Winning Online KartuPoker – The Small Ball Way Č In my 4 years dealing Texas Hold ‘Em, I saw a lot of different styles. I remember Ferris, the young guy who liked to wear aviator shades, and whom you could always count on to raise. I remember Ron, the old man who looked like a turtle – and I remember that if HE raised, I’d know to get the hell out.
My evolution as a player was helped along by watching so many other players struggle to find their way. It got me thinking – who’s right? Lots of players would say that Ron, the tight player who always showed a winner, played the “correct” way. Other players would say, “Ferris has got it right – I can fold to Ron, but with Ferris, you never know what he has! I always have to pay him off.”
The truth lies somewhere between the two, but believe it or not, Ferris had the right idea. Both of them played poorly, for the most part: Ron folded way too much, and missed money he should have squeezed, while Ferris was way too reckless, and didn’t hit the brakes even when doom stared him in the face. But someone who raises too much at least has his heart in the right place – on the other hand, if you fold too much, or are scared to raise when you’re uncertain – well, you’re playing the wrong game, my friend.
But how can you be a winner and still fight for more than your share? Smallball is a style of poker that has most recently been coined by Daniel Negreanu. The term Smallball comes from the application of a small amount of resources (in chips or money) to a greater quantity of hands. It is a style of play that can be very profitable, as long as you find a situation that works and then consistently Got Tickets.
Smallball is not for everyone. Its not the winning streak that it is for others – no, not if you want to be a consistent winner. But it is the steady approach that can cause the steady coin to stack results in your favor.
Learn to play with a Small Ball Strategy
If playing with a small Ball requires that you be more aggressive than your opponents, that’s not a problem. You only want to be playing when you have a good hand and have people scared of going all in. That’s really what it’s all about – having good hands and fear losing. But before you are going to get too fancy, you are going to want to learn how to operate using a small ball tournament strategy.
There are going to be times that you will want to force a large pot, when you have a known hand that isn’t the favorite.aring all in. Sometimes, you can do this and still lose with the correct strategy. It’s about knowing when to attack and when to fold.
Assume you are at a table where the blinds are 10/20. You are mid-season on the Tour and have played 47 tournaments. Blinds are 30/60 and you are a classic loose-aggressive player. You are in the small blind. Everyone folds to you. You take a stab at the pot and you are called. You see the flop and you have argyle. You decide to bet the pot. Why? You have nothing pre-flop. Your competitors know that you are capable of stealing the blinds with any hand so they call your bet.
Bet the pot on the flop and take it all the way to the river. If you have information on any of your opponents, you can attempt to steal the blinds. They will likely call you with any draw unless they are holding excellent cards. On the other hand, if you do not, you can simply fold your hand to any size bet as they will likely put you on a big hand.
This happens more often than you think because many players have a problem folding their hand. They will not particularly worry about a small ball bet unless they have their ace or king high. Watch the way that players handle themselves in these situations. Typically, they will not reach deep to make a big hand so if they have something, they will get away from the hand and try to make a big hand.
Tips to make this style of play work:
There are two sets of rules that you can break. The first is that you do not make huge raises with a weak hand. The smaller the raise, the smaller the raise will generally be. The second rule is that you do not make huge raises with a lousy hand. As the name suggests, this style will involve a gamble. You might win a pot by picking up a few of the blinds, but you are hoping to win the war later.