this wonderful game, partly due to one venue I play at where one person almost always comes to the final table with an almost insurmountable chiplead, and partly due to a comment Daniel Negranu made during the WSOP (was on day 2 or 3 where he said that he had folded 14 hands pre-flop!!), I have made a drastic shift in my strategy. And last night was the best example of it.

I used to make a joke that anyone can win with aces, but it takes a real player to win with 3/6 offsuite. Though it started merely as a joke, I am beginning to believe it to be MUCH more truthful than I originally intended.

I just realized how long this particular blog ended up being, so I'm going to cut to the 'moral of the story' here, quoting from the end of this blog: "The way I positioned myself to get there (heads-up), though, was by playing what some may call non-standard poker: figuring most players are going to be raising/calling raises with big cards, I went to the opposite end, and when the flops stayed low I was easily able to win them outright or steal them knowing my opponents are on big cards and that flop couldn't have helped them."

OK, on with the saga:

Most of the players that know me from riverchaser's have seen me play pretty damn tight - squeaky tight' some may say, and often by the end of the 2nd blind round I am short stacked. This is a reality I had come to accept, and have learned how to play from a shortstack quite well. I do well for myself.

That's all in the past now. Probably.

Here are some hands that I played last night -- not from a blind even, and sometimes not even IN position: 2/6 offsuit; 9s 2s; 84 off; 5c 8c; 67 off; 4d5d.... I picked up AQ twice, and QQ once - AQ I led out with my standard raise for that round and picked up only the blinds and one or two limpers. QQ I ended losing quite a big pot to a straight on the river (half my chips at the time), as my raise was re-raised, I called, and hit a set on the flop. That didn't stop my what some may call unusual playing.

Yes, riverchasers is a freeroll tournament. And some people play 'garbage hands' because of this fact alone. However, there was a purpose to my madness. Sometimes it was to simply mix it up; sometimes I'd call a small raise in position if there was more than one other caller with any cards - bringing a bit of a cash-game mentality into my tournament play.

The thing is this, and it sounds so obvious it's almost not even worth pointing out: when I lead out with a raise, I am telling the table that I have a hand I expect to win with. With that image going into the flop, I already have an advantage. And if someone calls my bet when I'm holding 5c 7c, I can assume they have a pair of some sort, or high cards. If the flop hits them, they bet, I fold. More often than not they're NOT going to hit the flop (nor am I!), and when I lead out with a bet if checked to (or if I DO get a small piece and can re-raise), I stand to take the pot.

Part of this also comes down to knowing your opponents. One hand stands out in particular. A woman I know and whose play I respect tremendously led out with a standard raise... I look down to see 4d 5d. I KNOW she's not raising with small connectors like that - she's got big cards. And her bet wasn't big enough to tell me she has a small pocket pair (a leak in her game: small pocket pairs she tries to bet heavy preflop and take it down fast); yet also not small enough to tell me she had aces and begged for action (another leak in her play). I put her on J 10 or Q J (or maybe K J but I thought that the least likely). The flop cooporated: 6 7 8 rainbow. She checks to me, I bet - she calls. She's still looking for her pair - there's nothing in that flop that would help her hand (unless she, too, all the sudden has changed the way she plays). Turn was a blank, and she made a hefty bet. Flopping the nuts at that point I move all-in. She folded, showing me Kc Qc. I told her what I played, and though I didn't show, the only reason she believed me was what she'd already seen me show down so far, which were often non-premium starting hands.

That's part of knowing your opponent: if you've got low cards, especially if they're suited connectors or suited gappers, and you know they are very by-the-book-high-card-only players, you call them if they raise with those hands! If the flop is high cards, you get out of the way; if you fire and they're firing back, they may have a pair and have you beat unless you were lucky like me to flop the nuts.

I would love to have kept a running count on just how many pots I ended up stealing with garbage last night. Yea, I'd play premium hands of course. But I knew the players to avoid trying to outplay at the table (at the start only 2 of the 7 others I had to be wary of; once combined there were 3 of 7 others I had to be careful of), and it was almost like everyone else at the table were open books. They bet when the had it, the checked/folded when they didn't. I was able to take enormous advantage of those tendancies with a wide variety of garbage hands and bet at pots that were checked to me, and take it down.

Here's a main point, though -- almost every single hand I played, I came IN for a raise. Unless I was on the button or the cutoff and there was a raise and more than one caller, when I would simply call, I was raising almost every single pot I was in. I did NOT vary the size of my raise in relation to the blinds: I raised approx. the same precentage of the blind each time. That way when I turned over the QQ, and also was able to show down (and win a pot with!) a 9 2 (with a board of q q 10 6 2!!!), no one was able to put me on any particular hand. This lead to people making calls and re-raises at the most inopportune times for them b/c they had enough of my raises and were tired of me stealing so many pots (twice that happened and I took those folks out of the tourny with big hands - bad timing on their parts).

The most nerve wracking part of the evening was the final table: chipleader comes over with close to 3K in chips; I'm 2nd in chips with 950. I watch her make incredibly odd calls (kind of like I had been doing all night!), and then catching the nuts on the flop or turn; I watched her - after two people moved all in - call with a Q 5 off, and win with a boat. And I was honestly nervous to enter a pot that she would be in, b/c I didn't know if she was gonna raise me out, or outflop me, or what.... so I did my best to avoid pots she was in, and was able to chip myself up so that it was she and I heads up at the end. She did have me outchipped by at least 2-1 at the start, though, so I knew I had some ground to make up.

Watching her play I thought she was an easy mark, and unless very unlucky I thought I'd be able to outplay her heads-up. Of course, she - and her husband - both tell me that heads-up is her favorite way to play, so I know she's got a good handle on heads up. I decided to go on the attack from the get-go, playing very agressive. I won a couple unconctested pots; I won a couple small pots after the flop; had to fold a copule rag-hands to a couple big raises, then she made a BIG big big mistake. I forget the exact hand, but I slow-played middle suited connectors from the button. When the flop gave me top set with a backdoor flush draw, she bet BIG. I put her on AK. I moved all in, she called - flipped over AK - no flush draw, no straight draw - only thing that would help here was running aces or running K's. That didn't come, and I take most of the chips, leaving her with 700 and me with the rest.

Next hand I get 7/2 and fold. Following hand I'm on the button, and have A 3 off -- any ace heads up is big, and I almost always raise on the button, but I smoothe called, and she checked. The flop came A 3 4 -- all clubs. She moved all in for her remaining 500, I called instantly with my two pair, and she flips over a 5 - something, with no club. Only thing that could help her was a 2 or a flush on the board. Didn't come out, and I took it down.

The way I positioned myself to get there, though, was by playing what some may call non-standard poker: figuring most players are going to be raising/calling raises with big cards, I went to the opposite end, and when the flops stayed low I was easily able to win them outright or steal them knowing my opponents are on big cards and that flop couldn't have helped them.

I tried a tiny experiment along these lines a few weeks back, deciding before a few hands that I was going to play it like a powerhouse no matter what, and it ended up working out quite well: surprised some people when they saw the showdown when it came to that, but I ended up at the final table with a nice amount of artilary to use to combat Colin, who always dominates the Cafe Europa games with nothing but sheer agression. It's been missing from my game, and I'm finding it - and using it.

Did I get lucky? Sure, there were hands I lucked out on. Did I outplay my opponents? Often. Am I going to change the way I play?

Well, I'll put it this way: I have a bigger array of tools in my poker toolbelt that I'm comfortable using now. And when you play against me, you'll have to guess if I'm playing tight/agressive or like way I played last night. :)

- thePokerDegen