Fold your way to the top 23%...

Just thought I'd post about a somewhat humorous thing that happened today. I had signed up for the $10K PPA freeroll on FT, and forgot that it was today. I would have been reminded had I been at the PC, but the wife and I spent the day out shopping, then I came home and grilled a couple of T-Bones for dinner. It wasn't until later that I happened to walk in my office for something, and heard the sound of cards folding. My screensaver was on so I bumped the mouse and was surprised to see a FT table going, with the message that I had been eliminated.

The funny thing was that I was eliminated in 1978th place out of a field of 8424. Which happened to be just 178 places from ITM! Without playing a single hand.

Apologies to the other players for my forgetfulness and poor tournament etiquette, but I just found it funny that I could go this deep sitting out and folding every hand. There's got to be a lesson in there somewhere about tight play...

LOL! Hard to make bad decisions if you aren't playing! No bad decisions - no bad beats - no going out early! LOL!

That's what many, many don't understand. So many people are trying to come up with fancy plays and trying to win the tournament in one hand !!!!! You would be surprised how far you will go in most tournaments if you fold 85% of your hands. I have been in many tournaments where I have gone pretty deep (top 15%) or on the bubble without playing one hand!!!! In some cases I finished ITM!!!!!

Imagine how well you would have done if you managed to pick up one or two decent (not monster) sized pots. You would have finished ITM.

Yesterday I was entered in a Stars UK $100k freeroll on Pokerstars yesterday. Realised late on that I was going to miss the first hour and pretty much wrote it off.

Got back to a message that I'd busted out in 4058/10000+. Then got an e-mail congratulating me for cashing for $5.

Sweet!

I'm pretty sure sitting out is not going to get you to the money in even the lowest stakes of buyin tournaments. The bubble and the places before the bubble will kill you even if you make it that far (which even at 5$ tournaments you won't most of the time).

It just goes to show you the power of a fold. I don't usualy play that many hands in a good game of poker. I play a lot of freerolls and sometimes experiment. Usually in the higher paying ones I tend to play them more like a cash tournament. Pick up a few good hands then fold mediocore hands. Most of the time I end up ITM. Occasionally I get good enough cards to make the final table. Especally in those very large , many day registering tourneys you get a ton of sit outs, which are eventually eliminated. If you can pick up a few good hands you can make some money. I know the goal is to win every tourney, but realistically I am happy to make the cash. You have to have the will-power to be able to fold enough times to make it profitable for you.

I am also a forgetful person and have made a few cents on tourneys by sitting out. Come back from dinner to find a message that I had won .06. If I would have played the tourney, a KO early may have occurred. Sitting out is not bad etiquette if you just plan forget. X

It's hard sometimes to sit and fold and watch everyone else play. Your experience really goes to show that it is the long-term that can be profitable. If a player can resist calling those early all-in maniacs and hang in and catch a few good pots, there's no telling how many times someone could actually cash.

Just try not playing the first 20 hands and watch the tournament progress. Youll see that by not playing all those marginal hands your doing better than most already.

truth is evident that tight play and playing minimal hands can be of some success. play ur cards and dont get anxious, it will all come and things will be great. too many people in poker try to push there hands . and really funny is when u triple up right away some people lose all thos chips right away after getting them. if u just sat back and waited ur in great position

yea, i played the first hour in this one and built up to 23k in chips, then i sat out and went to play at a pokerroom live, lost a couple bucks..

came back, i had recently got eliminated in tourney in 404th for $4

The fold is definately a big weapon in your arsenal. People get too crazy in NLHE tournies and in many instances you can make the money or get quite close to it. Especially I find it easy in the bigger tournies with thousands of players to reach money with minimal playing of hands.

It really amazes me how many people go all-in with the blinds are only 25/50 or 30/60.

I actually did make the money sitting out at a site, which one I don't remember in my early days of online poker.

This folding strategy also works in sit&go's especially on a very agg table.
I don't think I played a hand and in a short amount of time I was in third everyone else was out.

i don't think i've ever cashed a tourney where i didn't at least win one hand. but even then, being card dead turned out to be a blessing. i've found sometimes the biggest curse in (especially a freeroll) is a top notch hand, where i've made some of my earliest departures being called by people playing hands you wouldn't play if jesus showed up and promised you'd win if you played it. i have cashed sng's without playing a hand until i'm ITM...i've also lost where the donks seem to just pass their chips back and forth going all in every hand for a good while and no one gets eliminated. not that it counts, but i won a play money sng where i didnt play a hand till i was heads up

I want to know how you did it. What is your secret. I came in 2994 in the same tourney without playing. LOL you must have better folding skills then me.

I did win .50 in a FT freeroll recently without playing a hand.

ya thats funny and the lesson is a couple hands usually makes the difference in a tournament. sad but true. It really comes down to a few hands

However, I think there is a HUGE difference in trying to finish ITM vs. final table. Yes, you could have hit a few hands to finish ITM, but I'm sure you were galaxies away from the chip leader. Now with that said, In many instances, and you know it early on, finishing ITM is the goal. So, I will play more conservatively if I feel that a final table appearance is not in the making.

Another thing about playing tight, is the ability to pull off some bluffs later on in the tournament. When people see you playing any crap cards, they will be more likely to call your bluffs and send you to the rail. I just won a tourney at PS though PokerVT's members, in which there are always a few pros playing. I played tight, and when it came down to it, always had my money in good, and avoided as many coinflips as possible. At the final table I was 9th in chips and battled my way up to take it down. Paying attention to your table and playing soundly will always help out.

i'll put it this way...i'm always tight. sometimes i'll get in a freeroll and tell myself "this is the day you're gonna play like a maniac, really! and if you don't donk out in the first few hands, you're gonna have one of those insane chipstacks that the lucky donks have...and then you're gonna....sit out"...but i still end up playing tight, "no...this isn't the hand...not this one either..dammit". i've never cashed anything playing like a damn fool

Doing that is fine as long as your no tplaying in UB they will cut you in the first 10 mins. But if you you can get up a little early them not playing can get you in the money

Gotta love those tables !!!! Although the last 4-5 tables I was at were really tough. Everyone had the same strategy . the blinds were 200/400, everyone was pretty even with chips and there were still 6 people left!!!

i really do try to play tight, but i KNOW i have better cards than the people who are makin all the moves...i just cant account for the "luck factor". Those 'maniacs' someone spoke of, seem to be consistently REWARDED (against ME!) for their lunatic play.

got knocked out 2 from ITM in a United States Freeroll last night...where just 3 hands previously I had MORE than enuf to ride it out (or SIT it out) to reach ITM. But, i was getting GREAT CARDS....how do you NOT play high PP, AK and AQ SUITED, etc., etc. But, mine missed and his .. or hers.. HIT! and usually, its on the river, where I've kept the pressure on all the way, and they suck out on me..sometimes REALLY sick...like a ONE-OUTTER. (someone at the table will say "i folded a king")

I entered a SnG but had to leave the house and i suppose everyone went all in early because i came back three hours later and a message saying i came second.

I have on more than one occasion played super tight in the Daily Dollar on Full Tilt either from being completely card dead or because other players wanted to push all in every hand. I have cashed on more than one occasion doing this also. Out of curiosity i glanced at my stats during two of these tournaments and noticed that I cashed playing about 12% of my hands and folding the rest.
Also it seemed that the few times I was in a hand the pot was rather large and I usually won it making easier for me to make it to the money. So I must agree that a lot of times tight is right. On the other hand don't forget to switch gears at times and play a little more loose as the game warrants.