Originally Posted by Dara O'Kearney

Hi Cardschat,

I am Dara O’Kearney, known as Doke online. I am an Irish poker professional tournament player, with over $1 million in live earnings and more than $3 million in online MTTs, not to mention 8 PocketFives Triple Crowns.

I am perhaps best known for being a satellite specialist. I have won over $1 million in online satellites alone and have just written a new book on this subject called Poker Satellite Strategy:

Away from the tables I am the co-host of the Global Poker Award winning Chip Race Podcast and sponsored by Unibet Poker. Prior to poker I was an ultra marathon runner

Cardschat have kindly agreed to let me do an Ask Me Anything thread where you can ask me anything at all about satellites and tournament strategy. This will be on an ongoing basis, I’ll be checking in most weeks starting this one to answer your questions and to begin with I will be around tomorrow to answer the first batch.

Also this month I will give a free copy of my book on Apple iBooks to my favourite question, once a week for the next four weeks.

AMA


Dara

Thank U 4 being here for us.

I have both your books they have helped me immensely. I also subscribe to your youtube channel it is full of great insights as well.

My question today is regarding rebuying in micro PKO formats with long rebuy periods.

I have heard you state rebuys are not good in PKO's and your reasoning is, reduction of possible winnings through bounties being gone. That makes perfect sense.

I am however today playing in a PKO $5 buy-in rebuy that currently has 2/3 of the field entering in the rebuy period.

Also first with no bounties pays $656 rebuys still active

Would you think that this feature might be a situation where you would rebuy? If so how deep into the rebuy period would you do so?

Thank U 4 any insight you may choose to share
Ernest

Originally Posted by MsUniverse

Is my strategy correct when I always push with A +?

Very much depends on the exact situation!

Could you tell me how you handle limpers (people who limp into the pot) please? Thank you.

Originally Posted by eetenor

Thank U 4 being here for us.

I have both your books they have helped me immensely. I also subscribe to your youtube channel it is full of great insights as well.

My question today is regarding rebuying in micro PKO formats with long rebuy periods.

I have heard you state rebuys are not good in PKO's and your reasoning is, reduction of possible winnings through bounties being gone. That makes perfect sense.

I am however today playing in a PKO $5 buy-in rebuy that currently has 2/3 of the field entering in the rebuy period.

Also first with no bounties pays $656 rebuys still active

Would you think that this feature might be a situation where you would rebuy? If so how deep into the rebuy period would you do so?

Thank U 4 any insight you may choose to share
Ernest

Hi Ernest,

Thanks for your excellent question and kind comments. The most plus EV thing you can is reg a PKO right at the start. As soon as anyone busts it becomes less EV to do so, but if lots of other people are entering late too it could still be plus EV to do so. As a very rough rule of thumb (and I emphasise this is very rough), if you enter late but expect more people to register after you than have already bust, your late entry should still be profitable.

Hope this helps and thanks for your question.

Originally Posted by Dara O'Kearney

Hi Ernest,

Thanks for your excellent question and kind comments. The most plus EV thing you can is reg a PKO right at the start. As soon as anyone busts it becomes less EV to do so, but if lots of other people are entering late too it could still be plus EV to do so. As a very rough rule of thumb (and I emphasise this is very rough), if you enter late but expect more people to register after you than have already bust, your late entry should still be profitable.

Hope this helps and thanks for your question.

I appreciate you emphasizing the rough calculation it would require to make a decision. I will keep that in mind


Thanks again

Originally Posted by Wwislan

Could you tell me how you handle limpers (people who limp into the pot) please? Thank you.

It depends on the type of limper Broadly speaking there are four different types:
1. Weak passive players who just like to see flops as cheaply as possible
2. Calling stations
3. Maniacs who limp reraise super wide
4. Trappers who limp monsters hoping to limp reraise

Type 1 will either fold to raises a lot, or call too wide forcing them to check fold most flops as their range is just too wide. The best way to exploit them is to isolate (raise) them very wide, wider than you would open if folded to. If they call, cbet every flop. The players behind may notice that you are doing this, and adjust. If they start threebetting you wide (as they should), tighten your isolating range to a similar range you would open, and play your range the way you'd normally play against an aggressive three bettor (four betting more for example). If the players behind aren't threebetting you much but are flatting a lot leading to lots of multi-way pots, then dump hands that play badly multi-way like unsuited weak aces and easily dominated unsuited weaker Broadways, and choose hands that play well multi-way (suited aces, pairs, suited connectors)

Type 2 players won't fold much if at all to your isolations preflop, and will call down far too wide postflop. Isolate them with high card hands that will make top pair a lot, value bet much wider postflop, don't bluff (semi bluffs are ok as they'll pay you off if you hit) and never bluff rivers

Type 3 doesn't fold much preflop and will limp reraise a lot, and will play aggro postflop with lots of donk leads and check raises. Don't isolate them too wide: stick to value hands. Pot control medium strength hands postflop, and be prepared to stack off much wider

Type 4 are looking to limp reraise monsters. Exploit them by not raising as much. Your raising range should be polar (hands that are strong enough to continue versus a limp reraise, and weak hands with blockers that don't play well as calls and don't mind folding to reraises), and limp behind with hands that can crack big pairs (suited connectors, lower pairs, Axs)

Thanks for your question and hope this helps!

My question? Throughout the tournament, the game is changing - there are more phases of the tournament. páter,middle,finnally..I should change the game during the tournament?

You got to have a lot dedication to play in ticket tournamentso takes a lot of time to win this tournamentso how do you have the patience to dedicate your life to it thats what gets me after about four hours of playing is hard to do. I played 10 hours slaughter before but started seeing double ha

Win a digital copy of Dara's book:

PKO dara o'kearney pko strategy.jpg

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Who was your biggest poker influence?

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$11 satellite to $109

I'm at 21 out of 44 where 20 get tickets

I have AKo utg with 18bb, I open shove got called by 99 by opponent that covered me, Is it a right play that got unlucky or I have to fold because I'm utg with 3 opponent covered me.

Originally Posted by Tammy

Win a digital copy of Dara's book:

PKO Poker Strategy: How to adapt to Bounty and Progressive Knockout online poker tournaments

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-Be one of the first five people to ask a new, good question for Dara here in the thread.*
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Hello, Dara!

First of all very interesting to read your answers here, thank you very much!

As poker pro you have very big really experience in your poker life. Can you tell about your most memorable moment in?

And what do you think is the most difficult part of poker?

Podcast

What is the funniest episode in a live tournament with your participation that you remember the most?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by Regie19

My question? Throughout the tournament, the game is changing - there are more phases of the tournament. páter,middle,finnally..I should change the game during the tournament?

In a satellite, you should generally play the early phase a bit tighter than in a normal tournament, and in particular be a lot less willing to take gambles for a large amount of your stack.

In the middle phase, your strategy very much depends on your big stack. If you have a big stack your focus should be trying to maintain rather thn accumulate. With a short stack you play relatively normally.

In the end stage, your major adjustment is to call allins much tighter, and to shove more of your range (rather than raise call or raise fold).

Good luck and thanks for your question!

Originally Posted by CRStals

PODCAST

Who was your biggest poker influence?

Either my brother (who taught me) or Rob Taylor (the first pro who befriended me)

Originally Posted by marvinsytan

PODCAST

$11 satellite to $109

I'm at 21 out of 44 where 20 get tickets

I have AKo utg with 18bb, I open shove got called by 99 by opponent that covered me, Is it a right play that got unlucky or I have to fold because I'm utg with 3 opponent covered me.

Shove is definitely profitable, you're too far from the money to tighten up too much. Unlucky

what has been your biggest collection.

Originally Posted by 1sunchin

PODCAST

Hello, Dara!

First of all very interesting to read your answers here, thank you very much!

As poker pro you have very big really experience in your poker life. Can you tell about your most memorable moment in?

And what do you think is the most difficult part of poker?

Thank you for your kind comments. Most memorable moment is when I got headsup for a bracelet at WSOP in 2015. I lost out to Upeshka da Silva (who is on the final table of this year's main event).

I would say the most difficult part is discipline and keeping your composure when running badly

Hi Dara,
I have read your Satellite book just after it came out and it is a perfect read for any satellite player. But I just wasn't hooked on the satellites and preferred to play regular tournaments. Now I am considering going into them because fields in 50-100$ satellites are so soft and I would gladly play the events that I satellite to, but I am just curious what are the possible winrates in them.
What ROIs do you think a decent-good satellite player could achieve in regular/turbo sats with 2-8 seats worth of 10x buyins? The field is ~80% fish. Rake is 4%.
Also if I am just adding sats next to my regular tournaments, do you think it's more value in playing them from the start/middle phase or max late registering (ignoring variance, just pure $/h)? In theory you get a big ICM advantage when max latereging, but is it really that effective in practice (ICM can't factor for future game).

Originally Posted by DEDbaradeddv

Podcast

What is the funniest episode in a live tournament with your participation that you remember the most?

Thanks.

My best friend in poker, David Lappin (who I do The Chip Race and Lock-In podcasts with) and I became friends when he moved back from America where he lived for a couple of years to Ireland. David was a lot more confrontational back then, and regularly got into verbal fights at the table. At one tournament I walked over to his table at the break to find him arguing with a guy I and almost everybody in the room except David knew to be a hitman for a crime gang. I warned David of this during the break and strongly advised him to make peace with the gentleman in question after the break.

At the end of the night I asked if he had, and he assured me he had done so. So much so, in fact, that the gentleman in question had offered him a ride home! I wasn't convinced it was a good idea for David to take him up on that offer, but he did, and lived to tell the tale.

Originally Posted by sara maria

what has been your biggest collection.

My biggest live cash was an even $300k when I chopped a WSOP event with Upeshka da Silva. We chopped the money headsup and played on for the bracelet (which he won, his first bracelet)

My biggest online cash is an even $85k, also a chop (threeway in Super Tuesday).

Thanks for your question!

Great podcast, thanks...

Dara was our latest CardsChat Podcast guest! Check it out here:

You Tube

Originally Posted by Baazaam

Hi Dara,
I have read your Satellite book just after it came out and it is a perfect read for any satellite player. But I just wasn't hooked on the satellites and preferred to play regular tournaments. Now I am considering going into them because fields in 50-100$ satellites are so soft and I would gladly play the events that I satellite to, but I am just curious what are the possible winrates in them.
What ROIs do you think a decent-good satellite player could achieve in regular/turbo sats with 2-8 seats worth of 10x buyins? The field is ~80% fish. Rake is 4%.
Also if I am just adding sats next to my regular tournaments, do you think it's more value in playing them from the start/middle phase or max late registering (ignoring variance, just pure $/h)? In theory you get a big ICM advantage when max latereging, but is it really that effective in practice (ICM can't factor for future game).

The ROI question is one I often get asked and can only give a rough estimate on these days. Given the description you give, I suspect an ROI of 30-70% is possible if you play them close to optimally.

I personally max late reg nearly all satellites. There's certainly an ROI tradeoff. You lose something from not playing the early levels against weak opposition, but you gain in ICM terms. The more people already eliminated as a proportion of the field, the higher the gain. My biggest reason for max late regging is I don't think the additional equity that comes from regging earlier is sufficient to make it worthwhile from a pure hourly perspective (the earlier I reg, the longer I will be on average in each satellite, and the less tables I can play).

Thanks for your questions!

Hi Dara
A hand thats been bugging me for a while, would like your opinion on if its a call or fold
In a $22 pko on party, we are in the money but only just so little payouts at the time, I'm 16th of 28 left with just above average.
I min raise from CO with JJ, SB calls then BB goes all in who covers me, I have played against this player before and have notes on him, he is very ABC player who i have never seen get out of line so him bluffing in this spot is almost zero, at the same time him having AA/KK maybe even QQ is very small is my read due to not wanting to scare me away from his premium holding, I'm putting him on 66+ AQ+ but without KK+
I started the hand with 36BB he had 47BB

I felt i had a slight edge on the table, he had a fairly decent bounty

After using a fair bit of timebank I called in game, he had AKo hit his A and I was out, I would of been 1st or 2nd if I held
With some ICM implications and his range here still not sure if I need to fold with being covered or its just call and GG
Thanks

Hey Dara,
In a strategy segment hosted by The Chip Race (OMG STRAIGHT FLUSH VS QUADS), Jungleman explains to David that a raise is a viable move against the 3-better after a call. JM goes on to explain that he has “more nuts than the 3-better…I have more A3 and A4 combinations than the BU does…I have all the pocket 33 and 44”. Since JM is on the BU I was confused? Is this just theoretical in terms of a typical BTN range he’s using as a baseline? I constructed two generic ranges for both positions, and ran the numbers in PokerCruncher, ultimately both ranges had the same number of A3, A4 combinations. So clearly, I’m going about this all wrong.
Can you please elaborate a little on these ranges?
Thank you.

Hi Dara, I went out and bought your PKO book and it was so good I went and got the Satellite book too. I have been studying them both as if they were college textbooks.

I have a specific question about a spot I was in at a recent satellite.

$30 buyin to a $300 tournament. 15 seats awarded; #16 gets $5. There are 16 players left. We are in 15th place with 1.5bb. The short stack has two antes and is at the other table on the button. We are hand for hand.

We are the big blind this hand and have Ah5h. Action folds to the SB who shoves (as he should with any two cards here I suppose). What do I do? Call off? If I fold here, I am all-in next hand in the SB.

Originally Posted by luckb0xb1ll

Hi Dara
A hand thats been bugging me for a while, would like your opinion on if its a call or fold
In a $22 pko on party, we are in the money but only just so little payouts at the time, I'm 16th of 28 left with just above average.
I min raise from CO with JJ, SB calls then BB goes all in who covers me, I have played against this player before and have notes on him, he is very ABC player who i have never seen get out of line so him bluffing in this spot is almost zero, at the same time him having AA/KK maybe even QQ is very small is my read due to not wanting to scare me away from his premium holding, I'm putting him on 66+ AQ+ but without KK+
I started the hand with 36BB he had 47BB

I felt i had a slight edge on the table, he had a fairly decent bounty

After using a fair bit of timebank I called in game, he had AKo hit his A and I was out, I would of been 1st or 2nd if I held
With some ICM implications and his range here still not sure if I need to fold with being covered or its just call and GG
Thanks

Interesting spot. Tking dead money into account from a pure ChipEV situation, you need roughly 45% equity here to call (assuming the small blind folds). The range you assign villain looks reasonable and what I'd expect from a decent player in that spot. Against 66-QQ AQ+ jacks has 63% so it's a call for sure. ICM won't be much of a factor at this point: it's really only big on the bubble or last two tables usually. It might add a few % to what you need but no matter how you cut it 63% is going to be well clear of what you need.

Unlucky, and thanks for the question!

Originally Posted by JT Olson

Hey Dara,
In a strategy segment hosted by The Chip Race (OMG STRAIGHT FLUSH VS QUADS), Jungleman explains to David that a raise is a viable move against the 3-better after a call. JM goes on to explain that he has “more nuts than the 3-better…I have more A3 and A4 combinations than the BU does…I have all the pocket 33 and 44”. Since JM is on the BU I was confused? Is this just theoretical in terms of a typical BTN range he’s using as a baseline? I constructed two generic ranges for both positions, and ran the numbers in PokerCruncher, ultimately both ranges had the same number of A3, A4 combinations. So clearly, I’m going about this all wrong.
Can you please elaborate a little on these ranges?
Thank you.

Hi,

I'll preface this by saying 150 bbs cash game spots are not my specialty, but I believe in this specific spot the big blind is is supposed to call suited wheel aces and fold the unsuited ones, and never squeeze with them. The suited wheel aces really don't want to get 4 bet in this spot, but play very well as calls in a single raised pot. The button (Jungleman) is in a similar spot when he gets squeezed and is holding a suited wheel ace: it's plenty strong enough to call, not strong enough to 4 bet call, and it sucks to 4 bet fold it. so it plays best as a pure call. Therefore after the preflop action of button raise, sb call, BB squeeze, button call, button should have all the suited aces and bb rarely if ever has them,

Originally Posted by Dara O'Kearney

Hi,

I'll preface this by saying 150 bbs cash game spots are not my specialty, but I believe in this specific spot the big blind is is supposed to call suited wheel aces and fold the unsuited ones, and never squeeze with them. The suited wheel aces really don't want to get 4 bet in this spot, but play very well as calls in a single raised pot. The button (Jungleman) is in a similar spot when he gets squeezed and is holding a suited wheel ace: it's plenty strong enough to call, not strong enough to 4 bet call, and it sucks to 4 bet fold it. so it plays best as a pure call. Therefore after the preflop action of button raise, sb call, BB squeeze, button call, button should have all the suited aces and bb rarely if ever has them,

Thank you for the reply.

Congratulations on your success! Which satellite are you specializing in? What kind of satellite do you play the most? And what is your favorite structure? (number of players, speed, money) Maybe how many tables at one time?

GGpoker allow you to pick your seat at a final table, what are the things you look for when you try and pick your seat?

I'm thinking tight players on your left, maniacs/chip leaders on your right. Avoid having resteal stacks to your left etc.

What else?

I have noticed that in the micro, bass satellites and freerolls people are very aggressive and go with any cards in the first parts of the satellites, and these cases do you recommend: play more closely or go to the lottery?

Originally Posted by jokeriii

Hi Dara, I went out and bought your PKO book and it was so good I went and got the Satellite book too. I have been studying them both as if they were college textbooks.

I have a specific question about a spot I was in at a recent satellite.

$30 buyin to a $300 tournament. 15 seats awarded; #16 gets $5. There are 16 players left. We are in 15th place with 1.5bb. The short stack has two antes and is at the other table on the button. We are hand for hand.

We are the big blind this hand and have Ah5h. Action folds to the SB who shoves (as he should with any two cards here I suppose). What do I do? Call off? If I fold here, I am all-in next hand in the SB.

Very interesting spot. It's a real headscratcher. I think it really boils down to how likely it is the shortie shoves on the other table. If possible, I'd stall long enough to see what he does. What happens if you both bust same hand? You split the seat?

Originally Posted by Dara O'Kearney

Very interesting spot. It's a real headscratcher. I think it really boils down to how likely it is the shortie shoves on the other table. If possible, I'd stall long enough to see what he does. What happens if you both bust same hand? You split the seat?

As it turns out, I shoved and lost. I figured A5s was >50% hand versus uncertain hand coming up next. Villain had King-high and flopped a King for the win.

Since we were H4H, we had to wait the action at the other table. The guy with 2 antes also shoved and lost. he picked up the 16th spot (since his stack was shorter) and I snuck in with a seat to the main.

I wanted to know, which is more profitable to play bounty KO, or to play guaranteed tournaments, which is more feasible and more profitable, of course the two tournaments are with the same amount of ticket value? I await your response and excuse me, thank you, I know there are many questions.