Poker: Taking Advantage of Laddering
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event is deemed by many professional players to be the greatest tournament in the world.
The love for the event is largely because of the prestige and multi-millions available at the top end of the payouts, but another reason that players love this tournament so much is because of the great structure.
You start with 30,000 chips and a blind structure that moves up every two hours. This makes for some very deep-stacked poker, and the better poker player you are, the deeper you often like to play your poker.
The very best players take advantage of events like the WSOP Main Event and you can too.
When playing in any event, but particularly one where there is a lot of money at stake, you should be paying particular attention to the tournament structure and pay structure.
There are players who you know are capable of becoming predictably push-happy when their stack falls below the 25BB mark. Understanding this tendency helps you to widen your calling range at an opportune moment.
Another important note concerns the pay jumps. If you are paying attention, then you will notice for whom the money seems more important. They will often talk about it, play tight, and fold often.
Understanding when the big pay jumps occur can help you attack the defenceless. If you know someone is playing scared, and is waiting to ladder to the next pay scale, then attack with all your might, and take down that uncontested money.