Cant reach the paid places in tournys

Hi everyone,

Firstly i would like to thank everyone that welcomed me.

Here is my dilemma - Every time i play a buy in a tourny (usually on tilt) i never make the money. SNG's, freerolls and on tables im reasonable. Everytime i bow out i promise myself too be more patient so i can go longer. This has an opposite effect as i fold too many winning hands and play tight resulting in low stacks and risky all in's.

Deposit after deposit and still losing.

Is there a good strategy for playing tournaments?

Should i stick SNG's and tables?

Oki

That is the problem right there I would say.

Thanks for confirming that.
Too impatient you think?

I always play a lot of hands early on when the blinds are low and as the blinds go up I only play medium to good hands, depending on my position and the amount of players in the hand. I play worst when I don't pay attention to the players and their betting patters. Even if a player is mucking almost every hand I still get a good idea of their tactics if I watch close enough. What sucks is when I get a table figured out and they move me. Then I have to start all over. There are so many strategies to playing online tourneys but no one consistantly makes final tables unless they play a ton of tourneys. GL to you

Go here, it's a good start.

http://www.cardschat.com/f11/10k-pos...e-long-112835/

just started playing on tilt ...if you would like I can start a game with ya and show you some tips..just let me know

most of the tourny's that i have one has been because of 3 things i keep in my mind all throughout. be patience, be careful, wait for your cards. there are allot of other things involved, but those 3 keep me grounded unless i loose track of them. you really have to keep reminding yourself of the 3 things. playing out of position gets allot of people in trouble. defending your blinds can also be dangerous. you have to fold so many hands to make it far in a tournament. you have to wait for your opportunities and trap so you can get the big stacks. of course try very hard not to go on tilt. good luck at the tables.

why even start if you are on tilt?

Wat do you mean?

For tournaments, especially the lower limit ones, I almost always play pretty tight at the start. The reason for this is that there are many bad players that at the early stages of a tournament will play ATC due to the low blinds and their relatively large chip stacks. You could try taking advantage of the players but in a tournament survival is very important and for me I would rather just bide my time, try to win with a few big hands so I can stay about average but if I get a little behind average chip stack it doesn't bother me. Early stages of a tourny I like to limp alot with pocket pairs and go for trips a few suited connectors and I try to get a big pot going preflop with the premium pocket pairs. Hands like AK-AJ I like to see a flop with but if they dont hit I don't put much more money into it.

Mostly what I'm waiting for is for the blinds to actually mean something. So when you raise 3x and 4x the big blind they are less likely to call you with ATC (which seems to usually happen around 25/50 or 50/100 blinds)

This is the stage where I usually loosen up and try to make some plays, steal some blinds, etc. This is where a tournament actually gets fun and having a feel for your table is very important. Try to recognize the stronger players and try to recognize the players you think you can take advantage of. Also watch out for the small stacks that will push with a lot more and also the big stacks that will call with alot more.

Anyway thats a very basic outline of the strategy I use.

Just bide your time and focus on the players that are weaker or have flaws you can use.

Why not check out our "Strategy Articles" on the top---or get a book---just keep asking question here on the forum as well--there's ALOT of quality players here that will help.

How can you start a tourny "On Tilt" and why would you? Is it left over from the last tourny you played? I would like an example of this so I can avoid it.

The first piece of advice I give to inexperienced players is to lay off the preflop flop flat calls. Stay out of contested pots with anything but a very strong hand. Im talking AQ or better.

Limp or call a small raise with your small to med pairs in position. You're really hoping to make a set with these but go ahead and bet the flop if the preflop agressor checks. You should take down more pots than you lose.

In early to med position raise with your med to high hands and AJ or better. Otherwise, stick to late position open raises. Just try to avoid tough post flop decisions. The better you position is the easier your decisions will be.

Mind you, once you're comfortable with your post flop play and hand reading abilities, you can open it up a bit, but until then, it's all about position and raises.

I think a few have misunderstood what i meant in the brackets above. I meant Full Tilt Poker.

In the Poker we have a patient!

We must be humble, Not be owner of the truth!

Search always learn more and more, and did not find that
already we know everything.

Practice very Poker ... and always look for this updated
with articles and books.

And be very patient!

Take a look at the strategy section for KC strategy its a good starting point.

I find you have to be very patient in the beginning as there are usually a lot of players playing anything. Once they are weeded out you can move back to your normal game if thats whats working for you in other games.

Odin, I think OP means on FULL TILT POKER.

My suggestion is that you do some reading, study the game a bit.

I'm sure there are several things that you are doing wrong, this isn't a slam, but, there just isn't enough info here to say what you're doing wrong.

Yes, sorry there wasnt enough detail on how i play.
Here's 1 that i think lets me down - i have a habit of calling a raise when i have say a J and 5 off suit in hope of making a set on the flop so alot of chips go wasted. Maybe my main problem is being too impatient and wanting to double up too soon.

Thanks to everyone for the advice so far

i think you cant rely on skill in those games. there are so many donks that you will only win if you get lucky or get all the good cards at the start. like on full tilt 100 pts freeroles, i win about 1 out of every 5 or 6 i think and when i win its mostsly by sucking out on a few people. thats just the way it works on the site i guess.

This happened the other day, i called the raise and got 4 of a kind and just called all the way to the river. He made a bet when the K came out and i raised him. Probably should have gone all in.

I ended up just out of the money.

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You shouldnt go for "the money places" but FOR WIN imo!!

If you just fold fold fold, to get into the money, people will notice it and youll get blinded out.. Or you have to take coinflips with weak hands because of your low stack..

especially in online tournaments, where the blinds increase fast, you need to gamble somehow to accumulate chips.

Maybe also read some articles about "playing on the bubble", (bubble=part of the tourney, just before the paid places). Because in that period people will be scared and try to fold themselves into the money and you can use that to get a lot of chips!

you mentioned making numerous deposits to the site thats the first thing u shouldnt be doing play smaller tourneys maybe so your bankroll doesnt get busted so quick and go bak to the basics have a good rest b4 you play and dont chase work out some weaknessess on other players at the table and exploit on them

dont play why your on tilt

this is for cash games btw and hes asking about mtts and sngs??!?

just read as many strategy articles on mts as you can. Also ask mor ein depth questions. Like hand situations, or post your HH's in the HA section

The most important thing is patience dont play mediocre hands just because you are sitting there and getting bored if you wait they will come.

If you want to win, you must be patience. Don't think at the end you can win easily with a-j or 10-10.I see people calling to often with such hands at the late state of a tournament and they never win because they get fished by k-k , a-k.

It sounds like you're playing the right hands. I think that it's a question of timing. Loosen up and get more aggressive before you near the bubble. Just making the money isn't worth it. You play 3 hrs. in a $1 tourney and get busted just after making the money. You make $2 ($1 profit) for your 3hrs. work.

I am not an expert but playing j 5 os isn't the wisest thing. I practice three things - quality starting cards, position, and patience, patience being the most important. But you may want to look at a ranking of the starting hands and se where j 5 os is....

Jane

1) "Take what the table will give you." This sounds stupid but it means you can't force things. ie: If you're card dead, try a few steals from late position. You probably have a tight image, so a few well-timed steals should work.

2) "Notes are your friends." Mr Tightbutt raised before you? Fold that ATo. Mr Maniac raised before you? Re-raise with that same ATo.

3) "Stop playing 'hoping' poker." Calling a raise with J5o "hoping" to hit trips is exactly that.

4) Check the stacks of the players behind you. Who can you hurt? Just remember, never push a desperate player who's shown some knowledge of the game.

5) As you start to get short, have a plan beyond a hope of hitting the flop. With a medium stack (relative to the blinds) you can still play some poker. With a shortstack (13BB or less) it's fold or shove...but, against whom? (Read your notes.)

i think it's funny that some thought you meant you were playing on tilt insted of FT, lol. tourneys are tough at times. all the advice i read generally recommends tight play in the begining and loosen up midway to end. but than everyone seems to be doing it lately. i'm not an expert but i have been itm in tournies. the best advice i can give is stay focused, notes on opps, remain calm, take advantage of your position, don't overplay a monster unless you can put your opp on a hand or your 99% you have the nuts, semi bluff if it won't put you out of the game (you have the chips to back you).
you mentioned bowing out when you had a winning hand - don't do that. don't get bullied off you hand, if you let it persist, it will make you sick- i've been there.
your mindset sounds a little off because of your disappointment in not being able to itm. if your consistent and patient eventually you'll make it i'm sure. maybe your playing to tight in the begining to allow you to aquire chips to see cheap flops.
well this is my 2 cents worth, hope there is something you can use. if not i'm sure you can use this - GOOD LUCK

forget mtts. always stick to what your good at and you cant lose. gl though

Obviusly the problem its playing on tilt, when I`m tilt I rather read a little and try to improve my game that way, its a pretty nice strategy, or play with NO real money and just for fun...hope this will help you in some way..

Practice Practice Practice and focus your attention on the players and try not to multitask so much when playing poker. The less people in the game are sometimes the more experienced ones you need to pay more attention to.

Play tight is the best strategy. But you might play some more hands when your position is better (on the button, right for the button).
When you much tournaments and play like this you automaticly become into the money...