By Tony Guerrera

When asked about the philosophy I take to the tables, I recently put forth the following two aphorisms: 1.) Embrace the process, and have no attachment to outcomes 2.) In general, don’t generalize

I didn’t put focus and discipline on this list because they didn’t even cross my mind. I’ve always assumed that focus and discipline are part of who I am. But after a recent edition of Killer Poker Analysis (in which Todd Brunson emphasized the importance of focus and discipline) and a careful look at my own game, I realize that focus and discipline can never be taken for granted.

Since landing my deal for Killer Poker By The Numbers back in the fall of 2005, I’ve been a writing machine. Add coaching and some random consulting here and there, and well, 2006 and 2007 weren’t exactly spent playing a lot of poker. Now we’re in 2008. I’m still writing, coaching, and consulting, but I’m also putting in some serious online playing time.

My old stomping ground, Party Poker, is no longer a possibility for me. After some serious scouting, I decided to adopt Cake Poker as my new home. Their rakeback deal is excellent, and the competition on Cake is easier than average. I don’t know exactly why it’s easier, but one hunch of mine is that it’s because they don’t allow the use of player tracking software and heads-up displays (HUDs); the hoards of HUD-using multitablers on Poker Stars and Full Tilt aren’t at Cake.

Of course, this means that I myself can no longer be a HUD-using multitabler. Luckily for me, I was multitabling before HUDs. But in those days, I was playing 4 tables at most. The beginning of 2008 has been all about honing my 6-max no-limit hold’em multitabling chops to where I can play 8-10 tables without a HUD. 6-tabling seems quite comfortable. 8- and 10-tabling territory has been tough. Observing opponents when not involved in a hand is difficult, as is typing player notes (I’m currently working on a system of note-taking acronyms to help in this department). Fatigue is also a factor (both mentally and physically). And leaving tough games can be a hassle especially when it comes to navigating through the lobby to find a new game to sit in.

Unfortunately, the difference between success and disaster is slight. If you have KK preflop, and you’re facing a preflop reraise from a very tight reraiser, is he on {AA, KK, AK} or {AA,KK}? Is a suspicious looking bet on the river coming from a known floater or a straightforward, hit-to-win player? The difference between my big wins and my big losses at Cake (well, big in terms of big blinds anyway) has been subtle, almost undetectable shifts in judgment. Focus and discipline are the keys to reigning in these shifts.

Tony Guerrera is the author of Killer Poker By The Numbers and coauthor of Killer Poker Shorthanded (with John Vorhaus). Visit him at Killer Poker by the Numbers: Poker Math, Strategy, Coaching, News, Online Deposit Bonuses and More, by Tony Guerrera | Home.

By By Tony Guerrera

Boost Your Single Table Tournament Results

Online poker has popularized the single table tournament (STT). STT’s are a very unique form of poker. If you’re using multitable tournament strategies to navigate through STTs, you’re costing yourself some serious money. This article talks about handling 9-10 player STTs where 1st pays 50 per cent, 2nd pays 30 per cent, and 3rd pays 20 per cent.

I write a bit about being capable of breaking away from straightforward tight-aggressive play. But when it comes to the early stages of single table tournaments, tight is right. In early position, you should play pretty much nothing. AA-KK and AK is about on target. If your table is really loose passive, you can limp with any pocket pair. And if your postflop play is superb, you can toss AQ into the early position mix.

In late position, you can come in with a slightly wider mix in unraised pots (hands like AJ, KQ and KJ). But in raised pots, keep it simple and stay really tight. When you do enter a pot with an unpaired hand like AK, either limp or raise small for value. If you raise preflop and get only one opponent, continuation betting is a play you shouldn’t be excited about.

Play hands that play themselves post-flop, you want to be able to play confidently for stacks if you hit postflop because the starting stacks in STTs don’t give you much room for probe bets.

Once the blinds have increased, it’s jam or fold time. And now, tight is far from right. especially when it comes to aggressing on the bubble. When you have 4-8 big blinds, you have opponents who’ll only call you with something like AA-55, AK-A9, and you’re in the cutoff or later, push all-in no matter what two cards you have when you’re first to enter the pot. Your opponents will fold a huge percentage of the time, and you’ll never be a prohibitive underdog the times that you’re called (32o wins 24% of the time against AA-55, AK-A9). When the bubble has burst, and opponents widen their calling distributions, you’ll need to tighten up a tad, but hyper-aggressive shoving will still be par for the course when you have 4-8 big blinds.

When it comes to calling all-ins, you should typically be somewhat tight because you can always fall back on your jamming edge. And with the 50/30/20 payout, survival and just getting in the money is important. But you shouldn’t take it to the extreme where you’re only calling all-ins with super-premium hands. With the size of the blinds, you should be willing to get your chips in whenever your hand is a little bit better than 50% against a jammer’s distribution.

Times may exist where you can profitably stray from the generic battle plan outlined here. But generally, “Tight and snug early; loose-aggressive late” is the successful STTer’s creed.

Tony Guerrera is the author of Killer Poker By The Numbers and coauthor of Killer Poker Shorthanded (with John Vorhaus). Visit him at www.killerev.com.

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