Lessons From The Pro Poker Tour: A Seat At The Table With Poker's Greatest Players

By David Apostolico

The invitation-only Professional Poker Tour is strictly limited to the top 200 players in the world. David Apostolico is one of the elite, and he found that going up against other poker masters every day was like attending an incomparable seminar. He takes you through specific hands that he either played or observed, giving detailed analyses that will teach you how to think like a pro. Assessment and adaptability are key factors for survival and success in fast-moving games with experienced players. Smart strategy is your greatest asset, and by studying the extensive hands in this book, you'll learn the tactics and approaches of legendary winners.

Most poker books focus on the math and science of poker. But the pros know that there really are no hard and fast rules, and that playing "by the book" will only get you so far before your game becomes completely transparent. By studying the real-world strategies of players like Doyle Brunson, T. J. Cloutier, Billy Baxter, Berry Johnson, and many others--brought to you by one who's been there--you can raise your game to the next level, and have a great time doing it.

"David Apostolico has just delivered his third book telling you how to destroy your opponents at the poker table. I loved all of them and feel everybody should add all three to their poker library." --Tom McEvoy, WSOP champion and co-author of the Championship series of poker books

David Apostolico plays in dozens of poker tournaments each year. He has won tournaments in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and online.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Citadel Press
• Release date: Aug 1, 2006
• ISBN: 9780818407345

Book preview

Tour™.

PART I

Hand Analysis

Playing A-K

Playing A-K can often prove tricky even though it is one of the best starting hands in hold’em. It is a hand that plays well both heads-up and multihanded. A-K presents an opportunity to win a big pot. It is also a hand that can get you into trouble if you fall in love with it. A-K is never far behind—unless you are up against A-A or K-K. A-K is a slight underdog against smaller pairs and can dominate hands like A-Q or A-J. It is the ideal hand for a race. There will be times in a tournament when you are happy to get in a race with A-K. There will be other times when you need to ask yourself if you really want to get in a race. There will be times when you want to take a hand down (that is, win the pot then and there) pre-flop with A-K. There will be other times when you want to see a flop with it. Then there will even be times to let it go pre-flop. Do not get married to A-K. Unlike A-A, or even K-K, A-K can, and should, be folded pre-flop in certain situations. I see too many players at every level willing to call all-in bets with A-K pre-flop when they do not need to do so.

You will only get so many premium hands during the course of a tournament. Certainly, A-K is one of those premium hands. How you play those hands will go a long way in determining your ultimate success. You want to win big pots with them, but you do not want to get careless and lose big pots with them. A-K has the potential for both. Everything in poker is situational. This is even more so in tournament play. No hard and fast rules are in place as to how to play A-K during the course of a tournament. Rather, you must size up every situation as it arises. By offering a few A-K sample hands, I hope to focus your attention on developing a thought process for playing this powerful drawing hand. With a correct thought process in hand, you will be able to adapt to every situation.

Take It Down

Here is a prime example of how you must consider all the factors before making your decision because there are no clear rules to follow. In fact, in this particular hand, I played A-K in a manner that I probably would not have done under just slightly different circumstances.

Here is the situation. We were about three hours into the tournament at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. I was sitting on the button with about $8,000 in chips. At this point in time, I was below average but definitely not short stacked. I was in no danger of being blinded out or having to make a move. Since no one at our table had more than $12,000 in chips, I was still a viable threat against anyone. The blinds were $100–$200. Gary Bush raised to $600 under the gun. Doyle Brunson called from middle position. Everyone else folded. I peeked at my cards and saw A-K off-suit. First premium hand I had all day. I put my cards securely in place and thought about what I was going to do.

The table had been playing very conservatively up to this point. I figured that one of my opponents had to have a decent-sized pair and the other could be playing a big ace. I thought I had three options here: First, I could call. Next, I could make a standard raise. Finally, I could make a big raise. Now, under different circumstances, I think this would have been a great situation just to call. By calling, I hid the value of my hand. I had position that gave me a lot of flexibility with the flop. So as long as both of my opponents missed the flop, I would probably make a play for the pot. If I flopped the ace, then I might have made a decent amount of money from a hand like A-Q. However, in this particular case, I did not think I had much upside to calling. First, I really believed one of them, if not both, had a decent-sized pair. If I did not hit the flop, one of them would surely bet and I would be forced to fold. Next, if I did hit the flop, I did not believe I would have made any more money. If they had smaller pairs, they were too good not to fold to an ace. In addition, I had already seen Doyle make some incredibly tough lay downs. I just did not believe either player would pay me off. Finally, if one of them was playing a big ace, then I was drawing that much thinner against a big pair like J-J or Q-Q. So after a few seconds of deliberation, I decided to raise.

The next question was, How much to raise? There was now $1,500 in the pot. I would gladly have taken that money right then. That would have put me at $9,500 and given me a little more cushion to work with. An extra $1,500 provided great leverage to parlay into more money. I had already decided that I did not want to see a flop if I could avoid it. I had to raise enough to force both players out. Yet, I did not want to overbet and show desperation. There was also the possibility that someone could move in on me, in which case I was not sure what I would do. I had to prepare for that possibility, however. But I wanted to leave myself with enough chips so that I would not be pot committed and I would still have the option to fold.

I decided to make it $2,200, meaning Gary and Doyle would each have to put in another $1,600 if they wanted to play. Both players folded without much hesitation. Gary was clearly disappointed and stated that he really wanted to play his hand. When the hand was over, I asked him what he had and he told me pocket Jacks. I told him that I had the first big hand I had seen all day and I was not going to lose with it. I did not tell him what big hand because I wanted him to think that I had A-A or K-K and that he did the right thing in folding. I have no idea what Doyle had, but I was fairly confident that he would have folded anything but A-A or K-K. Needless to say, I was happy with the result and gladly scooped up the pot.

LESSON LEARNED

Do not get too cute if there is not much to be gained and more to lose. If I had just called, I would have been left with $7,400 in chips. If I had missed the flop and one of my opponents bet out $1,000, I would have been forced to fold. If I had hit the flop, there would have been a chance that I might be able to pick up a few bets, but I knew I was up against tough opponents who would not be likely to pay me off. If I had forced everyone out pre-flop, then I would be sitting on $9,500 in chips. I think a common mistake beginning players make is not to consider all the consequences of their actions. Here the most likely possibilities were that I would end up with $7,400 in chips (if I just call the $600 raise, which forces me to fold on the flop) or $9,500 in chips (if I raise pre-flop and force everyone out). There was a potential upside to calling so that the $7,400 situation could end up netting me more than $9,500 if I had hit the flop and got some action. On the flip side, there was a risk that someone could move in on me (that is, make an all-in reraise). So there was a chance that the raising situation could leave me with less than $7,400. (If my raise did not work, I would be down to $5,800.) The two most likely scenarios, however, were still that I would be left with either $9,500 or $7,400. If you learn to think in these terms, it will make coming to the correct decision a lot easier.

While I ended up being correct in this situation, it was a calculated risk. The earlier stages of tournament play are all about accumulating chips while minimizing risk. I thought I accomplished that here. I may have missed an opportunity to gain even more chips, but I felt strongly that the extra $2,100 in chips (the difference between $9,500 and $7,400) could be used now as leverage to gain more chips. After all, it takes chips to make chips.

So You Want to Race

Johnny Moss, three-time World Series of Poker Champion, emphasized survival in the early stages of a major tournament. He knew that you had more to lose than win by committing all your chips to a pot in the early stages with anything less than the nuts. If you have confidence in your ability, why not give yourself the chance to outplay your opponents over the course of the tournament? Wait for the blinds to increase and the pots to get bigger before getting aggressive. Of course, Moss did not play in today’s big field events populated with a new breed of player.

When Moss won his last world championship in 1974, there were only sixteen entries. All the players were seasoned professionals. In the 2005 World Series of Poker main event, there were 5,619 entries, a great many of them having qualified online. With the advent of Internet poker, anyone with access to a computer can be entered into a No Limit Texas Hold’em Tournament within minutes of logging on. The Internet game is faster and looser as blinds increase rapidly and new hands are dealt before the winning player can even count his cyber chips. Players battle each other behind the anonymity of made-up screen names and fancy avatars offering them an unlimited reservoir of bravado. Their introduction to the game often comes from watching a seriously edited down final table on TV where just about every other hand has someone all-in. Is it any wonder that this new breed plays from the hip ready to commit all their chips at the prospect of a good race?

Certainly many times during the course of a tournament you will find you cannot complain about having all your chips committed to a heads-up pot that is essentially a coin flip. If you are short stacked and in danger of being blinded out, a good race is not all bad. In just about every tournament, the ultimate winner will have survived a race or two. That’s part of tournament poker. But why invite a race in the early stages of a tournament where everybody has roughly the same chip stack? If you think you have the skill to advance, why leave your entire tournament survival up to chance? (If you do not think you have the skill to advance, why are you even playing in the first place?) Yet, many players do just that.

Just after the second hand at the PPT event at Bay 101 Casino in San Jose, California, most everyone was surprised to see Antonio Esfandiari stand up. His pocket Kings had just got cracked by Player A’s A-K when an ace hit the flop. After a couple of raises back and forth, Antonio pushed in (all of his chips) and Player A called. While A-K is a great starting hand, it is still a drawing hand in certain situations. It is a slight underdog to any pair and a sizeable underdog to A-A or K-K, the two most likely hands someone is holding if he is willing to put his entire stack in jeopardy that early on. In this particular case, Player A’s gamble paid off as he doubled up and eliminated Antonio.

LESSON LEARNED

Once a pot escalates, there is a greater incentive to push in. In this instance, it was apparent that both players were willing to go the distance if they had to. Antonio certainly played this hand correctly. He moved in with the best hand. He was either going to win a sizeable pot pre-flop or going to get called by an opponent he had dominated. The result does not matter so long as the process is correct. You only get so many premium pairs in a tournament, and you want to play them strongly. My guess is that Player A would have liked to have taken his bet back once he saw Antonio’s cards. The best he could have hoped for in this situation is to be in a race. That is, he had to hope Antonio had a pair of Queens or less. In fact, Player A was much worse off. If you ask any player if they want to get in a race the second hand of a tournament for all their chips with A-K vs. K-K, I am fairly confident that you will get a unanimous no.

Of course, Player A did not know that Antonio had K-K. However, Antonio did push in first. If you are willing to get in a race, make sure that you are the first to push in. That will give you two chances to win. First, your all-in move may win the pot by forcing your opponents to fold. Next, even if you are called, you can win the race. If you are not willing to race, then avoid escalating the pot. Make more modest raises to avoid giving your opponent incentive to push in. The bottom line is, I do not know why anyone would be willing to get into a race with A-K that early in the tournament especially when he is calling off all his chips. If Player A had pushed in first, I could understand this move. However, calling off all your chips does not make sense.

Another Race

At the very first PPT event at Foxwoods in Mashantucket, Connecticut, the blinds were $100–$200 when Steve Zolotow made a standard opening raise of four times the big blind. Erick Lindgren moved all-in. Steve had Erick covered and finally called after some deliberation. Erick showed his pocket Kings and Steve turned over A-K. The flop did not help anyone, but an ace on the turn eliminated Erick.

LESSON LEARNED

If Steve knew what Erick was holding, I seriously doubt he would have made the call here. Even though Steve had Erick covered, Erick had enough chips to put a serious dent in Steve’s stack. Yet, I do not fault Steve’s call here. Even though, in all likelihood, he was at best a slight underdog (as it turned out, he was a bigger underdog to Erick’s pocket Kings), A-K is still a very powerful starting hand. You will only get so many of those hands during the course of a tournament. If you have an opponent covered (with enough chips to continue to play effectively), then getting in a race is not such a bad idea. You are going to win half these races, so give yourself a chance to win some chips when you do not risk elimination. The fact that Steve would still have had enough chips with which to compete had he lost is the decisive factor here. Otherwise, I think folding would have been the correct decision.

Now, let’s look at Erick’s play. The big all-in move here was probably meant to signal some vulnerability. The overbet may have led Steve to call here when a lesser raise may have forced Steve to fold. In any event, Erick got the intended result. He had isolated one opponent with all his chips when he was a big favorite. That is exactly what you want with your premium hands. Unfortunately, the hand did not work out as he had hoped.

Prepare for the Unexpected

Phil Helmuth was not as fortunate as Antonio’s opponent in the previous example (see So You Want to Race). Phil, famous for showing up late to tournaments, made his usual tardy entrance at Bay 101. Only problem was, there was limited seating at the event. Phil ended up being far down on the alternate list. Alternates would be allowed to take the seat of any player eliminated but only for the first two hours of the tournament.

This in and of itself is a lesson for all of us. You never know what can happen in a tournament. Glitches occur all the time. Tournaments sell out. Schedules change. Whenever you enter a tournament, allow yourself plenty of time for the unforeseen. No one could have anticipated that there would have been a waiting list for the PPT that is by invitation only, so it is impossible to fault Phil here. It does illustrate a point, though. You never know what can happen, so give yourself plenty of time.

Fortunately for Phil, he was one of the last alternates seated before