Continuation bets in Turbo SNG tournaments

Yet another strategy that you will need to grasp and effectively implement if you want to want to cash in Sit and Go tournaments is the continuation bet. Put simply, this is the act of making a bet after you were the orignal raiser pre-flop even if you actually miss the flop. Here’s an example:

The hero is playing at Cake Poker and gets dealt Ad Kd and with the blinds at 10/20, makes a standard 5X raise to 100. The hero is called by the villain in the BB (Big Blind) and the flop comes all rags – 5h 8s 3d. The BB checks and the hero makes a pot sized bet of 225. Of course, the BB may have actually hit a hand here and check-raise but for the purpose of this example we’ll say he folds, winning the hand for the hero.

There’s no real strategy to a continuation bet other than to use it with restraint. Doing this every single hand that you’re the pre-flop raiser will actually LOSE effectiveness because other players at the table will simply check to you knowing you’re going to continuation bet and then punish you by raising after you bet.

Ideally you will have position when trying to make a continuation bet but this won’t always be the case. The other benefits of continuation betting is that if you are called, you may well hit your hand on the turn or river. If this happens you’ve often disguised your hand well enough by betting the flop that you will bust or at the very least take a fair amount of chips from your opponent.

The one thing to watch is when you’re called during a continuation bet. You have to rely on your read to determine if the villain in the hand actually has a hand or is simply setting up a bluff of his own with his call or raise. So use this move sparingly but timely and have the discipline to lay down a hand if you’re pressed by an opponent who may already have you beat.

Turbo SNG Tournament Short-Stack Strategy

In some of the turbo sit and go tournaments that you play you’re going to get burned in a hand in the early stages and you’re going to be the short stack at the table. Now if you’re playing at Poker Stars everyone starts with 1500 chips, so I consider myself to be short stacked when I’m around 800 chips. Once you get to 800 chips or less you need to start sitting and not playing any cards until you get an all-in hand.

The short stack isn’t where you want to be early in a tournament, but the good thing is there is plenty of time to recover your tournament still. You only need to come in the top three in a nine player sit and go tournament which means you can still do that from the short stack. A lot of the players will be prone to calling your all-in to try and get you out once you do go all-in as well which is why you need to wait for your monster hand.

If you’re playing on a tight table then you might be able to steal the blinds with your short stack all-ins for a little while as well to build your stack back up. When I’m short stacked I try and steal the blinds once every time around the table so that it pays for my blinds. Then I sit and wait until I get a monster hand and either slow play or push all-in and try to double up.

There are instances where you’ll get burned and lose with your monster hand, but this doesn’t happen the majority of the time so you can’t regret the play. As long as you’re winning the hand when you get the chips into the pot you should feel about the play you made. If you happen to get outdrawn then you basically got burned, which happens a lot in poker and you’ll need to get used to it. You aren’t going to win every tournament, but when you’re short stacked don’t give up. You shouldn’t give up until all your chips are gone and you’ve been eliminated.

Weird things can happen on the poker table and I’ve seen many people catch up from the short stacked position in the past and win the tournament. You’ll need to play a much firmer hand selection and you’ll also need to take some calculated risks when it’s time to steal blinds, but if you play the cards right you still have a chance of winning. Remember you don’t even need to win, you just need to hold off from being eliminated until the final three. Hopefully you don’t need to play the short stack position to often, but it will happen so make sure you’re prepared to play as needed for your position.

Matrix Tournaments at Full Tilt Poker

For those players that enjoy multi-tabling, Full Tilt just released a new version of Sit and Go tables called Matrix Tournaments. It’s a unique twist on SNG’s and allows a player to pay one buy in and play the same players at FOUR individual tables. Unlike traditional multi-tabling where you may face a range of opponents, this format puts the same players at every table. The benefit to you is that if there’s a fish at table one, it’s the same fish at table two, three, and four! While the format for a Matrix Tournament may seem complex, it’s pretty easy to grasp once you see the overall concept and payout structure. To make sense of it let’s look at the following example:

You buy into a $10+$1 Matrix tournament so the total prize pool is $90. That prize pool is paid to the top three players at each of the four tables but before you do the basic math and assume that each table has a $22.50 prize pool (90/4=22.50), wait one second! Here’s where the next twist comes into play as you enter the “Matrix”. Because there’s an additional prize pool of $18.00 that’s paid to the overall best player (points wise), that leaves each individual table with it’s own $18 prize pool. So first place is paid $9.00, second gets $5.40, and third place gets $3.60.

Beyond that, the player with the best average finish at each table will get payouts as well. If you can beat every table you will take the entire pot along with the title of “Dominatrix”. There are more detailed rules regarding this new format at Full Tilt Poker and if you’re interested, I highly suggest reading the rules in detail along with the scoring model. While it’s somewhat complex the lobby will give you detailed stats on your play and that of your opponents as you play. After playing a few of these Matrix Tournaments today I got the hang of it pretty quickly.

To find a Matrix Tournament at Full Tilt Poker, simply look for a small grahpic “M” next to any Sit and Go event listed in the lobby.

So enough reading up on them, head over to Full Tilt and try one of these out!

Tips for Playing Pocket Pairs

Pocket pairs are dealt to a player approximately once every eighteen hands in Texas Holdem, but when you do get them you need to know how to play them to maximize their value. Not all pocket pairs are great and some of them will usually cost you money rather then making you money. You need to play certain pocket pairs differently then other pocket pairs and we’ll look at which approach you should take for each one. You’re usually going to be a favorite when you have a pocket pair, but there is a potential for being behind in the hand before the flop so be careful with low pockets. We’ll now look at some tips you can use for playing certain pocket pairs.

Low Pocket Pairs – 2′s to 7′s

When you have low pocket pairs, which I consider to be anything from pocket twos to pocket sevens you need to be cautious. You usually won’t win these hands unless you win it before the flop, which is your best bet. If you’re in an early position then you should throw out a raise in hopes you take the pot down right now, if someone calls you then you want to hit a set. If you don’t hit a set and the board is all high then your opponent probably hit a higher pair. You could try bluffing at this point, but you might just want to see if your opponent comes out betting. Low pocket pairs are best to see the flop for cheap and then fold if you don’t hit your set. If you think the opponent is bluffing then you could go for it, but you’ll need to determine that based on how the player has been playing at the table.

Middle Pocket Pairs – 8′s to 10′s

Middle pairs are a lot more solid then low pairs and hold up a lot more times then low pockets do. You should play these little more aggressively than low pockets as sometimes the flop will be all cards lower then your pair. You might also hit a set on the flop or have straight options, which could assist you in winning the hand. When you’re low on chips you might want to decide to throw the rest of your chips in the pot before the flop with your middle pocket pair.

High Pocket Pairs – Jacks to Aces

When you’re blessed with high pocket pairs you need to determine whether you should slow play them or raise heavy. I tend to raise about four times the big blind so that the junk folds. Sometimes everyone will fold and you will win a small pot, but most times at least one player will call you. Once the flop comes, if you feel safe about being in the lead then you need to slow play and let your opponent bet into you. If they don’t then I would advise you to make a bet on the turn and either win the pot or find out where you stand. High pocket pairs can be broken and you need to remember that they aren’t guaranteed hands.

As you can see you need to play certain pocket pairs differently then other pocket pairs. It’s important that you don’t fall in love with every pocket pair you get because a lot of them can be broken easily by higher pairs, straights and flushes. So watch out when you do get your pocket pairs and try minimizing your risks and maximizing your value.

HORSE Poker Rules

HORSE Poker has become a lot more popular over the past couple years and lately there have been more televised HORSE events such as the $50K buy in event at the WSOP. The best poker players in the world have trouble mastering this poker game so it’s not the poker game for any beginner. There are five different variations of poker played in HORSE poker and you’ll need to know how to play all of them before heading to the HORSE table at a site like Full Tilt Poker (one of the few sites spreading this game, believe it or not.)

The five games played in HORSE poker are:

· Holdem
· Omaha
· Razz
· Seven Card Stud
· Seven Card Stud Eights or Better

As you can see you’ll need to be able to play the five different poker variations listed above to be able to effectively compete in this poker variant.

In a cash table HORSE game the game would start with Holdem with the dealer button starting to the immediate left of the dealer. The dealer button moves around the table clockwise one player at a time until it reaches back around to seat one. Once it reaches seat one again the game changes to Omaha and the game continues changing every time the dealer button reaches seat one.

This is the only rule you really need to know for HORSE poker and other then that you just need to know how to play the five poker variations. It’s not a difficult game to learn once you have the five poker variations under your belt, but mastering this game takes years of practice and not many people have done it. The competition for HORSE poker is very difficult to beat as well because you won’t find many new poker players trying out H.O.R.S.E poker. Most people who play HORSE poker are already great poker players in individual variations.

I find HORSE poker to be the most exciting poker game out there, but winning money in this game is very hard to do whether you’re in a casino or online. Normally online most poker games have a lot of fish players, but in HORSE this changes and you won’t find these fish players. I recommend playing for low stakes until you’re confident that you can beat the competition you’re playing against because you don’t want to go broke playing this game. HORSE poker is fast paced and high action betting so put your strategy cap on and get ready for some heavy betting. You may also see a pro poker player when playing HORSE as many of them right now are playing HORSE poker to become better at the game.

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