The World Series of Poker is once more around the corner and many players will be heading to Las Vegas looking to win bracelets.
The WSOP is the best time to take shots and move up in stakes because games are typically the softest. Many players coming to the series are taking their entire bankrolls with them to have their shot at poker glory, and they end up outmatched and playing with scared money.
In this article, I will share with you some tips to help set you up for success, push the boundaries, and make a few deep runs in events with prizes that can be truly life-changing.
I’ll discuss three major areas where you can adjust your strategy and change your approach to the game to seriously improve your chances, namely:
- Key Exploits to Crush Weak Players
- Mindset Tips to Stay Focused & Run Deep
- Bubble Tips (So You Don’t Fold Down to Money)
Each of these adjustments will help but put together, they are your recipe for success at the World Series of Poker, especially in lower buy-in events!
Adjustment #1: Key Exploits to Crush Weak Players
The key to exploiting weak opponents is focusing on playing against them in a position with reasonable hand ranges.
Try to play big pots in position, and, whenever possible, as the aggressor. Your opponents will make mistakes, and you can take advantage of these mistakes to chip up.
It is important to keep in mind, though, that even if there are players splashing around, you still have to play against them with reasonable ranges. Someone else may get a particular player’s chips before you do, but that’s fine. It’s the WSOP, after all, so the next opportunity will come around soon enough.
Let’s look at an example of this.
At an eight-handed table, a loose player opens from UTG+1, and you have A♠J♠ in the cutoff, with stacks being 100 big blinds effective.
Against a splashy player, we certainly want to 3-bet in this spot, using a slightly bigger sizing than what you may be used to. Against a player who’ll be calling with all sorts of hands, we can make it 10k.
The flop comes Q♠6♠3♦, giving us a flush draw, and they check. We should be c-betting small on this flop, so if they raise, we can still call and take the turn without risking our entire stack. So, I make it 5,000, and they call.
The turn is the 7♠, giving us the nuts. They check once more and we don’t want to bet too big in this spot. Something like 11k works as it is a small bet, allowing them to continue with a wide range, which is exactly what we want.
They call and the river is the 2♣. Now they decide to lead into us for 20k. In this spot, shoving is the best option, but if you think your opponent really doesn’t want to go broke, (maybe this is early in the tournament and reentry is not possible), I’d just make it 55k every time.
In this particular instance, I do decide to shove, and they call off with Q♦J♦, so we stack them.
In lower buy-in WSOP tournaments, you want to crush weak players. Take advantage of the mistakes they make. A lot of them will be loose and splashy, and the best way to punish this style of play is by going for value with a reasonably strong range!
Adjustment #2: Mindset Tips for the WSOP
This entire article is meant for people who are going to the WSOP with a focus on winning. It’s perfectly fine if you want to go just to have some fun, but these tips are for those who want to be crushers. And if that’s your goal, you’ll need to make a few important mindset adjustments:
- Have a short memory – you are going to run poorly and make mistakes sometimes. Whatever happens, move on to the next hand with a strong mindset. You need to get rid of any issues you might have that cause you to go on tilt!
- Limit distractions & pay attention – observe your opponents and take notice of any strange stuff they may be doing. You can have a positive table presence while treating the game seriously. You don’t need to be rude to people. It’s okay to be nice, but you have to pay attention to maximize your ROI.
- Embrace the variance – try and enjoy the swings, as they are inevitable. While you may be going to the WSOP with the idea you’ll win a bracelet, you probably won’t – and that’s okay. Accept the reality of the variance, play each poker hand the best you can, and don’t let things out of your control influence your game.
Adjustment #3: Crushing the Bubble
To run deep in any tournament, you have to play the middle stages of the event well, and this applies especially to the bubble.
If you have a big stack on the bubble, you can push around players trying to chip up and survive.
For example, you are in a tournament where 100 players get in the money and 20 spots away from the bubble. With 50 big blinds, we can easily fold our way into the money, but that’s not the right approach.
Say a loose player raises, and we have pocket Jacks. We can just call and play it safe. But against your opponent, you know you are in good shape. You are nearing the bubble and you want to try and get a hold of the big stack.
You raise, and they rip it all in. At this point, imagine we know they have AJs, giving us almost 65% pot odds. Should we be calling off here on the bubble?
Two-thirds of the time, you’ll end up with a stack of 100 big blinds on the bubble, allowing you to run over your opponents. A lot of players are afraid to take this all-in spot nearing the bubble, as so many players love cashing.
You need to be the one who’s happy to bust in 120th place and out of money in exchange for a good chance to get a hold of the big stack in a great situation! This is how crushers get a lot of chips and use that stack to push everyone else around.
And it’s not just the short stacks that you can take advantage of.
Many times, even the chip leader at your table will be happy to just be there and not really take advantage of the spot they found themselves in.
Instead, they’ll stay out of your way for the most part when they realize you’re ready to play big pots, allowing you to push the rest of the table around with a middle-sized stack.
Here’s an example of this scenario.
A player from UTG+1 makes a min-raise from the stack of 45 big blinds. We are next to act with 27 blinds and A♠10♥, and the tournament is 15 spots off the money.
In this spot, I’ll fold a lot of the time, but if you think this is the type of player to raise too wide and not defend well, you can definitely 3-bet here (not move all in).
So, you can make it like 55k to give yourself some fold equity.
The opponent makes the call, and the flop comes 9♠3♥2♥. They check, and now you have to decide what you want to do.
This is a very good spot to bet small and go from there. So, we fire a c-bet of three big blinds, and even this sizing will often get you a fold if they have a hand that doesn’t connect with this flop in any way, such as many king-highs, queen-highs, and even some ace-highs.
In this particular case, the strategy works; they fold, and we pick up a sizeable pot.
Yes, we had to risk some chips, but this is an opportunity to chip up and build our stack, and this allows us to continue putting pressure on the rest of the table during the bubble phase.
Summary
To recap everything we discussed in this article, to give yourself the best chance at making a deep run and perhaps winning a WSOP bracelet at this year’s series, you should:
- Focus on playing against weak players, building big pots in position and with a strong range
- Have a strong mindset and don’t go on tilt – have a short memory
- Get rid of the distractions
- Embrace the variance – a lot of the time, you’ll just bust – and that’s fine, as long as you are playing correctly
- Take over control on the bubble and crush your opponents
While there are no guarantees in big-field poker tournaments, adopting these adjustments and incorporating these tips into your overall game strategy will put you in a great spot to make a few deep runs and potentially have a shot or two at those elusive WSOP bracelets!
