Going Well Lately

by PokerThun, 24.03.2008

 

Extremely busy, but going great with WSOP Package win and good cash game performance...

 

 

Hello guys. It has been really busy lately. Some days I can not even go online to play poker. And when I play, I could only sleep like 3-4 hours for the next day :) I think I get used to it though in past years.

 

Today I will talk more on cash games that I usually play. But first all, I want to mention I have already won my 12K WSOP Package and I’m going to play in the Main Event. I especially want to talk about the tournament that I won it because I was short stacked all the way. Playing short stacked is very important and a good poker player should manage it really well. In the event, first 2 were getting 12K packages and 3-5 getting the money up to 4K. With 15 players left I was 13-14, with 6 left I was 6th, with 3 left I was 3rd. With that said I did not folded my way in and battled all the way. Keeping on your own is at key importance, you should not go all in with Q2 and hope everyone else folds but when you have a quality hand you cannot fold to a raiser and wait for a better position. Playing lots of tournaments help to have a sense on the subject. And every player needs that kind of sense because you will find yourself short in tournaments frequently. I remained solid, when I sensed weakness went all-in and did not made a blind move, to capitalize on mistakes. Eventually I min raised AA from small blind, big blind calls. Flop comes 6, 9, 6. I bet half size pot and other player went all in with A9, my patience paid and doubled to get healthy and went on to take the take prize. It was very short summary of the event, it was a huge struggle and I really played it well to get there (A poker player should say that quite rarely but that really was good). It was an example of playing patient and measured poker (when necessary, most of the time I play aggressive :) ) delivers even when short stacked. I’m just 22 and it will be my first year that I can legally play in WSOP. I’m looking forward to the experience. I hope I can find time from my work and graduation to go there early and play in other Omaha and Hold’em events.  I also had good running in big tournaments in Full Tilt lately. I had strong cashes in 1 Million Monthly and 750K Weekly guarantees two weeks in a row. Unfortunately I cannot play many of tournaments lately. 

 

Coming to cash games.. My A-Games are $25-$50,$15-$30 and $10-$20 limit Hold’em. Limit game is evolving rapidly. Even a young player like me has changed a lot in the past year not to mention it is substantially different from 3 years ago. You should really play aggressive and push the action in limit Hold’em to win regularly. Nowadays pre-flop raises can be made with any two cards and if you hold a good hand, you should punish and make a 3-bet or cap. If you are not comfortable on the table and folding to many hands, you should immediately get up from that table. After pre-flop raises you should continue with betting on the flop, on turn and even in river “depending on the situation” without a really great hand. “Depending on the situation” is an important phrase there. Many people raise possible flushes, possible straights, bottom pairs... If you sense weakness you can re-raise even with a middle pair. Semi-bluffs are picked by top players and punished. You should always try to command the table. And from my experiences when you are really up on a table, you should not get up. When you are feeling good and winning, other players will more likely to be on tilt and you can win even more by capitalizing mistakes.   

 

I have some much to write about limit games but it cannot fit into this blog, because it has been too long. I will write about more specific limit strategies on my next blog. I hope I can find more time to play and write. Goodbye...

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