Leaving the tight side of the force

[greenstack]

I played my very first hand of poker one year ago... I was insta-hooked. When I tried NLHE MTT's I decided I wanted to become a really good tournament player, nothing new I'm sure.

I read the HoH's, ToP and Phil Gordon books plus several articles as I sailed from zero experience and $50 on Stars.

After 6 months of hard work and +200 donkaments, things gradually improved but I never got outstanding results.

I know... I'm in the micro range (I guess things change drastically with higher buy-ins) and my sample is too small but I was managing to keep me ITM 30%-35% on massive fields with ups and downs on my BR but still no need to reload.

The problem was that I never got deep with good stack, most of the time I was just struggling to survive, forget about FT...

After regularly reading 2+2 posts I came to the conclusion that I was playing too tight. Maybe I was too much influenced by HoH or I wasn't fully understanding the concepts of aggressive play.

I think 2+2'ers message is clear, if I want to get to the FT's I have to loosen and take chances.

So I started to loosen... and things improved, my ITM % shrinked but now, sometimes, I go deep with good ammo.

However, it's not easy to change gears and I'm faced with tough decisions all the time, when to take chances ??? it's too early/too late ? on the bubble ? is this really +EV ?

Any help on that matter for loosening a very tight player will be appreciated.

As an example, this is a hand I would have played totally different before... and I'm still not sure if it was a good move.

Stars 45 players MTT, 12 remain/7 paid. Villain shoved twice, with AKs and AQo and has been pushing the table. I'm stealing blinds and winning some pots shoving post-flop when I think there's weakness.

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t100/t200
(Ante: t25)
5 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: t10731
CO: t6338
Button: t2500
SB: t6599
Hero: t4590

Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is BB with 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 9[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]
UTG folds, <font color="#cc0000">CO raises to t400</font>, 2 folds, <font color="#cc0000">Hero raises all-in t4565</font>, CO calls t4165 <font color="aaaaaa">(pot was t5190)</font>.

Thank you.

[Jernej Zorec]

i prefer to just call in this spot with your stack and play after flop

[Nairb]

[ QUOTE ]
i prefer to just call in this spot with your stack and play after flop

[/ QUOTE ]

Calling is a good line here. Or you could raise it to 1200-1500 and see if he really has a hand he wants to play. I hate min raisers so a raise would def be the line I would take. If villian pushes over the top I would probably fold the 9's but I think villian folds here enough that it is a +ev move. I probably would not push here because if he raised with nothing or even a marginal hand he will fold 90% to a 1200-1500 raise as quick as he will to a push.

[pariah8]

[ QUOTE ]
i prefer to just call in this spot with your stack and play after flop

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree I'm never a big fan of just flat calling with middle pocket pair out of position, but it isn't a terrible line here. You have enough of a stack where you can play some poker post flop, plus you also do not want to get into a coinflip situation preflop.

If you want to leave the tight side of the force just mix it up steal a little bit more, and understand that the deeper you go in the tournament there are some people who are just glad to be there and are holding out for a little extra money. Pick on these people and raise there blinds. At points you will have to win coinflips to get the stack you need, so don't be afraid to gamble in that sense.

[BlueEcho]

To OP,

Figure out a range of hands you think villian has here. Use pokerstove to help decide if your 9's are good against that range. Calculate your expected value using these figures. If the ev is + then your push is good, if - then your push isn't good. It's that easy.

Oh yeah and here just in case.

http://pokerstove.com/

[mayesie]

Seems fine, given the size of your stack. By taking it now, you're increasing the size of your stack by ~20%.

[JARID]

[ QUOTE ]
12 remain/7 paid. Villain shoved twice, with AKs and AQo and has been pushing the table.

[/ QUOTE ]

I assume AK and AQ arent the only hands he has pushed the table with?
You're on the bubble, villian has been active and is opening from the CO. Unless you're positive min raise = big hand, this is standard shove IMO.

[JARID]

[ QUOTE ]
plus you also do not want to get into a coinflip situation preflop.


[/ QUOTE ]

This assumes hero has to get into a flip. Just calling here is kinda weak. It allows all of the AT-AJ and broadway hands type hands to catch/out play us post flop.

Unless we can put villians range squarely on AQ-AK TT-AA we should be playing back. If villian was UTG that would be a different story, but he is in the CO and it is the bubble. So in addition to having a probable wider opening range, he is also more likely to make tighter laydowns if he a) is concerned with cashing or b) thinks that he can "pick a better spot".