Oskar Silow

Just came home from a short vaccation in Tunisia.  Very very nice and highly recommended =)  The weather was awesome and the water as well.  I spent most of the vaccation under an umbrella, but still came home more tanned than ever :D  A huge part of travelling for me is the new and exciting foods:8  Tunisia might  be more exciting for meat-eaters, but I managed to find some local dishes without which were amazing.  Chapati, Harissa, and Ojja to name a few. Most importantly they had amazing fruits!  Most people here in Sweden never  tried a fresh fig and the ones you can buy here in Sweden for 20$/kg is nowhere close to the ones you buy in Tunisia for $1,50/kg.  They also had plenty of olives, melons and  dattes.  Yeah I did eat a lot of fruit.  Think I ate at least 15 figs a day on average:D

Everything in Tunisia is cheap and the people were great and not as “pushy” as they are in most other countries I’ve visited in that region.  But if you travel there with you girlfriend/wife you have to accept that they will get looked at.The tourism is not as big in Tunisia yet and you don’t feel like you are at a tourist destination at all.

Dammit, really wanna go back NOW!

Tournament time again!!  Malmö Open at Casino Cosmopol in Malmö Sweden starts next week and I’ll be there.  Reall really wanna win this time…

When attending a big event most players don’t even give the satellites a glance, they jump right into the big event. Even tho this might be the right move for an established pro, there is value in playing the satellites if you’re not that comfortable on the tour yet.

Playing in the satellites has a few advantages. First of all the reason that most players play in them, they get a chance to play in a big buy in event for less money, or maybe play an event they could not afford in the first place. The other advantage, which might be somewhat appealing even to a pro, is that you get a chance to scout some of the players that you are likely to be up against in the event itself. Another advantage is that you will get a feel for the tournament and dealers and pick up on some “house rules”.

If you are playing a satellite in an event you already bought in to make sure that you can sell your seat or take the money if you win.

Strategy when playing satellites is very different from other tournaments. Surviving is key and sometimes a stack less than one big blind is enough to get through cause other players make mistakes. All that matters in a satellite is usually that you make the cut then everybody get paid the same. Building huge stack and taking risk early on is therefore not as important. There are actually situations where you should fold AA preflop in satellites. “He’s nuts” you are thinking now, “I’d never fold that”. Let’s say you have an average stack, but the blinds are huge and you don’t have more than 10 big blinds anyway. Three spots left to the money and you notice that there are many players with 1-3 big blinds left. A short stack moves all in with his last 2 big blinds and another short stack after him follows. You got a chip leader bully at your table and now he moves all in as well. You look down at your hand and see aces. First thought is wow if I win this hand I’m set, I’ll make it. But let’s think it through for a second. If your hand does not hold up against the chip leader you are out. Even if both the others get knocked out as well you’ll still get knocked out on the bubble. Since there are many short stacks left in the tournament and you could actually survive 3 more rounds = 30 hands if you just fold, it is better for you in this spot to just fold your hand and wait for the short stacks to go bust.

Question:
Hello! Can you please help me?Please write me with what
hands from what positions i should play good hands before the flop
(preflop)?

Thanks…/Mareks

Answer:
Hello Mareks,
Unfortunately there is no list of what hands to play from what position.  There are many factors that influence what hands to play for example if you are playing in a ring game or a short handed game and how aggressive the table is.  One key rule tho is that you should play more quality hands from earlier position and can mix it up more from late position.  The reasoning behind this is that the later position the less people behind you to act and there is a greater chance that you can get away with your play.

Tomorrow it’s time again!  PokerTime is doing a bounty every week in August with special prizes to whoever wins the most.  I’m currently in 4th and obviously looking to climb the ladder and claim the big prize!!!  Read more here.