1. 2008-06-26 06:57:25

   WSOP Event 49 Blog Series - Advice

   This is my last post before roll up my stake and go to Vegas for the World Series of Poker event #49. My blog series intro can be found here. Once I'm in Vegas, I hope to keep up a daily blog with updates each break. I just hope I make it through enough breaks for it to be meaningful :)

   I've collected some advice from some of my bestest friends. I've tried to digest it and spit out some of the most salient points.

   Chip Acquisition

   After looking at the tournament structure, I decided to think about how I was going to turn my 3000 chips into 80k by the end of the 10th hour. The blinds for day 2 will be 800/1600 with 200 antes at that time, and I think 80k is about right if I am doing well. Wow, that's a lot of chip accumulation. How am I supposed to do that?!

   Here are the suggestions I received:

   • a good strategy is to play correctly for the opponents at your table - if players are loose, play few pots with big hands for a big score and don't steal/bluff; if players are tight, play more drawing hands from position and scoop many smaller pots
   • accumulate chips early (don't wait for aces or kings to make a play)
   • players tend to be very tight and don't want to get involved in lots of hands
   • you can bluff, but make it cheap and be prepared to get away when you're caught
   • focus on bluffing with hands that have a good chance of winning when you hit (for example, suited connectors)

   I agree that I can't walk into the tournament with a predefined strategy, but it seems most people I talk to think the general play will be tight at first. I know I'll be having a hard time not playing tight to start - I just paid a month's rent for a tournament entry fee!

   There will be seasoned pros that would laugh at that statement, and those are the players that will be taking advantage of us amateurs. I'll just have to label each player accordingly and attack as necessary.

   Position

   Position is extremely important. Most of the comments I received stressed this. Big hands aren't as big in early position. Lately I've been learning and are crappy in early position. Don't limp in with small pocket pairs. is a good hand for the muck, not the flop.

   It was noted in advice that most standard players will be raising with an ace, face cards, or a pocket pair and therefore I should get comfortable calling reasonable raises with good drawing hands if the pot odds are decent.

   Play the Players

   Another top piece of advice I received is to focus on how my opponents play and how they perceive me, and keep tabs on how both of those change over the course of the tournament.

   • immediately spend the first few rounds gauging the other players and play ABC poker; figure out the right style after that
   • establish a routine of consistency early on and change gears once you feel the thinking players have got you figured out

   One interesting comment I was sent was to try and figure out at what level my opponents are thinking. For example, a level 1 thinker just plays their cards. A level 2 thinking player will try and put their opponent on a hand. And a level 3 thinker will also consider what kind of hand I might be putting them on. Keep this in mind when I get into pots.

   The "Don't" List

   • don't lose focus
   • don't overthink or get cute, especially early on
   • don't build unnecessarily large pots
   • don't leak
   • try not to be all in, ever

   Be Yourself

   I've played in a lot of tournaments, and have done fairly well. I've won many 40+ person tournaments in casinos, have played well in 200+ person tournaments, and have won countless smaller games. It seems like a bad idea to change from my normal strategy right before the biggest game of my life. However, this is no normal tournament, so some degree of all the modifications above are absolutely necessary.

   Thanks

   Thanks to George, Ken, Kyle, Parag, Kerry, Bobby, Graham, and everybody else who commented on my posts. I'll hook you guys up if I win something :)

   Please let me know if you have any last-minute advice. Put it in the comments. Thanks!

   Posted by Jason M at 2008-06-26 06:57:25

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Comments on “WSOP Event 49 Blog Series - Advice”

1. • Posted by matt d (unverified) g 2008-06-29 21:09:50
   • 

   • K8 is like first turn sol ring, second turn abundance, third turn sylvan then monk realist... oops... which do you keep?

2. • Posted by Jason M g 2008-06-27 15:47:13
   • 

   • What about the dirty K8?

3. • Posted by matt d (unverified) g 2008-06-27 07:14:14
   • 

   • please remember - k5 is broken like first turn bop, 2nd turn druid, 3rd turn geddon, except its like attacking after before you geddon instead of after :(

4. • Posted by Jason M g 2008-06-26 18:02:28
   • 

   • Thanks, I'll need it!!!

5. • Posted by Teresa g 2008-06-26 17:42:12
   • 

   • DON'T go all-in with JJ if flop is all <J and you've been card dead for a long time (unless you absolutely have to). People think that's a silly and obvious suggestion but I've seen it happen too many times

     GOOD LUCK!!!

6. • Posted by Jason M g 2008-06-26 17:15:50
   • 

   • This one goes out to all those BAPs and SVCs. Woo wooooooooo. LOL.

7. • Posted by Jason M g 2008-06-26 17:15:19
   • 

   • Wow, thanks, everybody. That's some more good stuff. Play the players, don't play rookie hands, make the airplane sound, and focus, focus, focus. :)

     Extra thanks for the non-poker tip on the food/water ;)

8. • Posted by Linus (unverified) g 2008-06-26 16:26:53
   • 

   • 1. Focus focus focus.
     2. Feeling tired? Don't make tough decisions. Get up and stretch.
     3. Ignore your surroundings... concentrate on the table action in front of you.
     4. Have some food and water in your backpack. The lines during the breaks are crazy long.
     5. Get some good sleep the day before the game.
     6. Focus focus focus. Always.

9. • Posted by Krishna (unverified) g 2008-06-26 16:10:25
   • 

   • There is a fine balance between patience vs accumulating chips early.
     If you go card dead you might have to be patient and wait for premium hands instead of overplaying AJ.
     Generally it takes one or two hands to double up and get back to average chip stack level.

     You still have to play POKER in the first two rounds calling in position with pairs, suited connectors to either flop big or make a move when opponent shows weakness on turn or river.
     Just don not play out of position with mediocre hands.
     Dump AJ and KQ.
     I would play only AK from UTG and may be AQ.

10. • Posted by Nick L g 2008-06-26 12:26:05
    • 

    • All you can ask if you got your money in when your ahead and hope you hold on. We both know that you have the potential to do very well, let's just hope you can get lucky early on and be able to last in the late stages. I wish the best for you and I will call you soon.

      CRUSH SOME FACE AND MAKE THAT AIRPLANE SOUND!!!! whenever you go all in for old time sakes.

11. • Posted by FREMONTkyle g 2008-06-26 10:59:59
    • 

    • LAST THING dont gamble money away with suspect hands like AT AJ KJ KQ early on unless youve got a great idea of how the players are playing and you know youll be able to realise if your top pair is no good and never never play QJ TJ 9T off suit because atleast if its suited you can hit the free roll draw and your not gunna try to play a big pot when you hit the single pair

12. • Posted by FREMONTkyle g 2008-06-26 10:56:18
    • 

    • early on i like limping with PP TT or lower hoping to spike a set because the blinds are small enough with the staks all being big enough for implied odds that if it doesnt get out of hand you can make a nice penny off it plus it will help disguise when you limp with AA and KK for the re pop in early position

      i hope you get slapped with the deck bring a note pad and during the breaks try to jot down some thoughts of the table ie players images there thoughts of you stack size in relation to table and better put a thumb on the toughness of the players figure out the gamblers and the poker players who are the math guys that do things based off pot size and who the ones that play by feel defenders of blinds and the wild cards you would want to trap after every big pot re asses table dynamics
      who is a pre flop starting hand player and who can play post flop

      but for the most part make sure you enjoy this & win it of course i got faith in you jason go get em for the sVc (sillicon valley chippers) LOL

13. • Posted by FREMONTkyle g 2008-06-26 10:43:06
    • 

    • try not to do too much hollywooding unless your in pot with a fish or its a bluff ask players if theyll show when your considering whether or not to fold if they say yes a high percentage of the time they will actually be bluffing you and then you can make the questionable call

14. • Posted by FREMONTkyle g 2008-06-26 10:38:51
    • 

    • if u flop trips against thinking player lead out and hope to win huge pot

15. • Posted by FREMONTkyle g 2008-06-26 10:36:52
    • 

    • so FINALLY I LEARN what you meant by level3 player at trish house

16. • Posted by Craig g 2008-06-26 08:09:52
    • 

    • Here's some advice. Remember the game at Trish's last weekend. I had QQ in early position and raised about 5xBB. You had AA in late position. The board was something 10 high. Remember how I kept betting, and you kept taking time to think (or maybe you were just trying to suppress the laughter). You looked so reluctant to stay in the hand every step of the way. But really you knew I was completely crushed when I gladly pushed all my chips in. Yeah, do that as many times as you can when you pick up a monster.
      That, and be happy to fold 22 when you don't hit trips on the flop.