The Official KC Strategy

[katharine]

I love your strategy! You help remind me that tournament poker is about! Really just grinding it out and patience.

Lately I have been experiementing a little with LAG and it hasn't really been working for me. It works for awhile and then... well, I guess I run into players like you!

Just today in the freeroll I had made a medium-high chipstack past first break with LAG play, and I might of kept it if I switched to your strategy! LOL Instead my play just got me on the rail.

Anyways, very good post. Interesting and helpful stuff. A simple strategy for any beginner to learn.

Thanks!

 

[KingCurtis]

tyvm hope it makes you do better....please post on my blog or here if you do do well with this!!

 

[Adventurebound2]

Nice post KC!

I have to agree with a point JD brought up, the amount to raise. There's a reason for this standardised patern and it's simply to make it harder for the villian to get a read on you.

JD also mentioned another good trick. Have updated my notes on you at Stars


Keep up the good work, it's all ready helped a few and will continue to help more players out in the future! (esp. new players learning the game)

 

[KingCurtis]

lol well that's a small fraction of the strategy, gl to you hopefully the rest help you out in the future!

 

[Bigsmak]

Nice Read KC... I should maybe write down what I am trying to do for my own sake..... Not much different from your approach

Thanks

 

[Seanyboyh]

Not Bad but room for improvement

I agree with a lot of what you're saying, but i fell you left out some important points.
At the start of all tournaments there are a lot of players willing to play any Ax or Asuited, try and spot these fish who cant fold an A and milk them on the flop when you hit with your big A. There are plenty of these players online and most call to the river, so take advantage.
In the mid stages of a tournament i feel you left out a very important piece of information. I agree with stealing the blinds as often as you can without ruining your table image but, there are lots of players who cant help themselves and are constantly stealing. These players should also be targeted for preflop reraises. It takes a bit of courage to do it but its very effective against lose aggressive players. Only do it from very late position or the blinds unless you have a monster. Slow playing can be talked about in another post. Even if they call they will nearly always check to you if they miss the flop and fold to your continuation bet, whereas if you call and miss, you can be guaranteed to have a continuation bet coming on top of you and you dont know where you're at in the hand and folding is usually always going to follow.
Another usefull tool to have in your arsenal against aggressive players is calling with nothing and then bluffing on the turn. Its my favourite move in the game and i will do it about 1 in every 3 hands i miss on the flop with someone betting into me, provided the board is not dangerous. It often works in my favour, most players who are bluffing are only willing to take 1 stab at a pot. If you get called on the turn check fold is the only move on the river. Its highly likely your opponent has something and only a big bet on the river will take it down but its not a spot you want to get into. Way too risky.

P.S. If you rarely get bluffed you are calling way too much and no doubt a losing player. On the other hand if you rarely get caught bluffing you are not doing it enough. Choose your spots and opponents wisely before committing a lot of chips.

 

[KingCurtis]

Ty for your input as is said above this is a little bit of a guideline for beginners/intermediate searching for a good solid strategy. So knowing how to stop a constant stealer is portrayed a little at the end in my advanced strategy if you read that part.

Also the turn bluff can be successful(as I am writing a bluff strategy as we speak) but for these players it could get them in trouble so it is best to leave that out for now....some of those things come with experience and gut feeling and can not be taught. Once again thanks for your input!

 

[bob_tiger]

I disagree with you, I think what Curtis was trying to do was lead you in a good pre flop strategy, there are so many cases post flop that he can't tell you how to play each. What you are talking about 3 betting and floating people, takes skill and I think it was smart that Kurtis left that out, you may ask why? well the beginners or unexperienced players shouldn't be trying this stuff without experience.

 

[Pokertron3000]

Nice stratagy KC helped me out some this weekend, Im going to try it out again sometime this week on a X2 chance at pokerstars.

 

[katharine]

Placed 9th in Absolute FR last night with this strategy!

Used some of my own gut of course on when I could bluff (which is ALOT when poeple tighten up in the end and are way short stacked)

But in general just played patient poker as KC suggests.

 

[KingCurtis]

well you guys are def making me feel better! Glad to hear you did well, whatsup with these 9th place finishes though lol first custo now you

 

[mparker876]

Just found this thread tonight (thanks Shinedown), read over it & it sounded good so I thought I'd put it to the test. Your early round play is very similar to my own, your later round play differed a bit but sounded pretty solid. Entered 1 90-person SnG & 1 45-person SnG to see how it works in various size games. Well, long story short... Final tabled one & got knocked out on a bad beat in the other! Busted in 34th in the 90 man when I flopped a set, got it all in on the flop & villian runner runnered a straight. 9th in the 45 man, had TT in the big blind with one limper & the sb in the pot, raised to 5x, limper folded, sb pushed. I thought about how he had been playing up to then & was positive I had him so I called, he flips over JQo & flops a J & a Q. No justice lol. He had me covered so I busted out. Overall though, very solid strategy. I'll deffinately be incorporating some of the later round stuff into my play. The main way my native strategy differs is that I like suited connectors & Ax suited in position or on a limp in the early rounds. Good stuff man, thanks for posting it!

 

[fin2head]

I love this post it has all the elements explained and needed to play solid poker in a tournament situation. I am new to online poker and have played different styles but I will test the waters with your strategy.

 

[icepick007]

great strategy....i'm going to try and implement this strategy for a week,would yu suggest this strategy even for with freerolls,and tournies with low buy-ins below a dollar

 

[KingCurtis]

great strategy....i'm going to try and implement this strategy for a week,would yu suggest this strategy even for with freerolls,and tournies with low buy-ins below a dollar

I have done well in freerolls and low buyins with this strategy, especially late in the tourney since the play seems to get better late than the beggining when freeroll maniacs are pushing.

 

[martygokona]

Loved the post KC. I agree with much of what ur saying. Not sure about limping everytime in every position with small pairs. Especially, in early position at a table where raises seem to come off every hand. But, I'm sure that one has to adjust any strategy to their particular playing style. Great job. Mahalo

 

[dailies]

I think i just got ten times better reading this....a lot of the things like C-betting i had started doing, but never really knew the appropriate anounts to actually bet during it...thanks, this was great read.

 

[ythelongface]

great post. i like to think i play tight, but after reading your post curtis, i see it couldnt hurt to tighten up a bit. the thing that i found most helpful was the first hour strategy, and not playing suited connectors. also only playing hands that are a weaker like A10-AJ and KQ in lp early on. i dont have a problem stealing later in a tourney, but i do sometimes play a few more hands than i should early on. nothing too crazy, but hands that are played out of frustration and nothing else. ty for posting this. im sure it will be a big help.

 

[KingCurtis]

no way I just bumped this

 

[katharine]

I saw you in a freeroll, nice plug for you strategy lol!

 

[hojediade]

Thanks for this useful post, didn't read to the end, but i will.
Seems to me that i tend to play intuitevely the same way for most of the part i already read. I will have to check later on to see if i can discover new things i was not aware of.
Bye.

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[mlyons]

Thanks

Thank you King Curtis for posting your strategy. I'm gonna try it. I've placed in a few freerolls and even caught first in a few other small tournaments. I am grateful for your strategy, because I need it, and no matter how many times i read about strategy, I still make mistakes, be it marrying a pot, or a high PP, or just not being patient enough and playing connectors or Ax. I know from personal learning experience that the more I read something, the more I'll remember it.

I won an entry to a satellite tournament that I hope to place in, and I think I better bookmark your strategy for easy reference.

Thanks again and good luck.

 

[Phil922]

Good post, I dont use many poker strategy blogs, because most of my moves are situational, and following guidlines doesnt sound fun, but this was a good blog.

 

[TPC]

Thanks KC, this has improved my results with the turbos I've been running. You always need to get a big stack early in them!!!

 

[beechleaf]

wow that was great its a must read over and over lot of info i see where i have made some mistakes thanks for a great informative post