Tourney Strategy for a Special Tourney

Hi guys,


I been recently attending a series of poker games where the structure seems to require different approach than your normal one.

• 9 handed tables (usually max of 2 tables)
• 2500 starting chips
• 25/50 blinds initially and going up every 10 minutes

All very normal, but there is one specific rule that seems to render normal tourney strategy rather ineffective

45 minute time limit - ie. play stops after 45 minutes and the top two (by chip count) of the remaining players move into the finals, carrying their chip total through.

Any suggestions for possible strategies?

Cheers.

Sounds pretty similar to some of the live bar games I deal.

Since there's no prize for coming third, the most successful* people I see in these games just start shoving all in when they get to the last level if they're not one of the top two. Brutal, but usually effective. If they bust out... well, they weren't going to make the final anyway.

(* I use the term loosely, because often they're just a crapshoot)

I definitely agree with the shoving all in when it gets to the last few hands and they're not the top two.

One strategy I tried was to play super-aggressive and somewhat loose at the beginning. The logic is similar to pushing all in at the end, where hopefully through the aggression you'd be able to build a nice stack and protect yourself from the all-ins at the very end. So far this hasn't worked terribly well due to not picking up enough good cards in the 45 minutes given.

Btw, I'm from Melbourne, where abouts do you deal (saw you're from Aus too)?

LOL - well there you go!

I'm from Melbourne too. I deal for a couple of companies, one only does private functions but the other deals pub / bar games five nights a week. Schedule's at PokerTimes

I'll probably be playing the Barzooka one next Monday night - different structure to the one you mentioned above though, this one they play as a freezeout with 20,000 starting stacks and a $100 gift voucher for the winner (most of the rest just give you a bar tab).

Lol, awesome to meet another Melbie on here. Might see you around in those pub games