|
In major tournaments, people are surprised by the amount
of ‘big name’ professionals busting out
early, but it’s really not as strange as you might
think. Good tournament players don’t simply try
to make it through the first day, their overall aim
is to get to the money and the final table with a lot
of chips. So it’s an all or nothing situation.
They’re not going to avoid risk in an attempt
to simply make it through the first day. That’s
what the amateurs do.
Poker is always a minefield, whether because of unpredictable
players or unpredictable cards. The skills are the same,
whether you’re playing in a big tournament or
a small tournament: you’re trying to figure out
who you can bluff and who you can value bet against.
You can pick up a lot of information before a hand of
poker has even been played – such as who will
play weak and who will play aggressive – and from
the early stages of the game, you should have a good
idea of who you can bluff, who you can value bet, and
by how much. However, just because you can value bet
someone, doesn’t mean you’re not going to
get sucked out. You can’t avoid getting all-in
as a 3:1 favorite; you have to – and you’ll
probably win a lot of chips, but there’s also
a 1:3 chance you’ll end up with nothing. It happens.
Given the choice of ending the day with 10,000, or
having a 50% chance of ending the day with 50,000 or
nothing, all pros, with the exception, perhaps, of Phil
Hellmuth, would take the 50/50 shot. If you double up
once, that makes you a favorite to double up again,
because you have all that extra equity. You have to
take those calculated risks if you want to stand a chance
of getting ahead of the field. Sometimes you’re
just not going to hit them, but that’s poker.
You can play 24-hours of poker and not make the money.
I’d much rather get it all in early, which gives
me a good chance of doubling up or going broke, rather
than spend long, fruitless hours chasing the middle
of the pack.
|
