Tabatabai’s tournament strategy

SCENARIO ONE

You are playing in an online six-handed multi-table tournament and have built your stack up to 22,000 from a 2,000 starting stack. You are still a fair way from the bubble with the blinds at 400/800 when you’re dealt A?-K? in the cut-off. A player in early position who has you covered raises to 2,400 and you elect to flat-call. The blinds both fold and you see a 4?-6?-6? flop. The early position player checks, you bet 3,000 and he calls. The turn comes out as a red deuce. The early position player checks again, and this time you check behind. The river comes out as A? and this time the early position player leads out for 8,000. What’s your move?

PRE-FLOP
Your 22,000 stack is pretty huge compared with the blinds, so it’s needless to risk it. Flat-calling with A?-K? on the button is fine unless the early position raiser is a known donk.

FLOP
If the early position player checks a standard continuation bet flop opportunity of 6-6-2, he is probably going for pot control with big cards – holdings without any previous history would most likely have to be A-K, A-Q, A-J, maybe K-Q, and so on. I imagine someone with a pocket pair would bet, not wanting to let you see a free card for an overcard to then drop and make the hand more difficult to play. It is possible that he flopped a monster (a full house or quads) and is waiting for you to catch up. When he checks, this is a good spot to bet – you will be able to take down the pot in this situation a lot of the time. You at least get to see river for free by just checking.

TURN
Anyway, he calls. The turn is blank. A check-check is fine as you don’t want to get a check-raised off a) the best hand, and b) a nut flush draw. Also, you don’t want to escalate the pot with an opponent who I have assumed to be the only other huge stack at the table.

RIVER
The river drops an Ace and he bets out 8,000. A call is the best option as you have the best hand here a high percentage of the time. There are several possibilities here. He could be wrongly value-betting A-Q or A-J; he could be playing a pocket pair badly, for example, wrongly value-betting 10-10; or he could be trying to get tricky with K-K, Q-Q or J-J and misbetting. The unfortunate times when he has flopped quads or a full house you will just have to swallow your pride and pay him off. I could only get away from this if I was playing live and able to talk to the opponent to try to get him to reveal that he had me beat. Raising is bad on the river as you fold out all the hands you beat and lose extra chips when you are beat.

SCENARIO TWO

You are playing in an online multi-table tournament. You have a stack of just under your starting amount of 3,000 in the second level with blinds at 25/50. You pick up A?-Q? in mid-position and raise to 150 after it is folded round to you. You pick up one caller in late position and the blinds fold. He covers. The flop comes out 3?-J?-10?. You lead out for 200 and the late position player calls. The turn comes an 8?. You lead out for 400 and the late position player raises to 1,000. You call. The river reveals a 3?. You check, the late-position player shoves. Can you ever call here and should you have shoved the turn?

PRE-FLOP
Raising to three times the big blind with A?-Q? in mid-position is a standard play.

FLOP
A flop of 3?-J?-10? with a flush draw is pretty much a monster position with a shortish stack, so in this instance you should be looking at the most profitable way of getting your chips in the middle. Continuation betting the flop is the standard move – most likely you have the best hand and, if not, you have great pot equity to give you the best chance to win the pot.

TURN
When you make the nuts on the turn on a very draw-heavy board it’s best to keep betting, because the majority of your opponent’s flop calling range will continue on the turn. Much to your surprise, he raises the turn to 1,000. It’s a small raise so he evidently has something and wants to keep you in. Once you know that he has a good hand there is no point in slow-playing. If the early position player checks a standard c-bet flop opportunity of 6-6-2, he’s going for pot control with big cards

Re-raising all-in is fine and should get a call. By only flat-calling you allow some scare cards to drop that may kill any action you would have had otherwise – that is, another club – or one of the straight draws could drop to kill action from possible holdings such as smaller flushes, two pair, sets and straights.

SCENARIO THREE

You are playing in a deep-stacked live tournament and are at a table of young aggressive players, so you are surprised when one of them limps from under the gun. You have A?-J? and limp from mid-position. The small blind completes and the big blind checks. You have roughly 15,000 chips, which is the largest stack on your table. The remainder have between 8,000 and 12,000. Blinds are 25/50 at this point. You flop the nuts with K?-8?-6?. The blinds check, the under-the-gun player leads out for 200 and you raise to 550. The small blind re-raises to 1,300, the big blind folds and so does the under-the-gun player. You call. The turn comes out 2? and the small blind leads for 2,000. You just call, but think about shoving. The river pairs the board with 8?. At this point the small blind shoves in. What do you do?

PRE-FLOP
This is a very interesting hand and one similar to what Sorel Mizzi played recently in the Amsterdam Classics. Limping in mid-position with A?-J? is fine, especially if you’re playing deep-stacked – you want to give the others the chance to limp with dominated flush-draw hands and you will also be able to disguise your hand, especially if you have an aggressive image.

FLOP
The flop play is fine, and once you get donk re-reraised I think it’s fine to flat-call. If you re-rereraise here your hand is face-up – it will be too transparent and will be hard to get much value from.

TURN
When the small blind leads for 2,000 on the turn there is about 5,000 in the pot, which is a huge amount of chips this early on in the tournament, and you have to look at what hands he is likely to have. He can’t be semi-bluffing with the nut-draw as you have the nuts, so his most likely holdings are a flopped flush, a lower flush-draw played super-aggressive (this is unlikely), a flopped two-pair or possibly a set.

If you flat-call here you allow a bunch of river cards to come off that could kill your action – that is, the board could pair and you wouldn’t get full value from a lower flopped flush. Another club could drop and thus kill your action from sets and lower flushes. Since you know that a high percentage of your opponent’s range here is very strong, and your hand is well-disguised, I think it is a great spot to go all-in. It looks like you have the bare A?. Also, it is hard to put you specifically on anything and with his range being so strong he will most likely have to call. Shoving all-in here is by far the superior play. Also, it avoids the risk of being bluffed on the river.

RIVER

When the river pairs and he goes all-in, you have to consider the blind levels, the size of your edge over your opponents, and the abilities of the players on the table. If it is an easy table, I would always err on the side of caution in big marginal pots, merely because I don’t need to take such risks to win chips.

If I was a break-even player, was playing for fun, or knew I was on a table of very strong players, then I would take those gambles that presented themselves. Here however, you would think that if your opponent had a lower flush he would be slightly worried about the board pairing, and your hand looks like it could have been two-pair or a set. You would also think they would want to get some value and bet smaller to get a call rather than an all-in. The river isn’t a great spot but with a slow structure and weak opponents it is an easy fold. However, by far the superior play is to shove all-in on the turn. Even if your opponent doesn’t call – which will only be about 10% of the time – you still pick up 5,000 in the middle, increasing your stack by just over 20%. A nice result very early on.