Revelation-Deepstack Tournaments

I played the Daily Dollar on FT today and felt I was playing optimally.
Down to 1k players and beginning of the payouts I had scraped together
25k in chips with the average being 19k or so.

Then for a long stretch I was card dead (45 mins), I lost a flip against a short stack(3k chips), and eventually i was down to 8k with blinds 1.6k.
Doubled to 20k min-raising KJ(hearts), BB called with 10 8, flop K 8 4, and I went all in after he min-bet, he called and my kings held.
then I had AJ in late position and raised, then was called by large stack in BB.
flop was 10Q8, i c-bet, was afraid i was behind , he called, turn blank.
I went all-in, he called showed KJ (open ended straight draw)- to my relief.
River came ace and I lost.

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I got to thinking: I do well but then blinds rise quick and if I don't get hands or makes moves I suffocate, and cant survive very well.

I wonder if I would have more success in Deep Stack games with 30 mins blinds opposed to 10.
Its frustrating playing 4 hours to outlast 95% of the field and win $3.50 because I don't get hands, and I'm inexperienced at winning chips other ways. Are deep stack games maybe the answer?

Ha, if you dojn't like playing for 4 hours for little profit, then deepstack is NOT the answer. Because often you'll play for 4 hours and have no profit.

Maybe I didn't explain myself clearly.
In games i generally play, I have no problem for the first few hours.
But then as the dynamics of the games switch in the later parts of the game I have a very hard time staying afloat, especially when I'm not dealt cards. (the blinds rise quickly with respect to stack sizes). I was reading HOH afterwards to try to 'fix' my problem, to be able to play more aggressively in the later stage of the game. I came across him mentioning that conservative play should yield the most profit in these types of small buy-in online games- BUT he says it doesn't because the blind levels online are not long enough to allow the conservative method to result in success.

In a game with 30 minute blinds, I think there would be more opportunity for skill to come into play, and less luck involved in making the final table.

I'm going to test it out sometime though (there's an 11 dollar deepstack with 8k gtd. on stars- which is above my BR, but I want to try...)
Sometime when I have a chance to play for 14-15 hours without worrying my parents. hah.

I play deepstacks almost exclusively. Give it a go and see how you do.

I have the same issue. I need to learn to change up my game as the game progresses into the levels of the game.
This is when you have to try and "steal" blinds by learning your opponents tendencies and using position to your advantage.
I'm still learning

If you are better at cash games, deep stacked is probably the way to go. If you find yourself not doing very well when the blinds get larger and often not finishing ITM or low ITM, you might want to examine your short stack play.

Inevitably at some point, even in deep stacked tournaments, the blinds sizes will be quite large relative to the stack sizes. Even if you get a large chip stack, you should know basic principles of ICM. Try doing a search on the forums or google to get an idea of how it works.

I've always hated turbos because a large range of hands really lose their value after only a couple of minutes. Implied odds type stuff like suited cons and small pairs, etc.

Sorry if I misunderstood your post

There's a 1pm tourney on pokerstars that I think is only $5 deepstack. There is a lot more skill involved for sure.

I play a lot of the deepstacks as well. They are online deep stacks, which means they really aren't truly deep stack tourneys. Within the first few level increase, you are no longer deep stacked. Stars, does have that one you mentioned that has 30 minutes blinds and a 5k starting stack. That is the closest to playing a live tourney you'll find online.

Sounds like you are too card dependant. You need to use your stack and position to your advantage. Avoid playing against the players with similar stack sizes to your own unless you have a premium hand. Avoid calling the SS all in preflop unless you have a premium hand. Pick on the middle sized stacks, they don't really want a huge hand with you cause your stack can end their tourney life. Use your position to steal the blinds to maintain your stack size. Make sure the blinds are worth stealing. In most of these tournaments when there are antes is when it's worth stealing the blinds.

So don't get comfortable with your large stack, or it will soon be a below average stack. At the same time pick your spots and avoid situations that can cripple your stack. All this takes a lot of practice, but you will get the hang of it.


Also, what is your thinking going all in on the turn with the AJ hand?? You said you thought you were behind when you C bet, and he calls it, the turn comes a blank so you move all in??? You are lucky when he called you, that you where ahead. I don't get why you would shove with air on the turn for your tournament life when as far as you know your only out is a K for the straight, could have found a better spot imo.

When you're playing deepstacks with long level blinds, building up a strong table imagine is imperative.
Try raising min almost every hand (only while you in mid-late position, also based on preflop action).
That way if someone raises all in when you have bad cards, easy fold or if you have great cards, easy call.
I play loose aggressive in deepstacks.
Most of the time it pans out great other times you just get unlucky...poker is also about luck after all, you can't ALWAYS win no matter what happens

This,

Not this,

Ok, I started reading up on HOH-late game, M and Q, just need to practise it and start making decisions not always based on my cards.
Trigga, with the AJ, when I thought I was behind, the blinds must have been around 2k, and after I c-bet and he called and I was worried, I had like 3 BBs left. I wasn't prepared to check-fold with my hand, and I'd rather be the aggressor. I'm probably just making up reasons that I maybe didn't consider exactly at the time, the main reason was I had 3BBs.

2.4k blinds I mean. Earlier I'd had 10k and was shortstacked, then got to 20k, once I was down to 6k (and bigger blinds) I couldn't fathom folding.
Maybe there's no good excuse though Trigga.
thanks for all the replies.

Hey Nice i would definatly suggest depositing some money on PokerStars and playing there deepstacks. There not for the short attention span people but it sounds like you dont mind the slow blinds. I would definatly at least give it a try

Hey, I was just wondering. I thought you had like 20K or so from reading the post. And I wasn't really sure what the blinds were. If you had around 10 BB or less when you started the hand, you should have just shoved with AJ pre-flop.

I was just bringing it up to try and help you better your game, and it wasn't really an HH tread, so I probably shouldn't have said anything about it. We all make the wrong plays sometimes, just need to learn from our bad plays and move forward.

I agree too, shove preflop likely would have been a better choice.

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When I try a deepstack I'll post how I do.

I don't play on Stars so I can't tell you how the tournaments there are, but I do know that the Daily Dollar on FT is a great tournament. Yeah you play for long hours and just cashing is only a couple dollars, but the play is generally terrible and cashing is very attainable. Just remember, you are going to have dry spells in tournament poker, but the one time you go deep in the DD you will make 500x your buy-in, maybe more. That is an incredible ROI for playing easy, ABC poker imo.

I've played 2 deep stacks on stars. IT WAS A GRIND both times. Min. 6 hrs just to make the money. Another 6 hrs if you make final table.
I did 12 1/2 hrs for 3rd place the last one I played. Bright side, biggest cash of my life. Downside, I saw 2 A.M. TWICE! (daylight saving time change) LOL

heh, crow. yea, i'm sure it will be as much a grind as the 1.10 razz mtt I final tabled on pokerstars last night-times three!
congrats on getting 3rd in one.

deep-stack tourney's call for more patience than normal events. You will have more sucess by playing very tight for longer. Establish a very tight image and expolit it.