Tournament Advice

[Ragingg]

Hi everyone!

There is going to be a tournament at my school with a very poor set up and I was wondering how you guys think i should play. Basically you buy in for a certain number of chips, and you play until the 2 hour time limit. At the 2 hour time limit, whoever has the most number of chips wins $250. What do you think is the best way to play it?

I was thinking like wait till the last 5 minutes... if you're the chip leader, then play super tight. If you're not the leader, then just go all in... you've got nothing to lose.

What do you think?

[Jesse K]

I think thats a terrible tournament structure lol..

You cant convince people to play a real tournament?

[Ragingg]

Hell, I just want to win. I am pleased that it is a terrible structure so I can try to exploit this system.

[Haji]

While I was deployed in Iraq, the MWR's frequently had "free" (with prizes for the winner) tournys like this. My experience with these timed tournys was that people start calling all in off the get go, usually with marginal hands. If you are hitting the cards, you can profit quickly, but if your catching crap you get to sit back and watch the fish go at it like crazy.

I played 3 of these, and two of them I didn't make the cut to the next table because I was just under the chip leader. I really, really dislike that structure. It doesn't reward solid play...

If you feel like gambling I'd play, if not I wouldn't waste my time. Just my opinion.

[michael1123]

Yeah, it sounds like crap. The big thing would be to not slow play, as you know everyone's going to be willing to gamble. If you get AA, KK, or whatever, just shove all in as you'll likely get called. See cheap flops when you can and again shove in with all monsters. Play it kind of like a rebuy with a ton of gamblers in this way.

Try not to wait until the last 5 minutes to gamble, as literally everyone will be going all in then.

But yeah, I really don't think this tournament will be skill based. Whomever wins 20+ all ins wins. I wouldn't pay to enter a tourney like this.

Even if you have the biggest stack with a minute left, 5 average stacks may shove all in on the last hand and the winner of that pot may have more chips than you. Pretty silly.