 |  |  |  |  |
| Daniel Negreau's Poker Blog Day 2 Playing It By the Book Negreanu blogs about the 2008 Legends of Poker Tournament Day 2 |
| Daniel Negreanu's Poker Blog |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| Day 2 Playing It By the Book |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
August 26, 2008
My focus during the tournament, as I mentioned in my last blog hasn't
been all there and I don't feel like I'm "in the zone" exactly. So, when that
happens, and I'm unable to pay as much attention as I feel like I should, I
go on auto pilot, essentially playing the exact strategy that I outline in my
book Power Hold'em.
It's a great strategy especially in slow structured deep stack events. I can
wait, and wait, and wait, until someone blows up and just stay afloat until
that happens. It's actually really easy.
Today I floated around the 50k mark for most of the day and was never
worried about going broke at all. Later in the evening, during the last level
I scratched my way up to 120k. Then with about 15 minutes left to go in
the night:
Guy raises to 6000, Kelly Kim calls, button calls, I call from the big blind with
6d 8d. The flop comes 6h Jd 4d and I checked. The raiser bet 12,000 and it
came back to me. I loved the flop and didn't care too much as to what he
had, and raised it 30,000 more. He thought for a bit and went all in, of
course I called. He had AJ... I missed, and that had me down to 30k.
Those are the kind of coin flips in a tournament I'm willing to risk my chips
on for three key reasons:
1) It didn't bust me.
2) I can't be a big dog against any hand. Coin flips pre-flop, that's not the
case. You could have AK and "think" it's a coin flip, when in fact your
opponent has AA or KK. That's never true when you play big draws in big
pots after the flop.
3) It's a great way to semi-bluff. Think about it- this guy can't really beat
squat when I make that play. He has to "hope" he is racing against a
draw, because otherwise, I'll have AJ crushed there every time.
Oh well, if I win that pot I'm looking like a player, with about 230,000.
Instead, I'm on the grind with 28,400 but the blinds are only 1200-2400
with a 300 ante. That doesn't scare me at all.
The important point of all of this, I guess, is that I haven't done anything
"special" exactly, but the small ball strategy that I employ is so effective
that anyone who uses it can succeed in deep stacked tournaments. By not
understanding the effectiveness of this approach you can never become a
great live tournament player. It is completely impossible.
I need to be a bit lucky tomorrow, but I'm just not all that worried really,
despite having slightly less than 12 big blinds left. I won't panic at all, and
when I get my chips in I should have a decent chance to either chip up
slowly, or double up. This game is so easy :-)
Read More Entries from Daniel Negreanu's Poker Blog
My focus during the tournament, as I mentioned in my last blog hasn't
been all there and I don't feel like I'm "in the zone" exactly. So, when that
happens, and I'm unable to pay as much attention as I feel like I should, I
go on auto pilot, essentially playing the exact strategy that I outline in my
book Power Hold'em.
It's a great strategy especially in slow structured deep stack events. I can
wait, and wait, and wait, until someone blows up and just stay afloat until
that happens. It's actually really easy.
Today I floated around the 50k mark for most of the day and was never
worried about going broke at all. Later in the evening, during the last level
I scratched my way up to 120k. Then with about 15 minutes left to go in
the night:
Guy raises to 6000, Kelly Kim calls, button calls, I call from the big blind with
6d 8d. The flop comes 6h Jd 4d and I checked. The raiser bet 12,000 and it
came back to me. I loved the flop and didn't care too much as to what he
had, and raised it 30,000 more. He thought for a bit and went all in, of
course I called. He had AJ... I missed, and that had me down to 30k.
Those are the kind of coin flips in a tournament I'm willing to risk my chips
on for three key reasons:
1) It didn't bust me.
2) I can't be a big dog against any hand. Coin flips pre-flop, that's not the
case. You could have AK and "think" it's a coin flip, when in fact your
opponent has AA or KK. That's never true when you play big draws in big
pots after the flop.
3) It's a great way to semi-bluff. Think about it- this guy can't really beat
squat when I make that play. He has to "hope" he is racing against a
draw, because otherwise, I'll have AJ crushed there every time.
Oh well, if I win that pot I'm looking like a player, with about 230,000.
Instead, I'm on the grind with 28,400 but the blinds are only 1200-2400
with a 300 ante. That doesn't scare me at all.
The important point of all of this, I guess, is that I haven't done anything
"special" exactly, but the small ball strategy that I employ is so effective
that anyone who uses it can succeed in deep stacked tournaments. By not
understanding the effectiveness of this approach you can never become a
great live tournament player. It is completely impossible.
I need to be a bit lucky tomorrow, but I'm just not all that worried really,
despite having slightly less than 12 big blinds left. I won't panic at all, and
when I get my chips in I should have a decent chance to either chip up
slowly, or double up. This game is so easy :-)
Read More Entries from Daniel Negreanu's Poker Blog
 |
| |
|
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| UltimatePokerForum.com The Ultimate Poker Site |
