Tourney Strategy

hey everybody...

i'm new to the site and think it's a really cool idea. for my first post i wanted to ask about basic NL hold em tournament strategy. now i know things obviously depend on the blind structure, starting stack size, # of players bought-in, etc. but i've learned basic tight-aggressive limit style, and have had some success altering it to play in tournaments, but i've also kind of hit a wall lately. since i've never really gone out there to learn tourney strategy per se, i was hoping some of you might have some basic advice on the topic...any thoughts are appreciated!

thanks!
JT

We have an article on a similar topic: low stakes sit n go strategy. I hope this helps.

Well learn your style.

2 things to always remember:
- If its good enough to play its good enough to raise
- Pay attention and learn. Just cause you aren't in a hand doesn't mean it can't help you.

Example: playing a guy I played before and he went all in (about 4k stack) and one of the notes I took from another time playing him told me he goes all in with any pocket pair. I had Jacks and called. He had 9s. My jacks stood up.

Always learn

Don't get involved with marginal hands early. Play tight until the first break, you want to start building a stack with nominal risk.

Yes, I tend to play very tightly at first, only attempting to play one of the top ten starting hands or so. Even then, I'll generally limp in, because a lot of the people still in at the beginning will play ANYTHING and can get lucky with 2 pair or trips with rags. Also, I'd never go all-in before the first break unless I had the nuts. Remember, the 1000 chips you have now are worth more than the 1000 that you stand to gain by doubling up this early.

Hi - Guard your chip stack in the beginning because they are very valuable, loosen up your play later on because you chip stack is now less valuable.

Just won 3rd in a live tourney and played this way. But -- my real advice is to play the game you feel comfortable playing and write down your 5 mistakes and remember them when playing so you can catch yourself before you make one.

Also, don't play marginal hole cards. Just because you get a K/8 doesn't mean you have to play it, especially when there are lots of people playing. Every bet you place out there is a lost chips if you eventually fold. It may be a good hand in 3 handed play, but not in tournament play when there's lots of people in the pot. Be discriminating in every hand you play. Just my opinion.

Wow, great advice guys, thanks. Being new to the game these are great places to start...I really appreciate it. Best of luck!

jt

Think you have already alluded to it in your style, but playing tight early is a good strategy. By only playing your good hands, you establish yourself as a straight-up player. Later on you can switch to being aggressive and steal some pots as well as throw off the competition when you do have a strong hand.

You also want to play tight because a lot of websites now, while claiming to be random, seem to spice up the tables by putting in a lot of possible hands that can win a pot. I was at a table where pokcet 10's that hit a 10s full of aces boat got beaten by someone with A-10, and this happens often, like at pokerroom.com. If you have a good hand, the odds are someone can beat it. Wait before making your move, especially before betting really strong. Make sure you have the nuts.

Hi,
Been reading through some of the posts to improve my game and this was excellent. Now if I just remember it all I'll do better lol.

In a tournament style I will always look at...

1) The cards people will take to the showdown. I focus more on the losing hands if you get to see them. You can learn alot about someone by what they won't let go of. You can get important information that can help you later when you are in the hand against them.

2) Betting patterns. These can be some of the easiest tells to pick up quickly. Most people don't vary the bets or plays. Some will never bet when on a draw or will overbet to try and steal when on a drawing hand. Some tight players will fold to any reraise unless they have the nuts. Helpful to steal hands and blinds.

3) Every chip counts. Those marginal hands that you called early and then were forced to fold can haunt you later when the blinds go up.

4) The power of the reraise. Most people hate it and can get you lots of hands or get people out of a hand quickly. Most people get scare when one raise happens let alone someone comes over the top.

I recommend that you pick up a copy of "Championship No-Limit & Pot-Limit Hold 'Em" by Tom McEvoy & T.J. Cloutier. Tom is a prolific poker writer and WSOP bracelet winner and T.J. is the winningest tournament player in poker history. This is an easy-to-read guide with some great anecdotes thrown in. It doesn't bog itself down in the analytical/numbers side of the game like a lot of the advanced books do.

Quick answer to the Strategy question. There are two primary schools of thought:

1.) Take advantage of the low blinds in the first hour of play to be aggressive with marginal hands and draws. Play a loose game, but not a stupid one. Be prepared to fold immediately if you don't like the board. The idea is to build a quick stack while you can still afford to see a lot of flops, then tighten up in the second hour when the blinds increase to more expensive levels.

2.) Play tight from the beginning, mucking everything but the biggest starting hands. This strategy values "survival" over "chip count". The idea here is that you can't win a tournament in the first hour, but you can lose one. Once the maniacs have flamed out, you can loosen up in the second and third hours to grow your stack toward the ultimate goal of reaching the final table with plenty of ammo.

A lot of people like going all-in on the first hand aslong as its decent .... i only do this when i have something else to do or i know i wont be able to finish a tournament ... if you do this your chances of winning are terrible because at the beggining of a tournament you have bad players that call with anything and you'll end up being all-in vs. 4 other people. One of them is bound to get lucky and hit something. Most of the time i like to play conservative at the beggining only playing with an Ace or 2 face cards atleast until ive brought my chip stack up

hi guys,

I'm really gonna put the cat amongst the pigeons...
I prefer to play looser in the early stages especially when the blinds are so small compared to the size of the starting chip stack. As all you guys have said you like to play tight and only play the big 10. Well players like me steal your blinds etc and win lots of small pots early. David Sklanksy refers to this in his book 'tournament theory'. I prefer to tighten up later on and people frequently give me action as they have seen me play so many hands earlier on and by this time i'm playing strong hands...i'm not saying playing tight early on is wrong but i prefer to play this way and so far from my results its worked.
Hope this adds a different propspective to some of the posts here.
Any comments welcome
John

Hey Stackthemup i read your article and i agree with some of the reasons you had in there but the only thing i think is wrong with that strategy is that u can easily get caught up in pots with marginal hands and get knocked out of tournaments early

You can play loose but not stupid early in a tourney. I will call in late position with suited connectors that I would not play later in a tourney. You can get away with this early when the blinds are relatively small percentage wise and you tend to see more of a community pot.

When you get later in a tourney you will tend to see more heads up action and not so many hands with 3-4 people in them. If a pot get larger you know someone will go all in and then your forced to fold because you don't want your last hand to be something like 89 of hearts trying to catch the flush or straight. The pot odds are usually not there in the end to chase.

If you are playing for real money you will not see those all in maniac early too often. If you are, move up the evolutionary money ladder where the poker is better.

i agree as to playing tight , but as i play in the beginning of a tourney right at the moment, it has just started like 5 minutes ago and my chip count has went from 2000 to 9000. playing very loose, so i guess it just depends on the cards you get

Hi,
I'm a firm believer in loose play early on as i stated on my other post. I play in quite a few R&A and some of the plays i see amaze me! some people just get plain rude lucky but it evens out eventually,i guess its all down to your confidence and own style,there is no right or wrong way.

If you have a loose style of play you have to be comfortable and confident enough to lose some chips and know eventually you can get them back. You have to be able to handle the lose of a big pot now and then knowing you're style will win hands you should not to get it back. I think these people tend to be the ones who play the players and not the cards as much. They try to guess what you got and see if the can bluff by representing more than what you have.

If you are more conservative you can do just as well taking down small pots only with secure hands and staying out of the big stuff until it is money time. These are the more anylatical and play the cards straight up. They will bust the loose cannon because they only play strong hands but don't win as many pots.

You watch any show on TV or while you play you can see both will work. You just need to find what you like and are most comfortable with.

The most important thing is too have patient.

Do not get too exciting with a good pot, calm down... you don't have win the tournament :P

Sometimes its good to do some stupid (cheap) calls, just to let the other ppl know that you do make mistakes. This will help to ensure big winnings when you finally see that massive hand.

Just dont let them loose all fiath in your bets, then youll end up not being able to steal anything.

/dydig