MTT related - Time for a change? |
|
Posted Sun May 11, 2008 4:57 am GMT by Ciso_B
I haven’t had the luxury of winning any tournaments lately, despite playing daily for a few weeks now. So take what you will from this post, there isn’t any authority behind it. Just some thoughts regarding tournament play, I play a pretty tight game generally (on pokerstars anyway) this wasn’t always the case, but the fields I am up against usually forces me to adapt to this boring style.
Play patient, pick up the pots where I feel I can take it, hope my hands hold up, try and make position advantage.
Lately, I’ve been going deep in my tournaments, frequently cashing but not sealing the deal, you can see the countless bad beats I’ve had but maybe there is more to it then that. I was on msn last night and 2 thp’ers commented that I maybe have played too tight or got myself too short or that my results this year are so poor that I must be doing something wrong. Open to any criticism that comes my way I dwelled on it. And the 1 truth I could think of , is that although I cash frequently , ,my stack late on when I reach the final 100 or so is more often then not below average. Now I consider myself a good short stack player, I am more patient then most tournament players, simply cos I feel you should hold on for dear life in a tournament and I hold the perhaps naïve belief that a good situation will arise where I shall double up. Its been happening lately, the only problem is I lose the showdown and am out or even shorter.
But maybe I have been going about it the wrong way, the one thing I can take from the big online pro’s is that they are rarely short stacked. I already know they take big chances, I was even playing with a big online pro the other day. I had A-K he had been raising a lot, I was oop so I shoved in for 30,000 (overbet) when he made it 2,200 or something in late. But I didn’t fancy playing out of position with it, he insta called with 7-7 and lucky for me I beat him. I said you deserve that for the call, he said he had me on AK and was more then willing to take the race, sighting that he’s only interested in top 2. I personally hate the call, since although its unlikely I make that move with AA,KK I might do that with JJ,QQ,AK. So 2/3 of the hands I crush him 1 we race. He arrogantly said “I’ve made $500k on this site” and I just said to him that just cos you’ve won a lot of money it doesn’t give credence to a poor call. Anyway , what I take from it is these guys avoid playing short stack like rabies.
They might have a point, I keep holding the silly belief that I will start making lots , move up and eventually be successful but perhaps in order to do that , I have to “gamble it up”. I have had a frustrating few weeks, and when these times come you gotta look at your own play and see if you’re playing your best.
Maybe I get it allin with the best hand, but in order to beat 1,500 players (my usual tournament size) I will have to play more laggy. In the online tournament arena, the blinds go up fast, I wont get Aces and Kings often enough to win by hands alone, I am aware of that, but I always felt if I cash then get a hand or 2 and amass above average I can play my best game. Since I have not been winning the situations I feel I should, perhaps its time to alter before, and risk busting out earlier.
Live by the sword, die by the sword perhaps? I don’t know, I will examine my tournament game closely the next few days and see if I am indeed dead money now.
There’s probably not much expertise or knowledge to take from this post, other then, don’t take your eye off the ball, and always question yourself and challenge yourself. Maybe I haven’t done that lately, I have written up tournament notes lately, to aid me, and they have definitely been of use.
In the summer will be a time to weigh up the pro’s and con’s of my poker venture, and see if it is indeed my vocation, in the mean time I have to do the best I can to make that decision easier.(i.e. win lots of money) so now is like exam time at school, revision and cramming. Lets hope it helps.
Ciso
Did you know that participating in a poker forum can help you improve your own game? Be it by sharing experiences or simply asking for help, participation in a forum helps you focus and keep 'on topic' which will help you improve your game. You can learn from other players feedback and from their experiences. Why the THP poker forums? We offer one of the best managed texas holdem poker forums available, and the community within is far more friendly than those typicaly found on other sites. We've made a 'lurkers edition' of the poker forum available here on Holdem Poker Online, but we encourage all visitors to register and join in on the conversations on TexasHoldem-Poker.com
|
|
