Poker Help – Poker Tips – Poker Strategy

Mark Vos
Full Tilt Pro

I played some of the best poker of my life at one of my all-time favorite tournaments – the Aussie Millions. In the 2005 event, even though I failed to reach the six-handed Main Event’s final table, I came very close, busting out of the event in eighth place. For this tip, I thought I’d share the details of my final hand which, though played properly, left me on the rail.

With eight players left and the average chip stack at about 1 million, I had around 600,000 in chips. I was in the small blind and it was folded around to Shannon Shorr on the button, who limped for 40,000. At this point, I didn’t put Shannon on much of a hand. He’d been playing aggressively all day, so I thought he was pretty weak – I gave him an outside chance of a tiny pocket pair, but figured he was far more likely to have some mediocre suited or marginally connected hand.

I found K-T off-suit in the small blind. I didn’t want to raise out of position even though I liked my hand because it would have been into a quality player, so I just completed, looking to see a flop. The big blind checked and the flop came K-7-2, with two hearts. This was a great flop for my hand. I checked and the big blind bet the minimum. I figured he hit something like middle pair and was just trying to figure out if his hand was good with a small feeler bet. Shannon called. At this point, Shannon could have had a wide range of hands – he might have had a King, a flush draw, or have hit middle or bottom pair.

I decided to raise to 100K. It was a small raise that didn’t risk my whole stack, but still gave me the opportunity to define my hand. The big blind folded instantly, which is what I thought was likely to happen. Shannon thought for a while and called. It seemed to me that he really had something to think about. At this point, I thought he could possibly have a King, but it seemed more likely he had some kind of draw. I also didn’t write off the remote chance he had three of a kind.

An Ace came on the turn and, even though some might have viewed it as a scare card, I thought it was a really good card for me. I was pretty certain that Shannon would have raised pre-flop with any hand that contained an Ace, so I bet out on the turn and he moved in instantly. Now I was sure my hand was good. If he had a King, the Ace would have at least caused him to think about his hand for a while, so I now ruled out this possibility. When he moved in so quickly, I thought that he was trying to represent a hand that was bigger than what he actually had, which made me believe he couldn’t have a set. With all these pieces of information, I was confident he was on a draw and that my hand was good.

I called quickly and was happy to see that Shannon did actually have a draw. It happened to be a flush draw, which was a bit stronger than I had hoped. Unfortunately, a heart came on the river, and I busted from the tournament. Despite this outcome, I left feeling good about my play, as I knew I had made the right move.

Still, I’m looking forward to playing again this year and, hopefully, improving on my performance. For a serious poker player, the Aussie Millions offers one of best structures of any tournament anywhere. Play starts nine-handed, then moves pretty quickly to eight-handed play. They play six-handed for the final six tables, which creates a lot of action and is great fun.

I know that many Full Tilt Poker pros, including Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen, Chris Ferguson, and others will be there as well. You can join us all by playing in the Aussie Millions satellites at Full Tilt Poker which will award $15K prize packages to at least 20 players.

Mark Vos
Full Tilt Pro

Mark Vos
Full Tilt Pro

In 2006, I won the $2,000 No-Limit Hold ‘em event at the World Series of Poker. It’s a great honor to have the bracelet. The $800,000 that I got for first place is, of course, awesome. For most of the tournament, I was short stacked. But, I think I played my short stack well and, for this tip, I thought I’d share some thoughts I have on short-stack play.

The key to my short-stack survival was that I was able to steal enough pots to stay alive. There was only one play I could use; move in, and hope everyone folded. It worked out for me, despite the fact I was card dead most of the day.

There were a couple of reasons my steals were effective. First was that I was careful not to let my stack fall below seven or eight big blinds. In No-Limit tournaments, it’s very important to do your stealing when you have at least eight to 10 big blinds. If the average stack is between 20 and 25 big blinds, which is common in the later stages of tournaments, and you move all-in for eight or more big blinds, only very strong hands are going to call you. Your opponents won’t want to risk becoming a short stack by losing a confrontation, so there’s a tremendous amount of fold equity.

If your stack drops to the point where you only have five or six big blinds, you’re far more likely to get called. So you need to be very aware of the size of your stack and the location of the button. If you’re sitting on eight big blinds and you’re in middle position, you should look for a chance to push in and steal before you move through the blinds.

While you’re on the short stack, you also want to have a tight image. You want everyone to think you’re patiently waiting for a strong hand. If you give off this impression, you are going to get a lot of respect, which should increase the likelihood that your opponents will fold when you move in.

When I’m on the short stack, I don’t mind moving in from early position, even when I’m under-the-gun. I did this frequently in the WSOP tournament I won, even when I was holding rags. It worked out well. I had a tight image, so an early position move looked very strong. Unless someone picked up a hand like pocket Queens or Kings, I was likely to pick up the all-important blinds and antes.

When you’re on a short stack, you need to stay alive while you wait for decent cards. The key is to find situations where your opponents are likely to fold. If you keep your stack over eight big blinds, create a tight image, and move in from a variety of positions, you have a good chance of stealing enough pots to stay alive in the tournament. Hopefully, things will go your way and you’ll pick up some hands so that you can build your stack up and take out the tournament!

Mark Vos
Full Tilt Pro