(Distributed Nov. 28, 2006
MPROVING PLAYER FINISHES ON TOURNAMENT “BUBBLE”
Two months ago I asked Bob B. of Manitowoc, Wis., who is fairly new to tournament poker, to keep us posted on his progress. Here’s his latest message.
(SET ITAL) Hey LuckyDog: I e-mailed you in September that I kept going half-deep in local live hold’em tournaments. But the last two, I finished one place out of the money — an improvement. It seems I play short-stacked a lot just to get that far. I also won a low-stakes, 10-player tournament on the Internet. There I had a feeling of being in command of the table for a while. — Bob B. (END ITAL)
Nice going, Bob! Sounds as if your confidence is high and your experience is starting to pay off. When Lady Luck adds her two cents’ worth, you’ll get past the tournament “bubble” and hit the winner’s circle!
My partner on the tournament trail, Scott Reed, is one of the best short-stack players I’ve ever seen. Recently at a charity event, twice he was down to exactly enough chips to post the big blind. He survived both of those hands, hung around as several final-table players busted, then won two key hands that brought him even with the four remaining players. They cut a five-way deal good for $1,300 each!
Playing short-stacked is an art form, with an added dash of luck. In no-limit hold’em, often you’ll find yourself with only a single option — moving all-in. Most of the time, you should pick your all-in hand before your stack is eaten up by the blinds.
But not always. In Scotty’s case, he mucked hand after hand, waiting to make a move with his remaining chips. The cards didn’t cooperate, however, and he was forced to post his last chips in the big blind twice. Luckily, both his K-8 offsuit and A-5 suited held up.
The key is patience. Wait as long as you can for a hand with a decent chance of winning. Don’t panic.
The feeling you had during the Internet tourney is called being “in the zone.” You had your opponents sized up, you played aggressively when you should have, you caught some timely flops, and used your chip advantage wisely to win the table. Yikes, that’s fun!
(SET ITAL) Hi LuckyDog: Regarding (pro player) Mike Matusow — I like a friendly game where some jerk isn’t ragging on others because they stay on weak hands. I love seeing him lose on the “High Stakes Poker” cash game on TV. They even gave him $4K to stay and he lost that, too. Made me happy! — Mike McG., no hometown given (END ITAL)
It’s easy to root against Matusow, Mike, but there are two reasons why I’d hate to see him across the felt as my opponent.
You mentioned the first one: Matusow’s constant nagging and belittling of other players would get old fast. His table talk is a serious distraction to most players, even a lot of the pros. He can cause you to lose your cool just long enough to make a fatal mistake. And, berating other players at any level of poker is wrong.
The second reason: He’s dangerous. Like you, I’ve seen him on TV. I’ve also watched him play twice at major tournaments. He mixes up his game well and, to me, is very hard to read. My strategy against him would be to stay out of his way until I could trap him on a big hand.
I haven’t watched High Stakes Poker because the Game Show Network isn’t included in my level of satellite service. However, I’ve seen the action in the “big game” at the Bellagio in Las Vegas and, although it was fascinating, I couldn’t relate to all of that cash on the table. With so much at risk, can poker still be fun to play?
The first two seasons of High Stakes Poker aired this year, featuring big-name players such as Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Sammy Farha, Barry Greenstein and others. Season 3 was filmed last month in Las Vegas and is set to begin airing Jan. 15.
The new lineup of stars will include established pros Phil Ivey and Chris Ferguson, along with the final two previously unknown finishers from this year’s World Series main event, Jamie Gold and Paul Wasicka. Which probably answers the question: If an amateur wins millions of dollars at the WSOP, how does he spend it?
(SET ITAL) Is poker a sport or entertainment? — Duane M. of East Moline, Ill. (END ITAL)
Duane, you likened poker to pro wrestling, which isn’t exactly a sport, either. Both can be entertaining, but at least with the competition and luck in poker, you don’t know who’s going to win! That’s pretty sporting, I’d say.