Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker, Volume 1

First published in 2011 by D & B Publishing

Copyright © 2011 Jonathan Little

The right of Jonathan Little to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978 1 904468 76 9

All sales enquiries should be directed to D&B Publishing:
e-mail:
[email protected]
website:
www.dandbpoker.com

Cover design by Horatio Monteverde.
Printed and bound by Versa Press in the US.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Why I am Writing This Book

Section 1: How Tournaments Work

1 Why Poker Tournaments are so Profitable

2 The Fundamentals

Do Not Get Stuck on Formulas

What to Think about in a Hand

Expected Value

Pot Odds

Effective Stack Size

Reasons to Bet

The Importance of Position

Putting Opponents on a Range

You Need a Stronger Hand to Call than to Raise

Relative Hand Strength

Do Not Play Robotically

Image

Levels of Thinking

Make Friends at the Table

When Someone Tries to Outplay You

My Style

Section 2: Playing Deep Stacked (125BBs+)

3 Introduction

Playing Very Deep

Think Ahead

How Much to Bet

4 Before the Flop

Which Hands to Raise

When There is a Raise Before You

When There are Limpers

When You’re Re-raised

Playing from the Small Blind

Playing from the Big Blind

The Squeeze Play

You Do Not Have to Raise the Button

5 Post-Flop Concepts

Value-Betting

Bluffing

Represent Something

Pot Control

When to Slow-Play

6 Playing the Flop

Leading into the Raiser as a Bluff

Raising and Check-Raising as a Bluff

Floating

Continuation-Betting

Raising and Check-Raising the Flop

Leading into the Pre-flop Raiser

When there was a Re-Raise Before the Flop

How to Play Each Type of Hand

Multi-Way Pot Considerations

7 Playing the Turn

Bet When They Check

Check-Raising the Turn

When You are Raised on the Turn

Calling with a Draw on the Turn

Playing Top Pair on the Turn

8 Playing the River

Calling When You Think You Are Beat

How to Value-Bet the River

Bet an Amount They Can Call

Over Betting the River

Not Putting Your Opponent All-In

Blocking Bets

Bluffing on the River

When You’re Raised on the River

Raise-Folding on the River

Over Calling on the River

9 Miscellaneous Topics

Make Your Decisions Simple

Know What You Are Inducing

Advertisement Plays

Fancy Play Syndrome

Give the Illusion of Fold Equity

Play Straightforwardly in Large Pots

When You Are Re-Raised the Minimum

Check When You Hit Your Draw

Big Calls or Big Folds

How to Play Against Good Regulars

Exploit Each Player

How to Play with a Maniac on Your Left

When a Player Will Not Back Down

Being the Table Bully

Section 3: Playing Mid Stacked (125BB-40BB)

10 When You have Between 125 and 60BBs

Play Tighter As Stacks Get Shorter

Raise Players That Fold Too Much

Pot-Control Medium-Strength Hands

Getting All-In with a Strong Hand

Re-raising with Weak Hands

11 When You have Between 60 and 40BBs

Do Not Fear Going Broke

Do Not Put a Lot of Chips in and then Fold

Limp-Calling in a Raised Pot

Limping the Button

Section 4: Playing Short Stacked (less than 40BB)

12 When You Have Between 40 and 27BBs

Gamble to Get a Better Stack

Which Hands to Raise

All-In Squeeze

Early-Position Steal

Being Pot-Committed

13 When You Have Between 27 and 15BBs

Raise-Folding

Three-Betting All-In

14 When You Have Between 12 and 5BBs

Pushing

When There Are Limpers

When There Is A Raise

Calling Pushes

When Someone Pushes over Your Raise

Isolating Versus Calling

Half-Stack Raise

Stop-and-Go

15 When You Have Less Than 5BBs

Conclusion

Acknowledgments