Copy and Paste

This is a response to a note posted on the No Limit Discussion Group message board. The original post was basically about tournament scenarios where you either have a below average chipstack going into the money, or you luckbox into a huge chipstack early, but blow it. I added my experiences here because I certainly know a little bit about blowing it...



I think it's really awesome that you write a note like this because these are
situations that I've thought about a lot in terms of overall general tournament
strategy. Of course, the first situation you describe is exactly like all the
others where you end up busting somewhere in the middle and the memory fades.

I've never been an 'accumulator'. I'm trying much harder to be one, but my early
tournament style, I believe is more in line with my personality. That is to say
I'm not really one to deliberately stand out in a crowd, so naturally, I'm
pretty much waiting until the antes kick in to attempt to make deep runs.

I will say that I'm always looking for spots where I'm pretty certain I can
double up, and in the games I play, they're pretty easy to see. Big pairs just
have incredible stacking power early in tournaments when a lot of opponents are
willing to stack off with something like AJ when they pair their kicker and
don't improve.

In the second case - everything goes your way. Opponents have just good enough
second best hands to be willing to stack off, you get it all in with QQ against
two AKo's and triple through. That's awesome. But I have definitely had the
problem where I end up flush early, and one of three things happens... Either I
whittle myself down by playing too many hands, over playing AJs+ hands, or
getting married to QQ or better. A few months ago, as I was watching my pirate
videos, I was turned on to the concept of 'stack protection'. Not a new idea to
me, as I reasonably concluded long ago that protecting a big stack was probably
a good thing to try to do, but never really heard any theory or method on the
subject.

Subsequently, my VP$iP in the SB has dropped to about 5%, but my 3Bet % has
risen to about 26% in the same spot. When M=>80, blinds mean nothing, other than
someone's eventually going to get in trouble, and so long as it's not me, I'm
ahead before cards are dealt. So yeah, I don't even bother stealing or
defending, unless it's a trap or a punishment scenario.

I think there are two types of reactions by players to the idea of getting
involved with a big stack. There are those who tend to avoid them, and there are
those who see them as the best opportunity to double up. I strive to be both,
selectively. The converse of this is that my big stack is either a target or a
harbinger, and the trick is to try to determine what players are seeing it as.
The natural advantage to having a big stack is that you can afford to pay for
information, and can readily identify into which pole the villain has stuck
their flag. They almost tell you right off the bat what they want from you,
either by isolating, or by playing a tentative line. I just notice that when I
have a big stack, it's a lot easier to read opponents pre and post flop by their
actions. You can almost always tell when they're afraid for their tournament
life or when they're licking their chops.

The balance I try to achieve with a ridiculously big stack early is actually
tightening up my ranges, while still trying to create the illusion of action.
Basically, I'm overlimping a enough with a big stack (amazing to notice when a
big stack limps how few times a raise comes in behind you), with middle suited
one or two gappers and connectors (suited or not), to create that illusion of
action. I like being able to sacrifice a blind every now and again with the
chance of hitting a big draw or a big hand, and the opportunity to check and
fold on the flop, lulling my opposition into a false sense of security -
essentially telling them that I'm going to continue with weak lines. I really
just try to stay out of dominated, negative implied odds situations and have
position when possible.

A reasonably safe ploy since it really only costs a couple of big blinds to set
up the illusion. If you're able to act like a donkey twice in two orbits with a
big stack, people are generally going to label you a donkey for a couple of
reasons: One, they already resent you because you have a big stack, and two,
people who 'pay attention' or think they 'pay attention' want so badly to 'have
a read' on you that they're quick to label you what they want you to be, rather
than consider what you're actually doing. So I like to spend a little with
highly speculative hands while it doesn't hurt to do so, and also more
importantly, get lucky enough to hurt or stack someone with one of these hands,
because it certainly does not go unnoticed when you turn a ridiculous straight
with 69 against AK on an A/rag/rag flop. THEN THEY THINK YOU'RE THE WORST PLAYER
IN THE WORLD! Then it only takes putting money in marginally pre-flop once every
two orbits or so to maintain that image. I value the image of stupid much more
early in a tournament than late.

I think that also allows better opportunity to continue to accumulate, rather
than stagnate. Other than that, I'm pretty much tightening my opening ranges and
my threebet ranges, because I'm always looking to find someone willing to stack
off with a worse hand. What eventually happens is what defines the image, and
perception of image for most people is not a rational one, it's an emotional
one, where either the opposition considers your image either in terms of fear or
over-confidence. If you look like a bad poker player in the eyes of the villain,
then they're going to attack you, if you look like a 2400+ Grand Master, they're
going to avoid you. I just think the worst thing one can do with a big stack is
look like a nit - stagnation is bad. Just like a capitalist economy, a chipstack
on a flatline with no volume up or down spells doom.

When the antes finally kick in, and I'm surrounded by 30BB stacks, I stop being
an idiot and start punishing fools. Maybe I've changed tables recently and
people don't know what's up with me, or maybe I'm on the same table. If I'm on
the same table when the antes kick in, I'm pretty much changing my personality -
and when that is successful, that will protect my stack further, because not
only will people becomes confused as to what I'm doing and how I'm playing, but
they'll know I'm not screwing around either.

I don't know how many times I've been at least double the chip average with more
than half the field remaining and just not having any clue what to do it.

Anyway, my personal problem right now is finding a conceptual balance between
bet sizing with the intent of not allowing proper odds for my opponent to call
with draws vs. being transparent about doing it. I really want to make my
opponents make mistakes, but since I've become pretty adept at calculating pot
odds on the fly (not too difficult to achieve) I assume everyone else has done
the same, and can read my hand as if it was face up. Am I being paranoid again?

Ike