So where do you start a school for poker? Obviously this crowd has played for a while, so I am going to maybe go a little backwards. Instead of an ABC’s, which is very worthwhile to cover, I’m starting with more of a MNO’s. Recently, I went through about a month-long slump. There is nothing more frustrating than a slump in poker. Between bad beats, suck outs, donkings and mistakes you simply get into a shell-shocked state after a while. So, what did I do? I worked on plugging the leaks, checking my own play (which is all you can control) and keeping my attitude positive. From all of this, I could readily see that everyone can use work on all three of these issues all the time. Today, let’s look at leaks. And, for the smart alecs in the crowd, no “leak” jokes!

So, what is a leak? The goal of tournament poker is to build your stack. Every time you let a chip out of your grasp, you just “leaked” a chip. You have to have the mentality toward your stack, “These are my chips. I am not letting go of a single chip until I am ready. And, I will only be ready when I know I am going to use them to take your chips!” In other words, once you have them, don’t let them go easily. Every time you rationalize making a call, a raise or a bet, you have to justify that you are in a position of strength either based on cards or psychology to put those chips on the table. So, based on that fundamental philosophy, we look at the tweaks that will shore up your play and keep your stack larger, longer.

Now, we all are trying to avoid that catastrophic error that cripples us, but here is the list of little foxes that get into the vineyard so to speak. As I cover them you will quickly see, “Oh yeah, been there done that.” Now, let me also categorically say there is no “right” in poker. In fact, winning a hand does not mean you mean the right play. (You all know what I mean here, the stupidly insane, luck play.) But, if you minimize the following, choose your points at which you decide to do the following (if ever), you will avert the fate of the Titanic. Your ship will float; and, hopefully cross the finish line first!

First, Don’t make plays to which you are not fully committed. These include, limps with which you would have no intention on following through with should anyone raise. Those would be chips just flushed down the drain now wouldn’t they. So, this includes limping in early position especially. Another half-hearted play commonly seen is the “if I could just see the next card after the flop”. The odds that one cars will help you are truly low now aren’t they? If you aren’t playing to see both cards and fully in a position to have them help you, forget it. That’s another probable waste of chips. Any good player will sense your waste of chips. In fact, if you see an opponent doing this close the door on them! You just saw weakness! Now, if you get to the river and your opponent min bets, the opposite is true. Make that call! Why flush a fairly sizeable call when he is showing weakness. Either call or bluff as if that were YOUR miracle card. Don’t let those chips go away without a fight by folding. The corollary to this, however, is don’t call when you KNOW you are beaten. How do you distinguish? Well, that’s part of the game. You’ll have to consume all the information and know. As with all things, this isn’t perfect, but it is the best there is.

The next area of major leaking is playing too many hands. Hand selection is one of the biggest keys to long term success. Playing weak aces, kings and queens especially out of position will break your bank faster than anything. You can also add low pairs to that equation. Now, I will be the first one on the table you will see playing some of these. Why? Just as a pitcher does not always throw fastballs, a player cannot always play only aces. The key is, when and where to choose to play these. You can often find that this is the unexpected hand that you will break another with as they simple do not expect you to have that donk card, especially if you raised with it. Be very careful, though, the frequency with which you do this. And, in that vein, chasing inside straights or any straight as well as a flush is a low risk proposition, so take great care in doing so. These decisions will simply bleed you dry of your chips. Remember, each choice to do so is a leak of chips.

The final area I’ll touch on is betting. When you bet you are either getting called, raised or no action. This is an opportunity to maximize how much you will grow your stack. If you choose to bet too much or too little you may very well be losing out on the maximum amount you could have extracted from your opponents. Do you go all in? Well you likely kept someone from calling. That’s lost chips. Do you min bet? Well, if they would have called a higher bet, you just lost chips. Of course, this is assuming you would have won. Complex game this poker game is. So, as you can see, we have lots to talk about. Just think through each action. And, as you do so, show NO expression…. That’s a tell. And we don’t want to tell them we are trying not to take a leak… I mean leak a chip!

P.S. There are many excellent articles on this topic. For follow up on other perspectives Google "Poker Leaks".

~ John aka BAS aka BallsAsteel

On most sites I'm BallsASteel (or some variation), on FeltStars I'm BASPokerBlog. See you on the felts

Contact me:
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IM's: Yahoo - johnhelander, MSN - johnhelander
Email: johnhelander@live.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2008 12:06PM by BallsASteel.

Another seemingly minor leak is always calling the BB from SB in an unraised pot, especially with hands like 83. Odds on hitting a flop that works for you pretty small, even if it is for only 1/2 a bet.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2008 09:51PM by poker1040.

I almost included a section on stealing blinds as well. Good point 1040. This comes under that "less than committed to bet". Now there may be times when you have no other limpers in front and calling may make sense after all it is a 3-1 odds bet. But, then wouldn't you likely be better off showing strength and raising to just steal the blind? As with anything, it's situational but the object is to minimize the junk and hence the leaks. Great observation again, 1040! Does anyone else have a subliminal problem with that number?

~ John aka BAS aka BallsAsteel

On most sites I'm BallsASteel (or some variation), on FeltStars I'm BASPokerBlog. See you on the felts

Contact me:
Facebook: [www.facebook.com]
Twitter: [twitter.com]
MySpace: [www.myspace.com]
IM's: Yahoo - johnhelander, MSN - johnhelander
Email: johnhelander@live.com

although the name/number is frequently misunderstood, it is intended to reflect the fact that winning tourneys means paying taxes on the winnings.

BAS....ever considered doing some tutoring?? I sure wish you would follow me around sometime and give me some personal pointers! Awesome post, as usual. you always have great points.

Thanks!
QQ

That is very kind lQQkin! Actually, I have done that for some players. Gotten on Yahoo IM while they play and coach them. Not sure that you need that help, though. But, if you want a second opinion on your play, let me know. I'd be happy to critique.

~ John aka BAS aka BallsAsteel

On most sites I'm BallsASteel (or some variation), on FeltStars I'm BASPokerBlog. See you on the felts

Contact me:
Facebook: [www.facebook.com]
Twitter: [twitter.com]
MySpace: [www.myspace.com]
IM's: Yahoo - johnhelander, MSN - johnhelander
Email: johnhelander@live.com

Here's something about leaks, and keeping ahold of those chips that I have learned from making the mistake. When you are in good position, I.E. button, or last to act, use it to control the size of the stack and the betting should you have a hand that you feel is good enough to win, but may be second best. Here is what I'm talking about.

Your on the button with KJ, you have one caller from early position who is a known tight player.
You make a raise of half the pot, and they call.
flop comes 9-J-8
Your now heads up with Mr. visegrip, and he limps into the pot with a 2x BB bet. Do you call or raise here?
Well, if you know he's tight, then there is a very good possibility your up against another J, a straight draw, or possibly a made straight. You know Mr. Visegrip likes to be aggressive when he thinks he has the nuts, so you put him on either the top pair or straight draw. So, if he has a J and is looking for a race, I would have to put him on AJ.
Here, I would be raising his limp with half pot sized bet to check his strength.
So, Mr. Visegrip goes along for the ride with a smooth call.
Turn is a Q, and Mr. Visegrip decides to check to you.
You have never seen him check/raise since being at the table, so you decide to check back. Why? your not worried about a check/raise, right? Well, quite honestly, the lesson is about not leaking chips. You have put Mr. VG on a J and assume a pretty good kicker. You have the K, should he have the A, then you're now just a bit better because of your draw to a straight, but if he has the Q, he may just be inducing you to put more into the pot.
Now, here's where you can get into a lot of trouble with tight/passive players that also are pretty good readers of their opponents; and yes, they do exist.
The River comes a 10.
Now you have what you consider to be the up and down nuts, right? Not so fast. Instead of limping in here, Mr. VG decides to push in a 3/4 pot sized bet. He's screaming AQ, you have just found yourself in the tight/passive trap, and in my opinion, at the most call. I might even consider folding here, depending on the size of the bet, the size of my stack, and of course my pot odds. I have a very strong hand, but you're up against a player who in any other situation would have probably folded on the flop with a lesser hand.
You are asking yourself, "self, why didn't he fold his AQ against my raise post flop?", Answer, "He's a good player, who can read well." Maybe he put you on AJ or even KJ, but with your reraise didn't feel you had two pair. He decided to race, and you took a chance at improving your pair with the turn or go straight or hit on the river. You didn't do anything wrong with the post flop bet, but you got valuable information from it. And you didn't have to pay a steep price either.

I hope this wasnt' too long winded. The mistake I made in a hand like this was that Mr. VG was a bit more aggressive than I had anticipated. I made a 3/4 post sized raise and got smooth called. The turn, I bet to his check, which he smooth called. The river he led out with the 3/4 sized bet, which, having what I thought was the best hand, I raised to. Got called, got donkey whupped, and learned a very valuable lesson about controlling pot sizes.

Now, had Mr. VG been a more aggressive player, I probably would have been bet out of the hand much earlier, and not have bled out chips as I had. But you have to be very careful with tight/passive players who like to set traps. And there are some out there who do it with great success.

Hope you like this little story.