First Thread - The power of Bluff in tournaments

Castilho

Castilho

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Hello Poker players!

This is my first new Thread so please be kind hehe :D

So, when comes to FLOP, everybody knows that the percentage of hitting the flop is really low and almost all the time you and your opponent won't hit.

The pre-flop bets are really important. I'm new on poker but i recently made it 4° place in a USD 2.2 buy in tournament (normal time) in pokerstars and made USD 150.00

In the beginning of the tournament i was very tight defensive, beting/raising with just good cards.
After some time, the table kept with the same players and it took a while longer to redraw the sits.

Note that in online and presential poker tournaments is important to always observe your opponents actions, but more important than that is to know what the players on table thinks about you.

After winning some hands with showdown and showing my hand's power, people at table started to respect me more than usual.

So it was at that time that i saw the opportunity to become super strong and i wasn't even the stack leader at that table.

I started to bluff with position with some low cards like A2/A5/56/67/78/910 all suited. Usually on Small and Big blind or dealer positions.
And not just pre flop to get the blinds. People on Big Blind / Small Blind usually defend their positions with low cards combinations like 67 Suited / 89 suited / 910 suited / a5 suited or some figures that you have to be aware like J10 / KQ.

Knowing that, i usually raise 2x the big blind so in order to see the flop, the player would have to pay the double that he would.

When the flop comes (10, figures to Ace), you may do the continuation bet and you can bet a little bit more than half the pot. This usually works better with a history of good hands seen by your opponents.

With that, they knew that i probably had that ace card, or king or some pair at least.

This should work out because the chances the flop hits for them is really low and if you have a history of showdowns with high cards you may be good and take a really good stack.

OBS: You may not do this all the time, so it will became really easy to detect you are bluffing.

The good part, is when you do this, you may hit the flop or some kind of draws or even the nuts. When this happen, some good actions is to slow play and make a check/raise after flop.

In this particular tournament it worked really well for me.

I hope these can help you guys in some way.


OBS: This is my first post and i'm from brazil and don't speak so well English. But in order to create something original i decided not to use Google Translator and used my yesterday tournament to give you some examples of it worked with me. :angel:
 
Edu1

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Hello - good to see you here in Cardschat, a quality thread is always welcome.
 
garibe

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Good stuff.

The continuation bet is one of the best tools for stacking.

This strategy, specially in small fields is a safe one taking in consideration how your opponents put you in a play style and don't remember to check the stages of the tournament (they have this picture of you being super tight during the early stages and keep that image throughout the tournament).

To add and remember myself of it:

MTT stages:

Early/Middle/Late

Early - Deep stack game. More opportunity to get stacks. The pre-flop game is essential (playability due to your initial stack and cheap blinds, no necessity to have more complex ranges (3-bet/4-bet/etc) unless getting it in with the nuts.

Usually micros during the early stages will have a lot of players paying with trash cards. That is the edge when having a good RFI to battle and stack on them.

Mid-Stages:

Eff stacks are more shallow. That means you can open your ranges a bit more aggressively to get advantage on players that are short. These will possibly be getting a more conservative play while you will have the edge putting them on difficult decisions and usually folding to min raises very often.

Be aware that the mid-stage is where you start to stack mostly from steals (blinds+antes are getting bigger). Blind wars start to be important here. Pay attention to the big stacks and short stacks.

-Late game:

ICM is very relevant;
Spot the rec players;
Dynamic game/ranges;
Bubble plays; If you don't have a comfortable stack you will be put under a lot of pressure.
Aggressive plays.

I don't have much experience in late game plays. I usually try to secure the best spots to play whenever I can.

In general, a very good strategy and also good experience getting to know your opponents and to remember how they picture you on the table.
 
nuttea

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Hello Poker players!

This is my first new Thread so please be kind hehe :D

So, when comes to FLOP, everybody knows that the percentage of hitting the flop is really low and almost all the time you and your opponent won't hit.

The pre-flop bets are really important. I'm new on poker but i recently made it 4° place in a USD 2.2 buy in tournament (normal time) in pokerstars and made USD 150.00

In the beginning of the tournament i was very tight defensive, beting/raising with just good cards.
After some time, the table kept with the same players and it took a while longer to redraw the sits.

Note that in online and presential poker tournaments is important to always observe your opponents actions, but more important than that is to know what the players on table thinks about you.

After winning some hands with showdown and showing my hand's power, people at table started to respect me more than usual.

So it was at that time that i saw the opportunity to become super strong and i wasn't even the stack leader at that table.

I started to bluff with position with some low cards like A2/A5/56/67/78/910 all suited. Usually on Small and Big blind or dealer positions.
And not just pre flop to get the blinds. People on Big Blind / Small Blind usually defend their positions with low cards combinations like 67 Suited / 89 suited / 910 suited / a5 suited or some figures that you have to be aware like J10 / KQ.

Knowing that, i usually raise 2x the big blind so in order to see the flop, the player would have to pay the double that he would.

When the flop comes (10, figures to Ace), you may do the continuation bet and you can bet a little bit more than half the pot. This usually works better with a history of good hands seen by your opponents.

With that, they knew that i probably had that ace card, or king or some pair at least.

This should work out because the chances the flop hits for them is really low and if you have a history of showdowns with high cards you may be good and take a really good stack.

OBS: You may not do this all the time, so it will became really easy to detect you are bluffing.

The good part, is when you do this, you may hit the flop or some kind of draws or even the nuts. When this happen, some good actions is to slow play and make a check/raise after flop.

In this particular tournament it worked really well for me.

I hope these can help you guys in some way.


OBS: This is my first post and i'm from Brazil and don't speak so well English. But in order to create something original i decided not to use Google Translator and used my yesterday tournament to give you some examples of it worked with me. :angel:
SEMI-BLUFF. As the saying goes, a good bluff is hard to guess. The semi-bluff is really hard to guess, which is why it is, perhaps, the most common. The player has good cards, he acts like he has the nuts, but in fact he still needs to get his outs on the next streets.Don't bluff against weak players. A weak player means someone who calls frequently, rarely raises and loses very often. Such players are also called "telephones" or "answering machines". It is impossible to bluff against such players, save your bluff for someone else. Why? They don't know much about the game. They are more likely to call your bet than fold.
 
Castilho

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I appreciate all of your tips and informations. As i'm new to those terms it was really good to read that. :):D
 
StealTheButton

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Congratulations on placing well. A lot of players will C-bet much too often and will automatically bet 1/2 the pot or more on every single flop they raised. This will ultimately bite them in the ass. If I completely missed and the flop is dangerous, I have no problem checking and folding. I like to c-bet my draws and then feel my opponents out. If I hit I have built a pot. If I don't I have some info on what I think my opponent may be holding. If I feel they are weak I may be able to take the pot on a later street. If I flop top pair or better and I know my opponent ALWAYS bets when checked to- he is getting check raised!
 
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