Poker Skills Take Time and How to go Tournament Deep
Jeff Fenerty: I am an aggressive player with pretty good success in tourneys and low-limit cash games. I manage to accumulate a good chip stack in most tourneys by using my position and aggressive nature to win small pots and trap for larger pots.
My problem comes in the later rounds. Should I tone it down and play more selectively in later rounds, or maintain my aggressiveness? I find people are more willing to call or play back as the blind levels increase. I usually end up donking off chips on botched steal attempts or get trapped by monsters with my two pair.
Scott: Well, if you play an aggressive game from the start, it is going to make it more difficult to steal later in the tournament. You will often hear people talking about the importance of "changing gears'"and I think that is something that you should focus on by experimenting with your game.
Depending on the structure of the event, you might try playing tighter in the beginning rounds, setting yourself up for the later rounds when stealing the blinds will significantly increase your stack. You can still use selective aggression and pick your spots in the early rounds to maintain and steadily increase your stack, but you don't want to have a super aggressive maniac table image. If you do choose to play an aggressive game from the start and amass chips, you might want to try tightening up in the later rounds and getting paid off on premium hands. Just try mixing it up and see what works best for you.
Tim Connolly: I would probably consider myself a very mediocre poker player at best. Just recently, I cashed for the first time in a live tournament, but I was on a short stack pretty much the entire time. Part of the reason I have such a tough time playing well is simply because I'm terrible at monitoring the other players at the table. It seems that there are just too many of them to keep track of, and I don't see enough of their hands to be able to judge their playing style. Also, I get very skittish when it comes to calling other players' raises after the flop. It's as if I always assume that I'm beat unless I have the nuts, or close to it. What would you suggest to a player who wants to develop these skills?
Scott: Most of the skills you are looking to develop are things that come over time. When you are playing in a live tournament, there is so much information to take in that it can be overwhelming. However, over time recognizing betting patterns, evaluating stack sizes and sizing up your opponents will become second nature. This is something that playing online can help with as well, as all of the information is very clear and easy to observe.
You obviously won't get experience reading people and picking up visual tells, but Internet poker can be a great tool when it comes to math related factors involving betting patterns and stack sizes. When you are playing live multi-table tournaments, it is vital that you don't allow yourself to become distracted by trying to keep track of other tables. Just play your table as if it's a single table sit-n-go, focus on the stack sizes at your table and try to get yourself in a zone.
Regarding being reluctant to call raises and always assuming the raiser has the nuts, I actually think this is a good thing. Paranoia can be very useful in poker. Optimally, you need to have a balance of "paranoia" that allows you to fold, with a complete disregard for money that allows you to be aggressive. Sometimes, I will switch to another game like Omaha, where someone pretty much always has the nuts, to reinforce a bit of paranoia so when I go back to no-limit hold 'em, I retain the ability to fold. However, in order to be successful, sometimes you need to have no fear, not worry about the money, and make the call. In reality, the other player won't always have the nuts--or even close to the nuts--so you can't play with "scared money."
