La Kukaracha: Every Hand Revealed

On the PilipinasPoker forums, where I co-run an annual poker league (The PilipinasPoker APA Tour), one of the most-debated issues was the question of whether or not players should be allowed to sit out the entire tourney.

Predictably, the chief complainants were loose players who often busted out well before the sitouts blinded out. The sitouts would never make it to the money, but in a tourney league where leaderboard points have more long-term value than money they would end up higher in the rankings than some of these "playing players."

My personal stand on this issue is the simplest: A paying player has the right to play the tournament that he paid to play in however the hell he wants. If he wants to be the annoying jackass who open-shoves every hand, that's fine. If he wants to sit there and fold everything till his wrist hurts, that's fine too.

If a player's strategy is to play like a cockroach, he would not be the first of his kind.


So one day I decided to do it.

I paid for the entry at one of the PLO leaderboard events at The Midas Touch and then left the building. My last chip blinded out...12th place.

The next day I registered for the NLHE leaderboard event, immediately paid for the addon, and again left the building. Finished 11th place.

When I came in two days later, the murmuring had begun. I had to hear stories of how players could not make a move nearing the bubble because they were in mortal fear of the idea that they could bust out before an empty seat armed with naught but ante chips. Players were open-folding hands like pocket sixes and Ace-Jack!

They were not just "stories" by the way, they sounded more like informal complaints.

So on this day, to prove a point and silence the murmurs, I decided to do it again - but this time I would employ the "sitout strategy" while sitting at my seat.

"Ah, so you finally decided to play," teased a regular, "you actually do better when you don't play."

"Don't worry," I reassured him and the rest of the table, "I'm only playing Aces today."


Okay, not exactly a sit out, but it should amount to the same thing. Here's how it turned out:

Level 2, I get dealt AKs in the BB. Several players limp it to me... I check. Flop is ten-high with none of my suit, and I check-fold.

Level 3, AQs in the BB. I check, I check-fold the K-Q-7 flop. My initial stack of 5k is down to about 4k, so I decide to pay for the addon.

Level 4, nearing the end of the addon period and approaching the first break. I still have over 10k in chips. I get my Aces. Not wanting to complicate my strategy, I chose to stay true to the spirit of the Ipis. I open-shove. No callers, I don't show my hand. There is speculation that I am using my image. Whatever, I'm getting too sleepy from this strategy to get involved in the conversation.

About twenty players left, I open-fold a couple of AKo hands, pocket tens, and pocket twos. My stack is just about 8.2k...

Thirteen players left, nearing my previous high finish of eleventh, I decide to revise my strategy a bit. Since I already know that players are just going to wait me out to make the final table, I saw no sense in continuing the sit out. Change of gear, I would open-shove any Ace once my M (Magriel's number, as explained by Harrington as the cost of each round of poker) was less than five.

A loose player raises from UTG, I shove over the top with AKo and get called by J3o. My first double-up, stack is just under 20k.

A couple more open shoves - A7s and A5s - and I am in the final table with 28k.

At the final table, I keep folding as players drop off. I finally see ATo and shove over an EP limper. No callers, and my stack is back near 30k.

7 players left, and I have not played a single hand post-flop. This strategy has given me absolutely no headache, but I have completely neutralized any edge I might have had over some of the more casual players.

Two more players drop out. My stack is now at around M3, so I decide KQo is good enough to open-shove over a limper. He calls me with Q5s, spikes the five, and I am out at fifth.


Long live the Ipis!


Afterthought: in a field of mostly casual players, where small-balling might not work and there is not likely going to be any metagaming, I highly recommend employing a bastard-child of the pure sitout if you want a relaxing tourney experience. Just hang in there, and change your gears when the bubble approaches, and you might find yourself with a decent final table stack without ever playing a hand post-flop. Word of warning, it's not much fun.

How to make sure your A-Game is a perfect TEN

On this PilipinasPoker forum thread, a poster asked about how to prep for a big tourney.  My mind immediately wandered into strategic considerations that I personally prepare:

--> What is the size of the field?
--> What is the starting stack and blinds?  Duration of each level?
--> What is the expected average quality of the competition?  TAGGY or LAGGY?  Or just mostly DONKEY?
--> How long am I expecting to sit before level breaks / day-end breaks?
--> Is the venue climate warm, cold, dingy, etc...?


These, and other factors I consider, eventually help me decide if I am going to small-ball or nit up.  Will I be an incessant blind-stealer, or am I going to be the sitting-sitout-artist?


As I pondered how to phrase this into digestible advice, I then thought of something more basic that will surely help this poster... after all, people can come up with countless strategies that I may not agree with, but the bottom-line will always be this:  "make sure you have your goddamned A-Game on!"

 ...or else, no strategy can be excuted properly.



So instead of cluttering minds with stategic advice, notes and research methods, and a regimen of practice sessions pre-tourney, this is my eventual reply to the post, based on one of my favorite pickups from "The Eightfold Path to Poker Enlightenment"...


Make sure your A-Game is a TEN.

On the night before the tourney, get some sleep - turn in early and make sure you are up in the morning.  This might get you excited and impatient, so you will have to calm down.  This is your chance to actually practice calming yourself down and getting into a "TEN" mode.  You will be doing this all throughout the length of the marathon big tourney.

You can do this calming exercise standing still or while walking around. 

Inhale deeply through your nose, then hold your breath for two seconds.  Then as you exhale through your mouth, make sure the duration of your exhale is stretched out to double the time you took inhaling.  This will slow your body down and sharpen your mind by eliminating clutter and creating space.

Then as you exhale, count ""one"

Go all the way to "ten"

If you lose count, start over.  If you cannot make it to ten, you are not mentally sharp to play, so keep focusing, unless you are happy with an "eight"...?

After ten, you are ready to play. 

Now get a full meal and a full bathroom session in before you even head out towards the tourney venue.  Time it so you get to the tourney venue just about ten minutes before it starts.  Don't worry about registration of missing the first few deals.  Get into the mindset that you will be here a loooong time.

If you feel antsy - like you wanna fucking play already - breathe...and do not sit down till after "ten"

Now play your "ten" game ;-)