$$ Cash 4 Seat $$

PokerStars All-Star week kicked off in full today with the first matches between Team PokerStars Pro and the All Star challengers. Several weeks ago, Team PokerStars Pro held a match of its own to determine who would serve as its captain as it took on some of the best poker players from their home site.

When the match was over, Team PokerStars Pro Victor Ramdin emerged as the team captain. Over the next seven days, he will lead the Team through the bloody battle sure to come from All Star Week.

We asked Ramdin to give us his thoughts on heads up play. Here’s what he had to say.

Heads Up Poker: Winning Ugly

by Victor Ramdin

I like to think of heads up poker as the poker where you need to win ugly. I’m not talking about being a bad sport or breaking the rules, I’m talking about winning with ugly cards. It’s just you and one other player. Much of the time, neither one of you is going to start with or end up with too pretty a hand. Which means that one of you is going to have to win ugly. And when the dealing’s done, the player that wins ugly more often is probably going to be the one with the chips.

In heads up hold ‘em, you’ve got to win some pots by calling at the river with king high. And you’ve got to win some decent size pots with bottom pair–not tiny, checked down pots, decent size pots. If you’re never winning heads up hold ‘em hands by calling at the river with king high and if you’re never winning decent size pots with bottom pair,
you’re not winning ugly enough.

In heads up triple draw, you’ve got to raise before the first draw with 2-6-8-T-K. You’d rather have a prettier hand to raise with, but that’s beside the point. The point is that your opponent’s hand is probably even uglier than yours, and you’ve got to make him pay to draw to that ugly hand.

In heads up Omaha high, you’ve got to bet the third nut straight at the river, get called, and win. Of course you’d rather be betting the nut straight or at least the second nuts. And in a ring game, four handed at the river, you probably shouldn’t bet the river, and maybe not even call a bet. But this is heads up. Full Omaha games are about making the nuts. Heads up Omaha isn’t.

In heads up Badugi, after you steal raise in position, get called, and your opponent draws two, you’ve got to stand pat with 333T or AA88. It would be great to draw and hit a miracle hand, but you may do better in the long run by standing pat with your ugly hand than by drawing weak trying to make a pretty hand.

In heads up seven card stud eight or better, you’ve got to scoop some pots at the river with a pair of nines. In a ring game you might throw away that same pair of nines on third street. But heads up, you’ve got to play those nines much more often and you’ve got to see them through to the river much more often.

Even heads up, you’ll show down a pretty hand every so often. But between pretty hands, be sure to win with your share of ugly ones.

We have all heard it said while playing poker that any two cards can win. Never is this truer, than when playing Texas Hold’em Heads-up. After all Doyle Brunson won two WSOP Main Event bracelets while holding just a measly 10-2. Playing heads up requires a different strategy than you would employ at a full table. It is a completely different game and requires you to play a wide range of starting hands. It requires aggression, and a sound knowledge of your opponents playing style; being able to read strength and weakness, and of course a little luck can never hurt. Heads-up can be very difficult to play, especially against an experienced player. But thanks to PokerStars we can play heads-up anytime, and gain the necessary skill and experience rather quickly.

Starting Hands

When playing heads-up you can not play tight, and expect to win. Given that Q7 (also known as the computer hand) will win slightly more than 50% of the time heads up, this is the hand to use as your benchmark. Any hand Q7 or better must be played heads-up. Small pocket pairs, small aces (e.g. - A2, A3) or even small kings must be played aggressively. Often the small blind (the button when heads-up) will raise every hand pre-flop. You must counter this by defending your big blind more often, or even more optimal re-raising when holding one of the starting hands described above.

Knowing your Opponent

If your opponent plays passive, than you should play more aggressive. If he is aggressive, then you will have to call more often pre-flop, and also by using well timed raises or re-raises pre-flop. If your opponent is very aggressive you have to vary your play and use some discretion when entering a pot.

Chip Stack Size

Knowing your opponents chip count, as well as your own, is always critical. When you are the big stack heads-up, you have to play more aggressive, stealing the blinds, and putting your opponent to the test every hand. It is important to remember that your opponent can have a hand, so while being aggressive be careful not to double your opponent up, or you’ll quickly find yourself on the short stack.. When you are the short stack (33% of the chips in play or less) you have to play a little more cautiously, and look for an opportunity to get yourself all-in and double up; or the high blinds and antes will eat up your chips. You will have no fold equity left, and your opponent will be forced to call you regardless of your holding, as he will be getting proper pot odds to call you.

Varying Your Play (Limping Headsup)

While limping into a pot can be very deceptive, it can also be very dangerous. Limp occasionally against a passive opponent when trying to see a flop cheaply (e.g. - with small suited connectors). Limp occasionally against an aggressive opponent whom you are trying to trap while holding a big hand (e.g. - high pocket pair or AK), especially if you think he will raise pre-flop; look to limp occasionally and check/raise.

Playing Headsup after the Flop

After the flop you will have to continuation bet more often when missing the flop. Often the flop will miss you both, so a continuation bet will often win the pot. Again always be wary of your opponent making a hand, so being able to read your opponent for strength or weakness after the flop is crucial. You must be able to fold when you sense strength and be looking to re-raise when you sense weakness.

Summary

The most important aspect of heads-up poker is aggression. Aggressive play does not mean blind aggression. You must vary your starting hand requirements, and know your opponent. The best way to get better is to practice as often as you can and you’ll be winning in no time.

by Adam “STUDstood” Roberts

Most of the tournaments we see today are the “conventional” type, i.e. single buy-in events, with no rebuys. Although I have had success in this type of structure, I believe that for most people there is much more value in the following types of events:

To close this discussion, although tournaments are a lot of fun, and in rare cases can have life changing monetary profitability, the reality is that because of short term luck, most likely you will just lose your buy in, regardless of how well you play. I think that this high variance makes it much harder to succeed, so I try and look for some additional edge.

Remember, in a cash game, you can take breaks when the cards are not going your way, when you are tired, when the game is not that potentially profitable because there are too many good players in it, etc. You can’t do any of that in tournaments.

On the flip side, though, following good habits both on and off the tables may enable you to become a successful and profitable tournament player, too.

In the meantime, you can find me in the $10/$20 and $30/$60 limit games in our Stud section, as well as in our weekend $215 buy-in tournaments for Stud games. Please check the starting times of each of those events under Tourney > Special in the PokerStars lobby.

Feel free to contact me with any questions, suggestions or thoughts at adamr@pokerstars.com. See you at the tables!

by Adam “STUDstood” Roberts

Poker tournaments have certainly come a long way since a handful of players showed up in the late ’60s to compete in the fledgling WSOP. Play has increased exponentially since I popped onto the scene in the early ’90s. Today, not only has the WSOP added many more events, but there are comparable tournaments in various other casinos around the world and online.

The television boom we have witnessed this decade has also helped promote poker tournaments. But there was poker on TV before this decade. As a teenager, I remember watching the Wide World of Sports, a show which had a penchant for televising odd events, which poker certainly was considered at that time. I remember watching a poker show because Gabe Kaplan was playing, and Welcome Back, Kotter was one of my favorite adolescent TV shows

My own tournament experiences have been positive. In only 25 or so events which I entered between 1992-2002, I made six final tables, placing 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 4th, 7th and 8th, all in Stud High and Stud Hi/Lo events. I have also had some smaller cashes in other live and online events.

What I remember most vividly about those WSOP finishes was that after each one, reporters came over to me and asked me “what I did” to place so high. Although I really wanted to give them some “pearls of wisdom,” I could not. That’s because I did not believe I did anything in particular, strategywise, other than play good, solid poker. I think those reporters were disappointed because they truly expected me to give them some hidden secret.

There aren’t very many successful cash game and tournament players, even at the higher limits. So that is why these scribes were hoping to find out “my secrets.” There are many players who will tell you that they apply different strategies in cash games (whether high or lower limits) than in tournaments. Personally, I do not. The only time I may vary my play, and err on the tighter side, is when I am “on the bubble” which means I am one spot away, or very close to, cashing.

On the flip side, I was never one who just “looked to cash.” Yes, there is a sense of accomplishment when you have competed for many hours with very little break time, and now will be getting your money back plus a profit, small as that may be. Many players are very happy with that, and, there were times when I was as well, especially when I was short stacked on the bubble. It is a “mental victory” to cash, regardless of the buy-in and circumstances, so I do not want to discount that.

But the reality is that unless you are playing in a huge buy-in tournament, an event which has a large number of entries, or a rebuy event (which may have less entries but a high prize pool because of the re-buys), the big money is in the first three or so places. That is your primary goal in tournaments - to reach the big money.

These days, there are some tournaments which pay more spots, which make the prize payouts a bit more equitable for everybody. Personally, I have always favored paying less spots, but having more “bling” for the players who last.

To delve a bit more into my own tournament strategy, I just play the same as I would in cash games, whether those cash games have higher or lower ante ratios. I feel that is actually the “secret” to my success.

I say that because I noticed very quickly that many other tournament players change their strategy to try and adapt to what they felt was correct tournament play. I use that to my advantage. Some of those players use a strategy where they “gamble it up” early to try and get a large amount of chips and then try to coast, or to keep putting pressure on the shorter stacks.

Some famous players, like John Bonetti and Barbara Enright, have had lots of success with this brand of tournament play. But it’s not right for me.

You tend to also witness more of their type of play in rebuy events, even from tighter players. Many players in those type of events feel that even if they go broke they can still rebuy as much as they want, so it “doesn’t matter” if they go broke multiple times. I strongly disagree with that strategy, and will discuss this topic more in upcoming blogs.
Mostly, though, you will find players in tournaments (rebuy or standard) who tend to play tighter, for fear of getting knocked out and losing their buy-in. Although I do not agree with that strategy either, I understand it more than the other one.

Although I do appreciate erring in the direction of caution in tournaments, I have found
that these types of players may cash a bit more often, but rarely win or even place high enough in these events to make that strategy optimum. One example of someone I respect and who has employed that type of tournament strategy is Mike Sexton, though Mike has admitted to opening his game up recently, with much success.

Again, as we have discussed in previous blogs, the key is to find out what works for you.

Although you may think that changing your game to play tournaments is the right way to go, it may not be, mainly because you are not playing your natural style. I think that players who mainly compete in cash games, and play fewer tournaments, would often be best suited sticking close to their normal ring game strategy, as it will keep them comfortable and confident.

Then of course, there are the tournament “specialists”, who will compete year-round in tournaments and only sometimes (if ever) play in cash games. I will cover these types of players next week.

Until next time, you can find me in the $10/$20 and $30/$60 limit games in our Stud section, as well as in our weekend $215 buy-in tournaments for Stud games. Please check the starting times of each of those events under Tourney > Special in the PokerStars lobby.

Feel free to contact me with any questions, suggestions or thoughts at adamr@pokerstars.com. See you at the tables!

Bored of hold’em yet? Well, of course, you aren’t. But how about some variety?

There are so few places you can get variety in your life. Restaurants rarely change their menus. The TV networks are all the same thing. If you’re married, you best have kissed goodbye the concept of variety a long time ago. Trust me on this one.

Fortunately, PokerStars has once again stepped up to offer us that proverbial spice of life that we so lack in other life arenas.

You might have noticed the games popping up at PokerStars in recent months. Among the crowd favorites is Badugi. Now I could go on and on about the game and probably destroy any chance you ever have at winning. Or, I could let the experts do it.

Fortunately for both of us, the fine folks over at PokerStars.tv have already hooked us up with some tips from the pros on the game. Check it out below.

Now, Badugi should be enough variety to get you through the dark night, but if not, and you have a little gamble in you, then check out the Deuce to 7 instructional video below.

Finally, if you are one of those people who needs constant variety all the time, then PokerStars has the table for you. The 8-Game Mixed tables are a constantly moving rotation of some of the most fun games at PokerStars. Based on the variety alone, my wife prefers I don’t play, lest I start getting ideas.

You might have also noticed, PokerStars opened up a nosebleed version of this game at the $400/$800 level.

For more on how to play the 8-Game Mixed tables operate, see the video below.

See? Variety?

Hold’em isn’t going anywhere and you can play the above games for less than a dollar per blind or, frankly, as big as you want. You can find them all under OTHER GAMES in the PokerStars Lobby.

I, in deference to my wife, will return to hold’em.

Earlier today, we showed you how the top players won the biggest tournaments online (and if you missed it, be sure to go back and check out the 3-1-09 Online Poker Show). Now, here’s some advice from Team PokerStars Pro Steve Paul-Ambrose on how to make it happen for yourself.

By Steve Paul-Ambrose

There’s an undeniable appeal to the prospect of turning $200 into $200,000, and in the poker world the quickest way to do that is to win the Pokerstars Sunday Million.

Unfortunately, it’s not quite that easy. The tournament draws over 7,000 players every
week. In this article, I’m going to look at a few strategies and adjustments to make when playing large field tournaments, particularly one like the Sunday Million. I’ll start out with a few general observations, and then move on to strategic adjustments during each phase of the tournament.

One of the most important things to remember going in is this: no matter how well you play, you cannot win (or even go deep) a 7,000 person tournament without getting lucky. That may sound somewhat discouraging, but realizing it is important both to playing well and to staying sane during your rough patches. Secondly, too many people look to pass on edges and survive their way forward in the tournament. But when there are 7,000 other players, you need to be accumulating chips, not just surviving. There are a couple exceptions to the following which I’ll touch on later, but first and foremost your goal in the tournament needs to be to maximize the number of chips you make every hand (remember that very often folding and winning 0 chips is better than any other options for the hand.) A final minor point is that the structure of the tournament has little bearing on your general strategy. Structure determines if and when you get to the different stages of a tournament, but it should very rarely dictate how you play a hand.

Early Stage Play

Early stage play in the Sunday Million has three important characteristics: deep stacks, no antes and nine handed tables. In most cases, it is largely correct to assume you’re playing a cash game as tournament payout implications are smallest at this point. The one exception is at a very weak table, you may want to try to avoid playing for all your chips with a small edge, but I feel most people lose more looking for spots like this than they gain correctly identifying them. Remember, accumulating chips is your number one goal. If you bust early making a correct play, that’s a perfectly good result for the tournament.

Because of the lack of antes and full tables, generally correct play tends to be fairly straightforward tight aggressive play, loosening up in position. A side benefit of playing in this way is you are likely to be viewed as tight and players may be slow to adjust when the antes come in and you start to ramp up the aggression. You should also be looking to develop reads and looking to play pots with the weaker players, particularly in position. Most of the value during this stage comes from exploiting people who are playing too loose and in such a large field there are generally lots of these types of players. Unfortunately, often these players won’t last long, so you need to put yourself in as good a position as possible to be the one that gets their chips, before someone else does.

Mid Stage Play

During this phase, antes come into play and stacks begin to get shorter. Antes promote more aggressive play, as pots are now bigger and there is a larger incentive to steal the blinds. Also, as stacks get shorter, preflop play becomes begins to dominate. As a result, you should get more aggressive, particularly with preflop raises and reraises. Reads continue to be important, especially knowing who is too weak from the blinds, who is capable of reraising or four-betting without a big hand, etc. While describing strategic adjustments in all table conditions is far beyond the scope of this article, I will offer some advice. First, the focus begins to shift from exploiting the looser players to exploiting those playing too tight. Though loose (more specifically loose/passive) players will likely still be targets, their play is made less incorrect by the larger antes. Also, picking out and reraising more often the players who are adjusting to the antes and opening more pots becomes imperative to a winning strategy. Most importantly, remember that there is no one “best” strategy during this, or any, stage of a tournament. Different players and tables require different approaches so be willing to adapt.

As the bubble approaches, your play should likely change, although moreso to adapt to others than because of the money bubble. While you should be less willing to call off your chips preflop, remember that the first payout level tends to be between one and two buyins, whereas first is somewhere in the area of 1000 buyins. Again the key is adjusting to your table, attacking those who care too much about making the money, and picking good spots against other “attackers.”

Once the bubble bursts there’s often a long stage where stacks are quite short relative to the blinds and play is almost entirely preflop. Correct play becomes largely a math problem, and one in which your instincts will prove to be wrong more often than not. The best advice I can give here is to do your own work away from the table. There are lots of tools available, but most of it can be done with Excel, or with a great free program called Pokerstove. Working out correct ranges to move in or folding preflop will drastically increase your edge in almost all tournaments, particularly ones with quicker structures like the PokerStars Sunday Million.

Late Stage Play

As the final table begins to approach, the most important change is that you will often be playing at less than full tables. Again this will require an increase in aggression, and since you’ll be playing more pots with more marginal hands, reads become even more important. Being able to adjust to those who are looking to make the final table as opposed to those looking to win is essential. Ideally you should be able to look at each person (or avatar) at the table and have a good idea of where your edge against that player will come from, whether it’s by playing tight and value betting them, attacking their blinds more than normal, reraising more than normal or in the case of a great player just avoiding them. In reality it never quite works out this well and we operate with incomplete information, but recognizing that this is the goal will help keep you focused.

Most importantly, recognize that making the final table in and of itself is meaningless. Your goal should be to maximize the money you expect to make, so don’t be afraid to make a play you believe is correct. Remember that there is a huge luck element deep in tournaments and try to play your best. Having gotten 10th in the Sunday Million, as well as bubbling a couple WPT and WSOP events (and countless online tournaments), I know it sucks to make it that deep and bust, but most of the money is in the top three spots, so don’t let yourself blind out just trying to make the final table.

Most of what I’ve written in this article can be summed up in a few key points:

1. Preflop play is extremely important in tournaments. Do work off the table to be prepared for this.
2. Reads are extremely important in all stages of a tournament, but especially deep and around the bubbles.
3. Winning a tournament takes a huge amount of luck, so try to ignore results while playing your best and having fun.

by Adam “STUDstood” Roberts

These past few months, many of you have suggested different topics for me to blog on. One of the most common is tournament play, and all its aspects. I have decided to write on this important topic for the next few weeks.

To segue into that, I wanted to tell you about an interesting discussion I recently had with one of PokerStars Team Pro members, Chad Brown. Chad and I are the same age. Along with various other “known” players our age (and also from the New York area) such as Ted Forrest, Howard Lederer and David Grey, Chad and I “hit the poker scene” around 1990. Although I had not seen Chad for many years, he and I had played many hours together through the 1990s.

Not only do I respect his “game” as one of the best all-around poker players in the world, I also have respect for his lifestyle, both on and off the felt. At different junctures in our lives, Chad and I were semi-professional athletes, he in baseball and me in basketball and martial arts. After getting too old to compete in those sports on that level, Chad and I remained very active, and have always taken care of our bodies.

I never really gave much thought or credence into how this affected my poker results, but obviously Chad does. Over a leisurely glass of wine last week at the Commerce Casino, we talked about this idea, especially how it relates to tournament play.

I happened to be at that casino to play in their $500 Stud tournament, in which I placed 8th. Before last week, I hadn’t played in a casino tournament for many years. And when I did, I only competed in the Stud, Stud Hi/Lo and Razz events intermittently at the WSOP.
Chad, however, travels around the world, where he competes in virtually every major event.

Although I remember how grueling my own tournament play was (and felt again after it took until 2AM to reach that final table), I can only imagine how physically and mentally demanding it must be for him, and everyone else who plays in so many events, requiring constant travelling over global distances.

When I had mentioned to Chad that we should have dinner some evening, his reply was that when he is on the tournament trail, which is almost all year-round for him, he follows a very strict training regimen with regards to exercise, diet, sleep and time management.

His response did not surprise me, nor did his explanation. Chad feels that his due diligence away from the poker tables plays a big part of his success on the poker tables. His disciplined regimen makes him able to mentally endure the long hours of constant concentration which his type of tournament play requires.

Most major tournaments are multiple-day events, with each day capable of lasting 12 hours. This is unlike cash games, where you can quit any time, and return any time you want, or even take reasonable amounts of break time with your chips still on the table. Cash games leaves you much more room for both mental and physical rejuvenation, and that applies even if you are a regular, daily player, who puts in many hours, whether live or online. Even just knowing that you can walk away any time is refreshing, even if you choose to play long hours.

My personal style in cash games is to play “quality hours” over “quantity”. I covered that concept in one of earlier blogs. For those of you who compete against me here at PS, you will know what I am referring to.

Although I always give myself a free 6-8 hour window to work, most days I actually play multiple 2-3 hour sessions. This enables me to remain totally fresh, both mentally and physically. I get enough sleep, enough exercise, enough food, and my errands taken care of, while putting in enough quality hours of poker each week. In fact, in my 15 year career, both live and online, I can remember playing longer than eight hours straight only a handful of times in a ring game.

But in the tournaments where I advanced to the final tables, I played continually for much longer than that in one day alone. In tournaments, there are also minimal break times, which are all scheduled beforehand. Tournaments can always turn out to be marathons.

To give you an example of how physical game preparation (both good and bad) affected one of my opponents, I want to share a story. In 1998, I was competing in an $800/$1600 ring game of 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo at the Mirage hotel in Las Vegas. I got onto a good rush, and wanted to see how far I could take it. I began playing in the game at 12 noon, and I was still playing at 4 AM the next morning. That was by far the longest I had ever played continuously in any type of poker game, tournament or cash game included.

I was substantially ahead when it got down to just me and Hamid Dastalmachi, heads-up. Hamid had won the main event the WSOP in 1992. I was still on a good rush when during the middle of hand, Hamid passed out and fell to the floor. He had been drinking and smoking while we were playing, but he had not been at the table for more than a couple of hours.

It was a bit scary, because paramedics had to come and administer oxygen to him. When they revived him and attempted to put him on the gurney to take him to the hospital, he refused, saying that he wanted to finish the game. We ended up playing for another four hours, when he finally did quit.

This is just an example of what I have covered in previous blogs, emphasizing the importance of being mentally and physically prepared for a long, grueling session, be it live or in a tournament. Poker can be enormously draining, mentally and physically.

Many times you will end up getting knocked out early, but when you sign up for a tournament you should be prepared for the long haul, as there WILL be those times where you will have to play long hours. And if you want to succeed, you must be at your best the whole time.

Remember, mistakes in cash games are costly, but they can sometimes be recouped. Mistakes in tournaments usually put you on the rail, with that buy-in lost.

Chad Brown’s way of thinking is sound. Proper diet, rest, sleep and exercise, as well as limiting stress and distractions, are all imperative to your success regardless of what level, stakes, game, and setting you choose to play poker. Before you play one hand, you should be fully prepared to play your best. To an extent, the game starts even before the first hand is played.

Until next time, you can find me in the $10/$20 and $30/$60 limit games in our Stud section, as well as in our weekend $215 buy-in tournaments for Stud games. Please check the starting times of each of those events under Tourney > Special in the PokerStars lobby.

Feel free to contact me with any questions, suggestions or thoughts at adamr@pokerstars.com. See you at the tables!

by Adam “STUDstood” Roberts

Danny Robison is now in his early 60s. He is a fixture in the $2000/$4000 limit Stud game at the Hustler Casino in Los Angeles. But in 1989, he had just returned from a self-imposed five-year hiatus from poker.

Although I had heard people talk about him while playing in the Rounders game in Manhattan and the $30/$60 limit Stud games in both Las Vegas and Los Angeles, I had never actually seen him play either as a spectator or an opponent. That happened in the summer of 1990 at the Bicycle Club in Los Angeles.

I have mentioned Danny in a number of past blogs, so I will not labor on his history any further. What I want to cover here is that everything I learned from Danny was picked up without his knowledge. Although Danny and I became friends and socialized together, we never discussed poker strategy.

Everything about poker that I learned from Danny I learned as I watched and studied his actions on the table. When you’re fortunate enough to play with a true master of the game, it should always be looked at as an opportunity to learn. Even with all of the great teachers and mentors I have had through the years, I would say that I picked up more from Danny without him even knowing, than I did from people who intentionally taught me things.

Case in point… Early that summer, I still had not officially met Danny. I was at the Bicycle Club waiting to get into a $75/$150 game and sitting at an empty table reading a Card Player magazine.

At an adjacent empty table, Danny and another Stud player (who I later realized was also an excellent player) named Tony Latorre (now deceased) were discussing strategy.

Although I was trying to mind my own business, any of you who know these guys realize that they are LOUD, even when not trying to be. So, I could not help but overhear their conversation. They were discussing a certain 4th street strategy in Stud poker.

At first, I thought that they were joking. I say that because what they were saying made absolutely no sense to me. In fact, it seemed totally contradictory to what I would do in that same situation on 4th street (at that time in my career). Then I realized that they truly were serious, and I clearly recollect thinking that these guys were suckers.

But then I remembered that both these men were also considered great players, so I decided to not only listen, but try an experiment when I got back to my hotel room. I dealt out random cards for hours upon hours, over many days, to see if what they had been saying was correct, even though I had strong doubts. Of course not only were their concepts correct, but they were so advanced that I do not think many people to this day know about them or know how to correctly incorporate them.

What I am getting at here is that this same experience may very well happen to you, and you should be open to it when it does. Do not discount or underestimate the strategy and concepts of long-time winning players, even if those concepts seem wrong or foreign to you. Try them out; see if they are mathematically correct and if they might work for you.

Poker is an ongoing learning process; you should try different things out, to see if they fit with your personality, style of play, games you play, and your bankroll. (If a certain strategy is high risk/high reward, it may not be right for someone on a limited bankroll.)

With regards to learning from your peers, as the limits get higher, I think this might get tougher. I did it covertly with guys like Danny, Tony, Jack Weiss, Roy Whitaker, all players in that $75/$150 Stud game.

Very few people, especially the ones you compete against regularly, are willing to discuss strategy. But, there may be some who will. In my case, those guys were Ted Forrest, Bruce Migdal and Fast Eddie (who I knew from Brooklyn). Ted and I would have these long conversations about many different types of poker strategy. Listening to us would be funny because our views were so different on just about everything. Yet, we made them work for us.

Again, my point here is that keep an open mind, seek out as much information as possible in whatever venues you can find it. Then, don’t be afraid to try things out. Even if you fail, you should learn from the experience.

If you have the ability and good habits, many things will work out for you and your game will improve.

In the meantime, you can find me in the $10/$20 and $30/$60 limit games in our Stud section, as well as in our weekly $215 buy-in tournaments. Please check the starting times of each of those events for your geographic area under Tourney > Special in the PokerStars lobby.

Feel free to contact me with any questions, suggestions or thoughts at adamr@pokerstars.com. See you at the tables!

by Adam “STUDstood” Roberts

In my recent blogs I have been trying to give you some sense of the various ways to help improve your game. Those include figuring out from what sources to learn, i.e. books, videos, television shows, teachers (both knowingly and otherwise), your own live and online playing experiences, etc. This also includes how to develop your own style based on your own personality (both on and off the tables), affinity and ability in different games and limits, and bankroll.

In last week’s column, I gave you an encapsulization of my own poker history, and how I accomplished these tasks. I would like to continue this week.

To recap, I had begun playing in the $10/$20 Rounders Stud game in Manhattan in 1989. Although I started out as a small winning player, because various good players took the time out to teach me how to improve my game I quickly added to my hourly earn, enough that I was considering trying to play Stud poker for a living.

To do that, I knew that I would have to further improve my game, to enable me to win enough to make a living playing higher limits. So, I took my first trip to Las Vegas in late 1989; the Mirage poker room had just opened and there was a large selection of games to play. In those days, Stud was the clear poker game of choice at every limit. In the 10 days which I was there, I played in 27 sessions of $30/$60 limit, and won in 26 of them.

Although the money was certainly useful, more important to me was finding out that there were various different styles of play than what I was used to back in my Rounders game. I attributed that somewhat to the accelerated ante structure, i.e. $5 in $30/$60, which is a 12:1 ratio (big bet:ante), as opposed to $1 in $10/$20, which is a 20:1 ratio. But I also found a different “personality” among the people who lived and gambled in Las Vegas, whether it was for a living or just recreation. In general, the New York City style was more conservative, whereas in Las Vegas there was more of a gambling “get the last bet in” style. This was an important enlightenment for me, because it made me adjust my own play to the games in both of those geographic areas, as well as to the different ante structures.

It’s important to account for these factors when you sit down to play. The ante:big bet ratio is your first clue as to the style that will likely be played in a game. For example, later on during the ’90s there were times I played $40/$80 limit with a $5 ante, and other times it was spread with a $10 ante. That was a huge disparity, and the real, implied and pot odds value of each hand is affected by that difference in ante structure.

Mathematically alone (as well as the difference in your opponents play), your strategy must be changed to adjust to the structure; the higher the antes, the more hands you should play, as the pot sizes are larger. You also should attempt more “ante steals”, since the payoff is higher. I first became aware of this important concept on this trip.
Getting back to that initial trip to Las Vegas, fortunately for me a couple of things happened.

First, I found that the great foundation my Rounders mentors had given me enabled me to be one of the better players in the $30/$60 games right away. Although one would think that because it was “Las Vegas” the games would be tougher, especially at a higher limit than I was used to, I actually found it quite the opposite. It’s true that the top players in Las Vegas were better than the top ones in New York, but the worse players in Vegas played a lot poorer, and this applied even as the limits increased. The fundamental education I had received served me well.

I also found that my own innate style of play (based on my personality on and off the table) fit better in Las Vegas (and subsequently Los Angeles) than in the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut style.

My next test was going back to my Manhattan Rounders game, apply my new skills and style of play and see how that affected my results. Would my experience from the West Coast help me back East?

What I found was that my earn increased approximately 33%. This was great news for me, because I felt that I was on the right track to achieve my goals. Having varied experiences, and learning from the players in different games, was paying off.

My next trip to Las Vegas was in mid-1990. Again, I had great results playing $30/$60 stud.

Since my ultimate goal was to live in Los Angeles, which was quickly becoming the poker capital of the world, I decided to drive there and see how those games played out for me. At the Bicycle Club casino, I played $30/$60 stud for a few days, and won every session. I found the Los Angeles and Las Vegas style of play similar, which may have simply been because many of the same players from both cities competed in both games.

After winning consistently in all my $30/$60 limit sessions, I decided to try the $75/$150 limit Stud games. Boy, was I in for an awakening.

The $75/$150 games was played with even more “gamble” to it, which also may have had to do with the $15 ante, which was a 10:1 ratio, the highest I had ever played in. I also found that the higher the limit, the less regard people seemed to have for money. Or, more accurately, they attempted to put more “money pressure” on me. The tactics employed at this limit were completely different than what I was used to.

I played three sessions at $75/$150, and lost all three. That was very bad, because the $15k I lost in those three sessions wiped out my whole earn for three previous weeks in the $30/$60 games.

The silver lining was that I witnessed things that would change my perspective in poker forever.

In 1975, Jon Landau wrote in a concert review “I have seen the future of rock and roll and his name is Bruce Springsteen.” Well, in only three sessions playing $75/$150 stud poker at the Bicycle Club casino in the summer of 1990, I saw the future of my stud poker playing career. His name was Danny Robison.

More next week…

In the meantime, you can find me in the $10/$20 and $30/$60 limit games in our Stud section, as well as in our weekly $215 buy-in tournaments. Please check the starting times of each of those events for your geographic area under Tourney > Special in the PokerStars lobby.

Feel free to contact me with any questions, suggestions or thoughts at adamr@pokerstars.com. See you at the tables!

Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren enjoyed a great run at this month’s PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event, finishing 30th for $40,000. With life tournament winnings of more than $1.2 million, including $941,513 for the EPT London title in 2006, she’s an ideal person to write about the importance of changing gears to improve your tournament results.

by Vicky Coren

The art of multi-table tournament poker lies in the pace. There are two big general mistakes that beginners can make: either they play too slowly, waiting so long for good hands that they are blinded away by the relentless clock - or they play too quickly, pushing unnecessary hands and knocking themselves out as if they had a train to catch.

The balance is difficult to find. It’s all about a mathematical equation: you are playing according to the size of your stack, the size of your opponents’ stacks, the size of the blinds and the speed of the clock. But all these factors are changing all the time. It can be discombobulating. Playing a tournament is like climbing a long staircase, in which the size and shape of the steps is altered every few minutes, and (every so often) a tub of oil is tipped down them. If you stop concentrating, you’ll tumble backwards and break a leg.

Generally speaking, the best principle is to let your pace gather speed with the blinds. That is the safest strategy: to play tight at the beginning (not overplaying marginal hands when the blinds and pots are too small to be worth stealing), and gradually broaden the range of hands you raise with, in direct proportion to the blinds going up and the field getting smaller. If people want to push you around at the beginning, let them. But when the blinds get serious, flex your muscles and take a stand.

By “playing tight”, I don’t mean waiting for aces. In a deep-stack tournament, where you can afford to see a lot of flops in the early levels, you can play pre-flop almost like a cash game: creeping in, or making unexpected raises, with those interesting hands like 8-10 suited or J9 suited, trying to catch a monster. It’s more a case of (when you fail to hit) not throwing good money after bad. If you can afford to give up, don’t get stubborn.

In a big opening field, such as the PokerStars Sunday Million, there can be a strangely hurried feel. Players want to jostle ahead of the crowd so they play aggressively, pushing marginal hands and even moving all in, from the earliest levels. Some of them want to build a big stack fast, or get out early. If this is the mood at your table, don’t get sucked into the panicky betting frenzy: sit patiently and bet only when you want action. Pre-flop raises won’t clear opponents away. Bluffs will fail more often than they succeed. But value bets should pay off nicely. Don’t bother trapping with sets, straights or flushes: bet them openly. It’s worth seeing a few cheap flops in late position with a wide range of hands, but play on only if you hit because you will get paid.

Remember, in a multi-table tournament you have two sets of opponents: those on your table (whose chips you are trying to take directly) and those on other tables who you may meet later. So you should always have an idea of what the average chip stack is for the whole field. On PokerStars, it’s easy - the lobby will always tell you. In a live tournament like an EPT, there should be a wall clock with that information.

You are there to play poker and win the tournament, not count your way nervously towards the payout spots. But the chip average should be in your mind as a constant backdrop, to gauge the general health of your stack.

In the middle stages, you cannot afford to waste chips. At this point, it’s all about selective aggression: picking your spots to play, and then playing like you mean it. In the early stages you can make speculative calls, in the middle stages you can’t. Beware the mediocre hands like A-9 or small pairs; you’re better off playing a 6-7 suited. Why? Because you’ll know where you stand. You should be raising or re-raising your way into pots with hands where you know you want action, or know that you don’t. The same applies after the flop. With every bet you make, be certain what response you want.

Around the bubble is a great time to increase your aggression. Many players will be loitering, trying to make the money. You must find the bravery not to be one of these people. But pick your targets with care. The small stacks are forced to gamble and the big stacks can afford to. Put pressure on the middle stacks, who may be trying to safeguard their chips for the payout spots.

What about the size of your own stack? You must make sure it never goes below ten big blinds. If you find you have 15-20 big blinds, it’s time to start re-raising all-in while you can still make the original raiser pass. If you get to 10 big blinds or fewer, it’s all-in or fold. You must not raise and then pass; it’s like burning money. And you mustn’t flat call, because timidity is tournament death. With ten big blinds or below, if nobody else has raised before the action is on you, you must be ready to move in with any hand at all. Anything. Even if you have 7-2 and somebody wakes up with A-A, you still have a 12% chance to win the pot - whereas, if you let yourself get blinded away, you have 0% chance of winning the tournament. And if you can find the nerve to start moving in with any hand in the late stages (or when you’re on ten big blinds) you have a much higher than 12% chance that nobody finds anything to call you with, and you can boost your stack with those valuable blinds and antes.

Two important notes: what applies to you applies to everyone else as well. If you have good chips and someone else moves in with less than ten big blinds, you must widen your calling range to reflect their need to move with anything.

Second note: in any form of poker - cash game or tournament, Holdem or Omaha, multi-table or heads-up - you must always be counter-intuitive. Whatever your basic strategy (and the above, to increase aggression as the tournament goes on, remains the best) you must mix it up at least once per level. Never let your opponents get complacent. Do what’s right but, every so often, just do what’s unexpected.