Sklansky's "System"

[over_c]

I was leafing through a copy of Sklankky's Tournament book and came across the "System." Has anyone tried to use this in internet tournaments? I would think it would be vulnerable because most players would be more likely to call a pre-flop all-in with worse cards than described in the text. I am considering giving it a shot in a couple of tourneys to see what happens.

Any advice if I do? Also, does anyone know what the big blind strategy of the System is? Sklanksy does not describe it in his book.

Thanks.

[ramjam]

I can't remember it being discussed on this forum (although I may be wrong) but there's been plenty of discussion over time on the Tournaments forum. Try searching there.

[crockpot]

yep, you hit the nail on the head there. first of all, the system works much better in really long events. the final event of the WSOP is ideal, since players do not want to risk missing out on five days of competition on one hand.

if you try this online and people see you going all in fairly frequently, they will be more likely to lower their calling standards than to raise them. you're going to get calls from AK, AQ, any decent size pair, maybe even AJ.

i'm not sure about the big blind instruction. maybe you should post this question where David might respond to it himself?

[DigitalNate]

I have used the improved version in a couple of tournaments at stars just to try it out. I finished in 14th place of a $50+5 NL tourney for a win of around $180, and busted out before the money in all the other tourneys I played in, including one were I busted out in like the 4th level of blinds to a J9s against my AKs.

If you are going to try it I would recommend finding some way to do the calculations quicly, because it can take a while to do in your head or with a calculator, and online hands move very quickly. I created a simple .net program to do the calculations for me, I just had to update the values relevant to the calculation that changed. I would also recommend searching through the tournament section. There was another calculation I added on to Sklansky's formula for some reason that seemed to help the system a little, but I don't remember what it was off the top of my head.

As far as the big blind strategy goes, I think he says if you don't meet all in requirement, check and fold. If you flop something huge, like the nuts or close to it, then go all in or play it normally. He does warn that playing it normally could cause psychology problems if you lose on that hand, but it is up to you.

[Terry]

There was an article on the Card Player magazine site in which he went into more detail on The System. I worked up a spreadsheet to do the calculations and did give a try in some small buy in tournaments on Stars, but ran into two problems.

One, like you mention, is that even after several levels there are still plenty of people who are willing to call an all in raise with a garbage hand, so you lose the part of the edge that comes from the idea that they are going to fold a lot, and you end up having to win every confrontation... I didn’t.

Second, the Stars tourneys use antes at the higher levels, and I didn’t know how or if the antes were figured into the raising hands chart in the Improved System.