Rant #6 "What do I do when my opponent does this?" - REPOST

[Lori]

A lot of new members since I first posted this, just thought I'd give it a new airing.

For those who haven't read my rants before (They were in another forum within 2+2), please don't get upset by anything posted below. The style is deliberately reasonably harsh.
Any apparent references to recent posts are not a dig at that poster, they probably merely helped to remind me of many similar ones I've seen before.
Never stop posting because of a rant you've read! You have as much right to post here as I do.

On all forums, new and old players alike are constantly looking for the magic formula.
Posts start with "What do when my opponent......?" on an incredibly frequent basis, and understandably so, as everyone wants to learn about this game.

I hate to disappoint you all, but there is no magic formula to be a good poker player. (Which is why bots are so poor at the game)

There are ways to make yourself a winner that involve little thought, but to actually be good at the game, and squeeze the last piece of ROI or BB/hr out of the game, you actually have to think. Yes. THINK!
Don't stop reading, this post isn't about someone else, it's about YOU!

So, you've played a sit 'n' go and someone did something you didn't know how to handle.
Easy, just toddle along to 2+2 and ask for the spoiler sheet. The people there know all the answers.

Although this will help your results, you should first try to answer the question yourself, it is not helping your poker ability otherwise.
"But Lori.... If I could answer the question myself, I wouldn't need to post it"
Well you can still post it to see if your own conclusions were the same as other people's, but why not try to do it yourself first, and then post it.
Maybe even post your own conclusions so people can rip holes in your logic. It's a little depressing at times, but it will help you next time and maybe you'll even get it right in the 40 seconds when the pot is actually taking place.

So, how on Earth do you answer your own questions?

Well (I'm about to do it here ).

For those situations where your opponent is tricky to handle, don't bother even thinking about what YOU should do.

Think about what he is doing.

Your first guideline is the limit you are playing at.
In general, the higher the limit, the more credit you have to give your opponent for being able to think rationally.

Everyone however has a reason for doing something. Let's take the following very similar examples:

$109 Party SNG. Six handed, 50-100, 4200 point stack mini raises every hand. Everyone keeps folding.

Now WHY would this guy be so stupid as to mini-raise every hand.
Well, engage the brain. He's tried it once and got away with it, so he figured the next one is a freeroll. Suddenly he discovers he can just bully away, afterall, that's what you would do isn't it?

So, now put yourself in his position.
You're chip leader in a Party $109, and mini raising every hand.
Suddenly, some chump with only 1500 chips fires back at you.
You decide to look at your cards and discover that you have in fact got two random cards.
1500 is just enough to hurt you if your bullying should go wrong later.
How will you play this hand?
a) call 1300
b) fold and mini raise next hand.

Okay, so you'll fold.

So now back to your question that you've been dying to hear.

"What should I do with KQs in the BB against someone who has been mini-raising every hand, six handed, etc yadda"

Well clearly, unless you are very unlucky, an all in here will take this down.
Even if it doesn't, the odds are that you have a good shot at getting out of it.
Even better, let's go back to being the big stack.

You've been mini-raising for 10 hands and everyone has been folding.
One of the guys suddenly fires back at you all in, and you have to fold.
Which blind are you least likely to steal next round?
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. Now we're getting somewhere.

$5 Party SNG, same as above,(Stacks/blinds in proportion)

Okay, stepping into the chip leaders shoes this time.

Well, here you are as chip leader in this wonderful SNG thing. The game is easy, you're just firing chips around and winning every hand.
Oh look, some guy just decided to take you on, ah well, it's only $5 and what fun it is trying to make a flush with my two different shots at it.

If you are this guy and someone reraises do you
a) call and try to hit a flush/straight/pair
b) fold and tell your friends that poker is boring.

Right.

So, fully armed with answer a), we now look at our KQs.

You go out of the game if you don't win this pot, and you know you can get your chips in any time you like with a chance to double through.

Do you:
a) Go all in
b) Call the mini-raise and go all in if you hit top pair, strong kicker
c) Fold and wait for a better chance.

Well. It's probably dependent on the other stacks at the table, but I'm sure you can now answer this question.

To sum up.

There is NO magic formula for playing some hands, but other than the five board cards, you can predict the outcome of many of them.
SNGs are actually comprised of ten _PEOPLE_ they are not a computer game (At least not usually). This means you have to actually work out what a certain person is doing based on as much information as you can get.
Sometimes you will only have the buyin level as information, and others you will be able to add more information to the mix for when you pretend to be that person.
Work out what motivates the person you are pretending to be, and then work out what will upset you now you are that person.
Go back to being yourself, and upset the person you became.

To beat the opponent, you have to be the opponent

If you struggle with this, try single-tabling instead of losing your money four times as fast, and try to predict what is going on, even in pots you are not in. Yes, even at the expense of waiting until later to check out the cinema times or look at pictures of naked people.

After applying some thought to your own situation, then post to the forum.
Add your own thoughts if you wish, or don't if you are the kind that doesn't like to feel silly when wrong, but remember your own thoughts.

NOW, when you get replies, you will gain a sense of perspective on your own thinking, you'll tell your monitor that "I thought of that already Dali, God, who said YOU were good" and "Lori, that's so obvious, why did you even reply to my post" and many other confidence boosting statements that before I shouted at you, you'd never have had the guts to think.
On the occasions you don't agree, you'll be fully armed with a good reason why you don't agree and will be able to give the regulars something to think about.
All of this is good for the ego, the confidence and also your game.
It also means that people will enjoy replying to your posts because they may actually learn something themselves, which, afterall is why we are all here.

Lori

[tigerite]

Great post.

[durron597]

I started getting a lot more out of my own threads when I started thinking about what I likely did wrong or what I wanted to get out of 2+2's opinion before making the OP.

Great post Lori.

Sometimes I can make good plays by just thinking of posting the hand on 2+2- then I think how horribly ripped apart my play will be (cause it was a bad one) and can get away mid hand. lol

[Wes ManTooth]

Overall well said

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It also means that people will enjoy replying to your posts because they may actually learn something themselves, which, afterall is why we are all here.


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I am here purely for entertainment.

[Ixnert]

Great stuff. From someone who hasn't been around long: Any chance we could get reposts of rants #1-5? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[schwza]

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Sometimes I can make good plays by just thinking of posting the hand on 2+2- then I think how horribly ripped apart my play will be (cause it was a bad one) and can get away mid hand. lol

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i agree with this completely. a lot of how i learned 6-max NL was the thought process "well, everybody slammed that other guy who went to the felt with TPNK. i probably shouldn't call off my stack here."