第
13
期
2011
年
11
月
/12
月
|
#13NOV/DEC2011
Welcome topartEof thisseries.Visit
World
Gaming’s
websitewgm8.com ifyouneedtocatch
uponpartsA, B, CandD,whichexplained:
• introductoryconceptssuchasthethreedistinct
phases of any baccarat tournament: the early
going, themiddlegoingand the lategoing,
• how to knowwhichphase youwere in at any
given time,
• the strategies to implement during the early
going, and
•“theprogression”,apowerful“chasing”technique
thatcanbeused in theearlyandmiddlegoing.
ROUNDS
Tournamentsaresplitinto“rounds”(whichusually
havenames like“heats”,“semi-finals”or“finals”).
At the end of each round, some players are
eliminatedand theothersprogress to thenext
roundof the tournament. Of courseduring the
round theplayers know thenumber of players
whowill progress. For example, theremightbe
eightplayers inaheatwiththefour largeststacks
at the endof the roundprogressing to a semi-
final,with the foursmalleststackseliminated. In
thiscasealleightplayersarestrivingto finishthe
roundwithoneof the fourbiggest stacks.
THEMIDDLEGOING
Themiddlegoing is the“meatandpotatoes”part
of any baccarat tournament, where your skill
advantageover your opponents reallymanifests
itself. It generally starts with about ten hands
remaining intheroundandendswiththesecond
last hand of the round (refer to part B for an
explanationofhow to track thenumberofhands
remainingat anygiven time).Whilst your goal in
theearlygoing is tostayoutof troubleandallow
your opponents toblast out (refer topartC for a
fullerexplanation),youhavenosuch luxury inthe
middlegoing.At thestartof themiddlegoing it’s
time to takestockofwhereyouareat, andbegin
jockeying for thoseall-importantstarpositions.
STARPOSITION
The first question you need to ask yourself is
“am I in a star position now?”Another way of
asking the same question is “if the roundwere
to end this instant, would Imake it through to
thenext round?” If theanswer is yes, youare in
a starposition.Yourgoal is to stay there. If your
answer isno, youarenot ina starposition.Your
goal is to get there. Refer to part B for amore
thoroughexplanationof theterm“starposition”.
MOSTSERIOUSOPPONENT
The next thing to do is to identify who your
“most serious opponent” is. In practice we
usually focusonone“most seriousopponent”,
but you often have more than one serious
opponent to consider. Typically, if you are in
star position, your most serious opponent is
thebiggest stackwho is
not
ina starposition,
in other words the player most likely to rise
intoastarpositionandperhapsknockyouout
in theprocess. If youare
not
ina starposition,
typically your most serious opponent is the
smallest stackwho is inastarposition, inother
words theplayer youneed toget in frontof to
move into a star position.
Inpractice, your “most serious opponent”
often changes from hand to hand and usually
youdon’thave justone“mostseriousopponent”,
but several“most seriousopponents”.However,
these“mostseriousopponents”willhavesimilar
stacksizes. Skilled tournamentbaccaratplayers
often refer to their opponents as “moving
targets”, but you should remember they are
targets that canonlymove a certaindistance
each hand, depending on their bet size for
that hand.
65
Introductiontothemiddlegoing
How towinabaccarat tournament part E:
Therehavebeenmillionsofwordspublishedon themany techniques forwinningpoker
tournaments, but very little is inprint abouthow towinabaccarat tournament.Our tournament
baccaratguruAndrewWScott shareshis strategieson this littleunderstood topic.
Themiddlegoing isthe ‘meatandpotatoes’
partofanybaccarattournament,whereyour
skilladvantageoveryouropponentsreally
manifests itself.
