TEAM PLAY (Poker Tips)

Most players find it very awkward to switch from individual to team play.
Here are some hints:
At the start, you want to just gather chips as in any other tourny. But, against your team-mates, you often "take it easy". Against a team-mate you just check it down.
The important team-work really starts later. By then, if you are a chip leader, it is up to you to protect your short-stacked team members. The #1 key to success is keeping your fellow team-mates alive. It is the difference between winning and losing!
1. "Dump" chips to them. For instance, if you are small blind and they are big blind, and the table has folded. Most team members just fold their small blind. (thinking that is the best thing to do, for their short-stacked team-mate, give them the amount of their small blind by folding)
But it is even better to call, then fold. That way that short-stacked team member really gets to benefit, because you just gave him the amount of the full blind. This should be a standard procedure, so the short-stacked big blind should EXPECT you to call and then fold.
2. If a team member goes all in and the entire table folds, then you must fold too. Do it!
For instance, in a recent team game, a team-mate raised all in with KK, the entire table folded, except his fellow team-mate as the big blind.
All this player had to do was fold (for the team). They had tons of chips and NO REASON TO CALL! But, they did call, and with Q 8 off!! Q on flop and 8 on turn and 8 the river! Knocked out their own team-mate with his KK! So sad! Our team lost that game!
Be careful playing on PD. Often we are playing more than one game at a time, and we hit "check call any" and end up calling our poor team-mate by accident! Or, we aren't paying enough attention to who just went all in and we call!
This just happened to me recently.
My team member raised all-in with J 2 off, and expected me to fold, but with QK suited, and playing 2 games at once, I did not take the time to think it through, to realize that this was my team-mate! I clicked on call! Dumb Me!!! I took him out of the game!
3. If you do have the "nuts" and you have a short stacked team-mate as the small blind. Raise them. That is their signal to fold and save their chips. If you just call, and then they "complete" that small blind, they are wasting their chips. Because then they are going to have to fold later. Why let them waste those chips! So use this "signal" to let your team-mate know to fold.
4. This is another team move. If it is your big blind and entire table folds except a short stacked team-mate, and they just "call", FOLD! Even though they did not raise, if you have a lot of chips, just fold to them preflop. They need those chips. And this is also standard procedure. Do not make them see that flop, just fold.
5. If a team mate is short stacked and raises all-in and IS CALLED by a bunch of the other team's players and you have really good cards and lots of chips, CALL THEM! Better that you take their chips and knock them out, rather than letting those from the other team get those chips, and knock them out.
6. Most time, we win or lose in "spurts". If someone has previously "dumped" a lot of chips to you earlier, and now everything you play "turns to gold", and the other team-mates are short, do not forget to "dump" chips back to them! A lot of team players forget to dump back!
This is a key thing!! In a recent game only a few of us played "team poker" while our "team-mates" played for themselves. "Individual poker" does not work in "team" games.
Previously, I had "dumped" too many of my chips to the team members that were playing their usual individual poker game. They never "dumped" back to me or to anyone else. So we lost.
Unless you are committed to the team and the team's win, (not your win), it is not worth your time or effort to try to "team play". It takes a ton of patience and practice to always put your team players first. And unless the team works well together your team will lose.
Hope this helps everyone and that I explained it all OK.
By JMachelor @ LSP