Limit Post

Been playing a lot of limit short handed cash games lately, and done pretty well, so might as well share what I've improved in my game.

Most important rule: Preflop = Raise or Fold
Pretty much always either raise or fold preflop. If you are the blinds it is ok to call, and sometimes in a 3bet pot, but the main idea is that if your hand is not good enough to raise then its probably better off left unplayed.

Building pots
If you have a good draw, always build the pot. Don't take free cards, take them if you have a crappy draw.

Don't get sucked in
If your pretty sure your beat after the turn comes out, just give up on the hand. The 4th/5th street hands are expensive, and trying to beat bluffs all the time is -EV. I'm not saying to lay down all the time, just don't think A high or mid pair is always good.

Checking rivers to induce bets
If oop and you figure our oponent has air, check to induce the bluff, they will bet 95% of the time.

Thats all I can think of for now.

So you want to win a satellite ...

Last night I played 2 more satellites and won them both, so I figured I'd just make a strategy post about it in case some of you are wondering how I keep winning sats. I think theres 3 stages in a multitable satellite tourney with multiple seat giveaways. For a one seat sat, just play it like you should in a winner take all tourney. Lets call it the beggining, the middle, and the end. A typical satellite should average around 2hrs. Anything more than 3 is just too long, and probably not worth it.

The Beginning - 1st 1/2hr - 45min
Remember how you were taught never to underestimate your opponent. Well throw that away in this case, satellite players are typically baaad. Theres a good chance that you are the best player at that table, so take advantage of it. See a lot of flops, play it hard when you have it, fold if you don't. No tricky plays, no real bluffs, just build your stack as much you can, you'll need it.

The Middle
I don't know what to really say about this section. I think playing tight aggressive is the way to go here. A lot of players still take a lot of chances here, so there will probably be a few suckouts. Thus the need to build a nice stack from the 1st stage. Stay away from the monster stacks unless you have a real hand. Its easy to take $ from them if you do, but if you don't no reason to try. Same thing with the smaller stacks. Unless you are a monster stack, no reason to eliminate the smaller stacks, let the big guys do the work for you. Just play smart poker here, and prepare for the finale.

The End - Final Table
Usually the final table, or the bubble area. Play this like you would in a bubble stage in a normal mtt. Not the pansy way of just trying to make the $, but the play to win way (except not that aggressive). Once again stay away from bigger stacks, if you don't need to pass them in position, don't battle with them. The player(s) to target are the ones sitting on the last few positions for seats. ie) If 4 seats are given, target the guys in 3rd or 4th. Don't play too many hands though, let others make the mistakes, let others be the hero. There are sometimes when I feel invicible, but end up losing valuable chips when I find out I'm not. If you are one of the short stacks, then just go ahead and target anybody with allin moves with decent holdings. Big stacks will be willing to call you with average holdings so it can be a easy double up. The most important thing in satellites is to know how many seats are awarded, and make sure you play for those seats. You don't need to play for 1st, remember that!

I'm not too good with strategy posts, pretty much just rambling off the top of my head. Good luck though, and hopefully you'll be playing on Sunday!

Right now my weekend tourney schedule looks like this:

Friday
UB Online Championships Event #1

Saturday
Poker.com BPT event (Probably won't end up playing again, saturday is my day away from poker)

Sunday
Sun Poker $50k added
Mansion Poker Dome
Booya Poker CPT Satellite ($1 + WSOP added sats)
UB Online Championships Event #3

Showing your hand, sometimes it works!

Last night in the FullTilt $10k, which ended up being almost $20k, I got my ass worked, big time. Nice stack, 2nd highest on the table, about 30/200 at this point, I decide to tango with the table chip leader, Canadian poker pro Lynette Chan.

Blinds 200/400
Lynette raises to $1k in MP.
Me in SB with KQs reraises to 2500.
BB Folds.
She Calles.

Flop: Axx

CB of 2500, she calls.

Turn: Q

I play like whats in between her legs and give up on the hand and check the turn, even though it improves my hand. She bets out, I fold. She shows T9.

That puts me in a sour mood, and I lose my aggressiveness which got me all those chips. Had to settle for bottom level money. Screwed up my Stars 180 games as well which I felt I could have one, settled for 4th. Not very Booya!

Be a Chameleon! SnG: 6max vs Full

I've concluded that I need to do a better job at adapting.

Current Strengths:
Ring games (short handed, NL & FL)
SnG (SH)
MTT

Current Weakness
Ring games (Full table limit and nl)
SnG (Full table, 1 or 2 tables)

Ring games:
Been playing on Poker Share and Poker Stars. Doing well on the 6 max tables at both 3/6 limit and $100nl. Haven't played a full table in a long time, but just listed it there from my poker rewards April play. Was probably playing too many hands there, and bluffing more than I should have. I prefer the more aggressive short handed play where I can take advantage of the tighty whities and catch the maniacs off guard.

Sit n Gos:
This is my biggest discrepency. On Titan 6max sngs, my last 20 I have won 12. Not money, but won at a 60% rate. Additionally I have monied (top 3) in another 2. I guess I don't lose when I'm final 3. 4 of those no placings was when I was on tilt after my failed jackpot win. Now on other sites (qualifiers - full table), Poker Share, Full Contact, Poker Stars, I haven't won anything in a while. Once again I think I'm playing too many hands on the full tables, will have to cut back and see what happens.

Multi Table Tournaments
I think my MTT game is back at a higher level. No first place winnings but have had good placings in May. Last night finished 11th ($210) in the PSO Poker Rewards freeroll, just bubbling out of the final table. Tried a blind steal with A3s as the 2nd shortest stack, but got caught by QQ. Oh well, sometimes you get caught. Blind stealing got me going the whole tourney. Figured out the tities and played against them aggressively. Needed it as I couldn't win races all night. Lost a lot of $ with AK as well. Wanted to reread my Harrington books during my vacation but didn't get a chance to. Ended up reading Book of Bluffs by Matt Lesinger and Kill Phil by Blair Rodman and Lee Nelson. Book of Bluffs is recomended, nice read. Kill Phil wasn't really. Pretty much a book telling you to go allin on most hands. Some sections and points were good, but the rest is just mumbo jumbo IMO.