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This tutorial explains how to be a winning player in the free, ranked tournaments. The advice is still useful for the $4,000 and up tourneys, but winning regularly in those tourneys requires better skill, and is outside the scope of this tutorial.
The free tourneys are easy to beat. I finish in the money in about 80% of my games by following a few simple rules. But first, a quick overview:
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XBLA HOLDEM PLAYERS IN FREE TOURNEYS ARE MOSTLY BAD POKER PLAYERS
Most players in the free tourneys are 'calling stations'. They will call the big blind without thinking, and even call a small raise because it's 'only' $24 of their $500 stack. Worse, after the flop, they will 'chase', that is, keep calling even though the odds are against them to make their hand, hoping to get lucky. They also bluff out of position, in other words they bluff with 3 or 4 players left to act behind them. All these traits add up to a weak, passive player that is easy pickings, if you follow my system. (Not all players fit into this category, but more about this later.)
YOUR GOAL IS TO FINISH 3RD
Never, ever forget this. Third nets you $800. If you can finish 2nd or 1st, great, but that should not be your priority. Keep thinking, 'I need to finish 3rd'. Once you're in third, your mindset should be, 'Now I'm gonna shoot for 2nd, but I've already won $800, so it's all good'. And so on for 1st.
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Now that you have the scene set, it's time to go live, and walk through a sample tourney.
FOLD THE FIRST 3 OR 4 HANDS UNLESS YOU HAVE AA OR KK
DO NOT play those hands. Yes, fold your KQ offsuit and your pair of 4's, you'll thank me later. You want to stay out of the way of the all-in bets by what I call the 'insane-o's, which is the second group of players I want to talk about. Insane-o's are easy to spot. The first hand, they go all-in. One of two things happen, and both of them are good for you. 1) They go broke, which means you never have to worry about them again, or 2) their 97 offsuit hits a miracle 8 on the river to make an inside straight and they are massive chip leader, which means you can take their money later on. Most insane-o's, having won the first hand by sheer luck, either become a calling station, meekly calling almost any bet because they have 'a lot of money', only to bust out in 4th, or they continue the insane-o route and raise $100 or all-in on every hand, trying to bully the table. This second route is a bit more dangerous, but follow this tutorial and you should be able to take his money. When the smoke has settled and the insane-o's are either out, or chip leader, you have moved from 8th place to 5th or 6th and you still have most of your $500 intact.
After the first few hands are over, and the insane-o's have done their thing, you should adopt a 'tight aggressive' style of play.
IF YOU HAVE BAD CARDS, FOLD THEM PRE-FLOP
This is so important, I'm going to say it again:
IF YOU HAVE BAD CARDS, FOLD THEM PRE-FLOP
If you follow just this rule, and ignore the rest of this tutorial, you will still finish 3rd more often then not. You want to play the 'tight aggressive' style of poker. Only enter the pot with good cards, then bet those hands aggressively. If you don't have good cards, DON'T ENTER THE HAND.
You're probably saying, 'How boring! It only costs me $4 (or $10, or $20) to call! I might win!' Let's look at each of those objections in turn:
"How boring!" - Not at all. You should be using your free time to watch the other players styles of play. Who raised? How much? Who called? Who folded? Who is aggressive, who is passive? After a few hands, you should put each player into one of 3 categories. We have already talked about calling stations and insane-o's. The third category is 'folders'. These are the guys who actually have a clue about how to play poker. Folders are harder to spot (they may even be disguised as insane-o's), but they will usually fold some hands pre-flop like you, tend to raise pre-flop, play and win smaller pots, turn over good cards when called down, and even if they have bad luck will usually still have $250 left when down to the Final Four. These guys are your direct competition for 3rd. Try to avoid getting into pots with them.
If the hand goes to a showdown, and the players reveal their cards, quickly replay the hand in your mind. Did he really raise pre-flop with J3 offsuit? Ahh, a bluffer. Did he keep calling with AA? Watch out, he slowplays his big hands. And so on. Even if the hands were not revealed, who do you think had the better hand? Why do you think that? What do you think the winning hand was? You want to gather info about the other players, you want a 'scouting report'. Believe me, there is enough to keep track of when you're not in the hand to keep you from getting bored.
"It only costs me $4 to call!" - This is wrong on so many levels, I want to talk about it in depth.
Yes, it's only 4 bucks, and that's $4 less money you have to put pressure on other players. But it's not just the $4, it's entering the pot in the first place that is the big problem. Let's take an example. You have Ace 3 offsuit in middle position. Everyone calls the big blind around to you, so you call as well, hoping to hit an Ace. It's only $4, you say. The flop comes Ace Jack 6. It's checked around to you, so with a pair of Aces you bet $20. A player after you raises to $60. Now what do you do? You are dead to an Ace with a bigger kicker, but still, you have top pair, that's hard to lay down. Only $40 more, you say. You call. Turn comes a 9. You're scared, so you check. A big bet comes in by the original raiser. By now you have a lot of money invested, but hey, you have top pair, so you call. Maybe it's a bluff, you say. River is a 6, pairing the board. You check again. The other player goes all-in. If the raiser had a 6, he now has a set. But now you are in so deep, you say, 'what the hell', and call. Player turns over Ace Jack (or AQ, or K6, or A9, or...). You've been eliminated, because you played bad cards. A fold preflop, and you would have your $500 intact, still in the game.
Another example: Player A is a calling station, Player B folds his weak hands. Over 8 hands, both A and B get weak cards, the big blind is $10. Player A called every time, and also called 2 small raises hoping to get lucky, to no avail. Player A is down $80 plus 2x $40 raises, $160, leaving him $340. Player B lost 1 small and big blind, and has $485 left. A and B get into a big pot, and A goes all in. If B calls and loses, he still has $145 left to make a comeback. If A loses, he is eliminated.
A final example. Player A calls 10 $10 bets and folds after the flop each time, leaving him $400. He then gets into a big pot with chip leader Player B, goes all-in, and wins. He has $800. If he would have folded his weak hands, A would have had $485 (minus 1 small and big blind), and his all-in bet would have netted him $970 instead of $800, giving him $170 more.
Calling the big blind with nothing is just plain wrong. Don't do it! Save your money for when it really counts.
"I might win!" - Yes, but you'll probably lose. Another thing to do while you're folding your hands and watching the other players, is to pretend you're still in the pot. Would you call that raise with your hand, or would you fold? Would you make it to a showdown? Did you win the showdown? I can guarantee you that 90% of your bad cards will not win. It's often the case that even your miracle flop (you fold 92, the flop comes A92) is not enough to have the best hand. Bad cards are bad cards for a reason.
Finally, folding all the time creates a 'tight' table image. This is going to come in handy later, as you will see. The good players ('folders') at the table have been watching you to see how you play. When you finally come into a pot, the folders will know you have the goods, and stay out of your way if they have mediocre cards, which is what you want. Meanwhile, the players who haven't been paying attention to how you play are ripe for the picking.
WHEN YOU GET A GOOD STARTING HAND, BET IT AGGRESSIVELY
OK, you've been folding your hands, being patient, and used that time to put the other players into one of the 3 categories of styles of play. Finally, you get AQ of diamonds. Ahh, some action! Now, you want to raise pre-flop by a good amount. A $10 raise is worth nothing to you. You want to accomplish 4 things with your raise.
1) You want to get more money in the pot.
2) You want to get players with weak hands to fold them.
3) You want players who act after you to fold, meaning you will be last to act during the subsequent betting rounds, a huge advantage for you.
4) You want players with good hands to declare them, by calling your bet or raising, they are saying 'I have a good hand too' (Or 'I'm a fool and I'm gonna call with nothing because you might be bluffing').
You want to play against as few players as possible for the flop. With the big blind at $10, a $50 raise will at least make players think twice about playing the hand.
Here, money management becomes important. You want to leave yourself an 'escape route' if things don't work out. Let's take my AQ of diamonds as an example. I bet $50 in late position, just before the button. Unfortunately, the button calls, meaning I won't be last to act, and the big blind calls as well. Everyone else folds. $155 in the pot. The flop is K63, two spades. The big blind checks to you. Stay aggressive, and keep betting, even though you missed the flop! I bet $90. The button folds, the BB raises to $270.
Here, I would take stock of the situation. The BB called my raise, then raised my bet on the flop. He might have a King, or a pocket pair lower than a K, or it could be a bluff. Here is where all that folding and watching comes into play. Insane-o? I might raise him all-in. Calling station? It's not like him to raise, I might be beat. Folder? Watch out for these guys, there are 2 spades on the board, he might be betting a flush draw. I might fold even if I suspect a bluff. In any case, since I've been folding most of my hands, I still have $470 of my original $500. I'm down $140, leaving me $330. I still have enough for 1 or 2 more raises in later hands. I fold, with enough money to get right back in it with a double-up.
Of course, what might happen is that both players fold, giving you the pot without showing your cards. Which brings me to...
NEVER SHOW YOUR CARDS IF YOU CAN HELP IT
Not even if you've just pulled off the bluff of the century. Not even if you flopped a full house. You're giving out information on how you play, and the better players will not fail to pick up on it. The only time you want to show your hand is when you've played a hand 'classically', without any surprises. For example, you have KK, you raise, 2 callers, the flop is no danger to you, say 952, you bet, and everyone folds. Showing the KK says, 'when I get a good hand, I bet it' which is not really revealing anything interesting, and revealing that will actually come in handy later on.
DO NOT BLUFF
Until there are 3 players left, do not bluff. Bluffing is a lot harder than it looks, and it's not just about shoving a lot of chips in the pot, it also has to make sense to the people you're bluffing. Since people tend to call with anything at the free tables, a bluff is not really accomplishing anything except giving you more ways to lose the pot. In the example above, betting $90 with AQ with the flop K63 is not really a bluff. You still have a very strong hand, if no one has a King. Even if someone has 99, you still have 6 outs to catch a card that will give you the best hand. And you can back out with most of your stack intact.
WITH 4 PLAYERS LEFT, TIGHTEN UP
You've come this far, don't blow up now. Keep your eye on the ball. I repeat: YOUR GOAL IS TO FINISH 3RD!
If possible, play even tighter, and wait for an opponent to make a mistake. It will happen, because 90% of XBLA Texas Hold'em players lose sight of the fact you need to finish 3rd to cash! Usually, here is the point where the insane-o who won $2,000 on the first pot with 97 offsuit goes broke and finishes on the bubble, in 4th place, with NO MONEY to show for all the time he spent playing. They never, ever learn money management. If you are the short stack, fold, fold, fold. When you get down to $150, take stock. If everyone has lots of cash but you, go all-in with the best hand you can. If another player is on the ropes, keep folding and hope he makes a mistake.
WHEN YOU MAKE THE FINAL 3, CHANGE GEARS
All that patient play has paid off, and you're in the money! You've 'won' the game! You have $800, and the rest, remember, is gravy if you finish 2nd or 1st. Now, for the coup de grace. You should now switch to the 'loose aggressive' style of play. Start raising preflop with marginal hands. If called, raise again on the flop. Don't be afraid, you already have 3rd locked up. Now, you want to add this style to your original style of play. That is, you're not raising ALL the time, but you're raising a lot more than you were. You want to mix this with a few calls and a few folds, to keep them guessing. This is a killer tactic, let me explain why.
All through the game, you've created a narrative about your play style. Even people who haven't been paying too much attention have noticed that you've folded a lot of hands, and have turned over good cards every time you've been in a hand. By raising more now, your opponents are still thinking you're playing tight, and just happened to get good cards. This image is what allows you to pull off bluffs when it counts, at the end of the game, when one double-up or big pot can make you chip leader. People have a hard time adapting to this sudden change, and it throws them off their game.
There are 3 possibilities for the end game: you are short stack, middle stack, or massive chip leader:
Short Stack - Either fold, or go all-in, are the only two choices you have. When you get an A or K or pocket pair, ship it and cross your fingers.
Medium Stack - Get aggressive with the short stack, while stepping gingerly around the chip leader. Raise the short stack for all his chips, and make him fold. For the big stack, it depends who he is. Often it's an insane-o who has sucked out several times in a row and became chip leader just by sheer luck. Raise him, and take his money with good starting hands. Often it's a folder, and he may be the best player at the table, in which case caution is advised. Fold when raised by him, and shoot for 2nd.
It's not often a calling station is chip leader, poker tends to reward either an aggressive, or conservative, style of play. A calling station is neither one or the other. You can safely open up your game and raise with good starting hands against this guy.
Big Chip Leader - Punish them both. Raise, and raise again. It usually takes a few hands for people to figure out that the meek little fellow who folded 80% of his hands earlier has now become a monster, and this is your window of opportunity. Go for it. Often times people will try to adapt to the 'new you' by bluffing with nothing, trying to mimic your new style. I see this a lot. Take advantage of it.
Hope this helps someone become a better poker player on XBLA.
Good luck, and see you on the tables!
Fluke54
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