League "Team Play" (League) Discussion - Strategy

Poker Strategy
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This is an open Discussion about League “Team Play” poker on RP.
The focus is: How to Play - Competition-Objective - Rules - Tips - Guidelines - Strategy etc.

I’m creating this post for 3 basic reasons:

  • 1. It’s more than difficult for new players like myself to find & read the basic Rules/Tips and learn & understand this “Team Play” on the RP site.
  • 2. A few new players frustratingly don’t seem to understand or care about playing as a “Team.”
  • 3. I can’t find any discussion regarding more advanced “Team Play” strategy.

If your an experienced “Team Play” Player please contribute Tips & basic/advanced Strategy.

If you have never played “Team Play” Poker, and you like playing MTTs you should consider trying it. Even for me - someone that doesn’t like MTTs very much - its still surprisingly a fun alternative game of poker. First let me explain my dive into the deep end of the kiddies pool of League “Team Play” Poker.

Recently I got invited to join a League “Team Play” Competition by a friend with a long outline of the competition idea. An organiser then added me after messaging me the basic concept & objective of the competition and offered to give me a more comprehensive & official Guide/Rules for the competition. I declined and decided to wing it. Fortunately common sense later kicked in and I decided to ask for the Basic Guide & Tips that were originally offered.

The Competition of “Team Play” is a lot of fun - though very alien to me & something I’ve never heard of before. Also its a Multiple Tables Tournaments competition, something I rarely ever play. The idea is that there are 3 Teams, each player displays their Team Logo, and tries to get as many Team Mates to the final table where points are awarded based on position finished. The points are 1st = 9, 2nd = 8, 3rd = 7 … 8th = 2, 9th = 1. The point contribute to Teams total after being tallied up.

Based on the objective/concept there is a lot of additional strategy required on top of normal MTT strategy to best contribute to the team. The Rules/Guidelines are very different from normal poker. I couldn’t find them anywhere on RP. One very basic is you don’t want to bust your Team Mate and especially on the final table bc the Team losses points whilst rival Team are now playing for more points.

If you have played “Team Play” Poker on RP please share your tips, advice, strategy, Guide.

I’ll post the following hand for review. This was the second “Team Play” MTT I played. Team Mate & I (and Team) didn’t do great - partly bc we were the only 2 Teamies on this starting table (my excuse). Keep in mind the hole cards are not overly important/relevant IMO. I’m interested in recommendation & advice on how to play this position & help my short stack Team mate out. I’m in the SB with blinds at 50/100. Note that my Team Mate is on the Button with a short stack a pictured below.

Hand #647601717 (Jc9d)

Team Play
Team Play1179×605 272 KB

I really wanted to raise to 3x or 4x and force a few folds from the 3 limping players and protect my Team Mate but I’m not sure if my Team Mate will call - and I want them to call me. I regret not at least limping in but got confused not knowing what to do so folded. OFC if i just call I give my Team Mate a chance to cheaply gamble, but am now clueless to a flop.

If the my Team Mate folds I’m very often raising trying to steal the pot or hopefully get to 1v1. If Team Mate opens on the Button I make an easy call, although possibly also wrong.

As good players & Team Mates that are in-sink I think limping the button, & raising strong in the small blind to 4x knowing the Button will call if all limpers all fold is optimal play. OFC the limpers can easily counter by 3betting but none of us know what we are doing so? I’m still a little confused.

Thoughts & Advice?

Feel free to post a “Team Play” Hand but keep in mind this post is for Strategy Discussion etc not specific Hands Reviews.

I will find the “Team Play” Rules & Tips later & post them here for any interested in this strange Team MTT game.

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In this exact position, I could see raising to narrow it down to you and your teammate - who should call if he understands team play and everyone else has folded. Since he is short stacked and already put chips voluntarily into the pot, you can assume he is committed provided the conditions are right. Too many players call your raise and he might not call though. JMO - I haven’t engaged in team play except for a boys against girls donks game. Found myself folding a hand I would normally play when a woman went all in ahead of me. Figured keeping her alive might be more important than getting a bigger stack myself. I would’ve won the hand, but was better to have her stay in longer :slight_smile:

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Yea wasn’t sure what to do on the spot. Seems more obvious now, as you say as general Team play tactics.

The game is a lot of fun but rather strange. I folded AA after tanking for a while bc a Team Mate shoved all in. Really frustrating, but I think they won with AK Vs A rags so it worked out good. Crazy all the aces came out.

Have you ever played the team card game 500? Its played between 4-6 players. I downloaded a computer version & noticed the CPU AI players would always call No Trumps when it held the joker card. It was a way to legally cheat & table talk and tell your team mates you held the best possible card.

None of my friends ever did this table talk cheat & I’m not sure why. I used it a lot.

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I have played a time or two, but am not a fan of team poker.

One mistake I saw was passing chips to players that weren’t under any blinds pressure. I think that the stronger players on the team need to have enough chips to eliminate other players, rather than redistributing chips so everyone on your team has a medium stack.

Sure, pass some chips when your teammates get to 15 BBs or so, but also remember that a big stack can put a lot more pressure on your opponents. If you can only cripple someone, their team can just pass them more chips and the game goes on. Having enough chips to eliminate them, on the other hand, seems like a better way forward to me.

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