first big tournie need advice

1st and formost, patience and awareness. Playing live you will have a lot more 'dead' time, use it to watch your opponents. Put them on hand ranges and see if you can get a read on them. Watch for betting patterns. Who are the calling stations, who are the ones that will stack off with just a pair, who likes to bluff, etc. Don't play a hand just because you fell like you haven't played much or you feel you have been card dead. Take your time to make decisions, think about the hand and how it's been played. DON'T SHOW your cards!!!

Best tourney advice: If you have 15 big blinds or less, and you're going to play your hand, you should go all in preflop. This includes when you have a monster, when you steal from the button with trash, and everything in between.

Live events can be boring for players, but never lose attention. Dont show visible signs to other players, "wear" bored face even with a poker. Sunglass, baseball cap can be useful.

If you're going to play for big money, I would suggest staying focused. I would get a tracking program if you don't have one already, and be sure to take plenty of notes. I would recommend playing conservatively at first and then becoming more aggressive.

Remember to play your game though. Don't try and outplay your opponents if you don't have that ability.

Well I have never seen a tracking program for live games

However I think Jilly hit it best. Patience is really important in long tournies and the temptation to play more hands when you only have one table is much greater. Just play smart TAG poker to begin with and then loosen up later on if you wish. It's really just a matter of preference

Pay attention to who is playing a lot of pots, and what cards are being shown. You can figure out who the aggressive players are, and who might be a rock. Play the aggressive players a little looser, by occasionally calling with a little less than you would normally, and reraising a little lighter than you would. Play aggressive against rocks, and get out of the way when they raise you.

And the most important advice, don't get out of line if you are in bad position. Nothing like having to make the decision on each street before your opponent, since you never know where he is at.

Also, I don't mind limping big hands in some spots, just make sure the pot isn't likely to have 6 chasers because of it, and make sure you are only doing it occasionally for deception. The majority of the time you should be raising to put more chips into the pot you intend to win, as long as you figure you are ahead.

Good luck, good luck!!

Thanks guys for all the advice...Just one more thing my ppKK after the flop with no ace on board and low numbers I called the BB rather than go AI, I wanted an extra bet from the BB next card came made two clubs on board made a mistake and raised 6-7x BB instead of AI next card came a club and made 3 clubs on board had to fold, as bb came AI. Now I've been told off for not going AI on the flop but I thought it was safe to try and get an extra bet with it Harrington has mentioned it in his first tournament book and called it a 'rope a dope' he says if an ace comes then thats bad luck but it's worth the gamble what do you lot think?

A live HU display at the table would be awesome imo.

I think you'd be better off posting an actual hand history (even if you have to type it out from memory from a live game) in the hand analysis section. There are times where it's possible to slowplay pocket kings (anyone saying never is wrong), but no one can say for sure until all the details are presented (like stacks, order of action, reads, etc).


Oh, and good luck to you in the big game. Take Jilly's advice and C9's as well. Live games have a ton of bad players in my experience and shoving 15BB or less with big hands will often get called and paid off.

You bust a lot in big tournies until you win big money so don't throw away to much of your bankroll

Both plays have merit. Building a pot is okay if you have position, and can outplay your opponent. If he is aggressive, he will likely make a move on any scare card, especially since most players automatically put you on AK when you raise, and lead out into small boards. Personally, I'd rather bet enough to make sure that he is paying for legitimate draws. They are a lot more likely to 'float you' if you keep your continuation bet small.