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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) ntdpkrauthority | |
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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NotedPokerAuthority/~3/SGurZXQIRkk/the-three-stages-of-a-tournament.html http://www.notedpokerauthority.com/?p=941 Cash games tend to be relatively static. The blinds don’t change. The stack sizes can vary, but they tend to vary from fairly deep to really deep. And after any hand you can get up from the table and cash your chips in for dollars. So each chip is always worth to you at least the face value of the chip.
In tournaments these things — blind sizes, antes, stack sizes, and chip values — are all variable, and mastering the changes in strategy due to these changing variables is the key tournament skill. This brings us to today’s question from a reader.
According to your book, Getting Started In Hold’em, the early phase [of a tournament] is regarded as similar to cash games, and the bubble and prize phases are regarded as similar to sit-n-gos (SNGs). Therefore, although my primary focus is on [multitable tournaments], working on my cash game and SNG game would help with my early phase play and bubble and prize phase play, respectively. The middle stage (which you define as average stack of approximately 10 big blinds) is regarded as similar to satellite play. But in tournaments I play, the average stacks are rarely 10 big blinds. They are usually more. If this middle phase exists, I would want to work on satellite play. Should I therefore practice all three games — cash games, satellites, and SNGs — to improve my tournament play?
Well, indeed in live tournaments it’s quite common to have average stacks around the 10BB level after a few rounds. But that actual number isn’t so important.
In Getting Started In Hold’em, I briefly classify tournaments into various stages and discuss roughly what to expect from each stage. The book is written for newer players, and that section is meant only as a rough outline of what to expect. There’s nothing special about 10BB average stacks as opposed to 15BB or 25BB average stacks.
I would say there are two overall changes most multitable tournaments go through, and they both happen gradually as the tournament progresses. First, the average stack sizes drop from the 50BB-150BB range to around the 5-25BB range (depending on the tournament structure). Low buyin live tournaments tend to undergo this change the fastest, but it’s a universal aspect of tournament play. Second, the strategic focus shifts from purely chip accumulation to a balance of chip accumulation and survival.
Generally speaking, when the stacks are deep, your play should resemble cash game play. You’ll be seeing flops and there will be plenty of play after the flop. Often in the first round or two you will see lots of six to eighthanded pots, which you’ll also see in loose, soft cash games.
When the stacks are shallow, your play should still largely resemble cash game play, but it should resemble how you’d play a cash game if everyone started the hand with 10BB instead of 100BB. These stack sizes call for aggressive preflop play, and the preflop open-raise and the preflop shove over a raise are the two bread-and-butter tactics.
Tournament play begins to differ significantly from cash game play once the bubble begins to approach. When the prizes are far off, your main goal should be simply to accumulate chips. Since that’s also your goal in a cash game, the strategies align. Once the bubble nears, however, you must balance chip accumulation against survival, since merely existing at the table now has some value. Also, near the bubble you can take advantage of the fact that many of your opponents might be putting too much emphasis on survival for the sake of taking home one of the small prizes. This factor adds value to aggressive chip accumulating plays.
My model of viewing a multitable tournament as a series of three phases — cash game, satellite, and sit-n-go — is an intentional oversimplification of what’s really going on, but it has some intuitive appeal. Early in the tournament, the prizes are far off, and your goal is to accumulate chips. Since that’s also your goal in a cash game, the stages are similar.
In the middle of the tournament, the stacks are shallower, but your main goal should still be to accumulate chips. In that way the tournament is like a satellite, since satellites usually are winner-take-all (or close to it), and often play with shallow stacks. In a multitable tournament the prizes just after the bubble are small, and therefore while raw survival has some value, it’s not usually worth giving up a chance to accumulate chips just to slide into one of the small prizes. Some players dramatically shift their strategy in and around the bubble to one that highly prizes survival over chip accumulation, and that drastic shift is usually a mistake.
So I would say that the satellite period lasts from the time people start thinking about the bubble to the time the really worthwhile prizes start to come into play.
Then the final stage of the tournament is sort of like the sit-n-go, where surviving one or two places can represent an extra 3 to 5 percent of the prize pool. In this stage chip accumulation is still important, as always, but sometimes survival becomes the more overriding concern.
The bottom line is that most tournament players overvalue survival throughout most of a tournament. The same player who is risk-taking and aggressive in a cash game is cautious in a tournament, even during the middle stages where the prizes are still far off. This isn’t the right way to play! With a few situational exceptions, your primary goal in any tournament hand should be to win chips, not to ensure survival. Remember that early in a tournament you should play like it’s a cash game. And in the middle of a tournament you should play like it’s a satellite. If you do that, your strategic focus will be correct, and you’ll give yourself the best shot to win a top prize.
[This article appeared in the October 21, 2009 issue (Vol. 22, No. 21) of Card Player.]
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dailylatenight | |
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http://www.interbridge.com/lineupsdate.html#11/13/09 David Letterman: Mariah Carey, Kumail Nanjiani
Jay Leno: Terrence Howard, Sheryl Crow
Conan O'Brien: Reese Witherspoon, Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe, Kris Allen
Jimmy Kimmel: Diddy, Super Dave Osborne, Huey Lewis & the News
Craig Ferguson: Harry Connick Jr., Peter Sagal
Jimmy Fallon: Amanda Peet, Steven Ward, Kid Sister
Carson Daly: Emmy Rossum, Zach Hyman, Crocodiles
Tavis Smiley: Lance Reddick, Jason Zweig
Chelsea Lately: Jim Carrey, Josh Wolf, Greg Proops, Jen Kirkman (R 11/9/09)
The View: Kool & the Gang, Duff Goldman
Regis and Kelly: Jimmy Smits, Jamie Oliver
Ellen DeGeneres: Ryan Seacrest, the latest castoffs from "So You Think You Can Dance"
That Morning Show: Josh Moore, Keke Palmer, Chef John Schenk
Bonnie Hunt: Fran Drescher, Paula Deen, Dashboard Confessional
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dailylatenight | |
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http://www.interbridge.com/lineupsdate.html#11/13/09 David Letterman: Mariah Carey, Kumail Nanjiani
Jay Leno: Terrence Howard, Sheryl Crow
Conan O'Brien: Reese Witherspoon, Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe, Kris Allen
Jimmy Kimmel: Diddy, Super Dave Osborne, Huey Lewis & the News
Craig Ferguson: Harry Connick Jr., Peter Sagal
Jimmy Fallon: Amanda Peet, Steven Ward, Kid Sister
Carson Daly: Emmy Rossum, Zach Hyman, Crocodiles
Tavis Smiley: Lance Reddick, Jason Zweig
Chelsea Lately: Jim Carrey, Josh Wolf, Greg Proops, Jen Kirkman (R 11/9/09)
The View: Kool & the Gang, Duff Goldman
Regis and Kelly: Jimmy Smits, Jamie Oliver
Ellen DeGeneres: Ryan Seacrest, the latest castoff from "So You Think You Can Dance"
That Morning Show: Josh Moore, Keke Palmer, Chef John Schenk
Bonnie Hunt: Fran Drescher, Paula Deen, Dashboard Confessional
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dailylatenight | |
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http://www.interbridge.com/lineupsdate.html#11/13/09 David Letterman: Mariah Carey, Kumail Nanjiani
Jay Leno: Terrence Howard, Sheryl Crow
Conan O'Brien: Reese Witherspoon, Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe, Kris Allen
Jimmy Kimmel: Diddy, Super Dave Osborne, Huey Lewis & the News
Craig Ferguson: Harry Connick Jr., Peter Sagal
Jimmy Fallon: Amanda Peet, Steven Ward, Kid Sister
Carson Daly: Emmy Rossum, Crocodiles
Tavis Smiley: Lance Reddick, Jason Zweig
Chelsea Lately: Jim Carrey, Josh Wolf, Greg Proops, Jen Kirkman (R 11/9/09)
The View: Kool & the Gang, Duff Goldman
Regis and Kelly: Jimmy Smits, Jamie Oliver
Ellen DeGeneres: Ryan Seacrest, the latest castoff from "So You Think You Can Dance"
That Morning Show: Josh Moore, Keke Palmer, Chef John Schenk
Bonnie Hunt: Fran Drescher, Paula Deen, Dashboard Confessional
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dailylatenight | |
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http://www.interbridge.com/lineupsdate.html#11/12/09 David Letterman: Kid Scientists, Amanda Peet, the Cribs with Johnny Marr
Jay Leno: Penelope Cruz, Dolly Parton, Luc Robitaille
Conan O'Brien: Al Gore, Jim Parsons, Jason Mraz
Jimmy Kimmel: Danny DeVito, Streeter Seidell & Amir Blumenfeld, Switchfoot
Craig Ferguson: Trace Adkins, Nick Griffin
Jimmy Fallon: Kate Walsh, Penn & Teller, Goodie Mob
Carson Daly: Danny Glover, Rob Machado, Lissy Trullie
Tavis Smiley: Bruce Feiler
Daily Show: Dr. Jane Goodall
Colbert Report: Woody Harrelson
Chelsea Lately: Katie Price, Guy Branum, Bill Santiago, Whitney Cummings
Lopez Tonight: Larry David, Lisa Lampanelli, Jay Sean & Birdman
The View: Rachael Ray, "Dancing with the Stars" castoff Aaron Carter
Regis and Kelly: Kate Walsh, Craig Horner
Ellen DeGeneres: Harry Connick Jr., Paula Patton
That Morning Show: Mark Duplass, the Almost
Bonnie Hunt: Dominic Monaghan, Morena Baccarin, Judge Joseph Wapner, Judge Marilyn Milian
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notes_of_chaos | |
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http://chaos.corrupt.net/2009/11/12/links-for-2009-11-11/
'Previous exploits like iKee just changed the lockscreen background but after injection, this new malware copies private data, such as contacts, e-mail, contacts, SMSs, calendars, photos, music files, videos, which it then sends back to the source machine.'
Just how insane is the Washington Times? "The Washington Times has to take responsibility for people going to hell in America."
'Your principal told me that you wrote “Pimple Daddy G” on your test…'
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dailylatenight | |
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http://www.interbridge.com/lineupsdate.html#11/11/09 David Letterman: Andre Agassi, Kate Walsh, Norah Jones
Jay Leno: Sandra Bullock
Conan O'Brien: Heather Locklear, Dr. Drew Pinsky, Rodman
Jimmy Kimmel: Dominic Monaghan, Holly Hibner & Mary Kelly, Los Lonely Boys
Craig Ferguson: Kenneth Branagh, the Swell Season
Jimmy Fallon: Jason Schwartzman, Joan Cusack, Carly Simon
Carson Daly: Jared Leto, Quinn Dahle
Tavis Smiley: Tony Shalhoub, Rep. Anh Cao
Daily Show: Clarence Clemons
Colbert Report: Christopher Caldwell
Chelsea Lately: Adam Carolla, Ross Mathews, Brad Wollack, Donnell Rawlings
Lopez Tonight: Queen Latifah performs with Michael Jackson's band, a special Michael Jackson tribute by "Lopez Tonight" and "This Is It" musical director Michael Bearden
The View: Woody Harrelson, the Broadway cast of "Finian's Rainbow"
Regis and Kelly: Martin Short, Andre Agassi
Ellen DeGeneres: John Travolta, Ella Bleu Travolta
That Morning Show: Elisabeth Rohm, Chuck Prophet
Bonnie Hunt: Chevy Chase, Jennifer Morrison
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dailylatenight | |
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http://www.interbridge.com/lineupsdate.html#11/10/09 David Letterman: Jack Hanna, Shakira
Jay Leno: Howie Mandel, the latest "Biggest Loser" castoff
Conan O'Brien: Jessica Biel, Super Dave Osborne, John Fogerty
Jimmy Kimmel: Chris O'Donnell, Bill Simmons, the latest "Dancing with the Stars" castoff, Amerie
Craig Ferguson: Adam Arkin, fashion director Nina Garcia
Jimmy Fallon: January Jones, Troy Polamalu, Wale
Carson Daly: Paul Scheer, Joey Logano, Grizzly Bear
Tavis Smiley: Max Cleland, Amerie
Daily Show: Serena Williams
Colbert Report: Maria Shriver
Chelsea Lately: Molly Sims, Chris Hardwick, Maz Jobrani, Loni Love
Lopez Tonight: Jamie Foxx, Marc Anthony
The View: Laurence Fishburne, Carrie Prejean, "Supermarket Guru" Phil Lempert
Regis and Kelly: John Cusack, Robin Roberts
Ellen DeGeneres: Jenny McCarthy, Shemar Moore
That Morning Show: Katerina Graham, Esmee Denters, Switchfoot
Bonnie Hunt: Dr. Wayne Dyer
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notes_of_chaos | |
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http://chaos.corrupt.net/2009/11/10/links-for-2009-11-09/
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'If you listen to Jordan Breen and I talk about what makes Fedor who he is (accolades, foibles and all) from MMA Nation this past Saturday, we discussed that one of the hallmarks of Fedor's remarkable career is his perseverance. It's not that Fedor has some otherworldly ability to never be hit, never be stumbled, never be challenged. In fact, it's quite the opposite. He is often challenged or hurt or put in very compromising positions. He can be cut, rocked, controlled, damaged, scored on. In a very real sense, Fedor is profoundly human and Brett Rogers is hardly the first opponent to discover this.
But that humanity is precisely what gives Fedor his utter remarkability. In a fragile human world and in a game as punishing and unforgiving as MMA, Fedor both succumbs to the frailties of his mortal flesh while always rising above them. Fedor is not perfect; he is just exceptional at never letting his imperfections get the best of him.'
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dailylatenight | |
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http://www.interbridge.com/lineupsdate.html#11/9/09 David Letterman: Bill Murray, Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe
Jay Leno: Dane Cook, Diablo Cody
Conan O'Brien: Kelsey Grammer, Major Brian Dennis and his Iraqi dog of war Nubs, David Gray
Jimmy Kimmel: Josh Jackson, Big Bird, Ghostface Killah featuring Raheem DeVaughn (R 11/4/09)
Craig Ferguson: Carla Gugino, Dennis Lehane
Jimmy Fallon: Laurence Fishburne, Elmo & Rosita
Carson Daly: Emmanuelle Chriqui, Yo La Tengo (R 10/2/09)
Tavis Smiley: Andrew Ross Sorkin, Lang Lang
Daily Show: Sen. Christopher Bond
Colbert Report: Thomas Campbell
Chelsea Lately: Jim Carrey, Josh Wolf, Greg Proops, Jen Kirkman
Lopez Tonight: Eva Longoria, Kobe Bryant, Ellen DeGeneres
The View: Emma Thompson, Teena Marie
Regis and Kelly: Meredith Vieira, Dana Delany
Ellen DeGeneres: George Lopez, Robin Wright Penn
That Morning Show: Creed Bratton, Jemaine Clement, Chalene Johnson
Bonnie Hunt: Valerie Bertinelli, Chris Colfer, Oscar the Grouch
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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) terrencechan | |
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Sigh. At least Day 4 was an interesting day. My chips were all over the place from the start. I had a bad start, having to fold preflop a couple times, and doubling up a short stack with KJ vs AJ. Then there was this hand, one of the largest pots I played in the tournament: With the board reading QdiamondJspadeTdiamond Terrence Chan checks in the big blind and Curt Kohlberg bets 30,000 from late position. Chan check raises to 80,000 total and Kohlberg calls.
The turn is the 4spade and Chan bets 150,000. Kohlberg deliberates then announces he is all-in.
"How much?," Chan asks with a sigh. They count Kohlberg's stack and he has 358,000 chips total. Chan reluctantly calls, showing Aspade5spade for the spade flush draw. Kohlberg shows KheartJclub for a pair of jacks with an open-ended straight draw.
The river 9diamond makes a straight for Kohlberg and he doubles up to more than 1 million chips.
Curt Kohlberg - 1,020,000
Terrence Chan - 375,000 I really mis-sized my flop raise here. I dunno why, I suck at math I guess. Credit to Curt to make a tough call/shove. About five hands later, this hand came up. I think this hand is an example of what you often miss from just reading tournament reports of non-final tables. After doubling up Curt, I played the next five hands. I wasn't on tilt or anything, I just happened to keep getting hands. On this hand, my opponent raised utg and I called pretty much immediately with TT.
With the board reading 9spade5spade2club Alexi Lammi checks in early position, Terrence Chan bets 30,000 and Lammi calls. Chan leads out for 150,000 after the Tclub comes on the turn and Lammi pauses for a minute before announcing he is all-in.
Chan quickly calls, tabling TheartTspade for top set. Lammi shows Aheart5heart for third pair and is drawing dead. The river is a meaningless 6club and Chan doubles up to 700,000.
Terrence Chan - 700,000
Alexi Lammi - 85,000
Obviously, there's no way Alexi would have made this play had I not played five pots in a row after doubling up an opponent in a huge pot. I imagine he must have been pretty unhappy with himself. He asked me on this break whether I would have called his jam if I had had tens instead of jacks. I told him no. I then doubled up Kenna James with a JJ vs. AQ clash that he won, then it was all over for me on this hand: Kenna James raises from the cutoff to 32,000, Terrence Chan moves all in from the button for 216,000, and Kenna calls with Aspade8club. Chan shows AheartQheart, and he's a favorite to double up here.
The board comes KspadeJclub4heart8heart7spade, and Kenna James pairs his eight on the turn to win the pot. Terrence Chan is eliminated in 18th place, earning $31,533.
Kenna James - 930,000
Terrence Chan - Out in 18th Place ($31,533) So, a disappointing finish, but obviously almost all of them are in tournament poker. It was a good run though and I didn't feel as bad as I often feel when I bust out late in a big tournament, despite the ugly beat on the end. While this result most definitely sucks, I suppose the tournament was for my confidence, being the chip leader for a huge chunk of Day 3 and peaking at 1.3M in chips (which would be 4th at the final table of six right now). I haven't even had a deep run with a bunch of chips in a live tournament for a long time, so that was nice. Tags: poker
Current Location: Boston, MA
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dailylatenight | |
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http://www.interbridge.com/lineupsdate.html#11/9/09 David Letterman: Bill Murray, Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe
Jay Leno: Dane Cook, Diablo Cody
Conan O'Brien: Kelsey Grammer, Major Brian Dennis and his Iraqi dog of war Nubs, David Gray
Jimmy Kimmel: Jamie Foxx, Toby Keith (R 10/14/09)
Craig Ferguson: Carla Gugino, Dennis Lehane
Jimmy Fallon: Laurence Fishburne, Elmo & Rosita
Carson Daly: Emmanuelle Chriqui, Yo La Tengo (R 10/2/09)
Tavis Smiley: Andrew Ross Sorkin, Lang Lang
Daily Show: Sen. Christopher Bond
Colbert Report: Thomas Campbell
Chelsea Lately: Jim Carrey, Josh Wolf, Greg Proops, Jen Kirkman
Lopez Tonight: Eva Longoria, Kobe Bryant, Ellen DeGeneres
The View: Emma Thompson, Teena Marie
Regis and Kelly: Meredith Vieira, Dana Delany
Ellen DeGeneres: George Lopez, Robin Wright Penn
That Morning Show: Creed Bratton, Jemaine Clement, Chalene Johnson
Bonnie Hunt: Valerie Bertinelli, Chris Colfer, Oscar the Grouch
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pissed off