Tournament help

Hi all,

If anyone has read my past threads, you'd know that I've done pretty well in ring games. I have confidence that my game is solid but I'm starting to wonder if I have to change my stratagy for tournaments. I play a tight aggressive style and it has served me well.

I'm specifically playing in freeroll tournaments at Party Poker trying to win my way to the WSOP this year. The tourney's are about 3500 people and I can usually get into the final 200 without much problem. However, what I'm finding in these tournaments is that I'm not accumulating chips fast enough and it's hurting me at the end of tournaments. I typically find myself in the middle of the pack chipwise but I can never make the big jump from there.

I've been thinking about getting more aggressive earlier in the tournaments but the issue with that is that's when the all in fools are still around. I'd hate to lose all my chips on a bad beat from a terrible player....Then the other part of me says; keep doing what you're doing and eventually the cards will come together at the end before the blinds eat me up.

So for those of you who play in MTT tourney's or Sit N Go's with success, I'd love to get some tips from you folks!!!


Thanks!!!

sounds like your problem is switching gears
generally the tight aggressive players last a long time, but end up with a short stack and get blinded out
and the loose megalomaniacs either bust early or take over and end up placing very high.

The key to MTTs is switching from a tight aggressive style of play to a looser style.
Generally you want to play the top 10 style up until the first break, then gradually loosen up and start widening your hand selection as the tournament progresses.
Stealing blinds and re-raising weak bets with marginal hands gives you that extra edge that helps you accumulate those extra chips.

good luck!

PokerStars search MTT strategy or tournament strategy.
There have been tons of threads in the past about MTT strategy and theory

you're looking to get 1st place, not just top 15-20. this means you need to aggressively accumulate chips in the transition from the donkfest to the super-tight game.

Medeiros , i wrote to articles recently on the best sit n go strategy used by every top player in the net, even as high as the 55+5$ games. This strategy will you make you win most of the sit n goes, i would go as far as saying you would be in the money 40% of the time with a ROI of 20% or more .

If you play for real money , let me know of your username and server you play ( for example pokerstars, partypoker, etc. ) and i could watch you in some of your games if you would like

As for MTT advice, when its down to 200, you must get really aggressive especially with the big blinds . You shouldnt play losser in the beggining unless you have a lot of chips to play the small pots type of style. Play very tight and look for that hand that will double you up . Later on you need to pay attention to the table and try to pick the tight blinds . This is where most of your chips come once the blinds are big ( for example 200-400 ) with antes could be an esay 800 or so per steal . ( 1000-2000 plus antes could be almost 3500 per steal . ^_

Thanks for the feedback SexyAceJoker. I did read your articles and I do most of the things you mention. The only exception is that I'm too tight early on. I play on Party Poker and my screen name is the same as my name here. It sure wouldn't hurt to have someone watch my play but I certainly wouldn't want to bother you with that Besides, with the bad beats I've been getting today, I probably won't be lasting long today lol.

the rules in this kind of freeroll is to double your chips every break

easy to say but hard to do

Advice for winner take all Freeroll:

First hand Push. Every time, any two cards.
Then choose a minimum of 4 of the next 20 hands and push them too.

You MUST accumulate a big stack in one of these 3000+ Entrant fields.
You simply will not be able to catch up.

There is NO bubble period to take advantage of.

You simply cannot play enough of these in your lifetime to turn a profit.
Play them huge LAG Style, and don't worry too much about busting out early.

Thanks for the advice Fish. I actually do completely agree with you but my biggest problem is that I really don't know how to play LAG very well. I guess I could start another topic on LAG play with tips on how to do it well but maybe I can catch some thoughts here. In my ring games, I'm okay with being somewhat aggressive if the table is really tight but even then, I'll only push with decent hands (suited connecters, any suited face card plus X, Kx, or even Ax) It's a big weakness I have in my game right now so if anyone is an aggressive player, tips would be appreciated!!

i like that fish.

I tend to find it easier to be aggressive in late position, when you have an idea if someone else has a decent hand. Other things to be aware of are when a scare card hits the flop, to remember that it's often a scare card for your opponent as well. Sometimes you'll put your chips in to find your opponent just made a monster, but if you get the reads right, then you'll much more often find you don't get called, and you pick up the pot.
You have to be willing to make a solid bet, with nothing sometimes, because it depends more on the cards on the board and your opponent than what you hold. And you also have to know that sometimes you'll put quite a few chips in, get re-raised, and just fold, so you have to be willing to abandon a big pot if you're not going to be able to buy it.
It tends to work better when you're the large chip stack, though, hence the advice to push early. If you have the chip lead, then you're making them risk going out (or being in a position to then be put all-in), so it's harder to call, and you won't be out if you are called. I'm still working on when to be aggressive, but position can definitely help. Using something like PokerOffice or good observation to know which opponents will fold to a bet is also good - you don't want to try to bluff the table calling station.

late position is known for bluffing though, that is the only problem. it is a lot easier to bluff (in a non-multiway pot) from early position

When the table is loose you should play tight and in the end when the table is tight you have to loose up. Always play aggresive.

Thats the key !

mederios whats ur msn , yahoo or aim , i would gladly rail and help your game .

I play very tight on MTT and SNG until the final table.

Tight in a tourney is fine if you are getting a few hands here and there. What you need to do is be a bit more aggressive when good cards come your way. Unlike ring games, people in SNG or MTT will call your all-in after you hit your cards on the flop.

Thx for the offer SexyAceJoker but I'm still in the stone age of the internet. I don't have a msn, yahoo, or aim IM. If you want my email addy, PM me and I'll send it to you