Single Table Tournament ( STT ) - The Middle Stages Strategy

March 26th, 2008

Playing in the opening stages of STTs requires tight and aggressive play, in its purest form. Everyone knows that and as a player, I have never had any problems dealing with this issue. Short handed play, or heads up was always something I was naturally good at, too. When I have to be crazy aggressive, and play on the edge, for some reason I feel good about the game and manage to make all the right calls time and time again. I know not all online poker players are like that so I’ll devote a different article to the short handed and heads up stage in the future.

The stage that seems to give me the most problems, and where I most often get things wrong is the mid-blinds stage. It’s not short handed, so being ultra aggressive will not pay, but playing the same tight game you did in the beginning, won’t cut it anymore either. This stage requires a special sense of balance, and I truly admire people who can pull it off and get their stacks going during this stage.

The mid blinds period comes about when the blinds are 100/50 and there are already a few opponents out of contention. In beginners’ freerolls this is exactly when the bubble comes about too, to make matters worse.

My problem is that I find it extremely difficult to be loose and tight in the same time if you know what I mean, so I decided I really needed to brush up on this aspect of my play.

Here’s what I came up with: It makes perfect sense that by the time you reach the mid-blinds stage, stealing your opponents’ blinds will provide you some great value, and some of the folks around the table will indeed boost their stacks using this technique.

The key to successful mid-blinds play is apparently in the position. You play tight in early position and you play much looser than in the early stages of the tourney, from late position. That’s how you’re supposed to achieve that tight-loose play that will tide you through this extremely awkward stage in the game.

When out of position, your play shouldn’t be any different from the early stages of the game. Play tight, do not try to “milk” hands that you know you can’t take to a showdown. Do not limp about though as you did early on. At this stage, with the blinds being as big as they are, you cannot afford to limp around for 5% of your stack. Remember, a hand that is not worth betting or raising on, is hardly worth a call. If you commit, commit hard, or stay put.

Whenever you find yourself in late position, you have to change gears. This is what I and most other lousy players find so difficult to do. I mean I will change gears no problem as opposition slowly disappears from around the table, because I’m kind of forced to. When it comes to more subtle changes, such as the above described one though, I’m having problems. From late position, you have to step up the pace and start not only playing your hands in a much more aggressive manner, but attacking the blinds on hands you don’t normally feel good about.

Such hands should include suited connectors, and anything you would normally only limp along on. Again, limping is not an option here. If you’re on the button with $1,000 in chips, the blinds are $200/100, you have to raise to get the SB (with let’s say $1,500, and the BB with $ 2,000) to fold. If you only call them with a marginal hand, not only will you be forced to go all-in later anyways, you’ll also allow them to see some cards, and possibly complete a draw. You can’t go around raising like a madman on just anything though. It sometimes happens that either the BB or the SB decides to stand his/her ground and call you. In such situations, you want to give yourself a fair chance for after the flop, when a second shot fired in the defender’s direction might still make him/her fold , especially if he/she misses the flop.

Rakeback deals provide extra EV+ for those who know that they should indeed take advantage of them. Take the 27% Full Tilt rakeback for instance. You will pay only 73% of the rake the player next to you pays. How’s that for a long term edge?

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