Tournament advice please

[TLS TIDALWAVE]

Hello,

I've been playing "Texas Hold Em" for about 4 months. I love everything about it. I read and study everything that I can get my hands on. I'm currently reading Dan Harrington's book.

My problem:

I've been playing about 4 tournaments a week for the last three months. Its the tournaments that are held in bars (no entry) that gives entry fees into the WSOP. I play tight/aggressive (some say that I play tight/passive). I make the final table (out of 50 or so players) 80% of the time (I'm serious), but have never won a tournament. My last 8 tournaments, I've received: 2nd, 8th, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 14th, 10th, 3rd.....
Each month (out of 500 or so players in this circuit), I'm always in the top 15 in points - and always the only player in the top 25 that has not won a tournament.

Once I make the final table, I never have enough money to compete.


Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[a500lbgorilla]

I need to know more about your play and the play of your opponents, the blinds and payout stucture of the tourny and whether you're a TAgg or a Loose passive, weak tightie.

-'rilla

[TLS TIDALWAVE]

I play AA,KK,QQ,JJ, AKs - AJs, AKo - AJo. I will play other suited cards that are close connectors, when its cheap to get into the flop.


When I get one ot the above hands, I raise 90% of the time depending on positioning and number of raises before me. I tend to play High pairs, very aggressive.


The tournaments are: Start with $4000 in chips, Blinds raised every 25 minutes ($25/$50, $100/$200, $400/$800) and normally $5000 - $10000 by the final table.

There are two breaks, normally after the second break, there are approx. 20 players left - top 8 makes the final table.

After the first break, I normally have withing $500.00 of what I started out with. After the second break, I normally have about $12,000.00 (3 times what I started with), by the final table, I normally have anywhere from $15,000.00 to $30,000.00. The leader normally has $80,000.00 or so and the blinds catch up with me.


My blinds get raised a lot.

[TLS TIDALWAVE]

One more thing:

I seldom get straights, flushes, full houses, or trips.


But it seems, that even after I folded, that even if I would stay in on some hands, that I would have lost. Am I playing too much on the having cards side of thing and not enough on bluffing or using my tight reputation enough. I never bluff on nothing, but will bluff on a pretty good hand - one not mention above.

I never seem to get the big pots. When I win - its smaller pots.

[Cavalry21]

I am by no means the expert here, but if those are the only hands you play, and you play with the same people and they know that, then its time to loosen up a little.

With the rock image that you present, two things happen, people will bluff you off your blinds, knowing that you probably won't call. They also know that if your in, they better have the nuts or lay it down. So you don't lose many pots, but the ones you do win, you won't make much in chips, hence the low stack at the final table.

Between the 2 breaks I would look to steal some pots. Every once in a while on the button just say F-it, this next pot is MINE, no matter what hand I'm dealt. 83o, no prob, make the same raise you would with AA or KK preflop, and slam in a pot size bet after the flop. You'll be surprised how many pots you can take down with your image. If you get caught, thats ok too, becuase then next time you do have the nuts, you'll get callers and win more.

You have to decide if your playing ITM or for 1st. True Rocks will finish ITM alot, but its the ones that take the well timed shots that win.

EDIT: I started writing this BEFORE your last post. The reason you don't hit flushes, straights, ect. is because you don't chase them, while thats not all bad, sometimes the pot odds say you need to, and that's when you can take down bigger pots

Read Rada's and Rippy's advice stickied at the top of this forum too. Great help to improve aggresion.

[UG]

Once I make the final table, I never have enough money to compete.

I can offer a pretty solid reason for you never winning these things once you make it to the final table. You never win, because, well, it's all a crapshoot if you make it that far. That's the nature of these types of tournaments, with their ridiculous blind structures they use so games don't last eight hours.

See, the blind structure increases so freaking fast in these tournaments that towards the end you're not really playing poker at all. With seven people left, and everyone has the same amount of chips, the BB is usually all in before the cards are dealt, and the small blind may be as well.

I've only played in one of these tournaments, but that was my experience, and I've heard that from others as well. I actually got 2nd the first time I played in one of these (everyone knew it was my first time and were all like OMG who is this guy). Anyway, at the final table I knock out the #1 player in the Kansas City Area, and again, everyone's like OMG who is this guy. Well, he was in the BB with crap, was forced to go all in, I was in the SB with JJ I believe....and that's how I took him down. Everyone was drunk and all patting me on the back but I was thinking, "What did I do? It's almost like we both decided to go all in before the cards were dealt and I got lucky and won."

Heads up was a joke. I think the BB was something like 1/5 of the chips on the table, the SB was 1/10...I only had 1/3 of the chips, so I was doomed from the beginning.

I dunno, just my experience with it.

[aokrongly]

Try changing your style to something passive preflop and super agressive post flop!! Use select opportunities. If people aren't showing any particular strength then scare the shit out of them.

In these freerolls - which is what it is - all the "wild" players get knocked out early. So you have alot of tight, agressive, smart players left. Change your style some. start calling in late position with crazy cards, then you can hit them or you can represent top pair, your choice.

There's an element of luck when everyone is playing the same starting hands. You be the one to mix it up and take some chances. And you might find yourself the chip leader! Or out! But you've already said you've experienced "out". So mix it up, take some chances, and get bold - IN THE RIGHT SITUATIONS. Don't reraise a tight player AI with QT. It's a bad move. But with a bunch of limpers and suited 89, why not? It's better than K3, when other players limp in with KJ, for instance.

[TLS TIDALWAVE]

Thanks for the advice & please keep it coming.


When I'm the big blind - Should I protect it with any average hand - Just to take a stand?

So instead of playing my power hands aggressive, play weaker before the flop and stronger after the flop. Change things up - I'll give it a shot.

I see top pairs get beat so many times, when players slow plays. Is this normally the case?

[a500lbgorilla]

The blinds increase far to quickly for you to just sit back and wait for good things to happen to you.

You've got to learn to LAgg it up by about the 3rd blind level.

You can play your normal hands at first, but you'll quickly find yourself in trouble with the blinds.

You'll need to learn to loosen up and play more hands when you get any chance to steal chips.

-'rilla

[CRUSHER]

Hello, Tidalwave...

First, you should be proud that you can enter a tournament and be in the money at the final table so frequently. It is also admirable you are seeking advice to become better. While I am certainly no pro, I can relate to your situation.

As many of my friends know, one of the many reasons I enjoy poker is because of the endless strategies involved. As such, I continually finesse my game and try to improve my skills. Most of the time, I will either try something I would like to alter or attempt a strategy I notice in other successful players. Online poker games can be a low-cost, easy arena in which to test the new strategies.

My humble advice to you is to try to spice up your play online and get a feel for it. Analyze the end result. Did it work? Was it comfortable? Can you use that strategy or adapt, finesse and try out the strategy again? Then try it in a live ring game with some of your friends that know how you play.

When you're comfortable with the new, improved you, try it out at the next tournament. Be patient and continue your normal routine everyone expects. However, before the break you seem to use as a milestone, start dipping into your new-found strategy and build up your chip stack in a very stealth-like way. You should consider resuming your successful method of making it to the final table and then BOOM change gears and use a combination of your old and new strategies.

Good luck to you. Let us know how you do and what you did to improve.
-CRUSHER

[Chicago_Kid]

I agree with playing online...this will allow you to practice your strategy against new players.

In addition, I would not be upset that you've never WON a tourney. With your finishes, you are obviously a solid, solid player. As was previously stated, the final table is often a crap shoot, with suckouts and the like, due to the fast play preflop. I think of it this way: Making the final table is a victory in itself...winning outright takes some luck. E.g., I used to play with a group that really had some weak players in 10-20 person tourneys. I somehow finished 4th 4 times in a row (3rd was money) when I started out there...drove me nuts. I think some other other big winners at FTR will speak of the long stretches between wins in big tournaments as well.

Finally, if you play ultra tight and aggressive, you might be scaring away customers on big hands. Make sure you take some chances of getting sucked out in order to extract maximum value from your strong hands. You need to be careful with this, but it's necessary to know when to overcall and look for a blank on the turn to drain your opponent of more chips. In essence, don't only try to put your opponents on hands when you have a speculative holding, but also put them on a hand when you have a strong holding...so you can drain them when the chance arises. Maybe you already utilize this approach, but it's advice that really helped me.

Good luck!