PLEASE HELP MY TOURNAMENT STRATEGY?!

[BILLABONG]

Ok, I nomrally hang out in the Hold Em strategies but I am far better ring player then a tournament player. Let me explain roughy my tournament strategy and hopefully some of you can tell me what im doin wrong. To start off I dont play and hands but pocket pairs and I only limp with them. EXCEPT for AA and KK which I will raise preflop. My strategy is mostly either raise or fold. So I wait for the blinds to increase to actually make chips off this strategy. Say I have 1500 chips, Ill wait untill blinds are at 25-50 to get involved with any high over card hands like ak,aq,aj,at,kq,. And when I do get involved like I said before im either raising or folding with these hands.

Is this my frist problem???

Now here comes my next question. I dont steal blinds with medium hands like connectors small pocket pairs (22-77). Becuase it always seems I have someone really loose to the left of me who wither has a fat chip stack or is just extremely loose.

DO I need to start getting some game and start tryin to take more blinds with these hands. And if I am goin to steal blinds with such medium hands. Is it more important to do it when I have a decent stack. Or when im low stacked. For example if I do steal blinds with medium hands its only when I have a decent stack in front of me. T.J. Clotier and Tom Mcevoy believe if you have a big stack is all the more reason to just wait and play only premium hands.

My next problem is HUGE. And should have a fairly simply answer, though I would like some thoughts as to why you believe one way or another about this. My thinkin is if I have 1000 in chips. With blinds at 100-200, and everyone else has around 5000 or more chips. And the lblinds are coming at me. And I pick up a hand like 55 or A9, why jam all my chips with a hand like that? When if anyone else at the table has a coinflip hand. Theyre goin to call me simply because it doesnt risk much from them. They either knock me out and grab another k in chips or lose a 5th of there stack. No big deal.

Why not just limp in 5 hands and see if I hit as opposed to jamming and hoping no one has me outkicked (a9) or no one hits any overs on me (55)??? This just doesnt make sense to me to jam once im down so far in chips.

My last question goes back to the first paragraph. When i stated I either raise or fold once the first two lovels in a tournament are over.

Is this wrong? Should I continue to play marginal hands like connectors as long as the pot odds and implied odds are there? (many players in before me with no raise and some of them are aggessive so if I hit im sure to get paid off well)

Please help me out guys. Its unbelievable how I can last so long in a tournament and then not make the money so consistently....

[Sed]

Why not just limp in 5 hands and see if I hit as opposed to jamming and hoping no one has me outkicked (a9) or no one hits any overs on me (55)??? This just doesnt make sense to me to jam once im down so far in chips.

If I was a big stack and saw you limping as a small stack with only 7-10x BB I'd raise you, but then again, I'm a bastard....

sed

[DavSimon]

To start off I dont play and hands but pocket pairs and I only limp with them. EXCEPT for AA and KK which I will raise preflop. My strategy is mostly either raise or fold.
Is this my frist problem???

Not so much a problem as a difference in style. I think that sort of play is too tight in the beginning of a tourney. You can seel flops for cheap and people seem to be pretty tenative (in a freezout) during the first few blind levels. I generally limp with suited connectors early and raise with them in late position..just as I would do with large pocket pairs or A-K or A-Q. I will limp with hands like K-T, K-J, Q-T...A-Xs. You get the idea, just don't over play those hands. If you fold them and play too tight you are definately missing an opportunity to grab some chips early and put yourself in a position to wait for good hand late in a tourney. Play hands within reason...pick your spots...dont get married to a hand...take advantage of EVERY opportunity you can to put yourself in a good position for the latter stages. I admittedly play slightly loose aggressive to loose aggressive, the only time I play tight passive is if I amass a huge chip lead early and want to protect it. My style of play lately has either busted my out of a tourney within the first hour...or put me fairly deep into the money.

Now here comes my next question. I dont steal blinds with medium hands like connectors small pocket pairs (22-77). Becuase it always seems I have someone really loose to the left of me who wither has a fat chip stack or is just extremely loose.

I don't know anything about your play...but I do see situations where someone trys a blind steal pre-flop and the flop comes and they give up...simply because the were re-raise the minimum or there is a LAGG or big stack to your left. Many times these people (like myself) have marginal cards and just want to see a flop - if you follow through and bet the flop fairly strong you can usually take it right there....checking the flop is a sign for the person or persons to your left to stab at it and scare you off. Now you have to have a feel for the table and a little read on the people there...but with your tight image you should have no trouble taking quite a few of these if you simply lead out post flop.

I have 1000 in chips. With blinds at 100-200, and everyone else has around 5000 or more chips. And the lblinds are coming at me. And I pick up a hand like 55 or A9, why jam all my chips with a hand like that?

Folding equity....plain and simple. You have enough chips still to hurt a larger stack if they make a reckless call...you make a statement that says I am willing to risk my whole tournament life on this hand - are you willing to risk a call? Obviously you need to be smart with this move...if the pot has been raised or resaised you are probably in a bad spot, but if there are a lot of limpers...this is a perfect opportunity to pick up a few extra chips (if you get called you are still in a decent position on a coinflip) There is not one right way to play poker, this site has a huge diversity in personalities and styles - what I have given you is my personal style...there will be other opinions to follow I'm sure. If you are still trying to find your game it is important to force yourself to play in a different way...even if at first it is uncomfortable or unnatural (yes that goes against conventional wisdom of playing in your comfort zone) I am a firm believer that personal growth is at times painful...but in the end you are better for making the journey. Good luck.

[zilch]

Heres my 2c...

I don't think that your preflop is too bad. My style is definetly "tight is right" early in a tourn. I would also raise PF with QQ, JJ & AK and maybe TT in position. What I think is more important is that if you do play tight then you must make sure that you extract as much value from those hands as possible. ie For the big pairs don't raise to much that you just win the blinds but raise enough to be heads up with someone.

When the blinds get large you must steal them with any 2. For me the worse the better, then if someone comes back at me its easier to lay down than with something like KJ or AT.

As DavSimon says follow your steal with bets if called. I also agree with his comments about going AI with a short stack. If I have a reasonable hand like AJo I will sometimes limp as the shortstack in early pos in the hope that I get more than one call and a raise and then I push. This limp rereaise can sometimes reap a little bit more than just doubling up. Its also something that I see a lot of people do with rockets so if poeple then put you on rockets and fold, all the better.

[soupie]

Billabong,

You are definately too tight in the early rounds. It is worth taking small risks in situations where you have high implied odds. Say you have a suited 7-8 on the button and you can see the flop for the minimum and so on. Is it worth it to risk 2 % of your chips where say 10% of the time you will win a very nice pot on a very strong hand? Just be careful about continuing to call along with second and third pairs, that is the weak type of play that will sink you.

Blinds steals, there is a lot of confusion as to why this is done. Blind steals are nothing more than trying to get 10 more hands for free in the tourney. You are trying to outlast the other guys until you get your monster hands. You dont win tourneys stealling blinds, you steal blinds to have an opportunity to win tourneys. When you win a big one, you will have several big hands that hold up in the later rounds. It happens that way every time.

So when you are needing some blinds to stay competitive, stop thinking so much about your hole cards and a lot more about the table and tourney situation. Your ring experience is not helping you here, in ring games you are forced to think about your cards all the time, because you are probably have a lot of calling parties. The best cards out there will win because there is no way to bluff them out, so your decision is do I have the best cards here, period. In tourneys, that is not at all the case, the first big bet in the pot wins a lot simply because the other players can not afford to take the risk.

On short stack strategy, analyze the situation, you may try a call or 2 once in a while just to see more flops. I do that sometimes, usually from the small blind. You however have to remember, betting all your chips will get you a fold a sometimes, which is chips to you at no further risk. Really good all in hands are pairs, because they are favorites to hands that are not higher pairs.

Regards,

soupie

[Staresy]

You dont win tourneys stealling blinds, you steal blinds to have an opportunity to win tourneys

I like this!

[DANtheROCK]

hello everyone at this site. i play no limit holdem tournys on empire poker and thats all. so ill give you my two cents. alot of players in these tournys are very stupid. they have no concept of good starting or odds.
early in a tourny i dont raise any with AQ,AJ,KQ,JJ,TT and a few others.. i know alot of people will not agree with this style of play but i can tell you it does work. however alot of the time you will get a raise from someone which you would more than likely call. so now they have no idea what you have or dont put you on a good hand because you just limped in. now it is true that sometimes you hit nothing on the flop and are forced to fold,but in the long run you will win more. this especially nice when for example you hold AQo and you limp in. another raises 2,3,4x's big blind and of course you call. so will say its you and him heads up and flop comes A,7,2. you bet your ace with nice kicker and he pushes allin. you call and win with AQ, against his AT. you double up because he didnt put on an ace with that big of a kicker because most players raise. now this does alot for you because all the others see your nice hand and think twice about what you have when just limping in not to mention if you do put up a big raise. so after you do this and win a few times other players get nervous and think twice about raising you preflop. which lets you play more suited connectors and small pairs without being raised preflop. now later on in the tourny when its down to 5 players or so you must raise with all premium starting hands to keep the short stack players from going all in on you with crap cards. this style may not be for you but give it a try you might be surprised.

i have a question for anyone. why do people who raise preflop and get called go allin postflop no matter what they have? its just doesnt make any sense at all to me.

oh sorry but i forgot AA,KK,QQ,andAKs. you should always raise alot preflop no mater how early or position.

[Staresy]

Hi Dan

welcome!

...for the reasons you have alluded to b4!....

alot of players in these tournys are very stupid

I have started to do this on occasions (limp with AQ etc) because people will just call with anything and, at least if u miss, or sense trouble, u can get away fairly cheaply and, when u hit, as u say, u can milk them for lots.