Ok,

Since Beavis and I keep clashing on whether or not to be a maniac by pushing very small pots on the flop in the early stages of a tourney when we've got a very strong hand, I wanted to open up a thread on this.

Here's some interesting reading material that I'm sure many PFOers are familiar with. In case you're not:

Finding your Inner Maniac This is the link to the article on the fulltiltpoker.com site.

So here's how I will play a lot of SNGs, MTTs, etc in the early stages:

Situational Questions:

1. Is it early in an MTT or SNG?
2. Has there been any kind of PF or flop action yet (any reraises, flop raises, etc)?
3. Have we played at least 6-10 hands?

Optional: 4. Are there any known maniacs at the table?

If the answer to any of the above is yes, then I'm prepared to push the following hands PF:

If M>20: AA,KK to any PF raise.
If M<20: add QQ after any PF raise
If M<15: add AK, JJ, TT

If I'm first to the pot, I raise the lesser amount of 1/6 my stack or 1/6 the largest remaining stack behind me.

Flop Pushes:
If M>20
Against a PF Raise: I will likely call with any pair QQ and below (note, I will fold smaller pairs unless I can cap or getting incredible odds after many callers) and AK/AQ. On flops where I hit a set or TP with AK/AQ, I will push all in (whether raised PF or limpers PF). With QQ, I push undercard flops. If I'm below an M of 15, I push undercard flops with JJ & TT as well.

Against PF Limpers: I will call with all the above hands, and any SC's 45s+, any 1 or 2 gap SC's 64s+/74s+, any suited Ax/Kx/QJ-Q6/JT-J7. If I hit the nut or 2nd nut straight, flop a flush, FH, hit top 2 or top & bottom, trips with good kicker (A/K/Q), TP + FD or any hand in the PF raising section, I push the flop.

If I hit trips with a weak kicker or bottom 2 pair, I play this in a "standard way" because it's easier to draw out on or be beat on the flop (by higher 2 pair or trips with a better kicker).

If I hit a FD+SD, FD+2overs, Pair+FD, I will try to draw as cheaply as possible and will quickly fold to a large enough bet.

I will lay down TP with only a kicker draw very quickly.

Once the beginning of the MTT or SNG is "over", I then switch to a totally different strategy.

Maniac = LAA

While I try to play a lot more hands for the first 3 levels I usually play them LP rather than LA simply to catch a flop cheap and win multiple small pot rather than build big pot that would be harder to wresle away from heavily invested opps. My strategy goes to cheap in whenever possible, catch a flop and go aggressive or fold without much invested. I don't bluff a missed board all that much as I can never seem to get away with it so reside myself to mostly fit or fold!
Where I do become more LA, is with hand I would normally raise with anyway although I may play some/certain hands more aggressively from an earlier position (such AJs from UTG+1 or EP rather than from MP/LP where I'd usually play these).
Also in the first 3 levels I'll limp with any pocket pair from any position whereas after level 3 I fold pp <5 until MP+1 or LP. Also I'll call a raise with any pp in the first 3 levels whereas after level 3 I'll only call about half the time with pp <7 - depending on my position and how many are in the pot.

Also to help disguise my hand stength, if I'm first to enter a pot with any hand I would have limped in with, I'll generally raise 2x-3x. I'm not too worried about disguising my hand early on as most don't know what to look for and I or the rest will be spread out to other tables before long.

Maniacs generally play 60-80% of hands early on and while I loosen up considerably I seldom get much higher than 35% unless the cards are running me over. Once we're into level 4 I switch to a TA mode and get very concious of position and my M and Q. As either M or Q get threatened I loosen up and play more aggressively pf (all-in is often used) or attempt more steals until I'm back into a comfortable zone or have doubled up and then retreat back to TA. Generally I am more comfortagble playing a tight game but know that a looser-aggressive style is necessary to the overall tourney strategy and a chace to win.

Originally Posted by Beavis68

Why, you dont care about equity?

What do you mean by "equity"?

Originally Posted by Beavis68

an over pair is not a "very strong" hand after the flop. Especially in a family pot.

How stong a hand do you need? Particularly when you're getting called by TP most of the time . . .

I have a lot of things going through my head right now, but I can't really put them into words. I'm semi-krunk right now. But if I posted half of the hands I've played in my life, I'd get pulverized by you guys no matter what the results.

Confidence and instincts are different depending on the person. they can't be quantified. People with better instincts than me can be tighter, more aggressive, a better mix of both, or whatever. It can't be quantified.

I'll look at hands I've won and think, "What the hell were you doing?" because I don't remember the moment in full. I'll come back to this tomorrow...

Alex, that post made perfect sense......or did it??

I don't know if it made sense, but it's honest. I can't really spell out what I think on a general basis as it pertains to style, but I can usually go hand-by-hand and explain why I did what I did, what was good, what was flawed reasoning and so forth. I keep a lot of that away from these boards because these are personal things that would be misunderstood and dangerous for other players if they're not comfortable with that sort of thinking.

I guess what I'm saying is that "I don't feel like I'm on a whole 'nother level that you just can't see me," but a way someone thinks can only be understood in full by that person. When Beavis and I get into it about something on a weekly basis, it's not criticism, we're just delving deeper into each other's heads and trying to communicate our different ways of seeing certain situations. The frustration comes from us not understanding each other because we both know that the other is doing well with their game, so we're not harking on bank-breaking flaws, just expressing the differences in opinions and perspective. Some people might think we're at each other's throats, but we've been going back and forth for about 3 years now and I don't think there's ever been any personal disrespect for either one's game at any time even though we've both gone in so may different directions over this time.