Testing Sklansky Strategy

I have the book here. It's on page 123.

I don't really want to overrule Sklansky, but honestly at a $1 buyin pushing KK *HAS* to be +EV.

The system was designed for deep-stack poker at the WSOP. With blinds at level 1 of $25/$50 and a $10000 stack, shoving at a 9-man table is a -EV move if you only get called by AA.

I agree that online - where the stacks aren't as deep and where people will call with other stuff than AA - going all-in with KK is definitely +EV.

In order to reclarify, I will be using the system 100% of the time. I misspoke in my first post (another strategy I am trying in micro MTT's).

I will be using the modified system which does not have rules as to when you should start, but uses a value of the stack versus the blinds. There is a post in here describing the calculation. This dictates how to play in opening or raising limpers. All raises will be folded to if not holding AA, AK, or KK.

to decide whether you push with your hand find what category your key number fits into.

400+ - aces only
200-400 - AA or KK
150-200 - AA KK QQ AK
100-150 - AA KK QQ JJ TT AK AQ KQ
80 - 100 - any pair AK AQ KQ Axsuited suited connector down to 45 (no gap)
60 - 80 - any pair any ace KQ any Kxsuited any suited connector no gap or one gap
40 - 60 - all above + any Kx
20 - 40 - all above + any 2 suited cards
20 or less - any 2 cards

[DoomSlice]

I just made a program that takes the relevant information and spits out exactly what you should do... time for a live test!

Is it this simple to make a winning tourney poker bot?

I think the main problem in your experiment is that you are playing at such a low buy in. Sklanksy's system is for deepstack tournaments with high buy ins. This is capitalize on the hesistation many people face about going broke because there is quite a bit on the line. A one dollar tournament is a horrible setting to test this style as many people will call you with coin flip situations and eventually you will go bust.

I used the system in a 1000 player freeroll a few days ago,ended up around 80th.

today I played my 1st four MTT's with the push/fold system.

Results:
12/45
7/18
6/18
5/18

No cashes.

Thoughts:

1. You are not all-in that much. At least not until the blinds catch up.

2. I found myself folding alot of hands where I knew I had the best hand because of a raise before me. I can only call with AKs, AA, KK.

3. At the end you will be forced to fold your best hands (to a raiser) and play weaker ones when no one opens the pot. It is weird, the system is extremely tight at the beginning and then you will be playing the worst hands at the end.

4. I can not see how this would be profitable at on-line play. A deep stack B&M suits this system the best.