Win deep-stacks

What’s your plan for the early stages of a deep-stack?

At the recent Manchester GUKPT leg (that Marc won) there were players opening for 300 at 25/50. That’s double the standard raise of three times the big blind! That can be common though, so the way to approach a table like that is to be patient and take a backseat. There’s no point in being ultra-aggressive, it’s more about steady accumulation.

To do this, I like to call with lots of hands in position during the first two levels; this allows me to see lots of flops in position. If, at the end of level two, I’ve increased my stack from 10,000 to 12,000 I’m very happy.

You’ve invented a strategy called CPS – but what exactly is it?

It stands for control, position and starting hands, in order of importance – that’s how I think poker should be played. Most people think about starting hands first, then position, and finally control. But thinking about it logically, if you take control of the pot on the button with no hand, then your starting hand strength is irrelevant.

You’re in control of the pot and you’ve got position. In early position you need more of a hand but you still need to take control of the pot.

What kinds of mistakes do you see from players trying to force the action?

There’s no need to be in a rush to double-up! Somehow at 100/200 I managed to get 17,000 in pre-flop with Aces against my opponent’s Jacks! Why he did that I don’t know. That’s 85 big blinds!

The way that the betting went illustrates another point – that you don’t get all your chips in when you’ll only be called by a hand that dominates you. In this hand I raised to 600 with Aces and my opponent shoved for 21,000! Not only is that a massive overbet, but he’s only going to get called if he’s dead, but he makes hands that he beats such as 10-10, 9-9 or A-Q fold.

How should your strategy change as the tournament progresses?

Once the antes kick in one of my golden rules is to never play in an unraised pot. I will re-raise raisers, or I will be the initial raiser – but I will never be the caller. The exception to this is if I’ve got a monster like Aces or Kings and I think someone may make a squeeze play behind me. But even then I don’t like to do it. It’s best to be the aggressor in any pot you play in.

Should you look to bully if you have a big stack?

At the end of day one at the GUKPT in Manchester I had nearly 150,000 in chips, which was a record for the first day of the GUKPT. Here’s how I did it… When I doubled up to 34,000 I didn’t just sit back and wait; I continued to be the aggressor. I got up to 70,000 almost uncontested. At that point the average was around 19,000. I was consistently raising about four times an orbit. When you do this and actually wake up with a hand, players never believe you so I would never slow-play.

Instead, if someone raises and you look down at Aces, put in a bigger raise than usual and it’ll look like you’re trying to bully them off the pot. It’s very important to be aware of your own table image.

How should you play as the bubble approaches?

Everyone hangs on for the bubble to burst so you should exploit that. The medium stacks try to hang on even more than the small stacks, because they think, ‘There’s no way I won’t cash unless I tangle with someone who can knock me out.’ But in tournaments you need to get in the mindset of winning.

Forget about merely making the money. With the difference between fourth (£18,000) and first (£92,000) being so big, you must go for the win and try to accumulate chips at all times. It will be more profitable in the long-term.

Once you’re at or near the final table how should your play change?

If you’ve got a big stack as the final table looms I’d advise going into rock mode, because there will be several short-stacks that are in push/fold mode. If you’re mid-stacked as it approaches I’d play much more aggressively to try and set yourself up for a shot at winning. When you get to the final table then you can switch gears.

The money jumps are more meaningful, so players will often tighten up making looser play more profitable. My advice to anyone who makes a final table is to raise and re-raise only.