Playing Multi-Table Sit and Go’s...

Your average sit and go player will probably stick to the single, 9 or 10 person tables that are commonly found online.  However, your more adventurous players aren’t afraid to try out the multi-table sit and go’s when they get a chance.  But there are a few things players should keep in mind before starting out with the MTT SNG tournaments.

The Early Stages

Perhaps the toughest part of any multi-table sit and go is getting past the first part.  That’s because there are a lot of maniacs in the early going who will go all-in at different points in an effort to double their stack.  The bad part is that sometimes these players will hit their all-in call which could knock you out of the tournament quick.  Make sure to avoid tangling with these players unless you’re sure you have the nuts and have them beat.

Focus

Just like any other multi-table tournament, it is very tempting to focus on the action away from your table.  But once you start worrying about other tables and what’s going on there, you lose focus of your own play.  That’s why you need to only focus on what you are doing, and leave the other tables alone.  With that being said, it’s perfectly fine to check out how many players are left once in a while and the average chip count - just keep it to a minimum.

Final Table

Your stack size will dictate how you should play the final table.  Short stacks need to find a good opportunity where they can double up; medium stacks can relax a little because they don’t have to worry about being blinded out, but they still need to make a move at some point; big stacks should look for every opportunity they can to exploit the smaller stacks.

Tight vs. Loose Play...

The biggest debate in poker has got to be the one over which playing style is better: tight or loose.  By most people’s accounts, playing loose is the best method of play because it enables a person to steal lots of pots and blinds from others.  In addition to this logic, many of the best poker players in the world use a more aggressive style of play so this only furthers the argument for loose poker play being the best.

So where does that leave tight players?  Are you seemingly hopeless if you choose to go with a more conservative approach while waiting for the cards to come?  Of course not!  In fact, you will be a leg up on the more aggressive players by choosing to tighten your play up in certain instances.

And the main instance where playing tight will help you is when you are mutlitabling.  Tight players tend to be a lot better multi-tablers because they’re able to make the correct play over and over again without putting too much thought into the matter.  By playing based off of mathematics and quick reads, you enable yourself to make more profits because you’re making correct plays on several tables at once.

Loose players, on the other hand, have a lot more difficulty multi-tabling because they spend too much time trying to analyze everyone on each table.  And this is a recipe for disaster if you’re trying to play 4 or more tables at once because you can’t divulge the information in a reasonable amount of time.  So if you are used to multi-tabling in poker, you should stick to a tight approach so that you avoid making the same mistakes that loose players do.

Poker After Dark Season 6 Starts...

The incredibly successful NBC program known as Poker After Dark just kicked off its 6th season this week.  And what’s cool is that Poker After Dark had the announcers playing in this episode.  High Stakes Poker hosts Kara Scott and Gabe Kaplan, Ali Nejad, Mark Gregorich, and Joe Sebok were some of the players involved in this game which was entitled Commentators III. 

Nejad, who normally hosts Poker After Dark, took center stage in this episode with his many antics.  One of them included pulling out champagne glasses and toasting to Joe Sebok being on a televised poker table.  The joke was made because of Sebok’s habit of bubbling out right before the final table in several major live tournaments.  Some of the tourneys Sebok has bubbled out in before the final table include the WPT Fiest al Lago, the 2007 Legends of Poker, and the Bay 101 Shooting Star.

And while there were many jokes to be had during this special version of Poker After Dark, the action was anything but a joke with blinds set at $100/$200.  Sebok was able to make a move early after taking down a pot of 7,900 chips against Gabe Kaplan.  However, Sebok quickly became a target when Mark Gregorich held pocket aces.  Gregorich fired out a 3,000 chips bet on a weak board while holding pocket aces; this made Sebok fold and brought the action to a close.

But there will be much, much more action in Season 6 of Poker After Dark since there are 35 episodes left.  And there are 5 episodes left in the Commentators III segment so it will be fun to see who comes out the big winner among the announcers!

Gilbert Arenas pulls Gun Out over Poker!...

Those who pay any attention at all to basketball know Gilbert Arenas since he is consistently one of the NBA’s top players (when he’s not injured).  But what many basketball fans don’t know is that Arenas is a big-time gambler who spends a lot of time in the Washington Wizards locker room playing high stakes poker.  More recently, Arenas has been playing a lot with teammate Jaravis Crittenton.

Unfortunately for Gilbert, he racked up a $25,000 debt to Crittenton as the two have been playing.  According to sources, Arenas has been slow to pay his gambling debts which resulted in a huge feud between Jaravis and him.  Things boiled over on a team flight when the two started arguing with Crittenton screaming out, “I’m not your punk!”  A couple of days later, Arenas placed 3 guns by Crittenton’s locker and told him to pick one. 

But nothing even compares to what happened a few days ago when the two teammates pulled out guns on each other.  Luckily, things didn’t go any further than the two pulling out the guns, but it was definitely a bad experience for the entire Wizards organization.

Since the gun incident, Arenas has had to do some backpedaling in an attempt to save his 6-year, 111 million dollar contract.  He told reporters that him and Crittenton are still friends in addition to saying about the situation, “I can’t speak on that.  But if you know me, you’ve been here, I’ve never done anything (involving) violence.  Anything I do is funny…..well, it’s funny to me.”

He also said that the guns were in the locker room because he didn’t want his kids to get a hold of them.  He stated this by saying, “That’s bad judgement on my part to store them in here, and I take full responsibility for that.  I have to deal with the police investigation.”

Putting an Opponent on a Range...

Out of all the strategy concepts we hear discussed in poker, putting an opponent on a range has to rank right up there at the top.  After all, being able to determine a specific range of cards your opponent could have is crucial to understanding what cards they hold.  With that in mind, here is a look at how to put your opponents on a range and figure out how your hand stacks up.

Define “Range”

The first step in being able to put your opponents on a range is to clarify the whole meaning of range to yourself.  When you put an opponent within a specific range of cards, you’re merely identifying certain card values that they could have.  For instance, if your opponent is betting heavily pre-flop, you can probably assume that their range is A-A to J-J, A-K.  With this being the case, you’ll need to have cards in this range to even consider calling.

Range Example

Let’s assume that you’re holding pocket jacks on a board of A-2-J-7-5 with no flush possibilities on the board.  In this case, you’d be sitting pretty good since you are holding pocket jacks.  However, an opponent is betting heavily which indicates that they either have top pair or A-A.  Your trips jacks will no doubt hold up against top pair, but they will most certainly lose to trips aces. 

In either case, you should definitely make the call.  There are 3 possible combinations which could make A-A left in the deck while there are 12 possible combinations that could make A-K in the deck.  With 15 possible combinations and 12 combos that will leave you a winner, simply divide 12 by 15 to find your answer.  You are an 80% favorite in this instance after doing the math.