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Location of Interview Thread : here
Date of Interview : Interview was posted on 23rd October 2006.
Comment Thread : here
Question : (From Sonnychiba)
With all the new laws resticting USA players playing on line poker, what do you think that the impact will be on next years WSOP as with individuals only being able to buy their entry oppossed to winning it. Do you feel that the quality of play will go up again and we will see more pro's at the final table?
Many thanks for taking time out to answer our questions.
Answer :
I guess i think its not clear how everything will go with the new law quite yet, Perhaps the guys at FTP and stars and others are planning legal challenges,im not sure. So really i plan to wait and see
At this point, however, i would have to assume you are correct in your assumption that there will be fewer online qualifiers because there are fewer online players now and that is likely to continue in the future and it only follows logically that pros will make more final table appearances.
Some of the former online qualifiers will end up playing anyway, but most will not pay full price.
Question : (From Scottishben)
Do you use software like pokertracker to help you maximise your edge?
Answer :
I dont use any of those programs, because i am not a cash game player.
I know people who play alot of cash games who use those programs and they are useful on a number of levels.
I suppose if i did play cash games i would want to see stats to help with my hand selection and play trends from regular competitors, i.e how they play when they flop a set or a draw or top pair.
Question : (From Wickedroller)
In the very early stages of an online tourney where you might only be starting with 1500 chips, is it a better strategy to play more pots with mediocre hands such as mid suited connectors, etc. and try to hit flops to build a stack or to wait for a premium hand such as a high pair and double up to build your stack?
Answer :
When blinds are low very early i like to set mine, try and flop a set or get
out In my opinion it is very important to carefully choose your bet amounts and also to put people on specific hands and trust your reads
The early stages are full of loose players, they will play their q10 all the
way with a 10 high board against your kk, so you have to make them pay, dont
let them see extra cards at a cheap price, and the same applies for possible
draws.
You also have to trust your reads when a turn card comes that seems to hurt
you, let your hand go, shut it down and survive, you will have plenty of
chances in a long tourney to get your chips in in a spot where you are sure
youre a huge favorite, especially later when there is much more preflop play
and less postflop play.
Tight, patient, survive, but always keep your eye on the probabilities and
the bet amounts - and i dont limp much except to set mine.
I find limping with suited aces such as a7s doesnt work out well, 7 high
board or ace hi board you can get in trouble, a couple of spades makes you
play a bit and you still might miss or the board can pair with someone who
flopped a set, very common all of these scenarios when you have 5-6 limpers
at 10-20 or 15-30 blind level, and i feel like you donk away too many chips
seeing flops with those hands when you miss completely very often anyway.
And i defintely dont limp with at aj or a worse, suppose your flop is j94
rainbow with your aj, does one of those guys have j9? a set? qt? suppose you
bet and they call, what do they have? no clue, but you certainly cant be
terribly confident your good, or at least that you will be good for long.
I find it works out better at those stages to just muck all those hands, OR
make a big bet and steal those limps as if you have a huge pair and dont
want a multi-way pot.
Those suited connectors are ok to limp with also, but you must be very
careful, its not the kind of hand you think it is- at that stage if there
are 4-6 limpers, you dont have a hand you can make flushes and straights
with really, because even if the flush comes you may be up against a2d or
k9d with your 76d, so play em if you like em, but be careful, and try to see
if you hit your hand as cheaply as possible, and dont draw to a hand that
may lose even if you hit it, like a nonnut flush draw.
Later in the tourney you will have many chances to get your chips in when
you are clearly a bigger favorite.
Question : (From bigkilla)
What is your strategy for the first hour of an online poker tournament? The middle of the tournament? The end (final table)
What i mean is how many chips do u expect to have and what kind of cards are you going to be playing and will you be loose/agressive or tight? Ty and gl man!
Answer :
Read my response to wicked for early play
Middle of the tournament- i like to get big if the opportunity presents
itself, but more importantly is NOT to get small.
If youre too short you lose options, you cant reraise and push people off
hands if you read them as weak in many cases because they will call anyway
if youre too short, so i do keep an eye on where i am all the time in the
field.
I want to be somewhere in the middle if not better, it seems if you stay in
the middle of the pack you are in good shape to make the money, that has
been my experience. example :
1500 entrants, some time passes and there are 1300 and youre in 550th or
775th, good, then later 900 left and youre 420th, fine, stay right there,
later on youll be in 200th with 400 left and in good shape, i never worry
about trying to get up into that top 100-150 (the paid spots), just dont get
too short.
Most importantly i guess, is picking your spots well, and play "correctly",
i.e. dont draw when the bet is too big, dont let others draw cheaply against
you, and take small pots with big hands rather than trying to "milk" the
opposition, i have always found i end up getting slammed for my greed in
those spots.
Making only a few hundred with that aa youve been waiting for beats the hell
out of losing the pot.
And finally, the most important part of the tourney is late, and those
premium hands will take you from bubble to deep in money range at that late
stage, so patience and biding your time really pays off.
I dont know how many times i have had nothing for hours and bam i am well
into the money range because of a hand or two late.
Late play- it really depends on your situation, if youre a baby stack, a
medium stack or a big fatty, are we talking at the bubble or after the
bubble breaks trying to get to the final table?
It also depends on what your goal is, are you in from a satellite and just
want to make the money, or did you buy in, have a decent bankroll, and want
a big score? I assume your talking near the bubble- and ill address approach to final
table later
If youre a big stack, you should play alot of hands for raises, semi
smallish raises, to build up for the push to the final table, there will be
many people out there who just want to make the money and will be tighter
than usual, so its a great time to build, and i also as a big stack i am not
afraid to gamble with a short stack, since he cant bust me, many times i
have done that, raised with say k9 and called a reraise vs qq or aq and hit,
your odds arent that bad for that and even if you lose, youre still daddy
fat stax, this has been very successful for me.
If youre a medium stack, you can pick out the bully and try to get in ahead,
if that is, you are willing to gamble and not afraid to bust and miss the
money. as long as you get in ahead or are pretty sure youre ahead, i would
do this and try to get myself in good position for a realistic run at real
money-- a double up to a medium stack makes him huge instantly.
You can also pick off baby stacks who are desperate, you can call their
allins and survive anyway even if you lose if you have them well covered,
and they are desperate and playing lesser hands.
As a short stack, youre obviously in a tough spot, because people want to
call you and will because they can do so without putting their tournament
life in peril. thus, i avoid allins with a rag, i prefer to wait for
something stronger when i want a call and i more than double up, it always
seems to me if you wait, eventually you will get a good one, and if you get
desperate and shove with k6c, youre toast, always works better to wait.
I also like to jump in and call behind a big stack who may be bullying,
because he offers protection. people behind you are less likely to call HIM
in that spot, but more likely to call your allin if youre the first one in.
As the bubble bursts, i usually tighten up alot, as people tend to fall out
very quickly afer making the money, you can move up quite a bit by waiting
and moving up from from 45th to 36th to 27th just by folding,
but there are endless variables to any of these scenarios too bud :
Suppose im in the 109 rebuy on stars, it pays 18 spots with 10-18th getting
850, i might say hmm, i really want to make sure i at least get 850, i might
play tighter cuz that 850 looks so tasty. As opposed to say the partypoker nightly super 150 buyin, where they pay 100
spots, 81-100 gets 178, 61-80 gets 203, it makes more sense to play to get
big, the 178-200 means nothing to me, and this is mandated by the payout
structure, so obviously you have to pay attention to the payout structure of
any mtt youre in.
At the final table itself some of the same applies in terms of whether youre
a small medium or big stack, but you also really have to play the players,
determine who is tight and who is aggressive, shove against the guy who is
playing too many hands for raises, steal from the shorter stacks if they
seem tight, they cant afford to call unless they really have something, and
at final tables i have always found aggression is profitable generally.
Question : (From Kikilo)
What do you think is the most important aspects for doing well in large online tournaments?
Since it is a faster paced game and less possible reads, what do you use to give yourself an edge up on the field?
For someone that is good on making the money, but not so good on getting to final tables, what do you think would be the most necessary improvement?
Answer :
I think i have already answered questions 1 and 3 you had above to
the others
As for 2- patience and discipline is very important, these big mtts are
long, and survival is key, so many times i have been simply surviving not
really going anywhere and then a little bit of rush comes and im in great
shape- but once you bust your done, and plenty of times when i have had big
five figure wins, i was once very low and almost gone.
I'll never forget one time i learned that lesson from paul darden. we were in
the five diamonds classic at bellagio in a limit event, and he was short, he
put in 2/3 of his short stack against me and had very few chips left, i made
on last bet at the river, and he mucked, leaving himself very very short.
he ended up coming back and finished in the top 5. it would have been easy
to just say ah screw it and call because he already had so many chips in,
but he knew once youre out youre out, as much as i hate the phrase, a chip
and a chair, screw being invested in a pot, if you dont survive you cant win.
Other tips, edges-- i definitely put people on hands, all the time, and the
more you do that, you get better and better at it, i have gotten very good
at "knowing" what people have, yes even online, and that works very much to
my advantage-- try it, just put people on hands all the time, make notes too
if you like.
Example : seat one leads out small with mid pair, leads out medium with a
draw, bets pot with top pair, how much does he bet pre with aces, ak,
recognize patterns when you can and try to put him on a hand based on all
the evidence you have- in time you should discover that you get very good at
knowing what youre up against, and dont ignore anything.
I even look at where a guy is from, sometimes that gives you a small clue
about what hes about, and how hes playing- europeans tend to be more crazy
loose and aggressive, as do younger college types, the guy from illinois
with a pic of his kids up there is more likely the guy who watches espn and
plays more by the book and listens to how norman chad wouldve played the
cards. Every little piece of evidence should be taken into account
A more simple one - identify the calling stations and the tighties, and the
sharks, as well as their betting patterns, dont bluff the calling stations,
reraise the tighties, do the unexpected against the sharks
good luck all, hope you find a little something you can use in here.
Shrike
Many thanks to Jeff for taking the time to answer our questions :):)
You can comment on this interview in this thread.
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