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.

The Business of the Feature Table...

Every time I tune in to the WSOP, it seems like more and more players are covered in logos from different advertisers.  And I always just chalked this up to the sponsors of players making them wear certain logos for different things.  But after reading an article in the Las Vegas Sun, I found out a whole lot more about the advertising business that goes on at the WSOP feature tables.

This article was actually pretty cool as the writer, Steve Silver, went into a discussion about how ESPN selects their feature table in WSOP events.  Contrary to what many people think, ESPN doesn’t pick tables based on an individual or even just a couple of players.  Instead, ESPN picks its tables based on the entire make-up of the table which means they must select an entire group which will be entertaining.  If the table starts to go lame then they need to wait till a break until they can switch the spotlight to another table.

However, it is against a player’s best interest to have the spotlight moved because they often get paid as much as $10,000 for wearing logos of certain companies on their clothes if they’re on the feature table.  Most of the time these logos are from the biggest poker rooms in the world including Full Tilt, Ultimate Bet, and obviously PokerStars.

The only problem for players though is that they can’t change their clothes or sew patches onto their shirts right before heading over to the featured table.  Ian Schechter found this out the hard way when he was going over to the featured table, but wasn’t allowed to put on a PokerStars patch.  In the end, this rule cost Schechter an extra $10,000 which just goes to show how much it pays to be prepared.

How Big will Poker Tournaments get?...

This past weekend Full Tilt Poker made a run at breaking PokerStars record for the largest poker tournament ever held.  Unfortunately for FT and the poor multi-millionaires who run the site, this tourney did not break the record for the largest online tournament ever despite hauling in 50,000 players.  Instead, PokerStars still holds the record at 65,000 players in a single tourney.  However, this continuous effort to lay claim to the biggest online tournament ever makes me wonder just how large poker tourneys will get in the future.

This is almost like an arms race where each room is rushing to see who can grab the bragging rights of hosting the largest tournament.  Seeing as how this is the case, I don’t think it’s too far-fetched to believe that poker tourneys will eventually be hitting the 100,000 mark and beyond within the next few years.

Of course, I’m still waiting for something to go majorly wrong with one of the room’s software as they attempt these unbelievable feats of having 50,000-65,000 people square off against each other in a single tournament.  I’m not an expert on website development and servers, but it has to be risky any time you attempt to put this many people in one tourney. 

Maybe this is why Full Tilt put a cap of 50,000 players on their attempt to beat PokerStars record of 65,000 which is very puzzling considering that they knew going in they had to get 65k people in the tournament.  The only thing I can think of is that FT chickened out at the last second, and wanted to make sure nothing went horribly wrong so they copped out by putting that 50,000 person limit on.  Of course I’m sure they’ll try and set the record once again in the future…this time without the cap!

Joe Hachem Disses Young WSOP Players...

The younger generation of poker players has often been praised as an aggressive group of people who aren’t afraid to push their chips in whenever possible.  However, not everyone is a fan of this younger generation, and some people are even accusing them of not knowing poker.

The 2005 WSOP champion Joe Hachem is the one who’s most visibly upset about the overly aggresive play of the younger players and he made this clear to the media when he said, “I had quite a bit of respect, but you know what?  They know nothing about poker.”  Hachem finished this statement by mentioning, “These kids really know nothing.  These kids are just ….. idiots.”

Hachem and Peter Eastgate were the only two former WSOP Main Event champs left and they were fortunate to be among the last 150 players left.  But Hachem still isn’t happy and even continued his rant by saying, “We’re playing for one of the biggest prizes in history and they’re getting … .five hundred million blinds in there with second pair.  To me, the reason I’m upset is because it’s disrespectful.  We’re playing in the World Series, we’re not just having fun at a local home game.  These guys are pushing chips around like it’s nothing.”

In doing his best Phil Hellmuth impression, Hachem is one of the first major players to speak out to the media on how much he hates this aggressive style that the younger players are bringing.  Of course, if these players are making people like Hachem fold hands then one might argue that they’re doing a good job.  And I don’t see Hachem cashing in a whole lot of other WSOP events so it’s hard to say that he’s an expert on exactly how one should play the game.  We’ll see what he has to say if he busts out in the next session.

WSOP Competition heats Up...

The World Series of Poker has always been a tough event to play at since it commonly attracts many of the best poker players on the planet.  The WSOP is also where the most prize money is at, and is the most glamorous event too.  Seeing as how this is the case, there has always been great competition at the WSOP. 

But that competition has only gotten better over the past couple of years due to the fact that tons of talented online players have been taking their game to the highest level.  Since so many more good players are in Las Vegas during the summer, a lot of pros are saying it’s never been tougher to survive on the felt.

Phil Hellmuth, who holds the record for WSOP gold bracelets with 11, admitted that the Series is so much tougher these days.  He stated, “I’ve never worked this hard and then my results aren’t what I want them to be.  I was hoping for something great to happen this trip but it just hasn’t happened yet.”

A lot of people think that the passage of the UIGEA is still having huge effects on the poker world since most of the casual players dropped out of the game at that point.  As Barry Greenstein said, “What the (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) has done has really taken a lot of the recreational players out of poker.  What you’re left with is really just mostly people who are trying to make a living.”

Of course in America, the economy has taken a downturn which has also affected the number of casual players out there.  Seeing as how there is less money to go around, not too many novice players are going to be booking their flight to Las Vegas anytime soon.