back with a vengeance

Well, I'm finished my sixth sit-n-go in a row where I've taken either 2nd or 1st place now. According to sharkscope (www.sharkscope.com), I'm 'Super Hot'. That's right baby!

To be perfectly honest, I've been getting some great starting cards. One tournament, I was dealt pocket Aces 5 times. The most recent one, I was dealt Aces 3 times, AQ four times, and AJ at least twice. Like I said in earlier posts, these wins and losses come in streaks. So I'm on a super-hot streak right now. It might be a good time to play a double shootout for the main event.

Anyway, I was reading my last post and thought of how important it is to put your opponents at a disadvantage at all times. What I mean by that is you want to have your opponents make as many mistakes as possible. While you will be making yours, you want your opponents to make more. The only way to do that is to manipulate their perception of you and your playing style at any given moment.

Now, for any seasoned player, this is no big surprise - when they think you're tight, play loose and visa versa. Sure, that's definitely an easy one but how about betting patterns? How about table image? What your opponents think of you might cost them a little up front by making a bad read but what happens if that bad read ends up delivering a bad beat? Here's what I mean:

Let's say you're chip leader and your 5-handed. For 3 hands in a row, you were dealt A-Q, J-J and A-K. Of course, in all those situations, since you're going from late to early position, you'd raise. But you've raised 3 hands in a row though and in all likelihood, your opponents no longer respect your raises despite the legitimacy of those raises. Now you've tarnished your image at no fault of your own. Or is it?

Now, if your next hand is like A-J suited and you raise, you will likely get someone who could go all in with a hand like KQ or even JT. So now you're in a position where you will probably have to call (folding will make you look even more suspicious) and you might be a 3:2 favorite or maybe even in a dominating position. What happens if the JT hits the T on the flop and now you're behind? And the ONLY REASON why that person went all in was because they didn't give you credit for any kind of a hand.

I'm willing to bet anyone who has played cards long enough who have been bullied around in a game decided to go to war with any face card. Happens all the time. And the reasoning goes something like this - "He can't have a hand every time he raises!"

So what that means is, maybe going to war with JT might be a mistake, but it becomes LESS of a mistake to play it when you're being bullied in the long run, that is - because there will be more legitimate bullies than players who seem like they are bullying but are just running hot. And whenever you give your opponents a chance to lessen their mistakes, they gain and you lose.

So instead of consistently raising with good hands as the chip leader when you're running hot, it may be in your favor to actually mix it up and limp in sometimes. Sure you might give up a couple steals here and there, but the trade off is you'll show down a very nice starting hand that you limped in with. That information is will pay off a lot more later in a tournament. Knowing you can now raise or limp with a great starting hand you've handcuffed them from raising because you might limp-call a raise or you might re-raise. This opens the door to more limping with marginal hands and also raising with marginal hands once you've gone cold with cards. And we all know we'd rather not tangle ourselves with the chip leader.

With this approach, they can't label you as a bully and they'll still wait for premium hands before going to war with you. You might have to limp-fold an AK that missed but that might allow you to bet middle pair in position and take down a modest uncontested pot of 3 BBs.

Playing consistently, regardless of your reasons, becomes a liability.