Its not about odds.

Nobody cares about spelling on forums, get over yourself.

Yes, I should have specificed I am talking mostly about MTT in this thread.

agreed.

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Nobody cares about spelling on forums, get over yourself.

Yes, I should have specificed I am talking mostly about MTT in this thread.

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Yes, they do care. And it's not just spelling, it's also grammar and overall coherence. You'll be surprised at how much more credibility you will receive just by typing correctly.

Honestly, had you not had roughly 10 mistakes in grammar, I would have given you a sincere rebuttal.

But maybe you are right, maybe I'm the only person on the planet who isn't turned on by reading an argument from a 9 year old trapped in a grown-up's body.

EDIT: To fix my mis-spelling of "Grammar". lol. See? I, too, make mistakes, yet I try to fix them!

I care about spelling and grammar. It certainly affects the way I perceive someone. I mention that in as friendly a way as possible. :-)

Also, I think that you'll find in the long run that you will have to drastically increase your overall aggression. Most of what you wrote flies in the face of both my own experiences, as well as the writings of pro players I personally respect.

GL to you.

I'm fairly new to tournament play, and I am far from an expert. Here's my take on your post, take it with a grain of salt.

When I started playing, my theory was somewhat similar to yours. I was basically trying to limp along, avoid confrontations and slip into the money. Unfortunately, I found myself playing many tourney's for hours, only to become short-stacked and consistently get knocked out within a few spots of the cut. I have since learned that there are times early in a tourney where I need to take a chance. Early on I am looking for a spot to get all-in, in an attempt to double, or triple up. There are a couple of basic reasons I try to do so. #1) If I hit early and double up, I am then able to steal pots and push people around, because I am usually one of the 2-3 large stacks at the table. Picking up these small pots over time allows me to build a table image as an aggressive player. Having this image allows me to continue to pick up the small pots and blinds, as well as assists me in bigger payoffs when I do have a strong hand. This is because the other players aren't sure if I am bluffing or not. The second part of my theory is that if I do get knocked out early in a tourney, I can always find another immediately, and I haven't wasted hours. This is one of the advantages of online poker sites.

I do play a tight/aggressive style, and actually lean towards sometimes being too tight. I just think that shying away from a confrontation early, like a race, might keep you in the tourney longer, but will not overall make you more cash.

By the way, I also feel that being at least semi-correct gramatically results in people respecting, and accepting your posts a little easier. Good luck.

I agree, worst post of the year. Not for the spelling or gramer but the content. I think you are confussed and should read <u>Advanced Tournament Play</u> by David Sklansky. Enough said, I do not want to offend the spelling and grammor police.

First off I am not a tourney player most of the time...

I have found over my poker playing career that I have reevaluated my play and questioned my thoughts eventually changing them. I consider this being an increase of insight into the game from experience.

Saying that…. A long time ago I may have agreed with your lack of pre flop betting. I have played that way and made it work. I have however strayed away from that idea long ago. Here is why…

I now feel pre-flop betting increases your chances of winning a hand and I’ll give an example:

Lets say there are 8 other players at your table including things like 3;5o 7;9o, K;Qo, A;Jo, A5o, and you have AKs.

You bet heavy pre-flop, not all-in, like 5 x BB. 3;5 folds, 7;9 folds, A;5 folds. Leaving you in a 3 way. Your AK vs KQ vs AJ. (This is what you want to see! A lot of crappy hands against me is scary!)

On the flop 3,5,7 hits. You have less to fear in this hand because small hands fold to the heavy betting. You are more likely to be winning than if you were playing all 8 other players. If you didn’t scare off the 3;5 he would have two pair and you would be far behind. You still have to fear things like Q’s and J’s because another player could have called with a semi-good hand. 3,5,K could have hit and you would have been in bad shape if you had not bet(someone could have hit two small pair, limped in with 3;3, lots of draws come up.). Now since you bet, it looks pretty good.

You are betting pre-flop to eliminate the JUNK from beating you. With the junk opponent cards gone a lot more combinations on the table favor you. If more combinations on the table favor you, you hence have a better chance of winning!

please tell me this is a joke.

please......

dude dont give advice about subjects you know nothing about, its harmful to others that may read it, its just the blind leading the blind.

[Guernica4000]

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Edit: This manily applies to tournament play.

Poker is not about odds. People who play odds get burned all the time, especially online . Knowing odds should be a tool in your arsenal but shouldn't be the main weapon.

How many times do you see omeone go out online and they type obsenities and stuff and say "I had 4:1 or 3:1 pot odds!" Like they should win 100% of the time with those odds.

Well here are my keys to being succesful online.

1.) Keep the pot small. No limit games can get out of hand very fast. For example, if you flop high pair but the board is full of draws, and you want to drive your oponent out of the hand, a lot of people move all in, or bet half there stack to get someone to fold. This is not a wise choice, you are making the pot large unnessiasrily. A lot of times a 150 chip bet will get a guy to fold, just as well as a 500 chip bet, the difference is that the 1/10 chance that he calls you and wins means you lost that many more chips.

Another thing, if your trying at a bluff, try not to go all in with it. Think about how cheaply you can bluff and still get the player to fold.

Lastly, think about getting slowplayed. If you flop middle pair an he checks to you, keep the pot small to avoid getting duped by a slowplay. Check, or raise a small ammount.

2.) Avoid pre flop play at all costs. You main goal, should be to see the flop as cheaply as possible with the least ammount of people as possible. Sometimes this requires a raise, and sometimes it requires a limp, even with a good hand.
I always like to see a flop with at least 2 other people, because that maximizes my chance of hitting something, while others hit something as well.

If you have a good starting hand, of course you want to bet preflop, but you want to do so with caution. Remeber, in holdem, before the flop, your only seeing 2/7 cards. You still have 5 cards left to see. Anyone who is agressivley betting preflop will get burned, even if the "odds" are in your favor.

Avoid all ins preflop like the plaugue. I see it all the time on tv now, and its just the stupiedest play immaginanble with a game like holdem. People think the key to winning holdem is going all in preflop with the best hand, and hoping to double up. That is the dumbest idea ever. What you want to do is trap your oponents, when you have a nut hand you want to maximize profit. Over the long run, this will be the best bet.

3.) Your preflop hand means nothing. get that through your head. Your seeing 2/7 cards, and if you want to take risks preflop, your not going to be succesful in the long run.

Now, about odds:

I will often fold TT - QQ preflop is someone is agresivly betting. The theory here is that I will wait until its cheap for me to enter and out play after the flop, rather than making a risk by putting up a lot of my stack pre flop when any ace hand or king hand can take me out.

The key to holdem is controlling the pot size. Maximizing profit with nut hands. Avoiding stupid risks. And not relying on odds all the time.

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Last I checked AA vs. TT is a 4-1 favorite on-line or in a B&amp;M.

Your post is just ridicules.
Let me ask you something. Let's say you have AA and the flop is T92 with two of the cards suited. By betting a small amount you are making it correct for a player or players to call on a straight or flush draw so do you just fold if a third suited card hits? Or say a J or 8?

By not making a big enough bet you will get outdrawn by players that understand pot odds.

By the way I seriously doubt you are successful playing with this strategy on-line or live.

[bernie]

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You are betting pre-flop to eliminate the JUNK from beating you.

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Not necesarily.

In your example, do you really want A5 and 35 out of the hand that bad against AK?

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On the flop 3,5,7 hits. You have less to fear in this hand because small hands fold to the heavy betting. You are more likely to be winning than if you were playing all 8 other players. If you didn’t scare off the 3;5 he would have two pair and you would be far behind.

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This is so results oriented it's ridiculous.

b