Basic poker strategy #1
For new players:
First lets identify what kind of player are we. Are we going to set a goal and out line the necessary steps to achieve that goal, or are we just going to play?
The minimum deposit on full tilt is $50 for USA players using a credit card. So now we have 50 bucks. How do you select what buy in to enter? If you are doing math here and saying OK, I have $50, I should apply X% for day to day and that puts me inXX buy ins, JUST STOP!, then you are kidding yourself. You did not build your bankroll, you don’t have a bankroll to manage, and you simply have $50 you deposited. You are just playing poker at this point and this guild is here for this type of player
If you have played through the freerolls and built up, and managed, a bankroll from nothing then this blog is not for you. You already know these things.
Now we have identified where we are at in the on line poker world. So now lets identify what we are going to play. Depending on your schedule and time zone, there will be $00.10 through $3.30 tournaments to play. With $50 we are not going to go any higher. Why? Because we want to play more than ten tourneys to get a feel for the on line world of poker. And don’t misunderstand this; ten is just to get your feet wet, and noting more. If you honestly believe you are going to win all ten, just leave this blog right now, I don’t want to talk to you.
For the purpose of this strategy, we are only going to play Muti table Sit and Go’s with a player field of 45 and 90. So lets look at a 45-player field. The buy in is $1.25 with 6 places paid. Right from the start we now know that the final table is not good enough to get paid. We need to make the final table and out last 3 or 4 players at that table to get paid. (Depends on 9 or 10 player tables)
This environment requires solid play and the application of some math. Right from the start, at this level, we do not want to play anything, or ever play out of position. Why? Because at this level the first ten players are going to get knocked out with in the first 8 minutes of play. This will reduce our playing field from 45 to 35 in the first 8 minutes of the game. But now what can we learn? What should we be looking at? That ten people gave their chips to someone, that tells us that the players with these huge stacks this early did what? They went or called all in bets. Now is when taking notes comes in to play. At your table, the guy who called with what ever, and doubled up, should have a note on his Icon. This player did everything that we are not going to do. Does that make him loose? For now it does, further play will truly show this to be true or not. But now we know that there is a good chance that this player will call when we don’t want him too, and more importantly, he will call when we want him too.
Summary:
- We have learned to sit back and let the other players knock each other out early.
- We have notes on who is considered loose at this point.
- We have targets for when we are holding a monster hand.
- We have a reduced player field and recorded player habits in notes.
- We have preserved our chips while gaining knowledge with minimum blinds and no antes.
- We have notes on who is playing well.
- We have moved closer to the final table.
Overview:
We have now proven that by not playing in many hands and collecting information that we are truly playing poker to win. We have begun to set a table image that we are a poker player. People have made notes on us that will help us later when the true players are the only ones left; in short, we hopefully now have some table respect that we have earned with our play. We have identified who is who at our table.
