Tournament Hold 'em Hand By Hand:. Neil D. Myers
the three key seats you can potentially make a positional play. The next question if you are in one of these seats is:
HAVE THERE BEEN ANY LIMPERS OR RAISERS OR HAS THE ACTION BEEN FOLDED TO ME?
If the action is on you and there are no callers when you are in one of these three seats, you are going to raise with any two cards. For reasons that will become apparent later when you read the problems concerning position (and you will read and study them, won’t you, not just gloss over them?) the cards you hold are completely irrelevant. Your position is what’s important.
Of course if there are callers or raisers then you have another decision. So the next question, if there has been action and you are in one of the only playable (from a positional standpoint) seats is:
HAS ANY PLAYER RAISED?
If there has been a raise, you will need to determine whether your cards are playable against a raiser, or re-raiser. For that you will need to consider your cards and your stack size as well as your position.
If there has been any action you will fold every hand (except the few to be listed in the sections below) in the Cut-Off seat and the seat to the right of the Cut-Off seat.
If you are on the Button, however, you will call any number of limpers. You will also call with any two cards if there is only one raiser who has made a standard raise of three to five times the Big Blind.
This will constitute your basic positional strategy and you will only modify it under certain conditions that will be highlighted in later chapters.
Small Blind and Big Blind Play
The only exceptions to these rules of positional play are when you are in the Small Blind or Big Blind. Remember, from a positional point of view these are terrible seats as you will be in the worst seat for all subsequent rounds. However, the positive (and complicating) factor is that you have a half bet or full bet in the pot. In fact without this, play from the Blinds would be obvious. You would be folding the vast majority of the time.
SMALL BLIND PRE-FLOP BASIC POSITIONAL PLAY: Call any number of limpers and fold to a raise.
The basic idea here is to take advantage of the fact that you are getting exceptional pot odds, at least 3:1. You are hoping for a very favorable Flop, because from this seat you have no positional advantage whatsoever.
BIG BLIND PRE-FLOP BASIC PLAY: Fold to any raise except one from the Small Blind; call a standard raise (three to five times the Big Blind) from the Small Blind; if the Small Blind limps raise three to five times the size of the Big Blind.
The idea here is that you have position on your only opponent and can use this advantage on the Flop and beyond. If the Small Blind is aggressive and you know he will take a shot at you heads up, you should occasionally re-raise if he raises, then bet the Flop if he checks. Don’t get too carried away with this play, but used selectively it can tame the aggressive Small Blind player who will always attempt to steal your Big Blind.
Stack Size
The second layer of this method concerns stack size.
All positional plays assume you have at least a competitive stack size. Remember the definition of a competitive stack? It is one that is over thirty times the size of the Big Blind of the current round or forty times if the current round includes antes. If it falls below this then how you play is now governed by the fact that you no longer have a competitive stack. You are in danger of elimination and you must make plays in an effort to get back to at least a competitive stack. There are four levels of stack size and you must know at all times what your stack size is. Here are the categories:
1. Competitive: More than thirty Big Blinds or more than forty if the round includes antes
2. Short: More than twenty and fewer than thirty-one Big Blinds (thirty and forty-one if the round includes antes)
3. Super Short: More than ten and fewer than twenty-one Big Blinds (twenty and thirty-one if the round includes antes)
4. Critical: Fewer than ten Big Blinds (fewer than twenty if the round includes antes)
The key idea to grasp is that the shorter your stack size the faster you must play. Most players only begin to modify their play when their stack size reaches or drops below the critical level. This is a huge mistake and one that you will be taking advantage of. Many of these players will have a survival mentality, hoping to hit a big hand when another player hits a hand not quite as big. Then they hope to get action and double through. This precise event happens too rarely in fast-structure tournaments to form the basis of a credible playing strategy. Having recognized the current level of your chip stack, you then make your plays based upon hand selection, bet size, and timing. Basically as your stack drops in size you must bet more (proportionally) of your stack and get your chips into the pot earlier to maximize your chances of getting back to a competitive stack size.
So the key question you must ask yourself before the start of each new deal is:
WHAT IS MY STACK SIZE?
The answer to this question, combined with your position, is going to govern exactly how you play the cards you are dealt. You must know your stack size before the cards of the new hand are dealt.
Card Selection
Having established position and stack size as being of primary and secondary importance in your decision making, we now come to the next question you must ask yourself, which is
WHAT CARDS DO I HOLD PRE-FLOP?
Your positional plays are going to be modified at certain times by the cards you are dealt. How you play these cards, that is, how much you bet if you have a playable hand, is going to be governed by your stack size and the action ahead of you. I shall describe the plays from Late to Early position. I do it this way because the range of hands you play in Late position and how you play them are more significant than the hands you play in Middle and Early position. If you are playing correctly the vast majority of your plays will be made from Late position.
In summary, you ask two questions before the start of the betting round:
1. What is my stack size?
2. What is my position?
You will only modify your positional plays if you hold certain cards, so if you are not in one of the key positional play seats and/or your stack size has slipped below the competitive level you need to ask a third question:
WHAT ARE MY POCKET (PRE-FLOP) CARDS?
Now you combine these factors as below.
IF YOU HAVE A COMPETITIVE CHIP STACK AS DEFINED ABOVE YOU WILL PLAY PRE-FLOP AS FOLLOWS:
LATE POSITION: The Button, the Cut-Off seat and the seat to the right of the Cut-Off seat
If first in, raise with any two cards.
If you are on the Button (this play applies only to the Button) and you are not first in, limp with any two cards. You can also limp if any player has made a standard raise of three to five times the Big Blind.
Raise any number of limpers, or if there has been a raise, re-raise with AA-JJ and AK (suited or non-suited). Raise a minimum of three times the Big Blind or, if you re-raise, re-raise the size of the pot. You can vary your play by raising as much as five times the Big Blind. Raise the equivalent of one Big Blind for every limper, for example, you have QQ and there are four limpers before the action gets to you. Raise at least seven times the Big Blind; three times the Big Blind plus one for each limper equals seven. Note: If you make a re-raise and a player raises all-in, call with AA and KK only if his stack size is more than two-thirds your size, equivalent to yours, or he has you covered. If his stack is one-third the size of your stack or less, you can call the all-in bet with AA-JJ and AK. Otherwise, fold. For example, you will fold QQ to an all-in bet if your opponent’s stack is bigger than one-third yours and he moved all-in to a raise or re-raise.
Call any standard raise of three to five times the Big Blind with any pocket