Advanced Poker Tactics: Breaking the "Sound" Barrier

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." - T.S. Eliot

Oct. 10, 2007

By David Williams
Bodog Nation Contributing Writer

Playing No-Limit Holdem tournaments by the books, or fundamentally sound poker, will often get you deep in tournaments and may even get you into the money. However, playing outside the box a bit, and with a little more risk, is what adds massive amounts of chips to your stack.

There are so many players out there that play ABC-style poker, trying not to go broke and trying their best to get it in the middle with the best hand every time. I see these players often breathing a sigh of relief when we have reached the money bubble in the tournament. Then shortly thereafter, they are forced to get it all-in with a weak ace or small pocket pair, and they often wind up walking away shrugging their shoulders, bemoaning the fact that there was nothing else they could have done with a stack their size.

What these players fail to realize is that their last hand wasn't the hand that sealed their fate in that tournament. Most times, it's the decisions they made throughout the tournament that put them in that position in the first place.

Amir Vahedi, a poker player known for his aggressive style, famously said, "You have to be willing to die in order to live in this game," at the final table of the 2003 World Series of Poker.

If you're going to win a tournament, you might have to get aggressive, take a few risks and throw a few punches.

If you are one of those players who always thinks to himself, "I always get close to the end, but I never seem to make my big score," and then figure that one day the cards will break even and you will make that big score, you are failing to realize that you have to, without question, add a couple of low-to-medium-risk plays in order to build your stack and have a shot at winning.

Here's an example of this that I call the "Free Money Play." In this play, you want to pick up the dead money already in the pot:

Let's say there are 10 players at the table and blinds are at $100/$200 with a $25 ante. The first player limps in under the gun. Then, three more players limp in after him, as does the player on the button.

Now you look down at 7-2 offsuit in the small blind. The worst starting hand in poker is in your hand, and a great play right here would be to make a big raise and scoop up all the limpers' money. You are relying on the fact that if the original under-the-gun limper was in with a weak hand, using logic, all the players that limped in after him also must have marginal-to-weak hands. If they had anything better, they would have raised it up to thin the field.

So, with five limpers and the blinds and antes in the pot, this pot has $1,550 in it. I'd say a bet of $1,300 to $1,500 would be the perfect bet to make everyone fold a good percentage of the time. Make sure that none of the limpers are sitting on a short stack—since that might make it worth it for them to make a marginal call—and those chips could be yours for the taking.

Another example of a stealing opportunity to look for is when the board is paired and you're in position.

If you see weakness, you might want to pounce on it.

You see the flop with a marginal holding. The flop comes Q-Q-3, and you miss it completely. There are four players in this pot including yourself, and the three players check it to you in the cutoff seat, essentially serving as the dealer position since the button folded before the flop. You should fire out a bet of 60 to 80 percent of the pot. It’s a risk, since some people could be slow-playing the queen, but a small bet in an attempt to win the pot is a play that helps you build up your stack. If you are called or played back at, you can safely shut down your play at the pot.

In order to amass a large enough chip stack later on in a poker tournament, it's often important for you to break the barriers of what plays are deemed "fundamentally sound." By taking risks, it builds a better table image so you get your big hands paid off more. It builds your stack, and it gives you the cushion of losing a pot or two. That way, when it really matters later on, you have enough left where you can rebuild without panic and worry.

TOP PHOTO: David Williams at the 2006 World Series of Poker.