Ask A Pro – Shawn Rice
Thursday, December 18, 2008 - smokin_aces
I’ve actually started creating a little online library of poker tips from the last month of ‘Ask A Pro’. We have an extra special pro coming up in the near future so stay tuned!
This week we have Ultimate Bet Pro Shawn Rice as our guest. Our resident Ultimate Bet Blog contributer paulodiablo yet again comes through with a great question. He even had the grace to hold off for a few days in hopes more blog readers would jump at the chance to get their voices heard by the pros.
Here’s paulodiablo’s question for Shawn Rice.
“Shawn, this question relates to your article on shifting gears in tourney play. You mentioned the bubble and shorthanded as good times to open up the amount of hands you play. What hands would you consider playing in these situations that you wouldn’t when playing tight? Also what guidelines for stack size and blind rations do you use for making moves?”
And now Shawn’s answer.
“First off with your question about bubble situations there is no easy answer to this. The best way to chip up in these situations is to try and get away with what others at your table will allow. If you are playing the Sunday 200K for example and you are near the money bubble and everyone is playing very careful and trying to not get involved in many pots because they really want to cash because many people satellited into the event for much less than the $215 entree fee. Take advantage of this and open your starting range a little wider. Say you would never raise UTG with a hand like A 10 with 8 others behind you, Now that you know everyone is playing super careful and no chance you would get called by someone with lets say AQ or someone with a small or even a medium size pair because they don’t want to get involved til everyone is in the money without a really big hand these are situations to look for. You might even want to not even raise a full 3 times the big blind either, Maybe if you raise 2.5 times the big blind and do this more often you will find yourself winning lots more uncontested pots. You want to be able to raise the least amount and be able to get the desired results, This is always the case throughout the tournament.
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Your other question about “What guidelines for stack size and blind rations do you use for making moves?”
It is well known everyone feels really desperate at 10 times the big blind, Because if you raise most any pot you will be getting such a good price that folding is probably not going to be a great option for you. With that being said you will often be getting called because they know your range of hands you are likely to play is quite wide. What I have done to adapt to this is I feel very desperate at 15 times the big blind. I get lots more respect because they think I must have a hand because they don’t see me as being desperate. Even if I get a little lucky and double up when I am at 15x. I will now be well over 30x counting all the blinds and antes and possible limpers in the pot. If I was say to wait til I was 7 or 8 times the big blind and get lucky enough to double up, I am still somewhat desperate and it’s true you will very likely have to get a little lucky to win a large field poker tourney. I rather be in a situation of when this does happen to me, I am still not desperate. When you are 30 times the big blind (30x) you can raise and if you get reraise you can fold and still not be desperate. If you are around the 20x you can now reraise others and now they can fold to you pretty easy if that have as many chips as you do. So I am often looking for places to reraise when I am around 20x. When I am 15x or less I know I am going to play for all of my chips and my decision process is alot easier, It’s mainly all or nothing. I often get asked if I have a big hand at like 12x should I just call or do a small raise to entice action. I like to not let my hand value determine how I play the hand. I would shove with 88 there so if I start only 3 betting with AA, later I will be easier to read, If you shove with AA there when you are 12x, It look weak anyways and you are libel to get a weak call with lets say 10 10 or even AQ.
These are little secrets that work for me. With that being said there are always exceptions to the rules. When my table is playing very fast and there is lots of raising going on, I lay back and play a much tighter range of hands because I know when I do pick up a hand I will get it paid off. If I go through a long drought of not picking up any hands i will see who is running without the ball pretty often and play my tight image against them and “tax them” for playing to many hands with a reraise and I am likely to get the respect I deserve and still maintain a nice chip stack. Always be aware of your image as well as others at the table and use this to your advantage.
Proud UB Team Member
Shawn Rice”
Check back at the regular time tomorrow to see which Ultimate Bet pro will be answering the question next week. As well, follow paulodiablo’s lead and grab your chance to have a question answered by a real live pro.
GL
Aces
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December 18th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Thanks for answering. That’s great info… I often find myself feeling the most unsure of myself near the end of the road, and often second guess ways I play things out when short or bubbling. Those are good guidelines.
Anyways… I’m off to Central America for three weeks to bask on the beach, so there’s a solid block of time for others to question the pros besides me. Thanks again guys… love the blog!
Merry Christmas