It's important to develop a style and attitude
Long distance runners will tell you there is a certain point in a marathon,
around the eighteenth mile, when a participant reaches "the wall". At this
critical stage of the twenty-six mile race, the athletes who can deal with the
wall separate themselves from those who fall victim to it. It's a
when-the-going-gets-tough-the-tough-get-going sort of thing.
A typical table of players in a Limit Holdem tournament will start out playing
tight. Halfway through the first limit level, as players become more acclimated,
play will loosen up and begin to resemble an ordinary $20/40 game. As weaker
players are eliminated and the tournament moves into the third limit level, the
table play will toughen up and become the equivalent to a $30/60 game. In the
fifth level, the play will be like a very tough $75/150 game.
It's in the seventh level that you reach the wall. Only fifteen percent of the
field remains in contention. Half the remaining players will finish in the
money; the other half will have put in a long exhausting day for nothing. At the
wall, the average amount of chips in front of each player is about five and a
half large bets.
About seventy percent of the remaining players are farmers, bent on protecting
what they have and trying to figure out a way to finish in the money. The other
thirty percent are foxes, energetic speedsters out to steal from the farmers and
the other foxes. The foxes, many of whom have familiar winner-circle names, will
not be thinking about finishing in the money. They will be thinking about
winning the tournament.
The Limit Holdem tournament started with ninety percent farmers and ten percent
foxes. Those farmers who have managed to reach the wall have had more than their
share of good luck. The foxes, with their aggressive style and tournament savvy,
tend to make their own luck. They have held only average cards but have stolen
their way to the wall.
The pots that the foxes have stolen in getting to the wall are peanuts compared
to the pots they will now steal at the wall and beyond. A typical table at the
wall will be so snug that three out of four hands dealt will have no flop. The
foxes will be in fox heaven picking up blind after blind. Each set of blinds
represents three-quarters of a large bet, a significant amount when added to an
average holding of only five and a half large bets.
When the final cut is made (around the ninth limit level) and the remaining
players are all in the money, half the field will be foxes. There will be a huge
sigh of relief from the farmers who have made the final cut. The foxes will no
be slightly more on guard lest some of the farmers, who are now in the comfort
zone, begin playing out of character and splashing their chips. This guarded
period will be a short-lived one, and soon the foxes will be back to their
stealing ways.
When the tournament is down to the final four players, usually there will be
three foxes and one lucky farmer. If the farmer's luck can hold for another hour
or so, he just might win his first tournament.
Back to the wall. If you've reached the wall, either through extraordinary luck
or through some foxy play combined with good luck, you now have to decide
whether you are going to be a farmer or a fox.
It is hoped that you will be at a table of mostly farmers. Your first job is to
notice how many chips are in front of the players who have the blinds. If either
of these players is nearly all in, you'll need a fairly decent hand to raise the
pot. Also, if either of these players previously has shown a tendency to call in
the blinds with a weak holding, then you'll need an even better hand to raise,
regardless of how many chips the players has in front of him.
Second, look at your own chips. For you to be a fox, you should not let your
chips fall below three and a half big bets, the amount of chips necessary to
raise before the flop and still have full compliment of bets for the remaining
streets. It's not that you intend to use all these chips. Your hope is that
nobody calls. But you need to have the chips so that your would-be opponent
knows he can't run you down cheaply. In other words, if you have just three and
one half bets, you should be willing to make your steal-raise with a weaker
hand, simply because you must take the initiative in order to keep your chips up
and survive another round of blinds. This is where theme song from Damn Yankees
becomes meaningful: "You Got to Have Heart."
And foxes have heart -- lots of it. If you think making an opening raise with a
poor hand is not worth the risk, since you are so close to being in the money
and you might pick up pocket aces the very next hand and win a monster pot, then
you are thinking like a farmer. If your chips get down to just a couple of large
bets or less, you can no longer be a fox; you will have to hope you can pick up
a decent hand since a confrontation is likely.
Don't let the early positions scare you. You can be a little more selective, but
you simply must make your move if you have borderline fox chips. This is
particularly true if you have a fox or two on your right, because these foxes
will be stealing in front of you, diminishing your late position opportunities.
In a farmer raises in an early position -- heaven forbid -- you need a fantastic
hand to confront him. If a fox raises in an early position, you will still want
to have a very strong hand to take him on. Even if you are certain you have a
better hand than the fox, you may very well be out-flopped or outplayed.
However, if this fox is stealing so often that you don't get a chance to steal,
then you are simply going to have to confront him, even with something as weak
as A9 or KT. If you do confront him, you must re-raise and take the lead. You
want to give yourself your best chance of winning the pot if you both have
nothing.
When you are doing the stealing, you would like to have a hand with some
showdown quality, such as Ax or 33. But when you consider the likelihood that
you will win the blinds without a confrontation, it really doesn't matter much
what you hold. The fact that you raised is much more important than what you
raised with.
While you are gaining confidence and becoming more and more fox-like, and the
field is getting smaller and smaller, you might hear some farmers telling
bad-beat stories to each other on the rail. In most cases these stories will be
about some maniac (fox) who raised the blinds in center field with an 8c5c and
took out the farmer's pocket kings to eliminate him from the tournament.
Sure, the fox "got lucky." But remember: This is the wall! The rules are
different here. Anybody who sits around waiting for AA, KK or AK at the wall has
very little chance of succeeding. Funny thing about Holdem. any two cards can
win!
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