The Poker Lab Rat » Mark Seif on Short-handed and Tournament Poker Play

PLAYING THE PLAYER

In short-handed play, the cards don’t matter as much; it’s all about the person – what’s their tendency, what’s their comfort zone. And you adjust your play to that. The cards don’t matter as much short handed; you’re really just trying to get into your opponents heads.

LOOSEN THAT BUTTON

Position is very important in heads-up and short-handed play. The blinds are antes come around more often, and you can’t give up your button very often, because that’s often the position that you’re going to steal from. If it’s folded around you, you only have to get past the blinds now, so you’re going to try to steal.

THE OPPOSITE OF SHORT-HANDED

When you’re at a full table, you’re probably going to see a lot more automatic stuff, a lot more fairly A-B-C stuff. That’s typically how tournaments start off. I have no problem folding K-Q in first position at a full table at the outset of a tournament. Plus, there’s nothing to be had in the middle in terms of blinds and antes. You’re looking to trap, not steal. Later on stealing is far more rewarding than trapping. But in the beginning of a tournament, trapping is far more rewarding than stealing.

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Mark Seif on Short-handed and Tournament Poker Play

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