[Paul Thomson]

Thanks to Loyd and the panel of judges.

Question: What do you think about blind stealing at this level? Would you do it and if so under what conditions?

Accumulating chips at all stages of the tournament is the key to winning, this obiviously includes the first level. I not only support blind stealing but also raising limpers and reraising raisers. In other words, Strassa should be looking to get involved in pots more than the average tight player. There are three main reasons for this:
1) The blinds in an internet tournament rise quickly. Therefore, it's imperative for all players to continuously accumulate chips. Unless the deck hits you, then you must get involved and out play your opponents or push marginal situations.
2) Strassa is a better player than the field, so he should be looking to get involved in pots where he can use his skill to his advantage. Now he should probably avoid other good tournament players (such as the expert panel for this hand), but he should pick out the weak player and look for getting involved with them. This will probably take the form of playing more flops.
3) Shania
Now these are all reasons to get involved early, not necessarily to steal the bilnd.

I would raise this hand everytime at this level if it was folded to me. Now my goal isn't to "steal the blinds". Increasing my stack by 1.5 BB is insignificant at this stage of the tournament with such deep stacks. Instead, my goal is to evaluate how the players behind me we'll behave in this situation in the future and/or to keep my opponents off balance and/or to win a big pot. Let's look at these three reasons separately:
1) I get to observe the dynamic between the CO-Button-SB-BB when I raise preflop. This is important because I want to see how my opponents react when I raise preflop from the CO. For exmaple, will the button try and reraise me off my hand assuming that I am stealing. We'll the SB & BB defend their blinds? How we'll they defend them? We'll they call or reraise? Do they then fold easily to a continuation bet on the flop? etc. This is important information to begin collecting at the beginning of the tournament.
2) I keep my opponents off balance by raising with marginal hands. Which we'll make it harder for my opponents to put me on a hand. It'll also help get me paid off on my bigger hands.
3) By raising with suited connectors and small pairs, I can play a bigger pot in position which I can get paid off with if the flop hits me hard.

However, the effectiveness of this strategy is in the details of its execution.
In early position: I'd either fold this hand 80% of the time and make a small raise of 2-2.5x the BB 20% of the time. I'd play all pairs and AK or AQs. The reason, I would play all pairs is that they're easy to play out of position, whereas drawing hands are a bitch. The raise is small because I want to play smaller pots out of position.

In mid position, I'd raise 3x the BB with this hand 50% of the time and call the other 50% of the time. If a weak player limped from early position, I'll usually raise to isolate them. If a weak player raised from early position, I would be inclined to call.

In late position, I'm raising 4x the BB when it's folded to me. I'm raising no matter how many limpers are in front of me. I don't mind playing speculative drawing hands if I'm in position. The stacks are deep and I want to play a big pot.

I wish I knew what the other stacks at the table were? And what the average stack in the tournament is? But I do know that the BB has a larger chip stack and I need to win a few big pots to take control of the table. This is as good as a spot to start as any.

If the Button or the binds repop it, I'll probably call 99% of the time. Maybe a little less likely with the button, since I'll be out ot position.

I'll include something Gigabet wrote in a post:
[ QUOTE ]
If I really want to make the hand worthwhile, I will have to induce flop action, and play the hand very deep and very aggressive, after which, one of two things will happen.....I will take down a decent sized pot, which will allow me to take advantage of the other stacks quite liberally, or I will not take the pot down, which will force me to wait for good situations to arise for me to get involved, ie., I cannot "make" anything happen, without risking my tournament life.

[/ QUOTE ] In, other words, accumulating chips inorder to control the action at the table is the key to winning.

Putting the opponent on a hand. Since we have no reads on our opponent, he could more or less have anything. But I am inclined to put him on medium pairs and a little less likely medium suited connectors.


Flop: No matter what came on the flop if the BB checked to me, then I would bet. In the future, I'd add some checking behind to change gears. But right now I want to find out how my opponent reacts to a continuation bet/value bet.

Now the size of my bet depends on the texture of the board and how it hit me and how I suspect it hit my opponent. Even though we have a good hand, it's steal very vulnerable on this board. I'd feel better on this board if we had top two pair.
1) If the flop comes King high rainbow with no draws, then I'd probably throw out a bet between 1/2 - 2/3 the size of the pot. This is the same size bet I'd make if I had trips on this board or missed completely.
2) On a courdinated board like this one, I'd bet something between 3/4 to full size bet. Since this board is highly coordinated (flush draw + straight draws), I'd lean toward a full size bet. The only hesitation is that I suspect it probably hit my opponent as well. I put him on a medium pair or medium suited connector which means he could easily have a hand such as a pair with a good draw (7[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 98, 76, T:hear:J[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], etc) or I could be beat by a set or a made straight. So I actually want to keep the pot small until I see if a good turn card comes off. Because he might bet a scare card. The vast majority of draws give him 8-9 outs, so I don't want him to get odds of 3-1 or better. I'd bet 100 ~ 120.

My Line:
Scenario 1) If he check-raise...This is what I would do if I were him with a flush draw or straight draw or pair with a gut draw. The reason is that as the opponent you have us covered and chips. And if a scare card comes on the turn then I want to be able to make a big enough bet that will scare my opponent into folding even if it doesn't make my hand. So if I were him, I'd probably raise 4-4.5x the size of our bet depending on the size of our bet. If I were him, I'd want us to fear that we're going to have to be ready to go broke.

I'd call.
Turn: If a horrible scare card comes on the turn that completes both the a straight draw and a flushdraw or maybe even a 9.

Action to me: Opponent checks.
Action: I chech behind. And I'll call practically any river bet that isn't an all-in or larger than a pot size bet.

Action to me: Opponent bets half the pot into me.
Action: This is a tough situation. One that separates the champions from the great players...and the fact of the matter is that I'm not really either. In a live game, I'd probably start looking for tells. Online it's a tough call. I'd probably make that bet if I had made my hand or had a set. All of which I can't beat. Although I have some outs to a flush or straight draw. I don't think I'm really getting the odds to call and get paid off. And I also could be drawing dead. To make matters worst, if I call here i'm more or less committing myself to making a small call on the river.

Now even though I said that accumulating chips is the key to winning. A negative situation with this hand has arisen. To quote gigabet again, "Another problem with playing aggressively in this situation, is that with every chip that I lose, I may actually be losing two chips. With all the stacks at my table being essentially even, it is very important to try and stay "even" with them, if you get into a situation that will double you, every chip that you had lost before almost doubles in value, because they are not there to "double" through. "

Action: I would fold. And then wait for a good hand to double up with.

Scenario2: Any card that completes a single draw or a blank.

Action to me: opponent checks.
Action: I bet half the pot.
If opponent calls. And then checks to me on the river, I'll bet even if a scare card comes. If opponent calls the turn, and then bets into me on the river when a scare card comes...I reevaluate, but probably call if the bet is small enough.

Turn: Any card that completes a single draw or a blank.
Action to me: opponent bets half the pot.
Action: I call. And I plan on calling another bet on the river. I think this line induces a bet from your opponent on the river. Whereas, he'd simply fold a worst hand to a raise on the turn.

That's about it. I'm looking forward to see how things turn out. Thanks agin to Loyd and the panel of judges.