Hi Mr TK Sir Any chance of looking at my post page 126? (I know your a busy man - this is not a moan) as I'm still perplexed - not unusal unfortunately. If the brussel sprout question is too personal I'll understand. PS I hope you have better keyboard skills than me - Would take me 25 hours a day to answer this lot! Thanks Daran Posted by Ploppy33
Hi Daran (only one "R"? - that's unusual!).
Sorry, I missed that one. I'm in some Tourney(s) right now, so if you don't mind, I'll reply tomorrow. It's a great question, too.
My turn to try to siphon off some of that knowledge of yours sir. Add on to the Omaha question earlier in the post - I still cannot find the reasons for all the raising pre that I see happening, my (limited) understanding is that Omaha is a post flop game & no hand pre is that far ahead, so bumping up the pot serves little purpose (duck the flying tomatoes etc.) In NLH I understand the reasons but this eludes (spelling?) me? PS. Whats wrong with Brussell Spouts? PPS. I think someone let the cat out of the bag about your secret re age - wasnt me! Thanking you in advance Daran Posted by Ploppy33
Hi again Daran,
Cripes, that's a good question, & I'm not sure I can properly articulate my thoughts sufficiently to explain it.
OK, Omaha is usually played, & should only be played imo, as a Limit, or Pot Limit, game. It makes no sense to play NL Omaha, we may as well play Roulette. Let's assume we are discussing Pot Limit Omaha. Pot Limit, by the bye, is, in my opinion, far & away the most skilled betting format in all forms of poker, it has far more delicate & subtle nuances than No Limit.
So, in PLO, if we want to optimise a good hand, we need to get rid of the serial callers. Unless we get lucky pre-flop, & can find an early raiser to re-raise, that's pretty difficult. If our FIRST pre-flop pot bet is called, but not re-raised, we are almost certainly going to the flop 4 or 5 handed. Ugh. Stack dynamics & Pot Limit restrict our ability to do much else, really. And that means our A-A-K-K or whatever is almost certainly playing as "1 pair", which won't be beating a silly sausage in a multi-way Pot.
And for that reason, we now turn traditional thinking on it's head, & LIMP with quite a wide range of starting hands. But NOT every hand - please - just make sure that at least 3 of your cards work together". A-A-9-3, or K-K-8-2, unless Double-Suited, are almost worthless (multi-way) really, so unless we can drive the Villains out pr-flop & get it Heads-Up, we are in trouble.
But we DO have very good implied odds with quite a wide range of hands that play well multi-way, so unlike in NLH, I'm perfectly happy to limp pre quite a lot in Omaha & Omaha Hi-Lo. Remember "position", & "cards that work together", before doing so though. And if we miss the flop completely, don't chase, just let go.
Please note, if playing Heads Up, IGNORE ALL OF THE ABOVE, that's a different bag of apples altogether.
In a way, this is like the current debate about 2p-4p NLH Cash Games. We have to adapt our strategy to beat this game, & if we don't, we'll be complaining, as some do, that the lower level Omaha games are "full of hopeless players who call with anything so we cannot win". (No, they DO say that!). Which is tosh, of course. We just need to be dynamic & pro-active, & change our game style.
I'm not sure that helps much, but if any other players can help with the answer, please go ahead, I'd be grateful.
Now, to the main thrust of your question - Brussel Sprouts. I can't improve on Wijkipidea's view, really, which is HERE
Hi Tikay. Well done to you and all the team in blackpool.
I was just wondering how many train companies operate in the UK? and if any of them offer car insurance?
Many of the supermarkets, banks and other well known businesses all seem to be offering car insurance nowadays.
I know it may seem like negative marketing, offering car insurance when you want to get people to use the train, but I was thinking maybe they could offer free car parking at train stations to encourage people to comute most of their journey by train, a 10% reduction on the buffet car or even cheaper train tickets with any policy.
Do you think they are missing out on a potential business spinner here or should they just stick to their own timetable and what they are good at?
thanks for your advice ,managed to win a wee deep stack last night Posted by thejudge10
I KNOW you did - and I can't tell you how pleased I am!
I monitor the results of everyone who asks questions such as yours ("I do OK, but could use a bit of help" sort of thing), & I noticed you came first of 73 yesterday, for about £45, for a stake of £2.20.
You might be pleased with that, but not as pleased as I am, honestly. It's the finest feeling in poker, to have been able to help someone by making a little tweak to their game. I wish I could improve my own game, by taking lessons from some of the boyz, but I'm too set in my ways, I'm afraid.
I'm getting quite a lot of poker questions via Facebook, & Twitter, & suchlike, over & above this Thread.
Many of them are outside my specialist area, & I don't really think I can help them much.
So I've decided to Post some of them on here, along with the answer I gave or will give.
The whole idea is to get input from other players, so if any players feel they can add to my answers, or answer better, please do. But I am NOT getting into arguments, the idea is to give those who seek advice & help some constructive advice. Together, I think we ought to be able to do that.
Some days 5 or 6 arrive, other times it's zero. There were 4 yesterday, I think.
The senders shall remain "anon", unless they want to out themselves.
You playing the £500 PLO on Friday at the Vic? Posted by BrownnDog
Yo Lewis,
I wish!
But I'm working Saturday, so I can't.
I might play the £300 NLH on Thursday, though, I'm currently mid-dither about it. I paid a player into it yesterday, & almost paid myself in, too. Seriously tempted......
".......so ive been playing for nearly a year now .. i started at 5/10 p blinds and basically learnt from you guys off sky .. i came into some money and moved up through 25/50 then to 50/1 ... i found myself doing ok and think im maybe 7/10 player ... ok heres my fault .... i seem to have many flaws with hands like small pairs and suited cards .. eg 56 suited and 10 j suited ... i learnt from you to never limp into pots which i never do anymore .. BUT at present im raising these hands in any position and lots of times getting re raised .. then i faced with what do next .. sometimes i will call but then think straight away i shouldnt ... hands like small pairs and suited smalliah connectors are my downfall .. do u think i shuld be folding to a biggish re raise always ... i know a lot of it depends on your opponent and position but i just feel that calling is probably gunna be a losing play in the long run ... i class myself as fairly tight but surely you should be playing hands like small pairs and suited connectors on cash poker ... i always play my big hands like AA KK QQ AK AQ very strongly ... i just feel these small pairs and suited cards are ruining my game but im not sure how to repair the situation .. Im a massive fan of cash poker always watching mastercash .. Trevor harris seems a very knowledgable person on it which helps and i enjoy you and " grey hair " Orford aswell .. Hahaaha Any info would be of much help .. hope you and the sky team enjoyed blackpool .. all the best...."
I replied thusly......
"....Hi xxxx, great question, but I'm not an Online Hold-Em Cash player by any stretch of the imagination, so I'm not sure of the correct answer. I'm going to Post the question (anonymously) on the "Ask tikay" Thread on Sky Poker Community, & see what answers we get. For now, my take would be...... We don't HAVE to play these hands, but if we do, we should play them stronger. If we Raise up with them & get re-raised, I do NOT like just Calling - I'm either binning the hand, or re-raising, though of course it's table & situation specific. Let's see what the boys say on the "Ask tikay" thread though...."
This one was yesterday......remember, if you can help, or give an alternative answer, please do.
"....Hi TK,
Without sounding too 'xxxx licky', I am an admirer of you and have watched you play live down Southend a few times. I was wondering if you could help me with an aspect of my game.
Basically I find myself playing too tight. It doesn't help that 3/4 of the regs in the Southend casinos think they are Tom Dwan and play any 2 regardless, so therefore that also closes my starting range somewhat!! I often min-cash because of this, but never make the big payouts because I spend the closing part of the tournaments playing with 10BB's or an M of about 6 or 7! Lately, I have been calling raises in position with a wider range, suited connecters, suited gap connectors, etc but seem to never hit, whilst other people (it may be my imagination...) seem to do the same and always connect in some way!
What advice whould you to give to becoming looser? I don't want to be lag (yet!!), but I seem to naturally become a shrinking violet when others around me are being Laggy, and it's making my tournaments suffer in the later stages.
For guidance, I tend to play the £40 freezeout in the Mint casino, Southend. Starting stack is 8000, blinds start 25/50 and are on a 25 minute clock. The tournament starts to become a shove fest roughly around the 300/600 level which is roughly level 7.
It may be such a stupid question, I really don't know. (Is that a good thing or a bad thing?) But any advice would be gratefully received if you get 5 minutes spare.
Kind regards,
xxxxx (suffering poker player)....." I replied....
".....It's a tough one xxxxx, & I suffer from it too, but us "nits" do better over the longer term than the one-time winners who play technicaly poor poker. From what you write, I only pick up one clue - you are now "calling wider". Change that to "raising wider", (& slightly more often) in late position, dependent upon Table dynanic. Do NOT attempt it before Levels 4, 5 or even 6, because it is MUCH tougher at that stage. I pretty much sit out the first 5 or 6 Levels in well-structured Tourneys. One or two nice coups later soon catches up with average stack. Don't forget, too, even if you miss the flop completely, (& most times you will) you can stll try to outplay them, rep strength from late position.
The "squeeze" works well these days, too, as from Level 6 onwards, players still serial-limp. When half the Table limps, if you are button or in the Blinds, be brave, shove the lot in, "call THAT" sorta thing. I get most of my chips with squeezes, incredibly. NEVER show the bluff, though. Good luck xxxxx......."
Another of yesterday's batch......this one is from a (female) Sky Poker regular.
".....Good morning to you Tikay. I hope you are well. I am looking for some advice from you please and I do hope that you will have time to offer me some words of wisdom to help keep my spirits up. I have been enjoying playing your deepstack tournaments on skypoker and I am consistently going very "deep" into them, but I seem to be having trouble getting across the finishing line. I played last night, got to the final table, then bubbled the money and went out 6th!!! It isn't the money really as I am playing for the love of this wonderful game and I am loving learning more and more each day. XXXXXXX said last night that he would rather go out 16th than 6th as my tournament ended with no cash at the end of 3 hours play and concentration !! I strongly disagreed with him, my explanation being that I simply want to stay in the tournament as long as I possibly can. He says I have the patience of a saint !!
What I would really like to know from you Tony is whether you have a strategy for successful deepstack play. xxxxxxx does advise me but tells me to make different moves depending on how far into the tournament I am, the result usually being that although I am consistently getting near the top of the table, I usually get there with one of the shorter chip stacks so I feel like I am "just trying to survive!!" I hope this makes sense ...
I do appreciate that you are very busy but if you could spare me a minute or so to reply, I would be most grateful.
Thank you (Name deleted)....."
My reply......
".....Morning. My advice? Don't change a THING. Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Tom Dwan, etc, do not win every Tourney they enter, in fact they don't win more than 1 in a 100. That's because of something called Variance. What we must do in Tourney Poker is repeatedly put ourselves in with a CHANCE of winning. If you are going deep repeatedly, you are doing just that. Don't change, just be patient, & the wins will come. Chnge gears after the two-thirds mark, yes, but until then, do as you do now, stay patient. Playing too many hands is the biggest fault of almost every Online player, & is why most lose money over the long term. Play less hands, be profitable, simple. Your overall game must NOT be changed, & ignore anyone who says it must. Tweak it, yes, change it, no. Good luck. ....."
She wrote me the most lovely letter of thanks afterwards, by the way.
Don't forget, if you have better, or alternative advice, feel free to Post. But no sarcastic or mocking replies, please.
How's it going buddy? I'm a regular tourney player as well as cash games, and I regally cash or get high place finishes. Lately I can't win a thing, everything I do is wrong! Wether it's making the wrong move at the wrong time or getting called by fishes. (can't be helped I know) why you think this is? You think I'm getting to creative? Maybe I need to go back to basics?
Thanks in advance ....."
Reply.....
"....Don't change a thing, xxx. If you are regularly going deep, the wins & big cashes will come in their own time. It's all about variance. Ivey, Dwan, Hellmuth & Co win about 1 Tourney in 100, but that does not mean there is anything wrong with their game......"
On the above post i would just make notes on the players who are re-raising you on these hands and see what they are re-raising you with and if its just you or they are doing it to others as well and adjust my play accordingly to each player.
My question for you Tikay is a bit of an easier one you,ll be glad to hear. I was looking in the lobby at the Newcastle SPT and noticed you there. I,ve not known you to play an SPT before as you always seem to be working. Are you actually playing it and if so who,s gonna be doing your job of, ermm walking about and stuff ( you know what i mean - keeping everyone updated and organising stuff)
Ps - Got to comment on the post above - Trevor Harris for me speaks a lot of sense and is a great part of the Sky Poker Team. (doesn,t get talked about as much as some of the others ) Its just a shame you can,t message him for advice but look forward to seeing him in Newcastle
Hi Tikay On the above post i would just make notes on the players who are re-raising you on these hands and see what they are re-raising you with and if its just you or they are doing it to others as well and adjust my play accordingly to each player. My question for you Tikay is a bit of an easier one you,ll be glad to hear. I was looking in the lobby at the Newcastle SPT and noticed you there. I,ve not known you to play an SPT before as you always seem to be working. Are you actually playing it and if so who,s gonna be doing your job of, ermm walking about and stuff ( you know what i mean - keeping everyone updated and organising stuff) Ps - Got to comment on the post above - Trevor Harris for me speaks a lot of sense and is a great part of the Sky Poker Team. (doesn,t get talked about as much as some of the others ) Its just a shame you can,t message him for advice but look forward to seeing him in Newcastle Posted by MP33
Good spot.
Bit of an internal battle going on about that.
Rich Milner, the guy from Head Office who "owns" the SPT, one of several bosses I work for here (the company is very departmentalised, hence several reporting lines), has been nagging me to play an SPT Event for a year or more, & tries to have me Registered for every one.
He's been on the blower again, & somehow arranged to have me Reg'd for it, & told me I have to play it.
We shall see.....
If you fancy a bet, bet against me playing.
It's not that I don't wan to play it, I'm just stubborn & obdurate, & I enjoy doing what I do at SPT events.
Who will take over from me if I play? I'd not worry too much for the sake of 20 minutes......
Thanks for your reply earlier re the Omaha question (before you went typo crazy!) much appreciated.
As an add on to this I find a position I'm in frequently is that I will probably limp with a good/ish hand only to be called by 2/3 peeps then the pot raise comes in followed by another raise etc - this comes round to me and its already about £1.20 to call (2/4p stuff) probably with 3/4 people still in. Becoming Roulettey.
I'm obviously playing at this level not "for a bit of fun" but because i'm not bankrolled higher. I want to enjoy the game (surely should be the main objective for an inexperienced player?) but find it difficult in these situations as to me there is no skill in this if everyone just throws their £4 in the middle each hand & hopes for the best.
I KNOW some of these are playing their AAxx, KKxx hands but do I call & fold when missing the flop (which obviously will be most of the time - seems to be a leak). Would also need to raid the kiddies money boxes, one would think.
What tactics would you suggest I employ (PS I wont sue) - I generally call this with hands like Qjj10, 9876 etc. Is this right or wrong?
Once again I would like to thank you for your time & effort replying to my questions. My first 3 months on the site (indeed playing poker) have been very enjoyable, mainly due to the feedback from yourself & other helpful guys & girls on the forums (and the fact that I havent actually lost any money yet, thanks to winning 10 of the £2.20 deepies).
Thanks for your reply earlier re the Omaha question (before you went typo crazy!) much appreciated. As an add on to this I find a position I'm in frequently is that I will probably limp with a good/ish hand only to be called by 2/3 peeps then the pot raise comes in followed by another raise etc - this comes round to me and its already about £1.20 to call (2/4p stuff) probably with 3/4 people still in. Becoming Roulettey. I'm obviously playing at this level not "for a bit of fun" but because i'm not bankrolled higher. I want to enjoy the game (surely should be the main objective for an inexperienced player?) but find it difficult in these situations as to me there is no skill in this if everyone just throws their £4 in the middle each hand & hopes for the best. I KNOW some of these are playing their AAxx, KKxx hands but do I call & fold when missing the flop (which obviously will be most of the time - seems to be a leak). Would also need to raid the kiddies money boxes, one would think. What tactics would you suggest I employ (PS I wont sue) - I generally call this with hands like Qjj10, 9876 etc. Is this right or wrong? Once again I would like to thank you for your time & effort replying to my questions. My first 3 months on the site (indeed playing poker) have been very enjoyable, mainly due to the feedback from yourself & other helpful guys & girls on the forums (and the fact that I havent actually lost any money yet, thanks to winning 10 of the £2.20 deepies). Posted by Ploppy33
Well I'm deffo gonna want to see flops with stuff like Q-J-J-T & 9-8-7-6, esp DS, & I'd rather take a flop with those than with A-A-junk-junk. In fact, if I know Villain has A-A-x-x I am MORE inclined to take a flop with the sort of hands you suggest. I can improve far more easily than they can, but we are NOT drawing to pairs, ever, we must look to hit our flush, str8, or 2 pair/trips draws.
Couple of Omaha pointers here.
1) We almost ALWAYS know pre-flop when oppo has Aces, by the aggrssive pre-flop raiseage.
2) Aces are nothing like as powerful in Omaha as they are in Hold Em, because "1 pair" is rarely good in Omaha multi-way, & even Heads-Up it's not beating much by the River.
3) In Omaha, there are "good Aces" & "bad Aces". A-A-9-5 single-suited is poo, really, A-A-J-T Double Suited is much, much, better. A-A-K-K DS is something we can Raise to the Heavens pre, because we want this one Heads Up, may as well try to get it all-in pre with such hands. A-A-K-K DS multi-way is dead in the water unless we flop one of our draws, or set up.
Thank you for your nice comments, much appreciated.
I am new to poker thi year. I play in a pub. This week I played 97spades raising before the flop (3xbb). Flop came 9high, two 2s one of which was a spade. I put a small raise in which was called by one player! The turn comes 4spades. I raised @3/4pot and my opponent shoves. I call. I hit a flush on the river but my opponent was sat there with quad 2s! My question is, Was I silly to call a shove with a pair of nines and flush draw when my opponent shoved as the board was paired? (or very unlucky)
not a question tikay, just a thank you for your reponse to the "is it a place to learn" thread with respect to the standard of the nl4 players like me. i've responded on the thread, hopefully, with clarity to the posters question. then again it was in english!! i for one do not think Sky neglect the lower levels, or any level for that matter. The Premiership league and Cup tournies a case in point and the £2.20 deepstacks which i will, one day, get around to playing when i get the chance. the forums are also another example.
good luck at the tables although i doubt you need it as much as i do!
I am new to poker thi year. I play in a pub. This week I played 97spades raising before the flop (3xbb). Flop came 9high, two 2s one of which was a spade. I put a small raise in which was called by one player! The turn comes 4spades. I raised @3/4pot and my opponent shoves. I call. I hit a flush on the river but my opponent was sat there with quad 2s! My question is, Was I silly to call a shove with a pair of nines and flush draw when my opponent shoved as the board was paired? (or very unlucky) Posted by Aliasshort
Hi Alias,
Well the villain won't wake up very often with Quads here, so in that respect, a shade unlucky I'd say. He can barely have a bare deuce in his hand if it was Raised pre, so he is either on quads, air, an overpair, something like A-K, or a flush draw, & the latter is far more probable. Any FD is likely to be ahead of your Flush, but that's OK, as you have hit your 9 already.
On balance, a bit unlucky really, but "silly?", deffo not.
If poker is a new hobby for you, worth remembering a couple of things.
1) You WILL get very unlucky quite a lot. You will also get very lucky a lot, too. Remember BOTH, or it will do your head in. Many players can't come to terms with this, & as a result, don't really enjoy poker, they just spend their time bemoaning "that's how bad my luck is". Bleurgh.
2) Remember it's just a game, but it does test your character, mettle, & backbone. If you can handle the beats, & win & lose like a grown-up, it's a terrific game which will give you many years of fun at no cost.
Comments
Any chance of looking at my post page 126? (I know your a busy man - this is not a moan) as I'm still perplexed - not unusal unfortunately.
If the brussel sprout question is too personal I'll understand.
PS I hope you have better keyboard skills than me - Would take me 25 hours a day to answer this lot!
Thanks
Daran
Sorry, I missed that one. I'm in some Tourney(s) right now, so if you don't mind, I'll reply tomorrow. It's a great question, too.
My apologies for the delay.
PS - Brussel sprouts ftw.
Cripes, that's a good question, & I'm not sure I can properly articulate my thoughts sufficiently to explain it.
OK, Omaha is usually played, & should only be played imo, as a Limit, or Pot Limit, game. It makes no sense to play NL Omaha, we may as well play Roulette. Let's assume we are discussing Pot Limit Omaha. Pot Limit, by the bye, is, in my opinion, far & away the most skilled betting format in all forms of poker, it has far more delicate & subtle nuances than No Limit.
So, in PLO, if we want to optimise a good hand, we need to get rid of the serial callers. Unless we get lucky pre-flop, & can find an early raiser to re-raise, that's pretty difficult. If our FIRST pre-flop pot bet is called, but not re-raised, we are almost certainly going to the flop 4 or 5 handed. Ugh. Stack dynamics & Pot Limit restrict our ability to do much else, really. And that means our A-A-K-K or whatever is almost certainly playing as "1 pair", which won't be beating a silly sausage in a multi-way Pot.
And for that reason, we now turn traditional thinking on it's head, & LIMP with quite a wide range of starting hands. But NOT every hand - please - just make sure that at least 3 of your cards work together". A-A-9-3, or K-K-8-2, unless Double-Suited, are almost worthless (multi-way) really, so unless we can drive the Villains out pr-flop & get it Heads-Up, we are in trouble.
But we DO have very good implied odds with quite a wide range of hands that play well multi-way, so unlike in NLH, I'm perfectly happy to limp pre quite a lot in Omaha & Omaha Hi-Lo. Remember "position", & "cards that work together", before doing so though. And if we miss the flop completely, don't chase, just let go.
Please note, if playing Heads Up, IGNORE ALL OF THE ABOVE, that's a different bag of apples altogether.
In a way, this is like the current debate about 2p-4p NLH Cash Games. We have to adapt our strategy to beat this game, & if we don't, we'll be complaining, as some do, that the lower level Omaha games are "full of hopeless players who call with anything so we cannot win". (No, they DO say that!). Which is tosh, of course. We just need to be dynamic & pro-active, & change our game style.
I'm not sure that helps much, but if any other players can help with the answer, please go ahead, I'd be grateful.
Now, to the main thrust of your question - Brussel Sprouts. I can't improve on Wijkipidea's view, really, which is HERE
Well done to you and all the team in blackpool.
I was just wondering how many train companies operate in the UK? and if any of them offer car insurance?
Many of the supermarkets, banks and other well known businesses all seem to be offering car insurance nowadays.
I know it may seem like negative marketing, offering car insurance when you want to get people to use the train, but I was thinking maybe they could offer free car parking at train stations to encourage people to comute most of their journey by train, a 10% reduction on the buffet car or even cheaper train tickets with any policy.
Do you think they are missing out on a potential business spinner here or should they just stick to their own timetable and what they are good at?
Cheers
Pokertrev
I monitor the results of everyone who asks questions such as yours ("I do OK, but could use a bit of help" sort of thing), & I noticed you came first of 73 yesterday, for about £45, for a stake of £2.20.
You might be pleased with that, but not as pleased as I am, honestly. It's the finest feeling in poker, to have been able to help someone by making a little tweak to their game. I wish I could improve my own game, by taking lessons from some of the boyz, but I'm too set in my ways, I'm afraid.
Well done you!
HELP PLEASE.
I'm getting quite a lot of poker questions via Facebook, & Twitter, & suchlike, over & above this Thread.
Many of them are outside my specialist area, & I don't really think I can help them much.
So I've decided to Post some of them on here, along with the answer I gave or will give.
The whole idea is to get input from other players, so if any players feel they can add to my answers, or answer better, please do. But I am NOT getting into arguments, the idea is to give those who seek advice & help some constructive advice. Together, I think we ought to be able to do that.
Some days 5 or 6 arrive, other times it's zero. There were 4 yesterday, I think.
The senders shall remain "anon", unless they want to out themselves.
Thanks.
I wish!
But I'm working Saturday, so I can't.
I might play the £300 NLH on Thursday, though, I'm currently mid-dither about it. I paid a player into it yesterday, & almost paid myself in, too. Seriously tempted......
Incoming today......
".......so ive been playing for nearly a year now .. i started at 5/10 p blinds and basically learnt from you guys off sky .. i came into some money and moved up through 25/50 then to 50/1 ... i found myself doing ok and think im maybe 7/10 player ... ok heres my fault .... i seem to have many flaws with hands like small pairs and suited cards .. eg 56 suited and 10 j suited ... i learnt from you to never limp into pots which i never do anymore .. BUT at present im raising these hands in any position and lots of times getting re raised .. then i faced with what do next .. sometimes i will call but then think straight away i shouldnt ... hands like small pairs and suited smalliah connectors are my downfall .. do u think i shuld be folding to a biggish re raise always ... i know a lot of it depends on your opponent and position but i just feel that calling is probably gunna be a losing play in the long run ... i class myself as fairly tight but surely you should be playing hands like small pairs and suited connectors on cash poker ... i always play my big hands like AA KK QQ AK AQ very strongly ... i just feel these small pairs and suited cards are ruining my game but im not sure how to repair the situation .. Im a massive fan of cash poker always watching mastercash .. Trevor harris seems a very knowledgable person on it which helps and i enjoy you and " grey hair " Orford aswell .. Hahaaha Any info would be of much help .. hope you and the sky team enjoyed blackpool .. all the best...."
I replied thusly......
"....Hi xxxx, great question, but I'm not an Online Hold-Em Cash player by any stretch of the imagination, so I'm not sure of the correct answer. I'm going to Post the question (anonymously) on the "Ask tikay" Thread on Sky Poker Community, & see what answers we get. For now, my take would be...... We don't HAVE to play these hands, but if we do, we should play them stronger. If we Raise up with them & get re-raised, I do NOT like just Calling - I'm either binning the hand, or re-raising, though of course it's table & situation specific. Let's see what the boys say on the "Ask tikay" thread though...."
This one was yesterday......remember, if you can help, or give an alternative answer, please do.
"....Hi TK,
Without sounding too 'xxxx licky', I am an admirer of you and have watched you play live down Southend a few times. I was wondering if you could help me with an aspect of my game.
Basically I find myself playing too tight. It doesn't help that 3/4 of the regs in the Southend casinos think they are Tom Dwan and play any 2 regardless, so therefore that also closes my starting range somewhat!! I often min-cash because of this, but never make the big payouts because I spend the closing part of the tournaments playing with 10BB's or an M of about 6 or 7!
Lately, I have been calling raises in position with a wider range, suited connecters, suited gap connectors, etc but seem to never hit, whilst other people (it may be my imagination...) seem to do the same and always connect in some way!
What advice whould you to give to becoming looser? I don't want to be lag (yet!!), but I seem to naturally become a shrinking violet when others around me are being Laggy, and it's making my tournaments suffer in the later stages.
For guidance, I tend to play the £40 freezeout in the Mint casino, Southend. Starting stack is 8000, blinds start 25/50 and are on a 25 minute clock. The tournament starts to become a shove fest roughly around the 300/600 level which is roughly level 7.
It may be such a stupid question, I really don't know. (Is that a good thing or a bad thing?) But any advice would be gratefully received if you get 5 minutes spare.
Kind regards,
xxxxx (suffering poker player)....."
I replied....
".....It's a tough one xxxxx, & I suffer from it too, but us "nits" do better over the longer term than the one-time winners who play technicaly poor poker.
From what you write, I only pick up one clue - you are now "calling wider". Change that to "raising wider", (& slightly more often) in late position, dependent upon Table dynanic. Do NOT attempt it before Levels 4, 5 or even 6, because it is MUCH tougher at that stage. I pretty much sit out the first 5 or 6 Levels in well-structured Tourneys. One or two nice coups later soon catches up with average stack.
Don't forget, too, even if you miss the flop completely, (& most times you will) you can stll try to outplay them, rep strength from late position.
The "squeeze" works well these days, too, as from Level 6 onwards, players still serial-limp. When half the Table limps, if you are button or in the Blinds, be brave, shove the lot in, "call THAT" sorta thing. I get most of my chips with squeezes, incredibly. NEVER show the bluff, though.
Good luck xxxxx......."
Another of yesterday's batch......this one is from a (female) Sky Poker regular.
I am looking for some advice from you please and I do hope that you will have time to offer me some words of wisdom to help keep my spirits up.
I have been enjoying playing your deepstack tournaments on skypoker and I am consistently going very "deep" into them, but I seem to be having trouble getting across the finishing line.
I played last night, got to the final table, then bubbled the money and went out 6th!!! It isn't the money really as I am playing for the love of this wonderful game and I am loving learning more and more each day. XXXXXXX said last night that he would rather go out 16th than 6th as my tournament ended with no cash at the end of 3 hours play and concentration !! I strongly disagreed with him, my explanation being that I simply want to stay in the tournament as long as I possibly can. He says I have the patience of a saint !!
What I would really like to know from you Tony is whether you have a strategy for successful deepstack play. xxxxxxx does advise me but tells me to make different moves depending on how far into the tournament I am, the result usually being that although I am consistently getting near the top of the table, I usually get there with one of the shorter chip stacks so I feel like I am "just trying to survive!!" I hope this makes sense ...
I do appreciate that you are very busy but if you could spare me a minute or so to reply, I would be most grateful.
Thank you
(Name deleted)....."
My reply......
Good luck. ....."
She wrote me the most lovely letter of thanks afterwards, by the way.
Don't forget, if you have better, or alternative advice, feel free to Post. But no sarcastic or mocking replies, please.
Another from yesterday.....
How's it going buddy? I'm a regular tourney player as well as cash games, and I regally cash or get high place finishes. Lately I can't win a thing, everything I do is wrong! Wether it's making the wrong move at the wrong time or getting called by fishes. (can't be helped I know) why you think this is? You think I'm getting to creative? Maybe I need to go back to basics?
Thanks in advance
Reply.....
On the above post i would just make notes on the players who are re-raising you on these hands and see what they are re-raising you with and if its just you or they are doing it to others as well and adjust my play accordingly to each player.
My question for you Tikay is a bit of an easier one you,ll be glad to hear. I was looking in the lobby at the Newcastle SPT and noticed you there. I,ve not known you to play an SPT before as you always seem to be working.
Are you actually playing it and if so who,s gonna be doing your job of, ermm walking about and stuff ( you know what i mean - keeping everyone updated and organising stuff)
Ps - Got to comment on the post above - Trevor Harris for me speaks a lot of sense and is a great part of the Sky Poker Team. (doesn,t get talked about as much as some of the others ) Its just a shame you can,t message him for advice but look forward to seeing him in Newcastle
Bit of an internal battle going on about that.
Rich Milner, the guy from Head Office who "owns" the SPT, one of several bosses I work for here (the company is very departmentalised, hence several reporting lines), has been nagging me to play an SPT Event for a year or more, & tries to have me Registered for every one.
He's been on the blower again, & somehow arranged to have me Reg'd for it, & told me I have to play it.
We shall see.....
If you fancy a bet, bet against me playing.
It's not that I don't wan to play it, I'm just stubborn & obdurate, & I enjoy doing what I do at SPT events.
Who will take over from me if I play? I'd not worry too much for the sake of 20 minutes......
Thanks for your reply earlier re the Omaha question (before you went typo crazy!) much appreciated.
As an add on to this I find a position I'm in frequently is that I will probably limp with a good/ish hand only to be called by 2/3 peeps then the pot raise comes in followed by another raise etc - this comes round to me and its already about £1.20 to call (2/4p stuff) probably with 3/4 people still in. Becoming Roulettey.
I'm obviously playing at this level not "for a bit of fun" but because i'm not bankrolled higher. I want to enjoy the game (surely should be the main objective for an inexperienced player?) but find it difficult in these situations as to me there is no skill in this if everyone just throws their £4 in the middle each hand & hopes for the best.
I KNOW some of these are playing their AAxx, KKxx hands but do I call & fold when missing the flop (which obviously will be most of the time - seems to be a leak). Would also need to raid the kiddies money boxes, one would think.
What tactics would you suggest I employ (PS I wont sue) - I generally call this with hands like Qjj10, 9876 etc. Is this right or wrong?
Once again I would like to thank you for your time & effort replying to my questions. My first 3 months on the site (indeed playing poker) have been very enjoyable, mainly due to the feedback from yourself & other helpful guys & girls on the forums (and the fact that I havent actually lost any money yet, thanks to winning 10 of the £2.20 deepies).
Couple of Omaha pointers here.
1) We almost ALWAYS know pre-flop when oppo has Aces, by the aggrssive pre-flop raiseage.
2) Aces are nothing like as powerful in Omaha as they are in Hold Em, because "1 pair" is rarely good in Omaha multi-way, & even Heads-Up it's not beating much by the River.
3) In Omaha, there are "good Aces" & "bad Aces". A-A-9-5 single-suited is poo, really, A-A-J-T Double Suited is much, much, better. A-A-K-K DS is something we can Raise to the Heavens pre, because we want this one Heads Up, may as well try to get it all-in pre with such hands. A-A-K-K DS multi-way is dead in the water unless we flop one of our draws, or set up.
Thank you for your nice comments, much appreciated.
i for one do not think Sky neglect the lower levels, or any level for that matter. The Premiership league and Cup tournies a case in point and the £2.20 deepstacks which i will, one day, get around to playing when i get the chance. the forums are also another example.
good luck at the tables although i doubt you need it as much as i do!
Well the villain won't wake up very often with Quads here, so in that respect, a shade unlucky I'd say. He can barely have a bare deuce in his hand if it was Raised pre, so he is either on quads, air, an overpair, something like A-K, or a flush draw, & the latter is far more probable. Any FD is likely to be ahead of your Flush, but that's OK, as you have hit your 9 already.
On balance, a bit unlucky really, but "silly?", deffo not.
If poker is a new hobby for you, worth remembering a couple of things.
1) You WILL get very unlucky quite a lot. You will also get very lucky a lot, too. Remember BOTH, or it will do your head in. Many players can't come to terms with this, & as a result, don't really enjoy poker, they just spend their time bemoaning "that's how bad my luck is". Bleurgh.
2) Remember it's just a game, but it does test your character, mettle, & backbone. If you can handle the beats, & win & lose like a grown-up, it's a terrific game which will give you many years of fun at no cost.