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TIPS FROM THE PROS
Gus Hansen
July 31, 2006
This week starts the largest, richest
tournament in poker history - the Main Event
of the World Series of Poker. For anyone who
makes it deep in the tournament, there will
be several long, exhausting days of poker.
So, going in rested is extremely important.
Beyond that, however, there are ways to
approach different portions of the event
that could help you develop and maintain a
healthy stack.
In the early stages of a large tournament
like the Main Event, chances are you'll be
seated with nine players who are complete
strangers to you. Most of them will probably
not be all that strong. Also, at this point
in the event, you'll have a lot of chips
compared to the size of the blinds. In these
portions of the tournament, you should try
to slowly build your stack. You don't need
to double up quickly and you don't want to
commit a lot of chips to the pot unless
you're pretty certain you know where you
stand.
This is not to say that you should be
tight pre-flop. Actually, when playing
against weak opponents while holding lots of
chips, you should try to see more flops as
cheaply as you can. You can limp, call
raises or even raise with a wide variety of
hands, and then proceed from there. Most of
the time, you won't hit the flop very hard,
but in those hands where you're forced to
fold, you won't have lost much. When you do
manage to catch a hand, you'll pick up a lot
of chips from players who don't make very
good decisions much of the time. You can use
your skill advantage to balance your wins
and losses, and slowly build your stack.
As the tournament moves along, many will
bust and the fields will get tougher. The
players you'll encounter later in the
tournament are more likely to make good
decisions post-flop. Some will be excellent
players - even top pros who are capable of
very good reads. At these points in the
tournament, you'll have a lot of chips, but
the blinds will be much higher; the average
stack may only have 25 or 30 big blinds.
This is also the time when you need to be
more willing to gamble. By
"gamble" I don't mean that you
need to over-commit with a hand where you're
hoping for a race. Rather, there are some
situations where you might be compelled to
put all your chips in the pot, even when
you're not thrilled with your hand.
For example, in the early levels of a
tournament, I'm unlikely to commit my entire
stack with a hand like top-pair, top-kicker
- it's just not strong enough. But later in
the event, I'm likely to have no choice but
to commit all of my chips if I have Ace-
King and hit a King on the flop. To me,
going with this kind of hand is something of
a gamble.
These are some general guidelines to
playing large tournaments. By seeing lots of
flops early, you're likely to build your
stack slowly by taking advantage of your
skills post-flop. And later, you'll do
better to tighten up and look for
opportunities that require a little more
gambling.
If you're playing in the Main Event, keep
these thoughts in mind and good luck!
Gus Hansen |
