Tournament Strategy Questions For Me

[Xhad]

Assuming a winning player ("winning" meaning his tournament EV is at least 2x the buyin) could enter more than one account in a tournament, and assuming no collusion between the accounts, what is the EV gain from this practice?

[aejones]

David, in tournaments, why is the optimal play often different from the play that fits in best with shania? Since you clearly are a math guy and often pick the optimal play, how does this effect your opponents read of you at the table? Do you feel you are easily read?

Does it bother you that Prahlad called it "boring ABC Sklansky poker?"

[curious123]

Two words ae: algorithmic trickiness.

[beenben]

pokerstars $10 rebuy; in the BB, SB is a very large stack, in the top 30 with 65k; blinds are 300/600 50 ante and you've got 14k; avg is about 25k. folded to SB who calls. You have A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]2 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. Push or check?

[jmill2511]

10BB/M6.7 with 22- we know we can jam HU, and also from the button- how far off the button can we jam?

Same depth, UTG at a 9-handed table- what's the min PP we can jam?

[soon2bepro]

This is an X-post ( Is Dan Harrington sane? ), but I wanted to get your opinion, David. It's a hand from Harrington on poker vol.2

---
Hand is 10-2, page 242. I post this because I think Harrington is very wrong in what he says.

Situation: Toward the end of a one-table satellite. Players B and E are aggressive. Player C is super-aggressive.

Your hand: A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

Stacks are:
A: $610
B: $610
C: $2840
D: $1480
E: $1700
SB (HERO): $1330
BB: $1430

Blinds: $30/$60, no antes.

A folds, B minraises to $120. C, D, E all fold to you. Hero calls. BB folds. The pot is now $300.

Flop:
J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 6[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 5[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]


Now, Harrington says you should lead with a "probe" (if it can be called such) bet of about half the pot, but the Hero decides to check. Harrington says:

"He's an aggressive player, he's down to his last $490, and by checking you almost forced him to bluff. So you should call."

(continues)
"If you had led off with a bet of, say, $150, he might just have folded. But if he then came back over the top with an all-in bet, notice how easy your decision-making gets."

And here you say to yourselves, of course, he thinks the play here is to lead/fold. But no. I continue to quote him:

"Now the pot is $940 and it costs you $340 to call, those are 2.7-to-1 odds, and you have to call, unless you're sure he's playing with a high pair (and you never are). Train yourself to look for the plays that make future decisions easy"


Now, explain just how is a bet/call play better than check/calling his all-in? With the bet you're making him fold a larger percentage of his weak hands than he would've bet had you checked, and when he goes all-in after you bet, you're still going to call!

Sklansky would say, stop a bluff, then FOLD. Otherwise don't try to stop it!

Even pushing pre-flop would be better than bet/calling this horrible flop.

Im not saying check/calling all-in is the best course of action, but it seems certainly better than the one Harrington proposes.
----

What do you think, David?

[leaponthis]

Results. This may appear at first to be a results oriented question but it might not be.

Why do your tournament results not compare favorably with Daniel Negreanu's? Dan Harrington? Joe Hachem? Fossilman? Or do they? If not then what is your reason for this?

leaponthis

[Jeff76]

Early in a tournament with longer blind levels and 100BB effective stacks. You are on the button with TT and it is folded to the CO who limps. Is a raise mandetory here?

[DTrain]

Large live tournament, final 3 players. What to do with medium hand in BB when SB is short stacked...

Blinds 20K and 40K, ante 4K, 25 minutes left at current level. Avg stack is only about 11bb. Prize money is as follows:
1st: $149K
2nd: $78K
3rd: $39K

Before blinds and antes posted, stack sizes are as follows:
Me SB ~670K chips
Player2 BB ~200K chips
Player3 Btn ~480K chips

Button folds, I look down at Q8os. BB has been doing a good job being tough postflop when he needs in order to survive. I think he would call an all or push all in with any pair, any Ace, JT+, and possibly any K, but maybe only about K6+. I know he won't be pushing me all in with a weaker hand just because I limp, so a flat call is an option. He's careful about me postflop and isn't likely to bluff if I check into him.

Player 3 has been very aggressive aginst this guy. They aren't clashing every time, but it does seem likely Player 3 might either double the Mr BB in another hand or knock him out. If this were to happen, I'd prefer the scenario where Mr BB doubled through Player 3.

So basically, if I push him all in he calls with nearly 20% of starting hands and I'm an underdog. He lays down about 80% and I make the blinds and antes. If I limp and we see a flop, I'm favored on most hands and decision-making is fairly straighforward but I give him a chance to hit with a weaker hand. If I fold, I stay out of trouble and hope for a better hand knowing the other two might clash.

Call, raise, or fold? I'm eager to hear everyone's take on this.

[Dot_the_Bot]

I didn't see it asked yet-

What do you think of Gigabet's theories on maniulating stack size arrangement in late tournaments play?

and because it has alot more wide spread interest: what are your thoughts/concepts re: taking -ev propositions to increase tournament utility (namely 'gigabet's dilemma')?

kthx-- dotz