Things change quickly in poker
March 9, 2007
Steve Rosenbloom (detroit free press)
Read the original article HERE
One of the keys to winning no-limit hold 'em tournaments
is to pay attention. Sounds basic, sure, but because
the blinds and the button move after every hand, and
because stack sizes do the same, poker becomes a situational
game.
Late in a tournament, one of the keys you must pay
attention to is the structure, specifically how quickly
the blinds increase and how much they go up in relation
to your chip count. The point is particularly acute
in such things as sit-and-goes and multi-table bar leagues
that move quickly. The Poker Superstars Invitational
is a big-money sit-and-go event, and it was the blind
structure in the second Poker Superstars Invitational
that explained a surprising play by Mike Sexton, host
of the World Poker Tour telecasts.
With blinds at $15,000-$30,000, Sexton drew pocket
deuces while sitting on the second-shortest stack. In
front of him on the short stack was David Sklansky,
author of some revered poker books. Holding Q-J suited,
Sklansky moved in for his $107,500. Sexton decided to
call, a move he ordinarily wouldn't make.
"I probably shouldn't have called," Sexton
said. "It's OK to move in with a small pair. Normally
it's not the right thing to do to call with a small
pair, because at best, you're going to be 50-50 or a
slight underdog against any hand -- 8-9, 9-10 -- and
if he has a pair, you're dead.
"I'm not a big fan of calling with small pairs
when a guy in front of me moves in. I think it's a poor
play. ... But it's situational. If the blinds and antes
are getting ready to go up again and I had him covered
and I thought he was a desperado, I was just gambling
that my small pair would hold up and I'd win a pot where
I got some chips."
Sklansky's suited overcards made him a 53-47% favorite
when the money got in. When the flop came 7-3-7 with
two clubs, Sklansky was almost a 3-2 favorite. But when
the turn came the 4 of spades, Sexton became a 57-43
favorite, and his deuces held up when the river came
the 10 of spades.
"If you know the blinds are going up in two hands
and you're going to be the big blind when it gets there,
you're better off to make a move prior to that with
two deuces or a J-10 of hearts or 9-10 of hearts rather
than try to hope you get some big hand when you're in
the big blind," Sexton said. "These are the
things that you have to recognize when you're sitting
at the table, especially in a structure like the Poker
Superstars, where the blinds and antes go up every 10
minutes."
