Annette_15 Strategy – Annette_15’s Final Table Strategy Analyzed – Part #2

A Detailed Look At The Final Table Tournament Strategy Of Annette_15!

By Mark

In our last article looking at Annette_15’s Poker Tournament Strategy we covered Annette’s play in the early and mid-game stages of multi-table poker tournaments. Here we continue the analysis by looking at how the Norwegian poker prodigy handles final table situations.

The tournaments looked at to bring you this breakdown of final table tournament tips ranges from online $5 MTTs, through $50+ rebuy tournaments and right up to the big events such as the World Series Of Poker Europe. We looked for common themes in Annette_15’s play at final tables to bring you a list of insights which should help improve the final table tournament strategy of all aspiring poker players.

Annette_15’s Final Table Strategy Tips

• Short Stacked Play: With less than 10 times the big blind, Annette makes only one move with any hand she plays- all-in! This avoids any further decision making when already pot-committed to calling a re-raise. Where Annette has more than 10 blinds and any remaining opponents have 10 or less the move is the same – shove or fold.
  
  
• No Calling: Annette_15 simply does not call raises, or even over-limp. Her tournament final table strategy involves either raising or folding. This demonstrates a very keen awareness of the ‘gap concept’ – and also keeps decisions on future betting rounds relatively simple. The only exception to this ‘raise or fold’ style was a very occasional complete of the small blind – even this was with cards with some multi-way potential (suited aces or connected cards).
  
  
• No Tricky Plays: Her final table tournament strategy involved betting and raising a large proportion of the time. Continuation bets (around 2/3rds of the pot) are a standard part of this strategy. When hitting a monster such as trips there was no attempt to ‘trap’ or appear weak, the continuation bets of previous hands were more than enough to disguise the play.
  
  
• Attacking Weakness: This was relentless in all the final tables analyzed! Limpers in particular were subject to re-raises with a wide variety of hands – particularly anyone who limped from late position. Players who did not defend their blinds were also raised a very large proportion of the time – and can expect a continuation bet any time they flat called.
  
  
• Consistent Raise Sizes: Pre-flop raises and continuation bets followed a consistent size of around 2.5 times the big blind. The exact bets were often strange numbers, but always in the ballpark of 2.5… continuation bets were also consistent, around 2/3rds of the pot whether strong or weak – these bets effectively disguised the strength of Annette’s hands.
  
  
• Types Of Raising Hands: Of course these changed according to the number of opponents left, however from mid to late position with 6 to 8 opponents there were many of the same hands familiar from Annette’s middle tournament play still present. Suited connectors were a common raising choice – but interestingly not ‘one-gappers’ – suited high cards were also included and even some medium aces.
  
  
• Pressure Tactics: With a large stack the pressure on opponents was relentless in all of the final tables looked at. Here the top 40% to 50% of hands were raised, and continuation bets made. If an opponent played back when Annette was in fact weak then she folded – but usually came back raising again the very next hand. Medium-stacks were put under pressure at every single opportunity.
  
  
• Heads-Up: The button was key here, in one example Annette_15 raised the button 3 times in a row – each time folding to a big re-raise from her opponent. 4th time? You guessed it…. Annette raised the button again! Relative hand strengths and patterns of opponents were also a large part of heads-up strategy.

To summarize, the most striking thing about Annette_15’s final table tournament strategy is the fact that she never ‘calls’. Mixing aggression and persistence with bets which give away no information about the strength of her hand – Annette’s style makes here a truly formidable opponent at any tournament final table.

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