Tourney Play...TAG or not?

What is your usual strategy for playing in tourneys? From reading a lot of posts here it seems the consensus is to play a TAG game in the beginning, then loosening up your play towards the end. Why? If this is the way most players are wouldn't it make more sense to do the opposite? Play a looser game in the beginning,(but not enough to donk off) and then play a TAG game in the later stages. Sort of like bucking the tide.

I dont have any particular way of playing, i might go allin on the first hand if i got AA,, then again sometimes i dont do that,, i do tighten up when i get close to the money though,,, i try not to play the same every tourney,,, i guess it depends on what kind of a mood im in,, buck

The reason people suggest playing TAG, then loosening up to LAG is because people actually generally play the opposite. Think about it - everyone's gambling and sticking their chips in in the beginning stages, and as the blinds go up and the bubble approaches, people tend to tighten up.

The general rule of thumb, as I'm sure you know, is to play opposite to your opponents; and the general play in tourneys from your opponents is loose, then tight. Of course your table could be unusually tight the whole game, and the optimal play would be to play LAG.

I pretty much agree with you BBB.

I definately play more hands at the beginning of the tourney than a TAG. Later in a tourney it's important not to lose chips if you have them while at the same time build a stack (easy ) but the optimum strategy is so dependant on so many things that it's hard to generalise.

In the early stages there is a chance to play some speculative pots in late postion or wth good implied odds, or from the blinds. The idea is to risk a few chips in order to have the chance to pick up a big pot. There is a lot to be said for taking a number of small risks in the first hour on your own terms to avoid having to take a couple of really big risks in the second and third on someone elses.

A lot of people get carried away though and fail to let go of hands post flop when they connect with a flop but not quite hard enough. If you play KT then it is not to hit a King high flop it's for two pair or better. Even worse you don't want to spend too many chips chasing draws. Essentially hit hard or get out or become the person that is being milked by the others.

It's almost a loose-passive approach early on (first 2 to 4 levels) which is paid off by the many maniacs when you do connect.

Later on this approach is absolutely not the way to go as you will bleed chips and be sussed out pretty quick in 2-way and 3-way pots when hands are much better defined by the preflop action.

And then loosen up the starting card requirements as the table gets shorter, especially at the final table of an MTT. Plus, stay aggressive as the blinds get higher but keep in mind your stack size.

This is what I see people not adjusting for towards the end of a tourney. I really liked joose's last vid in this repect; he seemed to be playing the people, stack size, and position with less and less concern for the actual cards he held.

At the levels I play I often see people limping when the blinds are 10,000 and they only have 60,000 in chips, or they raise only their full table TAG starting hands when the table is down to 3 or 4 players, folding regularly when I raise preflop or I bet at the flop with overcards or low pair. I'm sure that doesn't happen quite so much at the higher levels but it always amazes me when I see it happening.

I've tried both strategies early on in a tourney and found that TAG works best for me in the early stages, and if I have a large chip lead I will steal blinds when the opportunity arises. Gets me ITM more whan I play TAG early on, once ITM, then I'll losen up or tighten up depending on how the other players at the table are playing.

I want to have a tight image at a table. Most of the time you might not know who the tight players are in tourny's cause they get moved to a new table and might not have played a hand, but the loose aggressive player always sticks out and that's who the TAG player targets in tournys. As I get deeper in a tournament and blinds increase I'd like to steal so I'll play looser. This style of play usually works for me.

I Play According to the flow of the table!!! i tend to take my time with learning the players to find what ways play best according to the way everyone else is playing! i usually try to counter act to my opponet! now if someone is constantly changing playing styles that won't always work! but usually the way i play is not a set standard! the table and the players set my standard of play! poker is all about counter and attack!

tag then loosen up is a basic strategy to ensure you have the advantage preflop as much as possible. Now of course optimal tourney strategy is to adjust to the people at your table.

This is what I usually see, ^^^^^^^^^^ & how I usually try to play.

The problem with playing loosely early on is that you risk a lot to gain a little, with the blinds being so small. This doesn't have to be bad if you know what you're doing, but generally speaking, you're laying pretty heavy odds (pot- and implied) in order to pick up 30 chips worth of blinds.

Agressive on/near the bubble! If you're first in, RAISE! With the blinds pretty big at this stage, you'll find you're stealing them left, right and centre. Don't go overboard, obviously, once/twice per orbit is plenty.

If the table is tight (they usually are at this stage), and you're not short-stacked you'll find you'll only get called about 1 in 5 times with this strategy. By the time you're ITM you'll have clawed your way to the front page of the leaderboard.

The reason I play tag at the beginning is because of all the fish trying to win the tourney in the first hour of play. If you ever open up the tourney lobby right when the first hand is being dealt, you'll see 20-25 people go out before you can even finish your hand usually. People love trying to double up early and I like to take advantage of this with the TAG style. I play strong hands hope to flop a monster and hope to have a maniac in the pot with me. This works well for me.

Best advice I can offer is that you CAN NOT win a tourney early with one hand. You can however LOOSE a tourney early with one hand.

I TAG then LAG because you dont want to get a decent hand cracked by a player who has no regard for what is going to happen!

DJ,s got it right. You can't win a tourney at level 1 or 2, but you can screw out there, and then even if you're not out, you're saddled with playin the short stack game, and it's abig mountain to climb. To win a big MTT, you've gotta get lucky somewhere, but you have to be able to stick until you do.

late game blinds = war. you are LAG because you want to win as many pots as possible.