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This month we get the measure of deep stack play with online legend and tournament expert Johnny Lodden.
Q. What is your general strategy when playing marginal hands (9-9, 10-10, A-Q etc) pre-flop, early in a deep stack tournament?
A. If I am first to act with these kind a hands I usually like to make it 2.5X before the flop. Sometimes, however, I just limp so I can see a flop and play the hand from there. If I have a medium/high pocket pair, such as 99 or TT, in the first level and someone raises before me I like to 3-bet in poison. By doing this it allows me to spice-up the pot much easier when I hit a set.
Q. How do you handle A-K when facing a 4-bet 200 big blinds deep?
A. Playing A-K this deep will be different every time. It largely depends on who you are playing against, if you are in position, at what stage in the tournament it is and many other factors. It’s very hard to give a definitive answer to that question for those reasons. Probably the most important factor though is considering who your opponent is.
Q. In a tournament with the blinds at 25/50, the villain’s sitting on 11,000; the hero has 8,500. The villain in this hand is loose-aggressive and had been very active during the first level. The hero had been dealt A-K in the previous hand and had 3-bet the villain pre-flop. With action folded round to the villain in Seat 5, he raises the action to 225. The hero re-raises it to 700 on the button with A-K once again. Both blinds fold before the villain tanks and 4-bets to 2,100. What’s your thought process in this spot and what range do you put the villain on given his image and previous action?
A. First of all, it’s a very good question! It all depends on what type of tournament it is. If it is the Sunday Million, or a similar online tournament, I auto-push in this situation. In a live tourney, however, the dynamics are different, especially if the stacks are deep. Ultimate, however, I put all my chips across the line in this situation. It’s a really tough spot though!
Taking a flop for a quarter of your stack is generally not a good move so on that basis you’re left with two choices: push or fold. Given the information it’s hard to put the villain on anything since he has been so aggressive. He could easily be bullying with any two cards in this spot, so with A-K you almost have to push. If the stacks were a little deeper you could just call and take a flop, but to invest a quarter of your stack and fold when you miss the flop is not good. Overall, my verdict is that you should 5-bet all-in.
Q. Do you prefer to play pots more aggressively with medium and high suited connectors early on in deep stack tournaments as opposed to hands such as A-J and A-Q?
A. MUCH MORE! I really like to play suited connectors as much as I hate playing hands like A-J or A-Q! With hands such as A-J, even if you hit an ace you’re always in some kind of danger against other hands. I don’t play A-J/A-Q aggressively at all in the start of a tournament, or at any time for that matter. |
