A digression: No Limit Hold'Em tournament research

We'll return to our 3/6 Limit Hold'Em research shortly, but first I wanted to touch on some of my ongoing No Limit Hold'Em tournament simulation research, conducted for the most part of Donohoe Digital Software's DDPoker simulator, which allows me to customize tournament formats.

For a while, I lost my sense of how to play fast no limit hold'em tournaments. Arnold Snyder's suggested strategy in Poker Tournament Formula has its flaws, especially once everyone gets short stacked, though that was the approach I cut my teeth using. Later, I replaced Snyder's short stack strategy with the one used in Kill Phil, where you are prepared to shove with a fairly wide range that gets wider as you get shorter or as you gain position.

A while back in my tournament trials, I stumbled into an approach that worked very, very well in my simulations and routinely got me deep into tournaments that by all other definitions should be far too fast to play profitably. I posted a bunch of first places because I would either tear through with a big stack or gain such a commanding chip lead at the final table that 1st place was academic.

The preflop strategies I utilized would vary, but one consistent approach came when my stack was above average but around 20 big blinds or less, which is generally considered the high end of short stacked. Once I reach this short stacked point, I would open all playable hands with a minraise. At this point, a minraise was such a large part of any player's stack that playing back at it took as strong a hand as calling a standard raise earlier in the tournament did.

If I'm going to play against a raiser in front at all, I either want to reraise or fold, or get the other guy all-in when he's short. I want to establish that pots played with me will be expensive. I tend to reraise a preflop raiser no matter what when I have a strong hand that I feel would play well heads-up against a preflop raising range. The typical goal is to get a pot heads up on the flop (though obviously when you have AA or KK, you reraise for value, and when you 3bet a lot, you get more value from your reraises since they're not taken as seriously). Once heads-up on the flop, I will have position on my villain. If the villain checks to me, I can fire out a large bet or take a free card, depending on the opponent and flop scenario. If he bets, I can go away if the bet is too large for comfort or I don't have enough of the flop to continue.

Others behind me can call a preflop reraise at their own peril, and in the few cases when they do, great. If someone or the original raiser re-reraises, I can get out of the way unless I have a top hand or a ton of chips relative to the bet. If we see a 3+ way flop, sometimes I hit the flop hard and stand to win a very large pot, and can bail in the instances when I don't and another player bets out.

Again, once the blinds get up there and the average stack has ~20 big blinds, I switch to a minraise mode, which puts any short stack in peril if they play. I open with this raise with strong hands out of position and with lesser but playable hands in position. I avoid playing pots raised in front of me unless the raiser is loose or I have a strong hand, in which case I will reraise, and if the raiser is short enough I will reraise him all in. I make it clear I am either prepared to play for all my chips or prepared to make you play for all your chips.

I have finally devised a simple preflop strategy that I can use out of position in any position regardless of stack size. In position when 1st in, I will raise a LOT, and put the onus on opponents behind me to call or reraise to continue playing. Even when not 1st in, if there's a couple of limpers I may make a huge raise on the button, knowing I will have position when called. If folded to when in the small blind, I will use my read to decide how often to raise the big blind. Often I will just call and look to see a cheap flop heads up out of position. If the blinds are high, I will raise the big blind more often, and again put the onus on that big blind to pay to play.

For hand selection, I use proportion. At a 10 handed table, I open raise with the top 10% hands. If you're at a 10 handed table, raise 1/10th of your hands and get the blinds uncontested as a result, you break even. Obviously, you will raise more often in position and should get ahead of the game, but such a selection can help you stay above water when you're struggling to find spots to raise and take pots. This is easy to remember and makes little difference when used in middle position or early position.

I rated all 169 possible hands by their win% against popular raising hands that many players are willing to get all-in with preflop, such as pocket pairs 7 and higher, Ace-King, Ace-Queen, Ace-Jack and King-Queen. I sorted these hands by win% and selected from the top of the list down in PokerStove until it told me I had the proper percentage of hands. The resulting 10% looks a bit odd in selection and omits some hands you would expect to see, but the key is to have maximum equity against the sort of hands people will call a raise with.

The top 10%: AA-99, AK-AJ, A10s, A5s-A3s, KQ, KJs, K10s, QJs, Q10s, J10s

If the table is 9 handed, again we go proportional, using the top 1/9th of available hands, 11.1% total: AA-99, AK-AJ, A10s, A5s-A3s, KQ, KJs, K10s, QJ, Q10s, J10s

A tournament table often drops to 8 handed, and SPO typically plays 8 handed and below. 1/8 equals 12.5%: AA-99, AK-AJ, Axs, KQ, KJs, K10s, QJ, Q10s, J10s

7 handed (14.3%): AA-55, AK-AJ, Axs, KQ, KJs, K10s, QJ, Q10s, J10s

6 handed (16.7%): AA-33, AK-A10, Axs, KQ, KJs, K10s, QJ, Q10s, Q9s, J10s

You will almost always see 4-5 handed play at a final table where blinds are fairly high. At this point, play should be more straightforward and not require hand charts: Any seat not in the blinds is in position and you can raise most, if not all of the time and expect not to get called by strong hands. And if you do have a good hand, any two broadway, a decent pocket pair... you're ready to get it in against any short stacked player that raises you. You show more caution against other big stacks unless they're playing very aggressively, in which case you show them no respect when you have the goods, especially when in position.

If players are calling your raises a lot, you can use the following strategies to determine when to raise, which will lead to you folding hands in raising positions, which can allow you to regain table respect:

5 handed (20.0%): All pairs, AK-A10, Axs, KQ-KJ, K10s, QJ-Q10, Q9s, Q8s, Q6s, J10s-J9s, 10-9s

4 handed (25.0%): All pairs, AK-A10, Axs, A5, QJ-Q10, Q9s-Q3s, J10, J9s-J8s, KQ-KJ, K10s, K6s, 10-9s, 10-8s, 76s, 65s, 54s

3 handed (33.3%): All pairs, AK-A10, A5-A2, Axs, KQ-K10, K9s-K3s, QJ-Q10, Qxs, J10, J9s-J7s, J5s, 10-9s, 10-8s, 10-7s, 98s, 87s, 76s, 75s, 65s, 64s, 54s

Typically, fast tournaments will conclude once 4-6 handed due to the high blinds. Players will ask to make a deal, and given the crapshootish nature of the tourney at this point, it's typically best to take the split of the remaining prize pool and call it a day. This typically happens when the average stack has 5-10 big blinds or less. But sometimes everyone involved will still have enough chips to play, and it's a sound idea to have some sense of how to play these shorthanded high-blind situations.

Once heads up, the blinds should be fairly high, enough for minraises to hold significant value to both players, so continue minraising preflop. How you play will depend on your opponent's style, though if you're on the short end and he's raising a lot himself preflop, you're looking to get your money in with any decent hand, any Ace, most Kings, Queens with kickers 7 and higher, Jacks-7 and up, 10s-7 and up, though tend to only include the lower range when they're suited or your opponent's rising more frequently. Generally, see a lot of flops with decent holdings or in position, and look for a spot to get your money in, typically with at least 2nd pair or better, or a strong draw to better, on the flop.

On the other side, with a big stack, tend to punish your shorter stacked opponent with preflop raises. Bet a lot of flops and show him he will usually need to pay to continue. This will also tend to make a thinking opponent wary when you do check a flop here and there, as many will think you're slowplaying a monster if you usually bet out.

Another benefit of betting most flops is that, when you do catch a good hand, like top pair or better, or a strong draw to a straight or better, your opponent, knowing you bet a lot of flops, will tend to call you more often and thus pay off your strong hands more often. This is also key to getting him all in when you've got him beat. You want him to get all his chips in with a weak pair or Ace-high when you've got him crushed with top pair or better.

Kill Everyone tends to suggest that you put a short stack all in preflop when his M is 8 or lower. But this makes it too easy for your opponent to catch up, since he can fold all but his best holdings, and typically double through when he does call, which only makes the task of finishing 1st that much harder for us. Just play him straight and aggressive.

Given this approach, it's possible to consistently win at faster tournaments that are widely considered to be a crapshoot by even experts at their style of play. You just need to shorten the raises to meet the scope of play, while remaining aggressive and getting even more aggressive in position as the field thins.