One request that came up numerous times in the "What do you want to see?" thread was late position opening ranges. I think since so many of our raises come from late position this would certainly make a worthwhile topic.

First of all, let's define late position. For the purposes of discussion, we’ll talk about the button, cut off, and hijack positions. There’s certainly a difference between the button and hijack positions, but for the most part we’ll group them together.

The first thing to understand about late position raises is that the size of the stacks behind you are nearly as important as your stack. So when evaluating the quality of spots for opening in late position, you need to be highly aware of which players and what stacks are behind you.

First, let’s talk about situations assuming that all stacks behind are equal. I’ll give examples assuming you’re the CO, since it splits the middle of late position. Also, let’s assume there are antes in play, which give more incentive for aggressive LP play. Without antes you can simply drop out the bottom few hands of these ranges.

50 BB’s or more: At these effective stacks you can open a full range of hands. Depending on how aggressive the players are behind you, I’d say you can open the following: 22+, A2s+, A7o+ (you can go lower, depending on villains), 54s+, JTo+, KTo+, QTo+, 75s+ (two gappers), T7s+(three gappers.) If the villains on your left are quite tight, you can go considerably wider than this even, raising off suit connectors and suited two gappers. Depending on how comfortable you are playing post flop with some marginal holdings, you can certainly drop out some of these hands, especially the gapped holdings or weak off suit hands.

~40 BB’s: You can open a pretty similar range however there’s an added factor to be aware of here, good players will flat call a wider range here than at 50 BB’s. For example, if you raise the CO with 50 BB’s (effective) or more and the SB holds AJ/AQ, they may often 3 bet; however with 40 BB’s they will more likely flat call (the good/stack size aware ones anyway) since 3 betting at these stacks creates an awkward pot size in relation to stacks post flop. Example, you raise 2.6X on the CO, SB 3 bets to 9X, BB folds, you call. Now there’s ~20 BB’s in the pot with ~30 behind in stacks. It’s a pot a bit small for open shoving, and a bit big for bet/folding. Many players (especially at low stakes) will still 3 bet that range though, unaware of this multi-street consequence. Outside this factor, the opening range for 40 BB’s should be pretty similar to 50, of course still depending on how aggressive the players on your left are.

~30 BB’s: Here’s where we need to start making some changes. The 30 BB stack is around the area players will start restealing all in (even though you know it’s an overbet, they don’t) as well as go and go’ing you. Against players who are aggressive you should consider tightening your range here, especially since some of the connector/weak suited hands will play a little worse post and players who flat call in the blinds will have an easier time check raising all in on the flop. Although it’s not completely strict, I likely raise things like: 22+, A2s+, A9o+, 67s+, QJo+, KTo+, QTs+. Depending who’s on your left that range can be a bit tight or a bit loose, and you’re certainly paralyzed at 30 BB’s with your range.

14-22 BB’s: At this stack I’m tightening my opening range considerably. Having 23 BB’s+ can be a pretty similar range to 30, but under that you really need to be conscious of the fact that you’ll get re-stolen AI at a much higher frequency than any other stack. It’s additionally bad because when this happens it’s a fairly significant portion of your stack that you lose when you get reraised. Of additional difficulty for the higher end of this stack is that many players will have a very easy check raise all in on the flop, and it’ll often be just enough to price out your weaker holdings. If you raise 2.5X pre on the CO with 20BB effective and the BB calls there’s about ~7 BB’s in the pot, leaving 17.5 BB’s behind. When he checks and you perhaps fire ~4 BB’s and he moves in, you can’t easily call off 100% of your range. This is also the kind of stack size where if you do raise and get called, you should consider checking back more flops with dangerous or draw heavy textures. At this stack, depending on whose on my left, I’m mostly only raising hands I want to get all in with. That means, roughly, 66+, ATo+, A9s+, KQs (debatable.)

13 BB’s and less: At this point most of your late position opens (with antes) will be shoves. In a field of unknowns the only hands you should be raising nominally with are the hands you really want action on, but in tournaments like the 100r you should shove 100% of your range since most players know nobody raise/folds 12 BB’s in late position in that tournament any more.

Now let’s talk about how the players on your left affect your ranges. There will be some players who are so tight and resteal incapable that you should debateably be opening any two cards in LP, depending on your position. This can also apply to players who massively tighten up in bubble situations. However, in some spots you should still consider folding the bottom ~20% of your range, as if you constantly bombard these players with raises they will almost certainly adjust and start spite calling/ 3 betting you. Nobody likes to feel like they are being bullied. With very loose/resteal happy players you of course need to tighten your open raising range but loosen the range with which you call their shoves with.

With players of the very tight/very aggro variety, you’re raise should almost always have a plan going into the action. You should know how tight you’re willing to fold if a nit comes over the top, and how loose you’re going to call when the spewtard does. Don’t raise 55 on the CO with a spewtard in the SB with 16 BB’s then talk yourself out of a call. Running the ranges through pokerstove (you’ll always have to estimate, which is harder with the spewtards) should give you a rough idea of how loose to get with your raise/calls.

I need to emphasize again, it’s mostly effective stacks that matter. If you have 40 BB’s on the CO, and all three players behind you have 13-20 BB’s, you should treat your opening range like you have 13-20 BB’s unless they are all huge nits. Most of the time things won’t line up this easy for you, so you need to watch the players on your left closely to see what they are capable of pre flop with these kinds of stacks and how recently their stack has changed. Players who just lost a major pot down to 15 BB’s are way more likely to resteal than players who waited to shove 7 BB’s and just now doubled up.

The ranges I’ve given aren’t terribly strict, some players will feel comfortable going looser and some tighter, depending on the villains skill and your own skill. Also bear in mind the metagame, if you’ve raised the last two buttons you should probably be tightening up on the third. If you’ve folded the last two, you can raise a looser range obviously. These aren’t hard and fast rules, but I hope they serve well as guide lines.

Alright, that’s all for now, as always if you’ve got questions, just ask, I’ll be awake in ~9 hours.

Authors Note: For those not aware, famous online pokerstar Imper1um was accused of buying an account deep in a Sunday major on Full Tilt. For those needing the appropriate back story, you’d need to glance over two threads, in this order:
http://www.pocketfives.com/97408D8E-DA1E-4A00-A0AE-BE21870E7F86.aspx
http://www.pocketfives.com/BD836AF0-F439-46C6-ACC7-C093FE47F071.aspx
In the Pocketfives justice system all defendants are extremely guilty upon the moment of accusation, either by coming to their own defense immediately, or waiting for the storm to blow over. These are their stories.

*Cue scenes of people in boring suits walking in an intense manner and staring into the camera*

November 28th, 8:43pm, Pocketfives Courtroom

*The courtroom is full of pocket fives professionals, railbirds, wannabe’s and onlookers. Yourtimeisup sits on the left, while Imper1um sits on the right next to his lawyer, Inissint. Judge Adam sits in the center holding a gavel with a head in the shape of a spade, which he begins smashing onto his desk*

Judge Adam: I call to order the case of the People vs. Imper1um, 2007. Mr. Yourtimeisup of the prosecution, representing the people, state your case please.

Yourtimeisup: Yes your honor, *ahem* it has come to our attention that online superstar Imper1um, aka Zangbezan24, aka Sorel Mizzi, had purchased the chip stack late in the Full Tilt Sunday major from a one Christopher Vaughn, writer for Bluff Magazine and douche bag extraordinaire.

Random in Crowd: I KNEW IT!! I KNEW IT! ANYONE WHO EVER SAT IN THE SAME ROOM AS JJPRODIGY IS A CHEAT!
Random #2: HAVE HIM TAR AND FEATHERED!
Random #3: HE SHOULD BE SHOT IN THE FACE!!
BrSavage: BLAAARGH! KILL! SMASH! DESTROY!

Judge Adam: ORDER! ORDER DAMN IT! I will have order in my courtroom or I’ll ban you all. Now then, Mr. Yourtimeisup, please continue.

Yourtimeisup: Your honor, it is my belief that this purchase of the stack is not only a violation of the Full Tilt TOC, but it is also bad for the image of poker and is cheating in general, detrimental to the fairness of the game.

Judge Adam: I see, the accusations are noted. Prosecution, will you call your first witness to the stand?

Yourtimeisup: Your honor, the prosecution calls Mr. Mattg1983 to the stand.

*Mattg1983 walks to the stand, the bailiff approaches and places a copy of Super System under his hand*

Baliff: Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and not pull any bullshit bluffs here or anything?
Mattg1983: I do.

Yourtimeisup: Mr. G, would you please describe the incident that took place some months ago to the courtroom?

Mattg1983: Certainly. I was playing a satellite on UB…

Inissint: Objection! The witness was playing on UB, he’s clearly not in his right mind or credible.

Judge Adam: Overruled, the games are still soft and the structures are deep. Please continue witness.

Mattg1983: Right. So I was playing a satellite for a 17k package to Paris on UB. I came onto the final table with the chip lead and everything was going smooth. There was a player on my left who out of nowhere, started playing very well. What was an easy path to victory suddenly turned into a huge battle that resulted in my losing HU. Not 5 minutes later I get an AIM from Imper1um bragging about winning a Paris package. As I recall, his exact words were “BOO YAH! In your face ‘G, you can’t handle what the Imp is dishing. Betchya wanted that Paris package, but not this time bitch! HAHA! Au revoir, American pig!”

Yourtimeisup: That must have been quite traumatizing for you.

Mattg1983: Yes I…I cried for several hours afterward. I was outraged and offended, I couldn’t believe a player of his success and prominence would stoop to account buying.

Yourtimeisup: I see. Thank you. The prosecution rests. Your witness defense.

Inissint: Quite the story Mr.G, quite the story indeed. Do you happen to have the AIM conversation you’ve described saved anywhere?

Mattg1983: No, I’m afraid not. I didn’t think to save it. I talked to Judge Adam after the event about possibly pursuing ramification or outing Imper1um for his actions, but he advised against it.

Inissint: So you’re saying your lack of evidence is Judge Adam’s fault?

Judge Adam: Stop being a presumptuous moron prosecution! I’ll not have slanderous accusations against the court. I advised the witness that outing Imper1um may risk being ostracized from the community and that is all.

Inissint: I see. Well if that is all and the witness has no proper evidence, then the prosecution rests.

Baliff: You may step down Mr. G

Judge Adam: Would the prosecution please call their next witness.

Yourtimeisup: Your honor the prosecution calls TheWacoKidd to the stand.

*TheWacoKidd walks to the stand, a curious incense like smell following him, and the bailiff puts the copy of Super System under his hand*

Baliff: Do you promise to not lie and all that jazz?

TheWacoKidd: I do.

Yourtimeisup: Mr. Waco, can you inform the court of your knowledge in regards to the incident?

TheWacoKidd: Well from the information I’ve received Imper1um was for sure playing for Chris on FTP, and Chris was playing by himself on Stars. I called him when he was on the final table at stars and said “ok who is playing for you?” and he told me he was, so I told him to type something in the chat box about me and he immediately did, so I’m pretty sure it was him playing on Stars. Obviously Stars would have already taken some form of action if this wasn’t the case.

Yourtimeisup: And as far as the incident on Full Tilt is concerned?”

TheWacoKidd: As I said, from the information I’ve received Imper1um was playing for Chris on Tilt. It’s very likely they were on the phone or AIM and he was giving advice, as up until this point Chris has been a pathetic excuse for a poker player and an imbecile in general, never with the ability to play like he was that day.

Yourtimeisup: Thank you, the prosecution rests. Your witness defense.

Inissint: Mr. Waco, do you have any physical evidence of your claims? Any AIM conversations with Mr. Vaughn or Mr. Mizzi?

TheWacoKidd: Well not at this time no.

Inissint: I see. So for all we know, you could simply be making this all up.

TheWacoKidd: Making it up? To what end? How could that possibly benefit me?

Inissint: Oh I don’t know. Perhaps you were jealous of the defendant’s truly amazing poker abilities in comparison to your own?

TheWacoKidd: That’s ridiculous, I’ve won more this year than he has.

Inissint: Or perhaps the way the railbirds on the forum kiss his ass like it was made of chocolate spiked with cocaine?

TheWacoKidd: You’re way out of line, I’m one of the most popular and respected posters there is. I get my ass kissed more than Donald Trump.

Inissint: Or perhaps you imagined the whole thing, the end result of years spent on hallucinogenic drugs?

Yourtimeisup: Objection! This is online poker we’re talking about, nearly everyone is high 100% the time!

Judge Adam: Sustained. Is anyone in this court room NOT high as kite?

*The crowd murmurs and shakes their head, except for those that are asleep*

Judge Adam: As I thought. Now go get me some Doritos bailiff…and some Snickers bars…oh and some pop tarts, those things are the fucking best. Get some for everyone else too.

Inissint: Alright, that’s all for now. The defense rests.

*As TheWacoKidd gets up and exits the stand, Brsavage leaps up from his chair shoving those in his way, sprinting towards the stand which he leaps into with enthusiasm.*

Judge Adam: Mr. Savage, I don’t recall hearing your name called. Please sit back down and only approach the stand if one of the attorneys calls you.

BrSavage: NO! My opinion is way more important than theirs! It demands to be heard of its own accord and on its own time! I will take the stand now!

Judge Adam: Well since the bailiff is off fetching munchies, I have no recourse. I suppose you may speak.

BrSavage: Damn right I will! I got some important shit to say!

Judge Adam: Prosecution, if you please.

Yourtimeisup: Fine, whatever, let’s make this quick so I can get back to making your children homeless. What do you know about the incident Mr. Savage?

BrSavage: I know that all these little punks deserve to be thrown in a barrel of acid that’s for damn sure! I know Imper1um is guilty because he didn’t say shit and has just waited for this issue to go away. Stupid fucking cheaters! I’LL DESTROY THEM ALL!!

Yourtimeisup: You’ve been an enormous help Mr. Savage. The prosecution rests. Defense, go ahead.

Inissint: Mr. Savage do you have any evidence of cheating whatsoever or are you simply here because you forgot to take your medication?

BrSavage: FUCK YOU! We should take all of their fucking money and NEVER give them the benefit of the doubt.

Inissint: *Rolls his eyes* Yes of course. Screw fair process and all that, well said sir. The defense rests.

*BrSavage exits the stand, glaring at Imper1um the entire time while shaking his fist. The bailiff reenters the room and begins to distribute the munchies to the crowd*

Yourtimeisup: Your honor, the prosecution calls its next witness, Andy Mcleod.

*A suspiciously young looking man quietly walks to the stand and takes his seat. He takes the copy of Super System and sets it underneath him in order to provide proper height*

Yourtimeisup: Mr. Mcleod, what can you tell us about your relationship to the defendant?

Andy Mcleod: Yes well one night earlier this year I was playing 5k heauya! *his voice cracks* Ahem, excuse me, excuse me, I have a bit of a cold. Okay, so I was playing 5k heads up matches while very tilted and playing awful. Suddenly out of nowhere, Imper1um, who I thought was my friend and chatted to on MSN sits down and started playing and registering for every single 5k. Since I was tilted I wasn’t going to just quit down and kept going, but in the end Sorel took me for about 50k that night. He sat already knowing it was free money since I was playing so badly. I would never play one of my friends HU unless it happened that way in an MTT, I was pretty disgusted someone I considered to be my friend would take advantage of that situation.

Yourtimeisup: Did you question him about the incident later?

Andy Mcleod: Yes well he explained in that “I’d rather have the money myself and buy some balla ass shit in Paris than watch you give it to the next donk who sat.” Other than that, I’d say Sorel is a pretty nice guy, and we weren’t best mates or anything, but I still felt pretty disgusted with the whole situation.

Yourtimeisup: Thank you. The prosecution rests.

Inissint: Mr. Mcleod, don’t you think it was your own responsibility to control your emotions and tilt while playing?

Andy Mcleod: Well yes, but still, if he considered me a friend he shouldn’t be looking to take advantage of me in that kind of situation.

Inissint: But poker is a game of money, not friendship. Would you really prefer some random to get your money as opposed to someone you consider your friend?

Andy Mcleod: I would if that friend was only playing me knowing I was in an uneven mental state.

Inissint: I guess your friendship must not be worth very much then, eh, mate? The defense rests.

Judge Adam: Prosecution, your list of witnesses is finished is it not?

Yourtimeisup: It is your honor.

Judge Adam: Defense, do you have any witnesses?

Inissint: Only one your honor, a surprise witness……Imper1um himself.

Random in the crowd: HOLY JESUS GOD!
Random #2: THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENT OF MY LIFE!
Random #3: I JUST LOST IT IN MY PANTS!
*BrSavage’s head explodes*

*Imper1um approaches the stand, wearing nothing but a pair of pajamas and a dirty t-shirt. He throws Super System out from under him on the seat, and winks in the direction of Andy Mcleod*

Inissint: Mr. Imper1um, what are your thoughts on the character witnesses brought in to testify against you?

Imper1um: They are entirely not credible. I never bragged to Mattg1983 after the Paris satellite, in fact I didn’t even win it myself, I merely helped a friend by telling him “you shouldn’t open limp.” That was the only advice I gave him, hardly cheating or having two players to a hand wouldn’t you say? The only message I sent to Mattg1983 said “Hey man you play a really great game and are a truly awesome player. Tough luck on losing out that seat to France, and I wish you the best of luck in the future!”

Mattg1983: Lies! FUCKING LIAR!

Judge Adam: Order! Do not disrupt my court room again or I’ll have you forcibly removed!

Imper1um: And as for Andy Mcleod, well you certainly can’t believe anything he’s said since he’s built a career around a lie, HE’S ONLY 16!

*Andy Mcleod leaps from his seat and glances around nervously*

Some railbird: RUN ANDY! RUN AND CASH YOUR MONEY OUT!

*Andy dashes up from his seat and sprints towards the door, but before he can exit Judge Adam grabs the ban stick at his side and whips it at Andy, striking him in the back of the head, sprawling Andy out on the floor*

Judge Adam: I banish you from Pocket fives Andy Mcleod! You may not return until you are of legal age and don’t put us in a legal quagmire!

*Andy Mcleod lies crumpled on the floor, clawing at his scalp*

Andy Mcleod: NOOOOOOO! MY E-FAAAAAME!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

*The bailiff drags Andy Mcleod from the court room, then throws him onto a yellow school bus outside the court house.*

Inissint: Well I certainly don’t think I can top that, the defense rests.

Yourtimeisup: So Mr. Imper1um, you’ve come onto to the stand and discredited both Mattg1983 and Andy Mcleod, but do you have any actual comment on the reason we’re all here? The night in question?

Imper1um: Yes well um, you see, I’m supposed to give this interview about that in a few days. I mean ya know, whenever it sort of comes together. This weekend maybe or something, I don’t know, it’ll happen.

Yourtimeisup: I see, so you are not directly denying your guilt at this time?

Imper1um: I have no comment at this moment, err yes, that’s right. No comment.

Yourtimeisup: Fine then, the prosecution rests. Christ, why do I waste my time with this shit, I could be making 10k drinking whiskey.

Judge Adam: Well if that is all you may leave the stand Mr. Imper1um. I will now ask the jury to leave into seclusion and decide on a verdict.

And now, we wait. To be continued…

I’ve got some time over the next week before I have to get back to live poker so I thought I’d get back to writing some of these. A lot of people in the ‘what do you want to see from these articles’ thread they were curious about time management (and to a lesser degree, volume) and tilt/emotional management. Neither of these seem like incredibly elaborate topics, so I’ve decided to combine them despite not being all that related.

Time Management: The annoying part about MTT play, is that it’s the most restrictive form of playing poker when it comes to time freedom. Not only do the tournaments go off at a time we don’t decide, but online tournaments often last 5-10 hours and live ones multiple days.

When it comes to live poker we get very little choice in our time management since we can only one table and all breaks/rests are structured for you. The hardest part about live poker in regards to time management, is staying away from the temptations of the live scene in order to get enough sleep at night to play well. On any given night during say, the WSOP, people will be going out for food, parties, strip clubs, bars, and if your not a social pariah you’ll often be getting invites. If you’ve got to play the next day at 12 you should probably be up at least a half hour (depending on where your staying) before so you can shower, get dressed and get some decent food in your system before you have to play. I swear to god if another one of you fuck heads sits down next to me in a live event without showering and smell like shit I’m going to punch you in the throat.

For online poker, time management is a sort of juggling act. My personal process goes something like: Wake up, shower, set out breakfast in front of my computer, fire up 3-6 tournaments (depending on what hour I’m starting on) and continuing to register for the next ~4 hours, with my girlfriend helping me out by making some food about 4-5 hours into my shift. My average day normally ends up lasting within 30 minutes of 8 hours, but some might take under 6 or over 10, depending on which tournaments I go deep in and if I stop registering early. I play around 6-10 tables at a time on two screens, and on truly hectic days it can reach 12, but my average is around 7 or 8, which is comfortable at this point. Over the course of the day I probably play roughly 15 tournaments, depending on which day of the week it is, and 6 sometimes 7 days a week (though I’ll take half days so I get off early and get outside for the rest of the day.)

There are various pit falls of this kind of system. What about when you get hungry? I’d recommend having easily prepared meals around that also aren’t junk food, and staying away from things that will make you feel lethargic (booze, turkey, greasy/fatty food.) When it comes to using the bathroom, it’s nice to play with someone else in the room in this event (though at this point with the one player to a hand/account paranoia who knows, you could be accused of wrong doing here) or have a laptop you can move all your tables to.
As your day gets longer you should likely concentrate on the tournaments you are deeper in, as it seems a lot of players are auto piloting early in tournaments (as I often am myself.) By the time you reach the money, and certainly by the final table, most players are paying to every hand with at least some level of attention. Sometimes maintaining focus over a day this long can be pretty hard, and I can’t fault people who go on semi auto pilot while nine tabling, as long as every time a serious decision comes up you pause and put real consideration towards it. Using PT/PAHUD will also help with this, and I normally prefer to put a couple ‘feature tables’ up in the most convenient spot for me, normally the highest buy in or one’s I’m most deep in, and pay a lot of specific attention to those two and taking some notes. I’m pretty sure anyone who pays attention and tries to take notes on every hand of every table (while 8 tabling) all day is going to drive themselves insane, but if you have no problem with this kind of focus, go for it.

As far as how many days a week you want to play, I find it’s easier for a poker player to play more days since I enjoy my work (some of us don’t) but also since we lose zero time to anything but our work. There’s no commute, no trying to find parking, no homework (I guess reviewing and discussing your game, but that’s hardly homework) and no forced social interaction. If I had to guess, we likely save ~2 hours a day compared to your average worker since we work at home and we can always pick which days to take off or leave early. How many days a week you should play comes down to how much you need the money, how much you like playing, and how many other responsibilities/activities you have in life.

Tilt/Emotional Management: I’ve been lucky in that I’ve never had tilt problems. The last time I can remember really tilting was over a year ago, and I was playing over my bankroll.

The easiest answer to any tilt problem is to play stakes low enough that you never feel a huge pressure to win. Financial instability can be very tilt inducing, and if you really need money playing poker likely isn’t the answer.

Next I’d suggest having a stress outlet. Some people use a stress ball, play with chips in their hand, yell and scream, get exercise, have a cold drink, take some deep breaths, take a break for a few minutes, play a youtube video that cracks them up, etc. Find what works for you, and if it’s a healthy outlet, stick with it. We all have different triggers for our stress/tilt, and figuring out what they are and avoiding them is essential to a level head.

The part I would stress the most though, is realizing how pointless it is to get angry over that which you cannot control. Like I’ve said before, you need to make your peace with variance, since you’ll likely never understand it and it will NEVER be ‘fair’. Bitching about variance is not only counterproductive, but anyone who does more than a little of it will likely be branded as a whiner and a bitch, and you don’t want to be a whiner and a bitch do you?

In the end, all poker that poker winds up being is trying to make optimal decision after optimal decision after optimal decision into infinity, then watching the results. You can control the decisions you make but you can’t control the outcome. Since you’ll always be able to get into another tournament or game fretting about busting out of this one or that one is pointless. Any special importance you give to a singular event is mostly imagined. “Oh but Bond, I busted out of the WSOP ME, how tragic is that?” We all bust out of the WSOP ME (as I find it highly unlikely any WSOP champ is reading this, but just in case, stop being a Dbag Jamie Gold), how tragic can it be if it’s that common? In most tournaments there’s normally only one guy ‘happy’ with how it ended, and that is obviously the winner. If you can’t handle failing at an enormous frequency, then tournament poker likely isn’t for you. It’s okay to tell your occasional bad beat story here and there, but investing a huge amount of emotion into a single tournament is pretty stupid and counterproductive to achieving sick results.

Tilt is simply you being a big baby over variance. Grow up, face the fact that poker will often disappoint you, and do everything in your power to control what you can to reach a favorable outcome.

After finishing my writing I head downstairs to watch Bondgirl deep in her event. They’re down to 42 with 40 paying and everyone is playing pretty careful. She ends up playing pretty cautious after having lost a huge coin flip in blind verse blind play and gets into the money with a bit under half the average stack. The first hand she plays after getting moved goes down as follows:
UTG raises to 13000, folds to MP2 who shoves for 50k, Bondgirl shoves 40k, 4 folds.
Bondgirl shows KK, MP2 AKs.
Flop: A Q 4 rainbow
Turn: T
River: J

Jesus that was close. Thing stay tight for a little while but having got to the money chips getting into the money are inevitable. 2+2’er LearnedfromTV is on her table and she soon gets involved with a pot against him.
Preflop: UTG shoves 30k, UTG+1 (LFTV) reshoves ~35k, folds to Bondgirl in LP who reshoves ~45k, 3 folds.
Bondgirl shows QQ, UTG AKo, LFTV AQo
Flop: J 6 3
Turn: 3
River: J

Bondgirl takes down a massive pot and soars over average. She soon gets moved tables again and very little seems to happen for a very long time. The blinds continue to increase and at 2500/5000 she’s sunk down to about ~80,000. The table is 8 handed when the following hand comes up:
Preflop: UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to 23,000 (is standard raise though he was quite tight) 1 fold, Bondgirl shoves, folds back to UTG+1, UTG+1 thinks for a little while then slides his stack into the middle and reveals AA (he would later walk right behind me when I referred to him as a ‘stupid slow rolling fuckhead’) and Bondgirl tables JJ.
Flop: 854
Turn: 5
River: T

Bondgirl’s run comes to a close as she finishes in 24th for about $4800. The tournament has been going crazy in following her, hoping she at least final tables so the APPT will have a face to market to the new markets. Bondgirl was born in China and fluent in English, Mandarin and can understand/speak some Cantonese and as a 25 year old woman she’s exactly what they’re looking for. Despite only finishing 24th Pokerstars is excited at the prospect of her enough to offer her full sponsorship to APPT Syndey, which while somewhat emasculating means at least I get free hotel. Goooooooo meal ticket girlfriend!

The only problem with so many people talking into her ear is I’m getting concerned that she’ll start believing she’s as good as they say she is. While she played very well the entire event her game looked quite tight and she spent the next several hours questioning her JJ push. I tried to explain to her that the open raiser has to be such a totally absurd nit for her to ever consider folding in that spot. She claimed that he’d been very tight, but their sample size of hands was no more than 100 and most likely less than 70, meaning knowing an accurate opening range is basically impossible. Even if we give the villain the absurdly tight opening range of TT+/AQ+ we have 46.9% equity, and with the blinds and antes that’s all we need to jam, and that’s assuming worst case scenario. Additionally, the guy is snap folding AQ to her shove, and VERY possibly folding AK because of her image and the fact that he clearly has no understanding of equity and hand ranges. Still, I get the impression she still thinks she ‘could have got away’ or ‘found a better spot’ and after spending so much time trying to destroy that mentality it’s disturbing to see it creeping back in. I think I’ll ask Luckychewy to coach her in cash to really improve her post flop thought process.

Bondgirl, Timex, Tufat and I spend that night in the hotel spa getting massages of all kind. The facility is truly awesome, I got four massages and a late night dinner with a couple beers for what amounted to about 60 USD. It was so badass we even stood around all brushing our teeth together. Yea, clean teeth and fresh breath is how I roll.

I spend the next day discussing with the tournament directors what’s expected as far as the 15k event. He tells me in the morning that they have 23 registered and expect maybe forty. That doesn’t sound good at all. I talk to Timex about the event honestly, that I’d definitely like to play but if it’s going to be sick tough field we can both agree plunging further in make up against a very tough field seems pointless. Since we get no further information for the rest of the day I tell him I’ll talk to team Wafflecrush about it and see if they have any interest.

We head out to the city to see the casinos in Macau and check out the food festival in front of the Macau tower. The festival is like a carnival entirely made up of food tents. By far the best part is the beer tent that has bottles that are two times the size of a normal bottle for 2/3rds of the price. I know that doesn’t make any sense and I don’t get it either, but you actually pay less for more beer. The end result of course is strolling through the fair grounds double fisting two massive beer bottles that I take turns swigging from, full of romantic nostalgia for my college days and that can’t of behavior not only being socially acceptable, but the norm. The only annoying part of the fair is getting, which we ended up doing by standing around in the rows of tables for 45 minutes waiting for people, after two failed bribery attempts.

In the spa later that night I talk on AIM with Psyduck who tells me while they’re very much interested in backing me at some point, the 15kament seems like a hell of a lot of variance for very little if any equity. I certainly can’t fault them for their decision.

I get to sleep a bit before 5am intending to do nothing but relax for the rest of the trip, wasting away my days at the spa having my back cracked in ways never before imagined…

…There’s a loud knock on the door.
“I’m still sleeping! Later please!”
The door knocks loudly again.
“Do you want to play the 15k or not!?” the door answers back.
“What!?”
I crawl out of bed and walk over to the door.
“Timex?”
“You want to play the 15k?”
“Uh okay, let me put some pants on.”

I put my clothes on and open the door. Timex and Travestyfund are outside waiting.
“What time is it?”
“11am, are you going to play?”
“Uhh, hmm. I guess I feel pretty good. Care if I shower quick?”
“Wait, we should go buy in first.”

We head downstairs and wait in the cashier line while a fat Russian lady keeps ranting “Ghive me byack my phassphort!!” at the teller over and over. When we finally get to the window, the counting phase of course takes forever. We manage to buy me in at 11:40, leaving me enough time to run upstairs, shower, and get changed, but nowhere close enough for breakfast. After my shower I speed down to the hotel lobby, grab an apple, then bolt upstairs in time for the second hand.

All week we’ve been trying to guess how many players the 15k would get. I’d been told everything from 20 to 80, with most people guessing somewhere in the 40’s. The final count turned out to be 64, a full 8 tables 8 handed.

I expected the field to be really tough, made up of perhaps 10 really good pros, 40 very solid pros, and 10 donks. I was very wrong. My table alone has four pretty bad players, two so bad I’m desperately trying not to get too distracted trying to come up with where they have $15,000 for something like this. We start with 15,000 in chips at 25/50 with hour levels. For the first hour I am completely card dead and stay almost completely uninvolved, besides a couple raises where I C bet and take down the pot. Outside Joe Hachem on my left and a guy named Scott on my right, the play seems really bad.

An example of the bad play: One player on the table a few seats on my right was limp/calling about 80% of hands if not more. In one such hand he limps in, a couple others limp, and the BB (Ziv Bachar, who won the previous APPT event and seems solid) checks. The flop comes AsTsXo and Ziv leads, only the station calls. On the turn Ziv checks, MP bets 300, Ziv check raises to 1300 and station calls. The river comes a low spade and Ziv leads 2000, and MP calls him. Ziv turns over ATo thinking it’s the nuts and MP shows him Js5s.

The first interesting hand comes up vs Hachem:
Effective stacks: ~15k
Blinds 50/100, I hold 8s7s in MP1.
Preflop: Folds to me, I raise to 300, 1 fold, Hachem calls, the rest fold.
Flop: 5s Ac 9h
I bet 450, Hachem calls.
Turn: Jd
I bet 900, Hachem calls.
River: 2h
I check, Hachem bets 2500, I fold.

I’ve played with Joe before a number of times and he knows I’m thinking and aggressive. I think when I pick up the double gut shot there double barreling is pretty good, since on the flop he can flat call plenty of pairs to see if I multi barrel to represent the ace.

A round or so passes and little happens, then I finally find a spot to get some chips. The player on my left is a station and makes his intent very clear with his body language.
My stack: ~13.5k
BB: ~13k
Others: ~15k
I hold 22 in the SB with 50/100 blinds.
Preflop: Hachem raises to 300 UTG, folds to huge station in MP, MP calls, folds to me in SB, I call, BB calls.
Flop: 2 3 9 rainbow
When the flop comes out, the BB now puts a chip over his cards and slides them a little closer to him. I don’t think he could have hit this flop that hard, so I think he’s most likely top pair. If Hachem has a big pair I’m pretty sure he’ll raise my lead on this flop and I can call letting BB get stuck again, then very possibly lead again on the turn to prevent Hachem from checking behind.
I bet 1000, BB calls, Hachem folds, MP folds.
Turn: J
I bet 2500 hoping to take BB to maximum value town, but he thinks it over and then folds T9s face up. Damn, should have check min raised him for maximum dirtiness.

A round later and little has changed. The table is still playing very loose and we’re about 15 minutes from our first break. A major hand develops:
I hold 8s 5s with about ~15.5k. Scott on my right holds ~16.5k. I’ve been chatting to Scott for a while, and he seems like a nice guy, and seems pretty recreational. He has been tight passive with raises pre flop, and has been limping behind limpers and calling raises some but not much. I haven't seen him get aggressive much post.

One hand I did see him play he raised KK pre, got called by station, flop Q84 rainbow, he check calls, turn Q he check calls, river blank check/check. After the guy mucks Scott says something like "phew, that Q was no good, I gotta call you on the river though if you bet though.” On to the hand though. Blinds 50/100
Preflop: UTG limps, UTG+1 limps, UTG+2 raises to 350, 1 fold, Scott calls, I call on CO, button folds, blinds fold, limpers call.
Flop: Qs Js 4s
Boo fucking yah. Unfortunately, everyone checks to me. I lead 1600. UTG thinks it over and folds, 3 more folds, and then it’s up to Scott. I’ve got my sunglasses on, and while directing my head towards the board I’m watching Scott with my eyes. He seems to mull things over, then counts out the 1600 and throws it in.
Turn: 2h
Scott checks. I think it over, stack up an amount, and fire in 3600. Again Scott thinks, doesn’t go for raising chips, and doesn’t do anything that’s a bad tell (like a sigh or a shrug) and throws in his money.
River: Jd
Not my favorite card but Scott checks again. I can’t imagine him slow playing any flush this far except an A high flush, and slow playing any hand this much is almost always bad. I think he would normally lead a set on the flop, and very possibly two pair, since he has no reason to think I’ll bet the flop for him. I think he’s likely holding something like an over pair with a spade, AsQx, AsJx, or the flopped nuts. I look down at my chips, count how much I have, and upon realizing I only have about 3/4th’s the pot (not really enough to bet fold in my opinion) I move in. Scott beats me into the pot and instantly tables As2s. I’m the second guy out of the tournament.

A less than wise man once said “Live players love the slow play and don't you forget it, no matter how bad the board/situation to do so.” My powers of prediction are quite creepy.

In the end 2+2 has a very poor showing in the 15k event and in AAPT Macau in general. Bondgirl was our highest finisher in the main event (to my knowledge) and not one of us cashed the 15k.

I elected to spend the remainder of my time in Macau wasting away in the spa or stumbling around the food fair, massive beer in one hand and delicious Indian food in the other. I haven’t added it up fully yet but I’m almost positive I’ve slipped into six figure make up with Timex as a result of this trip, though he seems less than concerned and with APPT Syndey only 9 days away I’ll be chasing those losses in no time. This shit ain’t over live poker.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the adjustments we need to make to adapt as internet players in the live arenas. I'm not trying to write a definitive guide here, what i'm really interested in is discussion and your thoughts on the issue, so please join in on what you agree/disagree with and what you feel has been omitted.

First, when talking about live play we're going to have to make some generalizations. When refering to the play of live tournaments or live players let's make assumptions:
1. The villains in the hand aren't very well known live players whos game you respect.
2. The villains in the hand aren't well known internet players.
3. The villains in the hand are basically unknown live players or known live pros who play badly.

As i said, it's a fairly cumbersome set of generalizations, but discussing how we would play against other internet pros in a live setting seems somewhat redundant to our discussion of playing them online.

First, some tendencies i've noted in your more standard live players:
1. Early in the tournament they call raises or limp to loosely.
2. They have a weak understanding of pot odds.
3. Their open raising conditions are often too tight.
4. They resteal at a very low frequency.
5. They are concerned with their tournament life.
6. They call raises out of position too lightly and defend their blinds too loosely.
7. They don't understand what kind of actions their stack size (should) limit them to.
8. They tend to play large draws more weak than online players (less big semi bluff raises, more calling.)
9. They tend to bluff less, especially in terms of big multi street ones.
10. They don't think about ranges very well.
11. If they are the type that's capable of adjusting their play, they will often react to a loose aggressive style quicker than in many online tournaments.
12. They don't thin value bet as much as they should.
13. They slow play much much more than online.
14. They (mostly) read all ins for strong, or at least stronger than nominal bets, especially early in a tournament.
15. They may seem highly inconsistent, that is, you'll see some players play very tight/weak for a long time then suddenly do something very loose and spewy almost out of nowhere.
16. They bet and raise for information and don't necessarily have a clear motivation of value bet/bluff bet behind their actions.
17. They may commit a very large % of their stack and fold to more aggression.
18. They percieve a pre flop 3 bet range to be much tighter than it normally is, unless you are very often 3 betting.
19. They may search for tells or visual cues of intent.
20. They make a decesion based on a very specific read.
21. They won't isolate limpers in position nearly as much as they should/could.
22. They squeeze at a much lower frequency.
23. There is basically no such thing is a pre flop 4 bet all in as a bluff in their arsenal.
24. Their shoving ranges on a short stack tends to be much tighter than online.

I'm sure i could come up with some more if i sat around thinking about it for a while, but that seems okay for now. Again, these are some really massive generalizations, but often devoid of a specific read they are the kind of generalizatoins we should be making.

So here's the part i really want to discuss, that is, the kind of adjustments we internet players should be making in the live arena. I feel like at this point in my live experience, i may have done a pretty mediocre job at doing so in some areas. These are the points i'd really like feedback on:

1. I think we should call down tighter: I think live villains are less likely to bluff, especially in multi way pots. When i think back to my live experience and everytime i've tried to make a tough call down, the only one that sticks out that i got right was against a good/aggressive/thinking player on a money bubble (and it was only on one street.) I think it's probably okay to give our villains more credit than we're used to online and take spots that seem like marginal/close call downs and weight them towards folds. I think the kinds of bluffs we should call down are the more obvious ones in pot controlled situations when a draw misses and we've checked on the turn. Live players will still often make the mistake of betting rivers in those kinds of spots.

2. I think we should call in position a bit looser pre flop (when stack appropriate): It seems since many players will play bit more weak/straight forward post flop, as well as slow play and give us more free cards, that i think we can call a bit lighter than normal in position, especially with the decreased chance of being squeezed (though obviously you need to be aware of who's behind you.) Also i think calling a looser range is especially effective since they often won't give you credit many hands in your range if you haven't established that kind of image yet, and they tend to call to many value bets on the river assuming it doesn't get to the stage of all in.

3. I think we should value bet nominal amounts in favor of all in when appropriate: If the all in get's treated with a lot of seriousness, and players aren't often aware of stack size considerations, than i think we might be missing value by shoving in spots where we can make what is a very clear value bet and get a call a ton of the time. If you think the player is very unlikely to adjust to this and start shoving over your bets as a bluff all in (this seems very unlikely with most live players) then betting for value intending to fold to a shove might be the better alternative. Obviously, if all in on the river is only a half pot bet, we should basically never be going the nominal amount.

4. I think we can use plays that have become somewhat out dated online: Such as the stopngo or the squeeze, as live players are mostly expecting this less and few put in enough volume to become overly familiar with these plays.

5. I think we should limp more: Especially behind other limpers, but i also know of two players whos game i really respect (Alan Sass, William Thorrsen, spelling might be wrong) that also do a fair bit of open limping with considerable success. I think we should limp behind limpers looser since it's less likely we get isolated and since people play pretty poorly in limped pots. As far as open limping, that's something i have zero experience with and would love for someone more experienced with it or smarter than me to come in and explain with detail what kind of situations it's good in and why.

6. I think we should increase our 3 bet frequency with antes: That is, moreso than we do online, however there's a catch to this. I think you can increase your 3 betting frequency to a point, but finding the line is very important since eventually live players may just start stationing you much wider. I was talking to a successful Australian live player, David Saab, and he called this the 'vindictiveness factor' which i thought was a good term. Basically, you can pummel your table/the players on your right with reraises for only so long until suddenly they just kind of snap and start spite calling you down very wide.

7. I think we should go absolutely fucking ballistic on the bubble on most tables: Unless your table is packed with pros who don't give a shit about cashing, i really think you can go all out on a live cash and final table bubble, much moreso than you can online. People are normally playing for multiple days to reach these points, and going out at that stage is a pretty gross feeling for most (even plenty of online players when you consider the time investment.) I think you should be willing to break rules in terms of stack sizes needed to 3 bet or open raise (to a reasonable degree), i think you should put people all in with an almost reckless abandon, i think against other deep stacks you should flat call pre flop when a 3 bet isn't appropriate and just make their lives miserable post. I think in most of these situations you can get away with murder. As one WSOP player once told me one off the money bubble "Of course i would of folded my kings if you shoved and had me covered, i didn't come all the way from Alaska just to finish 271st!"

8. I think when we have a tight image we should consider making more big bluffs: Be they multiple street or 3/4 bet type things, i think live players will make some rediculously tight folds if your image isn't too loose or anything. When i think about it, in most online MTT's i very rarely make big or 3 street pure bluffs, and while i certainly don't think we should go crazy with these things i think there's more possibility to make these work in live than online.

9. I wonder about the inverse of the Gigabet dilemma: I'm pretty sold on the idea that in some tournament situations, taking a -EV spot to open up future +EV opportunities can be a good investment. Can the inverse of this be true? If we have a table full of very bad players in a live tournament, should we consider passing on some slight edges for a ton of our stack, since if we lose we miss future opportunties where these players would put their chips in in a much worse spot. I am OBVIOUSLY not talking about being a tournament life nit, or "OH MY GOD YOU HAVE AA FIRST HAND AND 9 GUYS GO ALL IN YOU MUST FOLD!" or anything like that. One example i might give: The $3000 buy in pokernews cup i played recently was an incredibly weak field with a very deep structure. If it's first hand and it folds to SB with me in the BB holding 66 and SB open shoves then flips up AKs, should i consider folding? I think (and i can't prove it, i'm not good enough at math/theory) that might be a fold given the field. Do you think this inverse applies? If so how far does it/can it go?

10. I think we should call short stack all ins tighter until villain proves he's capable of shoving light: People in live just don't seem to shove very light on a short stack, even under 10 BB's with high antes. I can't say how tight we should go, and obviously the villain in the hand is the pertinent detail here, but i do think we should tighten up in this spot.

11. I think we should be really really image conscious: Since you're only getting in like 30 hands an hour in a live tournament everyone can (if they want and bother to) watch most hands pretty accurately. People seem to be a bit less observent in the early stages than mid/late where every pot is so important, but they will often sit around talking about the way other people at the table play and if you play as loose/aggressive as most of us do will eventually just start calling you a lot wider. Image and meta game in live is kind of hard to put into words, but i think adjusting to this factor is really important in dominating the live scene.

12. I think we should do more obvious stuff and take more obvious lines for what we want: Remember the stack a donk line? Guess what, in live it still works. Even dirtier, you can stack a donk by check min raising the turn. Soooooo dirty. I think min raising for free cards on the flop, or min raising for value on any street is way more viable live than online (though i still haven't done it.) I think live villains will think about your hand range less, so doing what might be really obvious online becomes considerably more viable live where they haven't already seen that pattern 10,000 times.


Okay, that's what i have on my mind for now. I'm really keen to get some discussion going here, so i'm actually going to post this in SSMTT and HSMTT since the two have a pretty different crowd these days but both play a fair bit of live. Agree/disagree/omissions/additional thoughts?