Old Schooler graduating from "tight is right". Advice Please.
Hello, newbie poster here.
In Jonathan Littles booklet “Strategies for Beating Small Stakes Poker Tournaments” he describes me, the player type that plays too few hands too aggressively. Such players subscribe to “tight is right and overplay marginal made hands such as top pair and over pairs.
In the fast paced, short stacked, small buy in league tournaments I play in, this is strategy, which often sees me severely short stacked towards late stages, is no longer working against the younger, more aggressive players, who play more hands. As one of them said to me, you can’t win, if you don’t play and he has a point.
I’m trying to open up my game. Specifically I am trying to play more hands in later position, when I can see a flop cheaply, and where a hand has potential (pairs, suited connecters, decent Ace, decent flush, picture cards). I’ve had moderate success mainly by taking pots down because of position (most of my league opponents still view me as tighter than a ducks butt).
For context, I am recently retired, so have some time to study the game. I’m practising this strategy tweak in online micro stakes SNGs that have a similar sized field to my league. I play mainly for recreation and socialization, but winning always makes things better right?
Relatable advice or pointers anyone?
Thanks,
-David
PS. I am posting this to multiple forums, so apologies if you see it more than once. It is my intention to summarize the advice I receive for you all.
2 Replies
Hi OP
There are game theory optimal (unexploitable) opening ranges available for various stack depths, opponent actions, icm adjustments and so on.
It sounds like you've noticed that younger (or studied) players are more aggressive. That's not because they're 'young and reckless' but because it's mathematically correct to open more hands than you're probably used to as an older player.
Think of it like perfect blackjack strategy. If you’ve ever played blackjack at a casino, you may have seen those guides telling you the correct mathematical play with any two dealt cards against any dealer card. Preflop poker is a bit like that now. There’s just a right way to do it to maximise profit against random opponents.
1. I'd focus on learning the 30BB opening charts as a starting point (hands to open from each position, which hands to 3bet, how to respond to an open, how to respond to a 3bet). This alone will improve your game and lead to more opportunities post-flop, i.e. you'll connect with more boards in the right way.
2. As you get more comfortable with correct 30BB ranges (where we spend half our lives as mtt players), get a general feel for how you might adjust those ranges (in a broad general sense) based on (i) larger and shorter stack depths, (ii) multi-way preflop pots, and (iii) icm.
Combine these 2 and you'll become a better player.
For charts (30bb ranges), I'd either Google ‘GTO MTT charts’ or consider a subscription to a training site e.g., Upswing Poker, RunItOnce, Pokercoaching.
For MTT icm strategy, the stand out text is Endgame Poker Strategy: The ICM Book by Dara O'Kearney and Barry Carter
Pre-flop tournament poker has been largely solved. There are still some quite complex nuances to it, and some strange unknowns in multi-way, but the things I've mentioned above are the 101 building blocks for correct play (so there's no need to summarise what you learn in other forums here).
Best of luck and I hope the above ideas lead to a greater enjoyment of the game as you terrorise the people who still think you're tight.
oldsilver, thank you for the detailed reply, I sincerely appreciate it.
I am familiar, in a broad sense with the concepts and resources you describe.
With respect to ICM, I am familiar with the concept as I used to play a lot of STTs and have Colin Moshmans book.
STTs at the stakes I play are either disappearing or moving to turbo format, which I don't like, at least on the sites I play on.
Mighty Ape, here in NZ has Endgame Poker Strategy for NZ$70, yikes, but Amazon Australia has it for NZ$41 inc. delivery, so sorry Mighty Ape...
I do have access to Pokercoaching free resources, so may consider a subscription if my game takes off, but at the moment I doubt I can justify it.
As an aside, learning the 30BB opening charts will, as an older gentleman, help keep my memory sharp I expect, along with the other exercises I'm doing (just in case, as my dad has memory issues). Yeah I know I don't need to memorize them exactly :-)
Thanks again and I look forward to dominating my league!
Cheers,
-David
