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.

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.

Are standard pre-flop raises effective in Turbo SNG’s?

As a regular player in the low-limit Turbo Sit and Go games at Full Tilt, I often see players making standard raises and getting 3-4 callers. Is this a symptom of the accelerated environment or simply bad players that don’t respect standard 3X-4X raises? The short answer is no, or yes depending on who you ask or when you play in one of these games. The full answer, like most answers to poker strategy questions, depends on many factors and without a crystal ball it’s almost impossible to discuss every situation that you may see at one of these tables.

Inexperienced players in Turbo Sit and Go tournaments will often play too many hands and as a result, call too many raises pre-flop in the hopes of getting lucky and busting someone. The downside to this is that they will ultimately look down at their chip count and see that they’ve bled off a quarter of their stack without winning a single hand. So how do you combat these players to keep them from chasing poor hands? There are a number of techniques but in reality you do want them to call your raise pre-flop if their tendency is to do so with poor starting hands. What you DO want to avoid is getting 3-4 callers and the best way to do that is make larger than standard raises. My experience has been that a 5X-6X raise is appropriate, especially early in the SNG.

Of course this becomes very difficult when the blinds are 100-200 and you have 1,700 chips. You’re essentially committing the rest of your stack by putting in a pre-flop raise of 1,000 chips (5X). With this in mind you should be ready to push and pray if you really like your hand. In the Turbo SNG events you must make this adjustment to your game play. The games are designed to encourage quick play and a fast conclusion so actually this strategy isn’t unusual at all. So the next time you play a Turbo Sit and Go at a site like Poker Stars, keep this strategy in mind and just be prepared to make a quick exit or a quick win in the process!

Ten Best Texas Holdem Starting Hands

In Texas Holdem a large part of the game is strategy and you need to know as much about the game as possible. If you know the odds of your chances of winning each hand then you’ll do a lot better then someone who has no idea about odds. Now it takes a lot of time to be able to know the odds to every hand, but it’s also important that you get a general idea about Holdem strategy before playing.

We’re going to look at the ten best starting hands in poker throughout this article. The reason you’d want to know these hands is so that when you get one you know how good your hand is. If you can memorize the hands then you’ll know exactly how many hands could be beating you pre-flop as well which is important when you’re facing a raise or re-raise.

· #1 Holdem Starting Hand – A/A
· #2 Holdem Starting Hand – K/K
· #3 Holdem Starting Hand – Q/Q
· #4 Holdem Starting Hand – A/K Suited
· #5 Holdem Starting Hand – A/Q Suited
· #6 Holdem Starting Hand – J/J
· #7 Holdem Starting Hand – K/Q Suited
· #8 Holdem Starting Hand – A/J Suited
· #9 Holdem Starting Hand – K/J Suited
· #10 Holdem Starting Hand – A/K Off-Suit

A = Ace – K = King – Q = Queen – J = Jack

As you can see the majority of the top ten hands are high pocket pairs so when you get lucky and hit a high pocket pair make sure you get paid off. The likelihood of catching one of these hands is slim and it won’t happen all the time. You will get some nice runs where the cards are just dropping, just make sure you convert these runs into cash.

If you’re new to the game, use this as a foundation to play tight and learn the nuances of playing the accelerated pace of Turbo SNG’s. You may want to slow down and play regular single table tournaments or perhaps even start out with play money before moving to the rapid-fire pace of a Turbo Sit and Go.

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