Low Money Tournament Strategy - Different Rules?

[ponyboy]

After reading the typical tourney strategy articles, it seems like the rules change for the low level entry SNG's. After playing about 100 here seem to be my findings as compared with higher buyin tourneys. Remember these are general observations after making notes on many of these players.

* Generally people will limp with any Ace, most face cards and connectors. There are mostly no "top ten hand" players.
* People will raise preflop with any pocket pair or Ace strong hand (not even top hands, pocket 3's and 5's often get raised).
* People chase straights and flushes a LOT more. This either causes them to get knocked out or they take huge pots on crappy cards.
* You can't bluff. People will call you chasing hands unless you go all in and even then sometimes they will call anyway.
* People like to see all five cards - they will check and recheck until the river is out and then MAYBE make a bet unless they have hit something like 2 pair. They will generally fold to strong betting.
* Table image is important - even if they think you are a chump. I played one really stupid hand at the beginning of my last one and then people would call me on anything. I just waited for good hands and took money because they thought I would play with crap.

Any other observations people want to share? I noticed that the traditional tourney strategy doesn't always apply so I thought I would share this. Remember it's just my humble opinion. I also reinforces that I need to keep taking notes and learning.

[wiesman02]

This is generally true, at least from what I saw on Stars, with $5-$20 SnG's. Never played any above that level.

[Resources]

1) Generally people will limp with any Ace, most face cards and connectors. There are mostly no "top ten hand" players.
2) People will raise preflop with any pocket pair or Ace strong hand (not even top hands, pocket 3's and 5's often get raised).
3) People chase straights and flushes a LOT more. This either causes them to get knocked out or they take huge pots on crappy cards.
4) You can't bluff. People will call you chasing hands unless you go all in and even then sometimes they will call anyway.
5) People like to see all five cards - they will check and recheck until the river is out and then MAYBE make a bet unless they have hit something like 2 pair. They will generally fold to strong betting.
6) Table image is important - even if they think you are a chump. I played one really stupid hand at the beginning of my last one and then people would call me on anything. I just waited for good hands and took money because they thought I would play with crap.

for the most part, i only see these tatics in $5 SnGs (and $10 SnGs to a certain extent) on stars....but they are normally targeted/exploited quite quickly.

here are some advice that i have gathered...which have helped me "swim through the crap":

first off, you have to watch your players. normally, i don't playing any of the first 5-10 hands unless i hit an absolute monster (and even then i proceed very carefully). watch all the players. begin to figure out what skill level they're at and what they're capable of doing. in general, the ones that fold over and over the first 5-10 hands are normally the most dangerous ones (mainly because they're doing the same thing you're doing - observation ). figure out who are the hyperaggressive, semi-bluffers, trappers, check-raisers, check-raise bluffers, rocks, calling stations, suited lovers, chasers, ace whores, pocket whores, bluffers, etc. NEVER completely 100% latch on to their image....some of the better players may do some bonehead plays while the blinds are low in order to blend in with the fish. But, for the most part, you can normally tell who is capable of what.

1) you know that people at lower lvls overvalue Ax. knowing this, if you go in with high pockets and any ace hits the table - bail....not worth it. Also, since they do overvalue Ax (and alot of fish seem to go crazy when they hit a pair of aces), if you have an ace with a high kicker - i would be more inclined to call him down. as far as connectors are concerned, the people who play suited connecters are usually either very good or very bad. based on your previous observations of that particular player, you can usually figure out if you should exploit or avoid.

2) yup...basically same as above

3) the best way to counter this is to observe who are the chasers. if you think they are chasing, make them pay heavy for every card they see. if they keep on chasing while you fine them every card, then more power to them. basically, if you see any flush/straight developing on the board, drop the hammer and try to win the pot right there.

4) calling stations can be a problem at times. BUT to be honest, i personally love calling stations - they pay good. if you know a particular player *IS* a calling station and for some reason you don't want him to call anymore, a tatic i have used is to bluff and lose a little bit of money to him/her. let him see that "i am a bluffer". then when you do have a hand, bet semi-harder into him (kinda like "oh...maybe i didn't bet enough last time to chase him away from my bluff") and let him call you down. a few rounds of this will usually put the toughest calling stations to submission. again with the chasing hands - find his "limit" (everyplayer has a limit of how much they are willing to spend to chase) and drop the hammer.

5) throw out probe bets and don't let them check to the river. if you find out that they always check when they don't have something and bet when they do, exploit that fact. if they are timid and fold easily, keep betting into them till they bite back.

6) table image is extremely important. nstx2 once told me "the goal is to make them THINK you are playing fundamental poker". great great advice.