It takes a lot of heart to bluff someone out of a big pot. Same goes for making a hero call.

Reason is, if you try to pick off a bluff without a good read on your opponent, the texture of the board and the betting, then savvier players will break you, as Greg Raymer demonstrated at the World Poker Tour’s $15,000-buy-in Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at Las Vegas’ Bellagio in 2008.

With blinds at $300-$600 plus a $75 ante, the player in the cutoff seat open-raised to $1,600. Raymer, the 2004 World Series of Poker main event champion, found A-10 offsuit on the button.

“I probably should re-raise in that spot because my hand figures to be a lot better than his, because he had been raising about three times an orbit, so you don’t give him credit for a big starting hand anymore,” Raymer said. “But the blinds are so deep that I hate to turn my hand into a bluff. If it comes back to him and he raises again, or if one of the blinds raises on top of me, then my hand is clearly trash and I have to throw it away. I hate to miss seeing a flop in position.”

Raymer called, as did Jennifer Tilly from the big blind. Three players took a flop of A-10-9, rainbow. Tilly checked. The initial raiser made it $4,000.

“That’s a very coordinated board even though it’s rainbow,” said Raymer. “Any king, queen, jack, 8, 7 or 6 makes a possible straight. If a 9 comes off, that could beat me.

“Plus, I don’t want to necessarily flat-call and allow Jennifer to call with her K-Q or K-J and catch a gutshot on me.”

So, Raymer raised to $13,000. Tilly folded. The cutoff thought for a while before calling.

“I’ve got him on A-K or A-Q because he didn’t seem strong to me,” Raymer said.

The turn came the jack of clubs. The cutoff checked.

“I’m sure that card doesn’t help him,” Raymer said. “He doesn’t have K-Q [for a straight]. He doesn’t have A-J [for top two pair]. There’s about $32,000 in the pot. He had $40,000 left. I’ve got a little over that. I decide to bet everything and put him all in because there are so many cards that could beat me.”

“He goes in the tank for a long time. Then he asks me, ‘Why so much?’ Then he asks the dealer to spread the pot. Then he miscounts it. Then he thinks for another couple of minutes and he says, ‘I call,’ and he has A-5.”

The river blanked. Raymer took his opponent’s stack.

I came across this article several years ago and don’t know who the original author is to give the credit to however this is a good read for the novice player to help them get an understanding of how to improve their chances in tournament play.

In terms of strategy, No-Limit tournaments are very different from No-Limit ring games. You simply can’t bluff as much because people’s stacks tend to be smaller in relation to the size of the pot. Also, since the amount of chips you win from a bluff is worth less than the amount you stand to lose, bluffing loses a lot of value.

Now, many of you may be confused. Suppose you bluff 1000 chips at a 1000 pot and figure you have a 50-60% chance of taking it down. Many of you would think it’s worth it to take that risk. However, those 1000 chips you win are worth less than those 1000 chips you stand to lose. If you have a 2000 stack, getting knocked down to 1000 has much more negative value than the positive value of getting up to 3000. The 1000 chips do not represent money. The only monetary value in the tournament is either losing all of your chips or winning them all (and losing them all is more important because you do get a prize if you lose them all in the late stages of the tournament). Losing those 1000 chips knocks you half the way out, but winning those 1000 doesn’t do squat for winning.

This is not to imply that you can simply fold your way into the money. The blinds will eat you alive. You must win pots so you don’t get knocked out most of the time. Towards the end of the tournament, you can think of winning pots to win the whole tournament. However, most of the time you must win pots simply so you don’t lose!

Thus, in the early stages of the tournament, you should avoid gambling much. Generally, the amount you win isn’t worth the gamble. If you can see the flop for cheap with a suited connector or someone goes all in preflop and you have AA, by all means go for it. However, I wouldn’t suggest bluffing all in as a wise move. In the early stages, you want to win a huge pot here and there because you hold the nuts. Target a bad player and make him pay you off.

Towards the middle of the tournament, you need to switch gears. Since the blinds get bigger, stealing the blinds will help you stay alive. Here, the gap concept becomes more important. It takes a much weaker hand than usual to raise to steal the blind, but a stronger hand than usual to call a raise. The middle rounds introduce the survival mode’ concept.

Again, most of the time you will be looking just to survive and increase your stack bit by bit in the middle rounds. You want to avoid confrontation without the nuts and just take down some small pots without controversy.

However, if you are a large chip stack (or even just a medium one), you may want to take advantage of this survival mode. Take control of the game by raising and frequently putting other people at a decision for all of their chips. After all, if they go all in, they’re risking it all but you aren’t because you can lose the pot and still keep on fighting. However, don’t do this too much. Steal some pots, but don’t be so obvious that people will call you all in with top or even second pair. Also, don’t do this against very bad players. They will call everything.

Towards the end of the tournament is when the coin flip decisions become very important. Frequently, the blinds are so high it makes sense for a player with a low or moderate stack to go all in preflop. Generally, when you go all in you want to have A(good kicker) or a pocket pair. If you have A(good kicker) you are an advantage to all non pocket pairs and may even have someone dominated. If you have a pocket pair, you are a small advantage against all non pocket pairs and at a huge advantage/disadvantage against other pocket pairs (depending on their size).

Generally, if you have one of these marginal hands, it’s best to just shove all of your chips in preflop. When you are a low stack, you cannot afford to be blinded away anymore. Once the flop comes, chances are it’s not going to be perfect. By shoving in all of your chips preflop, you have the added chance of stealing the blinds and can avoid being bluffed out.

Hello everyone,

I am TJ the Manager of RaiseandFold Poker Room and I plan on talking about poker, upcoming events and whatever else comes to mind.

One thing you’ll find is that I am a big advocate of women playing poker and taking part in the tournaments.

The majority of poker players is male with about 10% I would say women players. This site is full of women and I wonder why more don’t play? Is it that they are intimidated? Don’t know how to play? or Feel that they just can’t compete?

One of the stigmas women players have is that they try to use their looks and charm at the table. I am not one to condone this because as a player you use any advantage you think you have to benefit you. When I heard about Poker Knave and the famous Poker Totties I was taken back at first by seeing the women showing their “assets” so freely and it made me think of the stigmas once again.

I’ve looked at a lot of the photos and it wasn’t to see T&A but to try to figure out what the player was trying to sell and how that would help them on the tables.

For online poker it has absolutely no effect. You could use a provocative picture for your avatar and have guys go googoo over it but in the end, it’s all about clicking buttons.

Live Poker you can cause a stir to the amateur players or the dead money players. In watching broadcast of ESPN WSOP we’ve seen it time and time again. Guys say stupid things like “You’re pretty I want to keep you at the table” By all means ladies crush those nits that say stuff like that. They have no business being on the tables.

The old adage of Sex Sells still lives on even on the felt.

Thanks for having me aboard and I look forward to interacting with you.

TJ
Manager
RaiseandFold Poker Room