IM-ON-TILT

Almost finish reading two good poker books. Phil Gordon's "Little blue book" and Daniel Negreanu's "Hold'Em wisdom for all players. Both had great theories, strategies and hand analysis. There are a few subjects where they both think the opposite but one of them stood out the most:

Phil G says: If your big stack, attack average stacks, avoid short and other big stacks.

Daniel says: If your big stack, attack short stacks, avoid average to big stacks.

Which do you think is a better strategy for early, middle and late in the tournament? (Don't answer based on which player said what, it's obvious Daniel is the better player)

stpboy

Great question.

I completely agree with Phil G on this one if you're attacking for the sake of stealing with ANY hand (which is I think what they mean) I would think you would want to attack the average stacks as you would be less likely to get called/pushed back at. Average stacks leave it more open for them to fold on the flop due to the fact that presumably there is more fold equity. However, if you're attacking with mid-range hands such as a sooted Ace/ QJ, K10 etc. you can really put the pressure on either. Keeping in mind that proper position is the most relevant aspect in doing this.

stp

__________________
I typically bet that my luck is better than your skill.

Wolffhound

What he said, but, in 7 lines less.

__________________
Royal Cup V/IX Champ with Kit Who? - 2 time Royal Cup MVP
The only certified "class act piece of shit scumbag jerkoff" of the CPF.

Bobsi38127

I'm goin against the grain here and agreeing w/DN on this one. (This answer might end up getting long, so bear w/me.) If ur the big stack and ur against the little stack ur putting pressure on him more and more for all of their chips and they will get more scared and start playing tighter and tighter or u will catch them in desperation on a weak hand when u have the better of it.
For example late in a tournament 4 handed blinds $200-$400 if u have $7500 on the button and the short stack has $1000 in front and has commited $200 for the SB and the BB has say $2350 and has comitted $400 if u fired $1200 PF you would put pressure on the SS for it all and make the BB commit 1/2 of his stack, and in the worst case scenario the SS could call, but really ur putting a small portion of ur stack in so it doesn't jeprodize ur tournament position and (if u have shitty cards) u have the small chance of donkey punching ur opponent if he has a premium hand. Another bad case is if the BB calls cuz he has the position to follow up w/a continuation all in on the flop, or slowplay into u but an all in 90% of the time on the flop after a check could scare them off.
Average stacks can gamble on draws on 2-3x blind bets where small stacks will wait for optimal positions to push, so that is an excellent time to capitalize on their weakness.

Eclipse

I'm with Phil Gordon on this one.

BigChrisEl

You are going to need a hand to do this because it's an automatic call if the SB pushes, but what about the BB?

He comes over the top and goes all-in are you going to call another 1000? You almost have to, if you lose then your stack drops to 5000 and the BB now has about 5000 as well and now the blinds are coming to you and you are in a bad situation.

You have basically given your self and the blinds no chance to fold if they have anything reasonable with that move.

In your example you don't have a large enough stack with the blinds at the current level to bully any one.

Now if you had 15,000 5 handed and the blinds have 4000 and 6000 at 200/400 a raise of 1200 could easily get them to fold.

If they come over the top on you it is an easy fold for you as well, but they will not come over the top with out a monster because you could easily bust them so close to the money and they don’t want to go broke with an average stack because they have more then enough to wait it out.

__________________
The Donkey, though it may go to the Holy Land, will still come back a donkey.

Metro

I agree with both players here, having not read either of these books, I am not sure exactly the situations to which they are referring.

Having said that, I would say the big stack has a lot of options and can apply force to both average and small stacks – but in different places and for different reasons.

MOST of this depends on the quality of the player.

AVERAGE STACKS:

Pick on average stacks in the middle, bubble and money section of the tournament. If they are weak/passive/tight players.

It shouldn’t take much to push these players off pots because they recognized that a 4x bb bet represents a significant % of their stack and are therefore less likely to commit chips on drawing cards.

They know that if they do this a couple of times they become a small stack. IMO an average stack wants to remain there so that they can use their chips effectively – ultimately they do not want to get into the position where they lose their chances to provide any fold equity.

A good player in the middle of a tournament will be aware of their stack in relation to the blinds and they will recognize that they can become short stacked in one of two ways – they can let the blinds do it to them or conversely they play poker.

I would opt to play poker, and sometimes they best way to get some chips is to watch for the big stack whom is (correctly) using their chips to steal blinds. As an average stack you should have enough chips to push the big stack off their hand – hopefully while picking up another 4 bb.

With a big stack attack average stacks aggressively throughout middle, bubble and money stages of the tournament, especially the players who are tight and/or passive.

SMALL STACKS:

I really want to start putting pressure on the small stacks near the bubble, on the bubble and in the money.

In particular I am watching for the player who was average stack two blind levels ago but appears not to be putting any chips in. Many players with small stacks shut down once they think they can make money – you should take advantage of this.

The guy who hasn’t played a hand for a whole level and is now 2 from the bubble is only going to play with great cards – so you really want to push this type of player around.

The advantage of playing these players is two-fold.

First, if they do call you are not in that bad a of a position because their stacks cannot significantly deplete yours, in the way an average stack can.

Second, taking these players out is profitable. It moves you up the money schedule.

IMO both Daniel and Phil are correct. It depends on the type of opponents you face and the level of the tournament (mid, bubble, money).

__________________
In the poker game of life - women are the rake.