Curtis Mayfield III's Poker Blog

Playing Middle Pairs

How do you play middle pairs? Everyone seems to be in the same predicament time after time. It could be early or late position with a big stack or a short one but we all have to make decisions on how to play middle pairs.

I kind of have a rule of thumb about playing poker tournaments or cash games before I begin to play my hands. Here are a few questions I like to ask myself before getting involved in a hand with middle pairs pre-flop:

1. What kind of image am I portraying to my opponents?
2. How many chips do my opponents have?
3. How many chips do I have?
4. What position am I going to be playing my hand from?
5. What was the last hand I showed down?

These questions are not just questions you should ask yourself before betting involved with middle pairs but with almost any hand. These kinds of questions help you put together your own story before getting involved in the pot. You need to understand the larger picture of what it taking place in order to effectively take advantage of the circumstances.

Heads Up Poker Strategy

Heads up poker strategy can be the most challenging of all poker scenarios. You are exactly where you want to be and one person stands between you and the big money. Here are a few things that can help you succeed when playing heads up against your opponent.

1. Do not go in with a preset strategy. Keep your options open.

2008 WSOP Final Table

What would you do with your spare time? Now that the 2008 WSOP Final Table has been set the players have nothing but time on their hands. Some will use it wisely while others will get caught up in the media hype and the fact that they already have $900,000 in their pockets. To most of these players that kind of money is more than a big pay day. It’s life changing to just about everyone that will be watching and playing in this event.

If I were in their positions I would have a few things on my to do list. Here is how I would approach the biggest Final Table of my life:

2008 WSOP Championship No Limit Event

I wish I could tell you I was thrilled about the main event this year but honestly I am luke warm about it. I am still not happy about how Harrah’s has handled the WSOP since taking it over a couple of years ago. Yes, they assembled the Players Advisory Committee with several notable players including Doyle Brunson, Dan Negreanu, Howard Lederer and the like but I still somehow don’t buy it.

I know change in all things is inevitable and in most cases is a good thing but moving the championship event out of Binions and all of the additional bracelet events just takes some of the shine off of the product to me. Walking through Binions casino is like walking through a museum. You can still feel the ghosts of Chip Reese, Stu Ungar, and all of the other old school players that brought the game of no limit holdem to the masses.

Concealing or Revealing?

Poker tells are something we are all looking for at the table. I doesn’t matter if it’s the obvious twitch or an inflection in someone’s voice. If you are not looking for a tell on your opponent then you are not doing your job. You don’t have to be involved in the hand necessarily but you do need to be involved in the game.

When I play live I see many player that are simply taking it all in “looking out the window” instead of paying attention to the play at the table. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they are bad players but it does mean that they are potentially missing out on valuable information at the table on their opponents. I tend to be a very focused person by nature. I don’t do a whole lot of talking or joking around when I play poker. As a result my image, along with my demeanor,allows me to be taken a bit more seriously when I am involved in hands and my opponents tend to respect my raises just a little more than some of the other players.

Building Your Bankroll

I get asked about bankrolls all of the time. “How do you build a bankroll?” The answer to that question varies from player to player. It all depends on your personal preferences and what game(s) you excel at. You also need to take into consideration that some players tend to be specialists. By this I mean that they prefer to play cash games instead of tournaments or vice versa.

Me? I prefer playing No Limit deep stacks long structured poker tournaments as it gives me a considerable advantage over most of my opponents. I tend to be a very patient person by nature and rarely do I get riled up over much of anything. Therefore tournaments that lend themselves to long structures suit me perfectly. This allows me to maximize and leverage poker strategy and the impatience of most of my opponents that just can’t stand not being in action for long.

Bad Beats are a Badge of Honor

We have all had our chips in the middle over the course of our cash game or poker tournaments when we are the heavy favorite and still lost the hand. That’s exactly where you want to be. Sometimes we get sucked out on when our opponent hits the proverbial one outer to take down a huge pot and eliminate us from the tournament.

It happens to the best of us. No matter how skilled a poker player you are we are all subject to bad beats. The thing about bad beats is that they do not happen to bad players. Bad poker players do not get their chips in the middle with the best hand. On the other hand, good players consistently get their chips in the middle with the best hand and therefore are subject to bad beats.

5 ways to Improve your Tournament Game

Here are a few ways you can improve your tournament game immediately:

 

1. Be patient and allow the game to come to you. You do not need to force the action especially in online tournaments
2. Play aggressive poker and protect your hands when you have the best of it
3. Watch players who’s game you respect when they are playing live or in the casino
4. Read as much about the game as possible
5. Do not over play Ace King

Although it may not seem all that mystifying at it’s surface you still need a great deal of knowledge to play and win a poker tournament along with a bit of luck. Online tournaments, as has been discussed before, are notorious for fast play and therefore you should throttle down your aggressiveness early. Save your aggressive plays for protecting hands or later in the tournament.  I have found this to be extremely helpful in allowing me to build my stack early on. Believe me you will have no trouble finding action on your big hands in fast tournaments.

 

When to Race or take the Coin Flip

Sooner or later you have got to make that big decision. You have AK and you know your opponent has a pair of Queens or less. What do I do now? Well, it all depends on where you are in the poker tournament. Most times with a hand like AK you are going to raise and see a flop. However, if you are midway or further through the tournament you may decide to push all of your chips in the middle and race.

That would not be a bad play as it would put your opponent to a major decision for all of his chips. Obviously if you are short stacked you really have no choice in the matter. However, in fast structure tournaments I have noticed that many online players are more than happy to race with any small pair hoping their opponent is holding Ace King early in the poker tournament before the first break. I think this is a horrible play for a few reasons.

Don't be afraid to Take a Stand

We have all been there. You are midway through the tournament and you are not short stacked but you are not an average stack either. Usually you have around 50 – 75% of the average chip stack.

If you’re chip count is not quite average and still short either by the first break of the poker tournament then you likely have plenty of time to continue building your stack while the blinds are low. However, if you have are in no man’s land just a little short of the tournament average or less then you need to make a decision. Usually that decision will determine your tournament life.