Teen Spirit

Understanding the poker mentality of one of the brightest young guns the game has ever known
BY ANNETTE OBRESTAD / 2007 WORLD SERIES OF POKER EUROPE CHAMPION

EVERY POKER PLAYER TAKES A different approach to the game, and each individual has to determine what techniques work and don’t work for him or her. My approach may not work for you. But it helped me to win more than $2-million at the WSOP Europe, and the following is an explanation of how I’ve been able to be so successful:
Early in tournaments, I play a lot of hands. I don’t limp in a lot, but I will usually raise any suited connectors, any pocket pair, whatever hand I want to play. If I get a call, I usually make a continuation bet, depending on the player I am up against. I usually don’t put a lot of chips into the pot unless I have a really good hand, so if I get a call I most likely will check-fold my hand.

When the blinds go up, I start playing a little tighter in early position and I raise more in late position. I usually try to take advantage of people who are limping because there is more money in the pot. Whenever I see a really weak player limp into the pot, I might raise with any two cards just to take it down pre-flop.
It depends so much on the table where you are seated. If you are on a really aggressive table with a lot of pros, you don’t want to be playing suited connectors and stuff like that because they are going to pick up on it.

At the WSOP Europe, I think I did so well because there were so many pros in the event and most of them probably didn’t know how I played. I mean I’m a girl, I’m a teenager, and most people don’t think girls can play. They think we don’t bluff much or stuff like that. I played a lot more aggressive there than I usually do because I didn’t think they knew who I was, so I think that helped me.

I do pretty much what the guys do, and they just aren’t expecting me to do that. I play aggressively and raise a lot of hands. I raise garbage on the button and re-raise people out of position. I got more respect doing that than I should have, and I’m not expecting that to continue. I’m probably going to have to tighten up a bit now. It’s the same thing that happened online. As soon as people got to know that I was aggressive, they started playing back at me a lot, they started calling me down.

Another thing I did in London was research my opponents. It’s important to know your table, so when we got the seating arrangement the day before we started playing, I Googled everyone to see how many cashes they had and that really helped.

When I play online, I don’t use any poker-tracking software, but I do take a lot of notes on players in case I play with them again. I see a lot of players who, if they are pissed off when they get a bad beat, they call other players a donkey. But you aren’t going to get any use from a note that says “donkey.” You could just copy the hand history and paste it in a note box. I do that sometimes, or just write down what he did wrong in the hand. You can’t just call him a “donkey,” because that’s not going to help you.

As for other mistakes players make, when I first started out online, I played really loose-passive, which is what most people do. That’s just a normal mistake that people make, but then you realize that you can’t win that way, so you have to start raising a lot of hands. Sometimes you overcommit with draws and stuff like that. You are playing aggressive, but you aren’t controlling the size of the pot, so that’s also a beginner’s mistake and that’s something you can pick on if you see other players doing it.

I guess if I had to explain my style of play, I would say I usually play pretty aggressive. I am not the one calling. I never like to chase draws by calling. As for limping, I really don’t like it, but I might do it sometimes. I am never first in the pot with a limp. If there are two limpers before me, I might limp in late with a marginal hand, but I usually don’t limp in. If I want to come into a pot and I am in first position, I am going to raise.

Let’s say I am early in a tournament with a $20,000 starting chip stack and blinds at $25/$50. If I pick up a small pocket pair in first position, I am going to raise to $150, and if they make it $500 then I can still call because I have the right implied odds. Late in the tournament, though, I would just fold that pocket pair in that position.

I switch my style up depending on my table and the players’ stack sizes. If you have two aggressive stacks to your left, you don’t want to be raising a lot of crap because you know that they are going to be re-raising you. Now, if you have aggressive players to your right, you are going to be the one re-raising them.
I think that if I had started out playing live, I would have a totally different style. Most importantly, I would only be able to have been playing for like a year now. I have had so much experience playing online. I have talked to so many of the good online players, talking strategy, and it has really helped my game. I don’t think I would have done the same thing if I would have started out playing live.