The key: Lowered inhibitions.

You do the math.

Is it bad that I’m getting addicted to these lingerie poker tips from sxliesandvideo?

Admit it, it’s a helluva lot better than watching Chris Rose and Howard Lederer with their “Learn from the Pros…” series on FSN. Of course, I couldn’t tell you what information was presented in this video, beyond that it was something about being pot committed. Too busy checking out the milf-tastic buxon blond. Plus, I may be falling in love with the brunette. I think she’s done reality TV or something, but I don’t really care.

Anyway, on with the show!

The biggest mistake I see in poker tournaments, whether they are sit and go or multi-table tournaments, is the failure to adjust the player’s game to account for the variation in tournament rules versus cash game rules. I’ll be pulling together into this series as many videos on the subject of no limit holdem tournament strategy as I deem worthwhile, so stick around.

MyHoldemTips at YouTube has a great series of videos with tips for Texas Hold ‘Em players. Since I know from some emails and a some of the search traffic at this site that a few of you are beginners looking for the basics, we’ll start there and build. This video is a brief overview of the rules of No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em (NLHE).

Rick Braddy starts working on the middle game in this video, with about 6 players left. He’s the chip leader here, and he talks about his philosophy of gambling with a small portion of his chips, but still trying to stay patient and let the other players play while he analyzes their play. He shows the benefits of being a bit aggressive with his big stack, but his table is playing fairly loose-weak, so he’s able to pick up a bunch of orphan pots while his opponents wait for each other to get knocked out. He also talks about tightening up as your opponents begin to play back so you can trap them, a benefit of being able to change gears.

From my perspective, understanding the game from a strategic perspective – where you are in relation to the other players and the blinds – is a key to being able to change gears effectively. This knowledge helps you understand your opponents strategic position, so you know who can be pushed around and who is going to be looking for an opportunity to play for their stack.

Here is where I start to see some differences in the way I play and the way Rick plays. Rick is the chip leader, and begins playing some pretty marginal hands out of position. At this stage, I want to play very strategically – I’m a chip leader, I pick weak players during this stage, pop them with selective raises so I can either pick up some blinds or isolate with what are some pretty weak hands. Calling with A6 and 2-2 in EP is a prescription for leaking chips, bit by bit.

Your opinion?

If you recall from Sit and Go Texas Holdem Tournament Poker Tutorial, Part 1, Rick Braddy was advising not to check-and-call, and continues with this advice at the start of Part 2. I’ve played many SNG poker tournaments with a raise-or-fold mindset, and it works extremely well.

Why?

It forces many of your opponents to limit the range of hands they play against you. If they know that when you’re in a hand it will cost them a lot of their chips to play, they will tighten up against you and make it easy for you to read them.

He also advises taking chances when you have the chips to do so. Understanding where you are in the tournament, what I call “Situational Awareness“, is important when doing this. He also introduces his “X-Factor” strategy, which is exactly the same as Dan Harrington’s understanding of your “M”, which Dan took from Paul Magriel.

There’s been so much poker strategy published in the last few years that much of poker strategy has become an echo chamber. But, Rick uses his “X-Factor” in a more global sense than Harrington; where Harrington uses “M” to decide how to play a short-stack, Rick uses “X” in driving decision-making at all levels – big-stack vs. big-stack, big-stack vs. little-stack.

Rick Braddy put this series of videos together to teach sit-and-go strategy. I have a lot of successful experience with Sit-and-Go tournaments, with buy-ins from $.50 all the way up to $500. I’ll be reviewing this series against my own experience and strategies.

In the series, he narrates an actual tournament on Pokerstars, examining key elements. Early strategy is to watch the other players and play tight, but play aggressive when in a hand. This is good, sound strategy for the early stages of a SNG, and will get the player to the middle stages in relatively good shape.