Good Reads + Timely Over the Top Moves = Free ChipsApril 4, 2010
I unveiled a new tactic at the World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament recently held in San Jose, California. This move enabled me to play winning poker in this new hyper-aggressive era of the game.
I played super-tight, trusted my instincts, and came over the top at just the right times ñ no surprises there. However, I also slow-played some of my big pairs and that's certainly a big change for me.
When I play like this, clicking on all cylinders, I'm almost unstoppable. It takes a lot of hard work, though. I've talked tactics with fellow pro Brandon Cantu, played countless hours online, and have had discussions with math-based pros like David "The Maven" Chicotsky. It's all about poker for me these days. I've got a huge passion to win.
Oh, one more thing, at the Bay 101 tournament, my reading ability was on fire.
When my reading ability is sharp, I can dodge bullets, baby! I have no problem folding super-strong hands and that saves me a ton of chips.
But I also become a poker sniper with deadly accuracy. I'll come over the top with a three-bet at just the right time. If someone raises with a weak hand, I'll win the pot right there with a three-bet reraise about ninety percent of the time. And if my opponent is weak but decides to four-bet anyway, that's okay too, because when I'm reading perfectly, I'll move all-in with a five-bet and win a huge stack of chips virtually risk-free.
When I'm really tuned in, I'm not the least bit afraid to push all-in with absolutely nothing. That's when I'm most dangerous.
At the tournament, I was able to consistently increase my chip stack, winning chips from my opponents with little pressure. There was, however, one particularly aggressive opponent that I was really locked into. He just never slowed down. No problem, though, I kept winning his chips, too.
At the end of Day Two, I had the chip lead with $530,000. I quickly hit the $1 million mark on Day Three and never dipped below that level despite some turbulent stretches where I didn't pick up playable cards and gave back some chips with second-best hands.
During these lulls, I continued to play super-tight poker, and continued to make just the right moves at just the right times, like reraising whenever I had a solid read, knowing that my opponents were weak.
This caused the other players at the table to be wary of me. So, I received quite a few free walks ñ winning hands from the big blind when no other player called.
Look at the game from my opponents' perspective: Why raise it up when I was in the big blind if you knew that I'd reraise and ultimately force you to surrender your hand?
Those free walks really helped because each one gave me one round of blinds and antes for nothing, and that allowed me to remain patient and wait for a great situation to play a big pot.
No doubt about it, picking up free chips with good reads and over the top raises keeps the game smooth and easy. But, beware: Try this tactic at home and I guarantee that you'll eventually get called or even reraised pre-flop by an opponent who is sick of your aggressive tendencies.
In that case, you'll have to get a solid read on your opponent after the flop, and that's not easy to do. But no matter how you do it, you've got to figure out a way to pick up free chips if you ever want to become a great no limit Hold'em player.
-Phil Hellmuth
