www.pokerroom.com – I know I am probably not alone in my thinking at the moment, but I have recently wondered if I am perhaps playing differently to how I should in the latter stages of MTT’s. in the last two days I have played in two such tournaments, reaching 24th out of 298 in the first, and 29th out of 328 in the second. It is nice to make it into the money of course, but also frustrating not to make it to the final table.

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it often seems to me that I have a tendancy to tighten up as the blinds increase if I have built a strong stack in the first hour or two. I suppose this could be the problem, as despite ensuring I make it deep into the tournament, I am simply not taking enough risks to build a stack that can carry me to the final table. You could argue that it is important to be stealing blinds and making a raise with marginal hands preflop when in position to, and I think that this is probably what I will attempt next time I am in this position.

Perhaps it is a general flaw in my play that I always try and sense danger and make good folds, but then this in itself is imperitive to surviving in MTT’s. But having said this, you can still practice caution if faced with a big raise on the flop, whilst also making strong plays preflop too.

As with most things, I guess it is simply a case of striking a balance. I tighten up too much when the blinds starting getting big I feel, and shall work on this aspect in the coming weeks.
Recent success in live events has not been plagued by the same problem interestingly, and so perhaps it is best to examine my live play and look at where the differences lie. Pokeroom.com

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www.fulltiltpoker.com – After the the past few weeks action I felt a partial break was deserved this week. Thats not to say I have not played at all of course, that would be unthinkable. Besides which, I have to pick up points in our local poker league table.
Having played two less games than most people on the table as I was unwell for a little while, my position is 14th place out of 41. This weeks action did not improve my position greatly however, as I really couldn’t find a hand all night.

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In an hour and a half of play, the biggest Ace I picked up was (Ah,9h) and the biggest pair was (10,10) with which I picked up only the blinds. Sometimes I suppose you can turn up with all the aspirations in the world for your evenings game, but if lady luck stonewalls you, you can’t really pick up many chips. I guess it would be unfair to say I had no luck at all though. After three players had flat called the blinds and I was getting short stacked, I decided to make a risky all in shove from the big blind with (8c,4d) and walked into (A,A). I do not know why the player didn’t raise with them, but if it was because he felt I was going to push my shortstack in, it was a great read. Luck was on my side on that occasion as I picked up three 4′s on the turn and completed a Full House on the river. This week I will hopefully have a better time of things at our local event, and will perhaps catch up on some cash play with some friends, hopefully, with better results. fulltiltpoker.com

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www.fulltiltpoker.com – Over the years, and indeed centuries, poker has evolved. From it’s humble beginnings, the game has developed and grown into being played with the current day 52 card deck, and from there have grown many variations of the original idea of poker. We have Five Card Draw, we have Omaha, as well as Seven, and Five Card Stud, 3 card poker, and all manner of other games, some of which stretch the boundaries of what is really ‘poker’. But the fact is that it doesn’t really matter what these games are classified as, because essentially, they are all the same in essence. They provide a challenge of wit and skill and the chance for people to sit down together and socialise.

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There is no doubt though that wherever a game of poker is played too often by someone, such are the joys of it, the game needs to be moulded and changed slightly. Most people who play poker will have at a home game somewhere, played a version where you have wild cards, or an extra card or twist somewhere, and I suppose that is the beauty of a deck of cards. They are incredibly flexible in terms of the different games you can play with them, and you can introduce new twists to almost any existing game.
Personally, I am always keen to learn new variations of poker as I think it helps your all round game to have to work out the subtleties and way to win, in what is often a different game entirely. Fulltiltpoker.com

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www.pokerroom.com – After being dealt a hand of (K,A,9,8,8) as the big blind, in a game of Five Card Draw, you find yourself going to the first draw against two other opponents. First of all, you draw three cards. Some players might feel it is worth holding on to the ace in order to try and make a strong two pair, and this isn’t by any means a terrible play to make, but preferably I like to give myself the best possible shot at a set. After the draw we hold (Q,6,6,8,8).

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We see our first opponent then draw one, and our second opponent draw two cards. Different players will make their own judgements on the best way forward from this position, but my own feeling is that there is only one real option open. I would check in this position, and if an opponent raises, fold immediately.
It isn’t that I think a small two pair is the worst hand I could end up with in a game of Five Card Draw, but in this circumstance, it really is not a hand we should be playing.

The first opponent drew one card remember, which almost certainly means they are drawing to a straight or flush, or they have two pair. We are first to act and so have no information on whether they hit their big draw, if that is what they were holding, and furthermore, if they had a two pair instead, it almost certainly will be better than ours. Our second player drew two cards which gives another problem, as players drawing two usually have either a set (which is beating us already) or a pair and a high card and are trying to make a strong two pair.

When you assimilate this information and take a look at the big picture, you will realise that should really throw away your weak two pair to any raise, however small. www.pokerroom.com

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www.pokerroom.com – Most of the more skilled players around will feel that reading is one of the key aspects of successful poker, and one which requires a player to be able to single out and eliminate potential possibilities swiftly. One of the main problems I find with this area of poker, and I’m sure I am not alone here, is that I often assume my opponent is doing what is the most logical and sensible thing for them to be doing.

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I think about the situation and possiblities in a rational and deductive way. But then we all know that players are different to each other and some of them are a long way from rational in their decision making. A prime example would be when one player limped in with (J,J) from early position and I put in a large reraise with (A,10) on the rational assumption, that anyone with better than (A,10) in their hole cards would be reraising rather than limping in.

The fact is though, that when reading a situation, we have to be flexible about our assumptions of opposing hands and factor in what particular players are capable of doing. Perhaps I am too rigid in assumptions which, although are usually pretty accurate, sometimes catch me out and cost me big pots.

So remember, that what you would do in a certain situation, and what you feel strongly that any reasonably skilled player should do, is not always the situation at that time.
Some players do things which seem wild and unpredictable because they are unskilled, and some do these things simply to try and remain difficult to read.

pokerroom.com – Just a few moments ago I was involved in a pot with (Q,10) online which was unraised before the flop. The flop came down (10,Q,Q) which really couldn’t have got much better for me.

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There were four players in the pot, and so I checked. For me, it would be very foolish to bet, because firstly, it is the sort of flop that players will put out a tester bet on to see if they can pick the pot up. Secondly, I am holding most of the cards that would interest anyone in calling anyway, so better to let them hit their hand, especially if they have two high cards that could hit a straight draw.

It is very unlikely that I will get outdrawn by the end of the hand of course, and so I could afford to check again on the turn when it came as a 6. One of the players raised the pot $1.50 at this point, and I reraised to $3 after theatrically thinking for a while. I was hoping to extract some chips from the hand and hoped my opponent had caught some part of the board. I was shocked when she reraised to $8 of course, and wondered if she might have (6,6) in the hole. I reraised again to $16, and she shoved all in.

As it turned out, we had both been slowplaying our hands. She had (K,Q) for three queens which was very fortunate for me, but had she had something different, I gave her a chance to hit any straight draw or pair a card, knowing it was very unlikely I would be outdrawn. Your play on the flop should depend on the danger to your hand, but if there is hardly any danger, by all means slow play your hand and give your opponents the chance to catch up a little.

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pokerroom.com - Sometimes when you find yourself in a more important tournament than usual, the occasion can cause you to play slightly differently. In general you should always try and play the game that you are most comfortable with, but things do not always work out this way. Whether by nerves, or by your own designs, you can find yourself playing tighter poker in this type of game, which can sometimes see you go deeper into a tournament. The problem you face however, is that you will not have as many chips when you get there.

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Personally I feel that you should play your usual game if you can possiby help it, especially if your usual style of play brings you success. As it happens, I have the biggest live tournament I have played in, happening tomorrow, and I hope the big occasion will not affect my play. Logically speaking, most players will be playing tighter poker and so with a little courage it is possible to exploit this, but I will not be too reckless. I will play my cards as I find them whilst trying to pinpoint players who are nervous about comitting to pots early on.

The extra time between blind levels will however give players more time to find the right hand, which means that if you raise and are called preflop, caution is recommended. Probing bets to try and pick up pots early on could be a way forward, but as with every aspect of poker, thinking on your feet and recting to your opponents play should give a greater chance of success.

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pokerroom.com – At first glance, you might think the answer to this is easy because with no blinds to worry about everyone would wait for a premium hand wouldn’t they?. Well… you might think everyone would wait around for pocket aces whilst folding almost all their hands. Not so in my opinion, I feel that the natural compulsion to play and make bluffs, hit hands etc would be too tempting.

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Besides, if a player was disciplined enough to sit there folding every hand until they got pocket Aces, how much action would they get whenthey were dealt them? None. also, if every player was folding ouright, someone would end up raising and simply picking up all the pots every hand, and so I don’t think it would be that simple.

So having considered this, I feel that poker would probably go on in much the same way without blinds up to a point. However, when we got to the latter stages of tournaments, players would become far more careful as they try and get deeper into the money paying places. So in essence the blinds, and the amount they grow to in tournament play, provides a constant reason to get involved in pots and gamble.

As such, they serve an important function to the game. Whatever the situation might be if blinds happened not to exsist, this is not something which will never happen of course. Despite the blinds being dreaded by shorter stacked players as they come round the table, they are a necessary pressure, ensuring that players jump before they are pushed, into a pot.

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