Part two

Beating the 6.50 Turbos on Stars

Part Two : The Early Game

Today, I’m going to outline a fairly straightforward plan of attack for the early game of a PokerStars 6+0.5 9-handed Turbo SNG. I define the early game as blinds 10/20 through 25/50. At 50/100, we hit the mid-game, and that’ll be Part 3.

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Hand selection

At a 6.5, you can get away with raising quite a few hands. I raise the following hands in any position: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK, AQ.

I also limp TT – 22 in mid-position and hope to flop a set, unless there’s a raise greater than t60 in front of me. I wouldn’t want to call a raise with 22 – 55. I’ll also play JTs with favorable odds (3+ limpers in front of me), just because it’s such a versatile hand.

I sometimes raise with tens in late position when I know I won’t mind laying the hand down to a minraise on the flop (if there are overcards).

I would like to comment on AQ as a starting hand in SNGs. I muck AQ in a lot of situations at 25+2s in the early game. It’s not a strong hand. Don’t even fool yourself into raising with AJ. You really want to make sure your early game is tight; don’t give any chips away. They will be indispensable when doubling up later on. That being said, I play AQ just like I play AK at the 6.50s.

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I’m going to look at these hands case-by-case. Hopefully, you’ll get an idea how to play them. Mind you, I play queens differently than a lot of people at these stakes. I don’t believe you want to get into a coin flip preflop at these early levels. A lot of people will disagree with me on the way I play them, but oh well.

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Raises

Before I get into discussing the hands, I want to take a look at what size raises you’ll be making. I always make the same raise for every hand I play if I’m opening the pot; if there are limpers, I’ll increase my raise accordingly. Here’s my raising chart for 6.50s – I pretty much never, ever vary my raises. Harrington says to vary your bets so that your opponents can’t get a read on you; I say don’t for the same reason.

(the t stands for total)
10/20 – t80
15/30 – t120
25/50 – t150

Note that I also raise most of the time I enter a pot. The only exclusion is lower pocket pairs, where I’m hoping to flop a set. In the mid-game, though, I limp only in very rare occasions. We’ll see that in part three.

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First up, the pairs:

Aces

I’ll go broke on aces every time on a non-scary flop to a set or a freak two-pair at a 6.50. You’re just ahead so often that it’s not worth it folding on the flop. Mind, if I see a lot of action on a straightable, monotone board with many mid-high cards, it can be an easy laydown.

So let’s take a look at a generic aces hand:

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t15/t30
9 players
Converter


Stack sizes:
Hero: t1500
UTG+1: t1550
MP1: t1470
MP2: t1470
MP3: t1290
CO: t1490
Button: t1640
SB: t1340
BB: t1750


Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is UTG with :ad :ac
Hero raises to t100, 3 folds, MP3 calls t100 (pot was t145), 3 folds, BB calls t70 (pot was t245).


Flop: 2h 4d 7s (t315, 3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t230, MP3 calls t230 (pot was t545), BB folds.


Turn: Qs (t775, 2 players)
Hero bets t360, MP3 folds.
Uncalled bets: t360 returned to Hero.


Results:
Final pot: t775


Usually, your flop bet won’t get called, but here it did. This board is damn safe, though. If he’s got 77, ‘grats to him. I’m going broke on this hand if he raises me; you are ahead of so many hands, you can’t lay this down, especially not at this stake. A small note here: I only raised to t100 preflop. This is due to the stake; the raises get smaller preflop as you move up.

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Here’s another hand. I don’t have the HH for it, but I posted it on lp.net, so I have a copy.

2nd hand of the tournament, so even stacks. Link to the hand.

10/20

Hero is SB with AA. Folded around to CO who raises to t100. BT folds, and Hero is now to act. I’m putting Villain on 88-KK, AJ+, KQ. I don’t think BB is loose enough to call with a crappy hand, so if I call, I’m quite sure I’ll be heads-up on the flop.

Hero calls.

Flop: Ks, 7d, Jc.

Hero checks, villain bets 100 (pot is 220), Hero raises to t320, Villain pushes, Hero calls.

Lots of action. After Villain pushed, I had to think of all the hands he’d be doing this with. 88-TT are out; AQ is out; AK, KQ, KK and JJ are all plausible. I’m beating the first two; I’m behind to the other two. I’m going to call because I’ve invested nearly a third of my stack and I don’t think I can lay down an overpair to an unknown. Villain shows JJ and takes it down.

I got a lot of flack on LP.net for this hand, and yet, I’m going broke on it pretty much regardless if I reraise preflop or not. A lot of people will call the reraise for set value. However, consider a flop like:

2d, 7c, Ts

Villain will often go broke here. A 3k stack in the early game is quite valuable at a 25+2. I think my play was wholly correct. I don’t usually slowplay aces, but here is a good place to do it. I don’t advocate doing this too often at a 6.50, though, because doubling-up early on isn’t anywhere near worth as much as doing so at a 27.

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A third and last hypothetical hand:

Even stacks, 15/30. Hero is UTG+1 with Ac As.

Hero raises to t120. UTG+2 calls, CO calls, BT calls.

Flop: Td, Qd, Kc

Hero bets 280 (pot is 500), UTG+2 calls, CO pushes, BT folds, Hero folds.

Here’s what I would call an easy fold. There’s just too many ways you can be beat. TT, QQ, KQ, AJ… I’m also worried about the CO’s cold-call. This is a very draw-heavy board, and the few times we are ahead, we might only be a flip. If the BT pushed, this would be an even easier laydown.

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Kings

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t15/t30
8 players
Converter


Stack sizes:
UTG: t2060
UTG+1: t2030
MP1: t1470
MP2: t1470
CO: t1530
Button: t1470
SB: t1970
Hero: t1500


Pre-flop: (8 players) Hero is BB with Kh Kd
UTG calls t30 (pot was t45), 2 folds, MP2 calls t30 (pot was t75), CO calls t30 (pot was t105), Button folds, SB calls t15 (pot was t135), Hero raises to t150, UTG calls t150 (pot was t270), 3 folds.


Flop: Jd Jh 7d (t390, 2 players)
Hero bets t300, UTG raises to t800, Hero raises all-in t1320, UTG calls t520 (pot was t2510).



Results:
Final pot: t3030

This is a fairly normal KK hand. Notice I raised to 150 because of the amount of limpers. I pushed because I didn’t think Villain would play a jack so fast; he would likely call and push the turn. If I got called, I’d check the turn. At a 6.50, I’d probably just push it though; there’s so much you’re ahead of. Donks can’t differentiate deuces from 54o.

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Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t25/t50
8 players
Converter


Stack sizes:
UTG: t2710
Hero: t1395
MP1: t1385
MP2: t1490
CO: t1580
Button: t1550
SB: t1815
BB: t1575


Pre-flop: (8 players) Hero is UTG+1 with Kc Ks
UTG folds, Hero raises to t150, MP1 calls t150 (pot was t225), 5 folds.


Flop: Td 9h 8d(t375, 2 players)
Hero bets t300, MP1 raises all-in t1235, Hero calls t935 (pot was t1910).

This hand is a bit more risky. I think we’re ahead half the time here. What I’m mainly afraid of is a set; TT-88 are fairly likely. However, because of the fact that donks love to play draws and TPTK (AT for example), this is an easy call. Notice my flop bet; I’m shutting down all draws with the odds I’m giving. We’ve also got some outs against a two-pair.

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Queens

Queens are a bit different than kings and aces because they’re a coinflip with AK, and so they’re only really beating jacks. They’re also behind to kings and aces, whereas kings are only behind to aces whilst being ahead of queens, jacks and AK. I don’t like taking a flip at a 6.50 because I think if you have any amount of skill (and you probably by the end part four of this guide) you can get into a much better position than 50/50. I don’t like to get in preflop with Queens, and I don’t like to call with them intending to see if an ace or king hits. I much prefer to define my hand preflop.

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Here’s a pair of queens I recently played:

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Tournament
Blinds: t10/t20
9 players
Converter


Stack sizes:
UTG: t1500
UTG+1: t1500
MP1: t1500
MP2: t1500
Hero: t1500
CO: t1500
Button: t1500
SB: t1500
BB: t1500


Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is MP3 with :qs :qh
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to t60, 2 folds, Hero raises to t200, CO folds, Button calls t200 (pot was t290), 2 folds, UTG+1 raises all-in t1500, Hero folds.

I find this fold easy; in time, you will too. While the push might indicate weakness, it really doesn’t. Often, players will want to get their money in as soon as possible once they see someone is playing back at them.

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I’m especially wary of minraises. Here’s a hypothetical queens situation I’d fold:

Even stacks, 10/20.

Hero is MP1 with QQ.

UTG raises to t80. Folds to Hero who reraises to 250. BT minraises to t500. UTG calls, Hero folds.

I find this fold very easy. Donks have a tendency to expose their cards to you; take advantage of this. BT is showing extreme strength. UTG would push AK. Just fold this, you’ve got ~1200 left.

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Kings/Queens with A-high flop

Hypothetical situation.

Even stacks, 15/30.

Hero is MP1 with KK or QQ.

Folds to Hero who raises to t120. MP2 calls. Rest fold.

Flop: A, T, 5

Hero fires out with ½ pot. MP2 :

1) Minraises; Hero folds
2) Reraises; Hero folds
3) Calls; Hero check/folds the turn and/or river

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AK/AQ

Hypothetically:

Even stacks, 10/20.

Hero is UTG with AK.

Hero raises to t80, MP1 calls, BB calls.

Flop: A, J, 7 r (r : rainbow)

BB checks, Hero fires 150 (~1/2 pot), MP1 reraises to 400, Hero pushes.

At a 6.50, this is definitely how I’d play AK/AQ. I don’t think you’re behind to AJ/A7 enough to justify folding or just check/calling to the river. If BB had pushed instead of checked, I might have folded depending on my read, and probably would have at a 25+2. At a 6.50, pushing is just as good though.



I won’t write an article on c-betting with AK/AQ because Curtains from 2+2 did a great job with that already, and I want to get a move-on with this thing already. It’s way too long. You can read Curtains’s article here. I will say though that I always c-bet ½ pot against one opponent and nearly never against more than two, in position or out. I always give up after some resistance; just not worth it at this stake.

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Jacks

Jacks are a little different. I’ll play them kind of like I play AK. If there are overcards and I’m the preflop raiser OOP against a single player, I’ll c-bet and fold to any action (raise or call). If I’m in position and it’s checked to me, I’ll bet and once again shut down to any action.

Hypothetically:

7-handed, 25/50, Hero with 1500 stack, Villain with 1400 stack.

Hero is MP1 with JJ, raises to 150, Villain calls on BT.

Flop: K, 9, 5 rainbow

I’ll bet out something like 225 and then check/fold most likely. I’ll call a fair river bet (<1/3 pot) if it’s checked down on the turn.

I’ll also play jacks about as safely as queens; I don’t want any big pots preflop with them.

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Pocket pairs

These are fairly straightforward. Call something like a 3BB raise preflop with them, but if you see lots of action, lay them down. Get in for cheap when you can. Once you hit, if you are OOP against a preflop raiser, I often check/raise. If you are in position, I either call if the board shows no flushes or straights, or I raise right there if I want to isolate a single player. If the board is safe and you have a good set (mid pocketpair) and you think you can get more callers, coldcalling is fine.

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Hitting a set with your AA-JJ

Hitting a set with aces is a bitch; you usually won’t get any action because there’s only one more ace out there in the deck, and no other pair will give you any action because of the presence of the ace. You’re pretty much reduced to hoping someone else has a set or two pair and wants to tango. I just lead out if I’m the preflop raiser. Don’t check or check/raise or do anything fishy. Just play it like you always do.

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Conclusion

This kind of concludes part two. It’s two in the morning, and I never thought for the life of me this would be this long. Shit. Anyway, questions welcome. Donk the turn! Part three coming in maybe a week or two.