[Mclane665]

I was frustrated with Harrington in the orange/yellow zones as he didnt really cover much of it in the hand examples. If you like reading books like I do try SS and making the final table by Erick Lindgren. It drilled into me that mid tourney play is about confidence and controlled aggression.

Dont play rubbish like A6 until late position and really you just want the blinds. Try and see a few flops with K10 suited type hands lower pairs and suited connectors. If you hit a flush/straight draw bet it strong even all in. It gives you 2 ways of winning a sizeable pot. Either they fold or they call and you hit. I like suited connectors for this very reason as they open up alot more hand you can get aggressive with after the flop.

If you raise with A6 what are you hoping for? an A leaves you playing scared and defensive because your kicker is weak and the 6 will not be a pair you want to get aggressive with either. Start keeping a track of bet sizes and put opponents to a decision for all their chips but do this when you have a good hand or a good draw to a monster. If Im open ended or have a flush draw and someone bets into me an all in is always on my mind. Look for fold equity and weak feeler bets to attack. You really need to get a big stack if possible in the middle tournament to get pressure on. I always hated going out of a tournament on a draw but now I see how much easier poker is with a big stack late on I am willing to take certain risks earlier on to get more chips in my pile.

Poker really is about playing to win. I played live on saturday and for the first time I was aggressive throughout. I had to fight every urge to grind it out and wait for big cards. After 2 hours the best hand I had seen was 99 and AJs but I had trebbled up by getting creative and aggressive with draws. Then at the semi final table I waited for a couple of short stacks to either bust out or double up (giving them something to loose again) and then I went on the attack. There was a weak/tight player three to my left who was thinking of one thing only, The fnal table. This was my guy I kept attacking him and attacking him and taking blind after blind.

The reason I am telling you this example is simple. It was the first time I played after reading Erick's book and the first time I truly enjoyed playing poker Live. No nerves no waiting for great cards just playing good observant poker and cleaning up. I got to the final table just a little short of the chip leader rather than all my previous final tables where I have been short stack or their abouts.

I then went on to 2nd place because I kept up the aggression when most other were nursing there short stacks waiting for the money.

I hope this helps in some way.

Greg