How to play when you are the worst player at the table
If you can't spot the fish at the table...then take this advice on playing against better players from Dara O'Kearney.
Having written a book about satellites it is inevitable that I have given players advice on how to qualify for tournaments where they are an underdog. All of us have to face up and realise that sometimes we are the fish at the table.
In 2015 I played in the WSOPE €2,200 Six Max side event and it dawned on me that I was one of the worst players at the table. It really was a field of absolute crushers and I played against the likes of Stephen Chidwick and Marvin Rettenmaier from start to finish.
The way I adapted was with the same adjustments I suggest amateur players make when they qualify for big events - play tighter, make the pots bigger, and embrace variance.
Small ball is not your friend
Playing tighter might make intuitive sense to most of you, it's hard to bust you when you fold or have a strong hand when you do play. It is true that you lose out on some EV if you don't defend your Big Blind enough. You get exploited by the better players who print money stealing your blind.
But that sacrifice in value is nothing compared to the minus EV proposition that is playing a pot, out of position, against a superior player. Stick to hands where you will know what you are doing if you flop some equity.
The second piece of advice - make the pots bigger and embrace variance - goes against many a player's instincts. Hearing it makes them concerned a bigger pot is more likely to lead to elimination.
Small ball is not your friend
The bigger the pot, the lower the stack-to-pot ratio, and the less skill edge a player can exert over you. When the SPR is low and you flop top pair, you usually can go with your hand. When you flop a good draw you can play it aggressively and stack off, and there isn't much a better player can do to exploit you.
Another way to look at it is that you really don't want to play small ball with a better player. It's like giving them a home-court advantage and it allows them to play multiple streets against you, get multiple bets in, and do tricky things against you like float, check/raise, and overbet.
In that WSOPE tournament, I managed to get 8th for €8,790 because I played fewer hands but played them aggressively when I did. The other players had to adjust by tip-toeing around me when they realise I was happy to ramp up the variance.
Dara O'Kearney's new book GTO Poker Simplified is out now.
