kill phill

Just finished the book (Kill Phill) anyone here try that strategy online?
How does it work for you?

fyi, "Kill Everyone" is due out at the end of the month.

JJ Cricket said:

Just finished the book (Kill Phill) anyone here try that strategy online?
How does it work for you?

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I read enough of it to get the theory. There's a chapter in one of Sklansky's books called "The System" where he describes how a friend of his asked him to teach his daughter how to play hold'em so that she could play in a tournament that weekend. I think the guy was rich, so he was going to plunk the money down and he wanted his daughter to have fun.

The problem though was that she didn't know squat about hold'em, so he devised this system for her that he could teach her in one day. Then later in the book, he invites others to make a more detailed version of "The System" which is what Kill Phil is. The "Rookie" method is basically what he taught the girl. I think she lasted most of the first day of the tournament.

I wouldn't say it's useless, because there's alot of good stuff in that book, but any time you go all-in, you run the risk of busting out of the tourney, regardless of what you're holding. It's no coincidence that Phil Hellmuth rarely goes all-in, and is one of the best tournament players ever. I like to press my luck sometimes in freerolls, just to see what happens, but in money buy-ins I cut it down to a small fraction. The idea of every single bet being a fold or all-in is somewhat of a stretch to say the least.

The best was to tell if the KP method is good for you is to try it in a few freerolls. If you find you're lasting longer in the tournament because you're piling up more chips, then maybe you might want to use it for awhile and learn more about the fine details.

But.....if you find out your busting out sooner rather than later (which was my experience with it), than you might not want to use the vast majority of it, but like I said there's tons of good stuff in there.

I'll be curious to see where they take it with "Kill Everyone".

BTW, you might want to read some of the book reviews on Kill Phil at Amazon. They give you a good flavor of the range of reactions to the method.

I've been trying it out on play money tournaments just to get the mechanics down. One good thing it really helps me to play tighter than i was in early play. Now folding KQo in EP but sometimes pushing with 65s in position. (Kinda nerve wracking!). When I reload I'll give it a try in low stakes SNG's & MTT's.
Let you know how it goes.

JJ Cricket said:

One good thing it really helps me to play tighter than i was in early play.

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That's true. Also, I've been toying with using the KP rules to push in with, but instead of folding when you don't have one of the hands, I do what I would normally have done. For instance, instead of folding KQs in the early rounds in LP with limpers, I might call or raise, so I at least get to see the flop. Plus, after a short try at it, I abandoned going all-in on alot of the hands that call for it, but rather just raise like I used to. I know it's a trade-off, because part of the rational of the method is to get people to fold, but survival is also important, and anytime you go all-in, you can lose.

Where the KP method really shines is late in the tourney with CSI less than 10.

I'll be interested in hearing how it works out for you, if you use the whole method as written some times.

JJ, I noticed something lately in low money buy-ins with re-buys and add-ons. I've seen three different players do this, and I'm wondering if anyone knows if they got their inspiration for the theory from Kill Phil or somewhere else.

What they do is literally go all-in on almost anything and everything during the first hour when re-buys are available. If you take all their chips, which isn't hard to do once you spot them, they quickly re-buy, and go back to going all-in on almost every hand.

Then at the end of the re-buy period, they add-on as much as they can, and then get tighter than a mouse.

It seems like a perversion of the KP method, but I'm not sure. One guy amassed a mountain of chips (he was pissing everybody off like crazy though) by going all-in about 15 times in a row. Then after the re-buy he practically stopped playing for a long time.

I can see what they are attempting to do: get a huge chip stack and then coast into the cash, only having to play a few more hands at most. I can't imagine how it could be successful strategy, but nothing would surprise me after seeing all the sitouts at pokerstars.

After reloading real money at PS, I chickened out on Kill Phill.
At Low level SNG's its senseless to push with big pair with low blinds, however a 3X BB bet will get you tons of callers, so I go a min of 10XBB
depending on my read of thae table. Kill Phill has helped me tighten up my game in early rounds, (KQo is not a hand to raise with UTG).
I do use KP when SS and M<10 except I have a hard time pushing with lower suited connectors.

i think rather than applying this as a whole, use it as a system for changing gears in MTT or maybe use it at the pushing stages at a SnG? just a thought

mendozaline said:

JJ, I noticed something lately in low money buy-ins with re-buys and add-ons. I've seen three different players do this, and I'm wondering if anyone knows if they got their inspiration for the theory from Kill Phil or somewhere else.

What they do is literally go all-in on almost anything and everything during the first hour when re-buys are available. If you take all their chips, which isn't hard to do once you spot them, they quickly re-buy, and go back to going all-in on almost every hand.

Then at the end of the re-buy period, they add-on as much as they can, and then get tighter than a mouse.

It seems like a perversion of the KP method, but I'm not sure. One guy amassed a mountain of chips (he was pissing everybody off like crazy though) by going all-in about 15 times in a row. Then after the re-buy he practically stopped playing for a long time.

I can see what they are attempting to do: get a huge chip stack and then coast into the cash, only having to play a few more hands at most. I can't imagine how it could be successful strategy, but nothing would surprise me after seeing all the sitouts at PokerStars.

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I don't know that this is a function of having read "Kill Phil", this is pretty common rebuy strategy. Take risks trying to build a stack, rebuy if you miss. Tighten up once the rebuy period is over.

NineLions said:

this is pretty common rebuy strategy. Take risks trying to build a stack, rebuy if you miss. Tighten up once the rebuy period is over.

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Thanks NineLions. Tell me something. They appear to be going in with anything and everything, which seems to me to be a suicidal technique. It usually only takes me a second or two to spot this and the next time I'm holding something better than about K9 I'll take his chips. It's kind of hard for me see how this can be a viable money making strategy.

Do people actually make money with that strategy? I could see it maybe in freerolls.