Tournament thoughts

OK, time to win back my credibility with a serious thread,

Do you think you can put to much thought into tournament poker?

by ths i mean, i play alot of tournament poker on various sites, and yes, the most i buy in for is only $20 so its low level poker, but i see the same hands played teh same way with teh same results game after game after game, like A and 6789 off suit, played from any position, into any raise, winning pots consistently, KJ and QJ pre flop raises and sometimes re raises from any position consistently winning huge pots, you should get my point by now,

I understand that online you dont have as long to catch a hand in teh levels, compared to live with say 1 hour levels, but these people throw caution to the wind with any 2 cards over 10, and are willing to risk it all, and more often than not they win, meanwhile, im folding KQ off to raise re raise situations, and seeing showdowns of J10 vs Q10 things of the like, ALL THE TIME, i like to play tight aggressive with a few mix ups here and there to keep them interested, i always get deep, but seldom get cash, and all the while the "DONKS" are well ahead with huge stacks, and sometimes i have watched fina 15 or 20 players, and their play has not improved,

I play poker with respect for teh game, ill fold AQ off, to raise, re raise, re raise all in, sometimes even just a re raise, i use pot odds and outs in all decisions post flop, and always "price" myself out of it, or fold through respect!

is it possible to put to much thought into playing tournament poker, should I perhaps just play on instincts for teh most part?
should i perhaps take more flops into situations with huge implied odds?

i am also timid about playing A10 hands as i always come out 2nd best, would this be affecting my value?

side point, do you think you see the same amount of hands per level online, coz of teh no shuffling and stuff)

I sympathise with a lot of your points, Jason.

My approach is to play almost no hands until the first break and keep out of all the donk play that goes on. I usually find that, at some point in the first hour, I will be dealt AA or KK or will hit a miracle flop when limping in from the blinds. Usually, I can double up and be in a position to start playing a normal game after the break. Sometimes there are still fools around in the second hour, but things are generally better then.

I tend to read a magazine or listen to music during the first hour, to keep from getting bored as the fish kill each other off. If, as sometimes happens, I don`t hit a hand and am short-stacked in the second hour, I just put that down to experience. Doesn`t happen often, and I feel sure it`s less risky to play this way than to mix it with the rash players from the start.

I`ve recently discovered, rather to my surprise, that rebuy tournies can be more friendly to the TAG player than freezeouts. Seems counter-intuitive, I know, but the fact is that if you can get to the end of the wild play in the rebuy period with a competitive stack, there is then a complete change of mood and you find yourself effectively playing a deep-stack freezeout, which is rather to my liking.

The way I play it (and I'm semi-successful) is I'll play a little loose during the first set of blinds. If you dont hit a hand you'll only be out a couple hundred chips just by calling the blind with moderate hands. In the majority of cases I usually hit a high-card straight or 2 pair and can get callers for any bet that have high pair or something. Half of the time it leaves me with a decent chip stack going into the second hour and I can play for the win or I'm severly short stacked.

For the rest of the tourney I just remember everyones playing style and go on instincts from there. Like Egon said for the first hour I find something else to do while I'm playing.

I think this is where a lot of people say luck is involved.

Ive recently contemplated not getting into that much pots early even when i know im favourite, since the risk to get out that early on someone just stupidly calling you and hitting miracles doesnt equal the reward. the double-up that early would equal any one raise later.

But then again if you play real tight at first, youll get to midlevels shortstacked and desperate.

not sure yet, id say theres an adjustment to be made somewhere in between, but getting beaten by miracle hands early in a tourney is depressing. And early all the all-in maniacs are still there and youll get called by anything.

I tend to use what both Egon and Jimbo suggest. Playing loose while the blinds are really small, at least preflop, but also throwing a lot away if 1) someone behind me pushes preflop, or 2) pushes on the flop. Early, I only call pushes w/AA or KK, or maybe suited AK. Basically waiting for the donks to go out and the blinds to go up, when the play level improves.

But, I think we all sympathise with you.

couldnt agree more, i have found my most successful games are rebuys, i play a similar game to normal, except call in tough positions like pocket pair 99 board of 103Q8 and its a 50% or more of my stack only to find my 9's hold up! i also have found that i have often made it to teh rebuy periods end without rebuying and have very healthy chip stack