The fishtank part 18

Deal or no deal?

Where do you stand on making deals at the final table? Before I made any I was dead against them, but I’ve made a few recently and as soon as it’s down to the final three I’m usually the one suggesting the chop. I’m fairly confident in my endgame but I seem to want to lock in safe money rather than play on and potentially lose a fairly large sum of money. Everyone is normally agreeable and the chop done according to chipstack sizes, but do you think it can have a negative effect on your game if you’re thinking about deals as opposed to winning the game outright?

John Davis

SF: There are several factors that go into deciding whether or not to make a deal at a final table. A lot of it comes down to personal goals and character. If you’re the type of person who’s happy to make the money (or really needs to earn that guaranteed money) and not necessarily going for the win, then you’ll want to make a deal when it gets down to the last few players. It’s also a question of maths, stack sizes, structure and your confidence. If you’re down to three players, the blinds are sky-high and it’s a total crapshoot, it makes sense to do a three-way chop, because there’s no longer much skill involved and your chances of getting first or third are pretty much the same, so you might as well lock up the most money you can. However, if the structure is good and you have a chip lead, you might decide against making a deal.

You also need to take into consideration the players you’re up against and how you’re feeling. If you’re confident in your game and feel like you have a good shot to win, it would basically be negative EV to chop. However, if you’re exhausted or don’t feel at the top of your game, by all means make a deal if you can. The bottom line is that there’s no right or wrong answer. It’s completely circumstantial and a business decision at the end of the day. Playing poker is about making the most money possible, so evaluate the situation and decide whether or not making a deal is the best decision for you in any given tournament.

Turbos

We have recently started playing a series of turbo tournaments rather than a deep-stacked all-nighter at our home game, the idea being that everybody gets a bit more poker involvement over the course of the evening. But this has become frustrating for the better players, who say the luck factor is so much bigger and skill has little bearing. What are your thoughts on this and do you have any specific strategy tips for live turbos?

Catherine Jones

SF: Well, you’re absolutely right about the luck factor being increased in turbo tournaments. So, if you’re playing for fun at a home game and your goal really is to have fun and involve everyone, than it’s a great way to go. However, if a lot of your friends are frustrated and aren’t enjoying it, that pretty much defeats the purpose.

As far as strategy goes, I think the best way is to play relatively tight at the beginning, mostly playing only premium hands. Once the blinds start to get big, it’s time to start pushing allin. At this point, playing position is more important than your cards, and this is where the luck really comes into play, but hopefully you have set yourself up with a good tight image from the beginning, which will allow you to get away with a bit more stealing and will have hopefully preserved your chip stack.

Email Scott! pokerplayer@dennis.co.uk