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| John Tabatabai |
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 In 2007 Tabatabai took second in the first-ever World Series of Poker Europe main event, besting a strong field of 362 players from around the world. Just a couple months later Tabatabai won the All Africa Poker Tournament in Swaziland, pocketing $127,584...
 Originally a chess player, London-based John Tabatabai has moved on to another game and has done rather well. In 2007 Tabatabai took second in the first-ever World Series of Poker Europe main event, besting a strong field of 362 players from around the world. Just a couple months later Tabatabai won the All Africa Poker Tournament in Swaziland, pocketing $127,584. John’s most recent victory was the Aussie Millions Heads-Up Championship. His live tournament earnings exceed $1.2 million and when he’s not taking down live tournaments, you can find him playing online at Betfair. What are your thoughts on just flat-calling with a hand like A-Q in the small blind when there is a middle position raiser? I never like to reraise there because I am out of position. What should I be doing? – Marc, London It really depends on stack sizes. If there is a lot in the middle already and it would increase my stack by at least 20 percent or more, I would never flat because A-Q is too strong a hand and you need to reraise with it. However, if this is early in a tournament and we are deep, flatting with A-Q in this spot is fine as it disguises your hand and allows you to get away cheaply if you miss the flop without having to play a tough spot out of position. It is good to mix up your plays and play hands differently, especially if you are playing with the same players all the time, as in home games. How do you figure out what is a profitable bet size at your table – like raising preflop for example. What about on future streets and when antes are introduced? – Michael, Accrington You find the bet by trial and error that achieves the goal you require. Through experience you should have a rough idea of what is an appropriate opening bet based on the current blinds, and from there you can try various amounts until you get the desired result. You also need to take into consideration relevant stack sizes. Later on in tournaments, especially when antes are introduced, strong players will be fighting back with resteals to win the blinds plus the antes so I prefer making my raises small; i.e., if blinds are 100-200 with 25 ante and 4k stack I will generally try to raise to the value of M (blinds plus antes), or in this case to around 450-500. If people are constantly reraising me and interpreting my opens as steals and weak, I will start to open for larger amounts. Likewise, if I see that the player on the big blind (BB) calls mathematically, then I will raise more preflop. If he is a tight player, then I can raise less and achieve the same result. It all depends on how the table perceives me and my raises, as well as the stack sizes and how they are adjusting to my raises. How do you like to play draws? – Danny, Oswaldtwistle Generally, I play them quite aggressively, as I like to accumulate chips early in a tournament or go out, so I can be comfortable for the duration of the tournament. However, that is an extreme generalisation. Any hand I play I take into consideration many factors and in this case the most relevant would be the strength of the draw, the amount of chips already in the middle compared to my current stack size, how we are both positioned within the remaining players (if deep), what stage of the tournament we are in and the percentage chance of my opponent folding his hand by me playing it aggressively. If there is no chance of him folding and I am under no pressure chip-wise, I will most likely relinquish the hand and wait for a better spot. However, if the blinds are going up or I can apply enough pressure or believe he will fold, then I will most likely take that route, especially if I have a good draw as a backup. What’s the best advice for fast-paced tournaments with bad blind structures? – Peter, Wales Like most online tournaments, pick your spots well, DO NOT waste chips by limping with hands like 4-4 or 9-10 suited to see flops – you will bleed chips. Pick on weak opponents and be fearless in spots that have a high percentage chance of success – don’t just play like a maniac without thought or reasoning. If you know you are at a very soft table, how aggressively should you be playing? What percentage of the time should you be raising and/or getting involved in pots? – Gianni, Aberdeen, Scotland You want to keep the table dynamic as it is and not tilt the whole table into becoming maniacs and exploding at you – unless you are due a card rush, then that would be perfect. I would most likely pick on a couple of individuals with lots of raising and reraising, mostly in position. With weaker holdings or very weak holdings I would probably just limp into those pots and aim to flop big and win a decent size pot through my reputation as the crazy player, or take it down with a bet on the flop. On soft tables the best advice is to not get involved with marginal hands in large pots when you are able to win lots of small pots. I would fold A-K or 10-10 to an all-in preflop if I thought I was most likely going to be coin-flipping, as I can make more chips from playing small ball post-flop with these players. If an opponent is trying to get me to talk to him during a big hand where I want him to call, should I talk back or just remain silent? Is there anything you can do to make opponents perceive you as weak? – Mark, Cork City You can talk for sure, but be careful what you say and firstly try to work out what level your opponent is thinking at. Once you have worked that out, you can work out what you should say. If he is just a fish playing for fun, then you can do the obvious thing he expects, which is weak equals strong and strong equals weak. So if you want a call, you can do obviously strong things such as seeming confident, laughing, eyeing up the chips, etc. If he is on level 2, then you should work towards that. It’s all about discovering the psychology of your opponent and then feeding him the information that will achieve the goal you require. When I am watching my opponents to find out information about them as they play, what kind of things should I be looking for? – Billy in Newcastle See them show down a strong hand or a bluff, and then work backwards and see how they handled their chips throughout the hand, how they spoke if they spoke, if they chewed chewing gum, did their legs shake, which leg, which hand did they use to handle their chips, did they look back at their cards, how many times – anything that can be of use. As a general rule you want to make sure this person does that ‘read’ at least three times before you can rely on it to rule out just a coincidence. Is it a good idea to watch a cash game for a little bit before you decide to sit down in the game? – I Came to Play, Walsall Game selection is key. No point watching a game, realising it is a tough table and then sitting down anyway. Only watch if you are going to game select, so if you see it is tough, walk away. There is no shame in deciding to not lose money. |
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