PokerWorks

It's Not All About The Cards

For this assignment you are to play a minimum of three no limit hold em tournaments at an online poker site such as Full Tilt or PokerStars (preferrably deeper stack type of events). The assignment rules do not apply once you have reached 10x the big blind or less.

You are to use the same pre-flop rules and betting as outlined in the previous sections with the exception of hands out of the SB and BB. The main reason for this is I don't want to just give you free will and go crazy yet, plus we will be using these requirements for the next assignments so I think it's good we stay familiar with them. Remember, this is about building one step at a time, not overnight.

For the purposes of this assignment you are to play out of the SB as follows:

If the pot is not raised and you are not first to act (“FTA”) - call with any two (see exception to calling in next paragraph) if you are getting 7:1 on your money or better. For example, the blinds are 50/100 and there are 2 limpers. There would thus be 350 in the pot and it would be 50 for you to call --> 350/50 is 7:1 on your money, so you would call. Generally you need two limpers to call here. Proceed post-flop as you normally would.

If the pot is not raised and you are not FTA and you have 7-7 thru A-A, A-K and A-Q, make your total bet 2x the pot size. So, for example there are three limpers and the blinds are 50/100, there would be 450 in the pot. Make your total bet 900 (or raise 800 to 900).

If the pot is raised FTA (or raised with EP/MP limpers) by a player before the cutoff - fold all hands with the exception of 2-2 thru A-A, A-K and A-Q. With 10-10 thru A-A and A-K, reraise the original raise 3x the original total bet amount (so if the blinds are 50/100 and player x raised to 400, raise 1200 to a total of 1600). With 2-2 thru 9-9 and A-Q just call. Proceed post-flop as you normally would.

If the pot is raised FTA by a player from the cutoff or button - reraise the original raise 3x the original total bet amount with all of the following hands (here comes the scary part): 2-2 thru A-A, A-x, any two face cards (two cards ten or better). Note: If there was a limper in EP/MP and the cutoff/button raised OR the cutoff raised and the button called, this section DOES NOT apply.

If you are FTA, raise to 3x the BB total bet with any two cards. If re-raised fold unless you have 2-2 thru A-A, face-face (any two cards ten and above) in which case use your best discretion in proceeding (although the way I would play it is to generally reraise unless his/her reraise amount was all in or close to it because you will be first to act post-flop and will be out of position).

For the purposes of this assignment you are to play out of the BB as follows:

If the pot is not raised and you have 7-7 thru A-A, A-K and A-Q, make your total bet 2x the pot size. So, for example there are three limpers and the blinds are 50/100, there would be 450 in the pot. Make your total bet 900 (or raise 800 to 900).

If the pot is raised FTA (or raised with EP/MP limpers) by a player before the cutoff - fold all hands with the exception of 2-2 thru A-A, A-K and A-Q. With 10-10 thru A-A and A-K, reraise the original raise 3x the original total bet amount (so if the blinds are 50/100 and player x raised to 400, raise 1200 to a total of 1600). With 2-2 thru 9-9 and A-Q just call. Proceed post-flop as you normally would.

If the pot is raised FTA by a player from the cutoff, button or SB - reraise the original raise 3x the original total bet amount with all of the following hands (here comes the EVEN scarier part): 2-2 thru A-A, A-x, K-x&Q-x suited, any two face cards (two cards ten or better), any two suited connectors and one gappers 4-5 and above. Note: If there was a limper in EP/MP and the cutoff/button raised OR the cutoff/button raised and the button/SB called, this section DOES NOT apply UNLESS you have A-A, K-K, Q-Q or A-K.

For both the SB and BB, if the pot is raised and re-raised before it gets to you, fold all hands but A-A/K-K/Q-Q/A-K. Move all in with those 4 hands.

If you are ever re-raised, use your best discretion in proceeding.

At the end of the assignment, answer the following questions for your own benefit:

1. How did you feel about calling with any two out of the SB when given 7:1 or better on your money? Did you hit any hands that won you a pot? Would you say this made or lost you chips?

2. How did the raising 2x the pot in an unraised pot work for you? Benefits? Problems? Why do you think you upped your raise in this situation as opposed to the raises we were making in other positions (adding 1x increments per limper)?

3. In raised pots, how did the hands you just called with work out? The hands you re-raised with? Did you feel uncomfortable re-raising with certain hands? If so, why? Problems/Benefits to this portion of the assignment?

4. What did you think of the reraise portion of the assignment when the original raiser was from a typical steal position (cutoff or later)? What do you think the purpose of this part of the assignment was? What were the reactions by the original raiser when you did this? Did they all fold? All call? Reraise? Mix?

5. What did you learn from this assignment that you can carry forward in your NLHE tournament game? What did you enjoy about it? Not enjoy?

In the next part, I'll provide some answers and a conclusion to this assignment.