Deep Stack Play

have been seeing more and more double stack and super stacked tournaments being played so I thought that I would write a blog sharing my thoughts of how to play a deep stacked MTT.

Position is power~
Everybody always talks about the importance of position while playing poker, but when you are in a MTT with deep stacks, it becomes even more important. If you play tournaments online, you will often be in situations where the blinds are big realitive to the stack sizes, and it becomes a preflop game where you are taking most pots down preflop, but with deep stacks it is a different game. If you have deep stacks, position will let you play more creatively, trapping and drawing with a varience of hands.

Bluffing is more difficult~
When trying to bluff in a short stacked game you put alot of pressure on you opponents, because they have less room for error, and don't have as wide of a selection of starting hands. In deep stack MTT players have room to splash around into many pots, as there selection for starting hands gets bigger, and there implied odds get greater. They are not risking as big of a percentage of there stack to play that suited connector, or draw to the flush. So when bluffing or stealing blinds in a deep stacked game, do so carefully and have a good read on your opponents.

Gathering chips and building pots~
When you are playing with a deep stack most pots dont effect your stack greatly, so you need to build the pots up. That means betting out on the flop with good hands, trying to get your opponents chips into the pot any chance you can. Four-betting is going to be an option when you have a large stack. People will be more willing to steal pots if there stacks have some room for error, so trust your reads. Semi-bluffing becomes more valuable and should be used more frequently. When making a semi-bluff you are giving yourself a chance to win the pot right there, and giving yourself the potential to win a bigger pot if you connect.

Hand values change~
When playing with deep stacks hand values decrease, expecially preflop. Your AJ has a good chance of winning the pot preflop with a raise if you are playing in a short stack game, but more people will be likely to call a raise with Q9 ect. if they have a larger stack. So now your AJ is most likely going to have to hit the flop to take down the pot. Although your AJ and A10 values decrease your suited connectors and small pocket pairs have greater values. The reason that suited connectors and pocket pairs have greater values is because if you hit the flop and have trips, flush, straights ect. you have the potentail to win a larger number of chips.
Your top pair will not be the best hand as often when you have deep stacks. The reason being is that people are playing more hands. For example lets say you have QJ and are in middle position with 60BB and raise 3 times the BB and get called by the button and big blind. The flop brings Q107, so great you flopped top pair but when you are playing deep stacked people are more likely to call 3BB with a hand like 107, Q10 or even Q7 when calling the preflop raise is only 5% of their stack opposed to 10-15% of their stack. People also slowplay more often when they have alot of chips hoping to trap you and win giant pots. So even if you have top pair be careful and don't get married to the hand.
I hope this blog helps some people while playing deep stacked tournaments, and I am looking foward to other peoples thoughts of deep stack play.

~Phil922

I thought all the points were excellent.

Nice post, it just hasn't had alot of views yet. Must've gotten pushed back right away because its the first I've seen it. Thanks, I've just started playing some deepstack tournaments and have had some difficulty adjusting.

Nice post. All your points are bang on to what I have experience, especially AJ getting called way more than in short stack situations.

great post.. i have read over it once. but wanted to give it a bump

Nice post sir.

I have played many DS fourneys and never even thought about approaching it differently and I have had about the same ammt of success as usual. Now that I see it, I can see the importance of concentrating on adapting a different strategy. I am looking forward to ptting your thoughts into action. I'll keep you posted. Thanks

i have played in many deep stack tournaments and have found that if you play tight and solid poker that you will generally make the money. in my case i usually do something stupid like make it to the money then over play a high PP like KK and get busted. there are so many strategies for MTT deep stacks and the most difficult thing for me and a lot of people is to not go broke with these hands. or hands like AQ on a Q73 flop. there doesn't look like much trouble but if you watch your players and position you will do well. good luck

It seems like the difference between good players and great players is a great player knows how to get through those different stages of a MTT. He can manage his chip stake when everyones stake to blind ratio's are getting smaller. Great players generally know how to play a big stake wonderfully and a small stake better than average. These 2 factors makes them great vs. good.

Blah Blah Blah - I can't sleep...

Does any1 else on this site have an opinion about deep stack tourneys I love deep stack games and am always interested in diff outlooks on the games

OK FINE!!!
I didnt really want to talk about deep stack MTT anyway