6 Card Poker

Laddering up is when a player at a final table or in the money in a Texas Holdem tournament folds a hand or plays very conservatively hoping that a fellow player busts out allowing them to finish higher in the tournament and earn more prize money as a result. Although not a prerequisite for laddering up this normally involves playing less than your normal amount of hands and playing them less aggressively than would be advised should money not be a consideration. Many players say this is not good poker strategy and that you should play to win, but is this always the case?

Deciding whether you should try to ladder up depends entirely on your bankroll and how often you find yourself in a situation where you are about to win a handsome amount of money to you. It can be very difficult to play normal poker when you know if you just sit back and wait you could earn more money. This could be any amount of money that means something to you it does not have to be hundreds or thousands of dollars.

A good example of the dilemma was when Craig Marquis had 99 in the final table of the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event with 9 players remaining. Kelly Kim was short stacked and was going to be forced to go all-in within one or two rounds of poker. Craig decided the right move was to push his stack of around 9 big blinds with a middle sized pocket pair and was called by AJ and eliminated. If he had waited until Kelly Kim had busted, he would have laddered up and earned an extra $400,000 or so. Marquis deserves nothing but praise for his play to win attitude but there will be those that question whether on this one occasion discretion was the better part of valour.

Think about what you would have done facing the same situation. How bad would a bad beat feel at this point if you are knocked out facing 88 or lower and they hit their set? In a spot like this you need to be consciously aware of your preferred strategy for dealing with a potential big win. Do not place in the chat box or proclaim to the table at a live tournament that you are prepared to make big folds or a deal as this makes you look like you are thinking only of the money and this can be exploited by aggressive opponents who realise you are only interested in moving up the ladder rather than trying to outplay them. Phil Ivey has a distinct advantage at the upcoming World Series final table as the money is not a major motivation for him unlike nearly every other member of the November nine.

I think that Laddering up should only be a consideration at the final table. Before that point the equity you earn from the tournament is not enough to keep sneaking into the money then not playing to win. You will bust your bankroll playing tournaments in this way, many players have tried and unfortunately it is not a strategy that works.

You must strike the balance between not making rash plays to take advantage of players playing with “scared money” and avoiding going into your shell and passing on opportunities which could see you make the final three and earn that big payout. In a spot where you can make a real difference to either your bankroll, your life or both depending on your own personal circumstances laddering up can be the right thing to do, just try and play good strategy wherever possible. I would never criticise a player who by laddering up one more spot would mean they are debt free rather than facing years paying off a debt if they make a marginal shove. Try and spot other players in a similar situation who may be trying to ladder up as they are more inclined to fold to a raise in tight spots.

Stuart Errol “Stu” Ungar is said to be the best ever professional poker and gin rummy player to have ever lived. He holds the record of being the only player to win three World Series of Poker main events. Not only that, he has also won three Amarillo Slim’s Super Bowl of Poker. During its time, it is the most prestigious poker title in the world.

Ungar was born on September 8, 1953 to Jewish parents at Manhattan’s Lower East Side. He was exposed to gambling at a young age because his father, Isadore, is a loan shark that operates a social club that’s a front for a gambling den. His father didn’t want him to gamble but Ungar made a name for himself playing tournament gin.

He won a gin tournament when he was just 10 years old. By the year 1976, he was regarded as the best in the state of New York. He dropped out of school to pursue a gin rummy career to help support his mother and sister parents when his father died due to a heart attack in 1968.

This is the time he met Victor Romano, who acted as the father figure to him. They got close because they both share the same love of math and gambling. Ungar love to openly criticize his opponents that are inferior to him and because of his relationship with Romano, other player don’t dare cross him. There’s a story of a man who tried to hit Ungar on the head with a chair after he was defeated. That man was found shot to death a few days after.

Because he was already the best gin rummy player, no one dared played with him anymore. He would even set handicaps to level the field. He would let his opponent look at the last card of the deck, offer rebates, or play each hand at the dealer position. There was a story about Ungar playing a match with a known cheater. The other player blatantly cheated throughout the match yet Ungar still managed to win it.

He then moved to Las Vegas, hoping to find more competitors. He would win or place high in most tournaments that hotels would ask him not to join at their events because players might not enter if they know Ungar is in it.

In 1980 he entered the World Series of Poker and won the main event, beating poker legend Doyle Brunson and at that time became the youngest champion in WSOP history. That’s where his nickname The Kid is from. He repeated the victory the next year be defeating Perry Green for the 1981 WSOP title.

His next WSOP main event win would come 16 years later. Another poker pro and close friend, Billy Baxter, gave Ungar he $10,000 so hat he could join in the event. During the first day of the tournament, he was exhausted because he had to stay awake for 24 hours trying to raise the money for the buy-in. Midway through the first day, he fell asleep in his table. After encouragement from Sexton and a scolding from Baxter, Ungar settled in and made it through day one.

During the whole tournament he kept the picture of his daughter Stefanie in his wallet and would call to update her about the tournament. Feeling refreshed the next day; he eventually got the chip lead going to the final table. He won the event to become the first person to ever win three WSOP main event titles and was nicknamed The Comeback Kid by the media. He split the $1 million purse with Baxter.

Sadly, he lost most of his 1997 WSOP winnings on drugs and sports betting. He tried to stay away from drugs but his addiction is too high for him to stop. Before the 1998 WSOP main event, Baxter again offered to foot his buy-in but Ungar declined the offer, saying that he was tired and did not feel like playing. He would later confide to friends that the reason why he didn’t want to enter the said event was that he feels that showing up in his current condition would be embarrassing than not showing up at all.

After the 1998 WSOP event, he would disappear from the public eye. He would stay at different hotels in Las Vegas, oftentimes not going out his room. He would be spotted outside poker rooms, begging for money. He would say that it would be to start his bankroll but in reality he will use it on drugs.

He was found dead on November 22, 1998 in a room at the Oasis Motel in Las Vegas. Autopsy showed that there are traces of illegal substances in his body but it is not enough to cause an overdose. It is concluded that he died of a heart failure due to his history of drug abuse.

Though his death was tragic, he is still remembered as the best poker player to have ever played the game.