Letters to Doctor Jack
Hi Jack, Irecently joined paddypowerpoker and finished second in a $5 dollar multi tourney. I have been playing poker for roughly 6 months. I prefer to a lot of $2 and $5 dollar mulit tourneys.
I have been getting to the first break a lot of the time but i find i have been struggling after that. I have been wondering is it because a lot of players change their stratagy after the break? I tend to play tight for the first couple off hands and watch the rags go out with their low stack, but if i get a tempting hand i always get beat, then try and play catch up with my low stack then go out. So can u help me with a stratagy for after the break so i dont go out?
Thank you,
WAMBAM123
Hey WAMBAM123,
Even Phil Ivey, supposedly the best tournament player in the world, probably started
playing $2 MTT's before he hit the big time.
With any tourney, low stakes or otherwise, the key is survival. When people are
playing for only a few dollars, they think nothing of going all-in with a marginal
hand. If you're going to bet, be prepared to commit your chips. Don't do it in a half
assed way! Be aggressive. Remember, you are the man! If you're going to go out, make
sure you can say you were way ahead pre flop and not just chasing a hand. And if you
don't have an excellent hand, just fold. Repeat after me, there is no shame in folding.
Another crucial factor is table reputation. Your table reputation will be established
by letting the other players seeing that you only enter pots with the best hands. When
you've done this a few times, they know that you mean business and are not going to re-
raise their pot bets with muck. So they'll fold.
When the break arrives, and you've refreshed your pot of tea and made a fresh batch of
cucumber sandwiches, be prepared to hustle. The blinds are going up and everyone has
an eye on finishing in the money. Now the blinds are worth stealing. This doesn't mean
you're not going to get called, so make sure you have a good hand. Make it expensive
for players to see your hand. And stay away from the guys with the monster stacks!
They will call your raises at minimal risk to their own health and could well get a
lucky flop.
The moment you stop caring is the moment you will go out of the tournament. Don't
concentrate on the $2 you bought in with. Instead focus on the 1st prize, and the
sweet smell of success.
Mmm, cucumber.
Dr. Jack
All about Dr Jack
Dr Jack is one of four brothers from a large family of fifty two. A dapper gent, you will always see him in a suit. Although on the more debauched side, he claims to like a woman with a nice pair and has occasion to get blind drunk on his favoured tipple, “Gin”. He likes to run occasionally and would describe himself as straight, although most people do think he is a bit nuts. He was once caught folding to a gay waiter...
Flush with cash and a member of several affluent clubs, he once ran a marginally successful fresh water lobster farm. Unfortunately the business flopped leaving him feeling like a bit of a cowboy. He left the world of opulence to follow his heart all the way to poker heaven. His peers describe him as a “diamond geezer” and “one of a kind”. Those who have fallen foul to his superior skills refer to him with less gracious terms.
Dr Jack lives in a rather full house in the Cotswold’s with his two dogs Siegfried and Roy and a Bolivian tree frog called Boris.
