HOW TO DEAL WITH CRAZY PLAYERS IN TOURNAMENTS

How do you deal with crazy players going all in every hand or almost every hand early in tournaments? It usually happens in freerolls, and low limits, but I've seen it happening even in mid size buy in tables. If you look down at a decent hand like AQ should you call? Lately I've been calling a lot and getting the better end pre-flop but have been losing post flop. I know I'm right with the call, but play like this has ended many tournaments for me as of late and I'm beginning to re-question the answer to this. I know almost anytime you call with the better hand it's a good call but I wonder if you should just stay away from crazy players at the start, unless you have the goods, and wait until the mid rounds so you can try to use skill instead of just racing cards. I don't know.... What do ya'll think?

im no expert but from what ive seen and read normally in that situation since it happens so much you should probably fold unless you ahve a upper pair in your hand.

Folding for the first few rounds might actually help you anyway if you have nothing, alot of the all in guys will be out and the game will be flowing better

Stay patient. If he has unlimited range wait for a high pocket pair or evade him as long as you can. Usually they don't go deep into a tourney because they don't have any skill. They knock themselves out often, too.

I agree with the other guys.

You need to stay patient.

Also, you need to accept that from time to time you will get in with the best of it against these guys and they will suck out.

I agree with all of the above.....unless i have pocket rockets i wont call an allin on the first hand...been screwed too many times myself from it...let the crazies play out and then get it on

fırst tıme call call /raıse then stop and waıt same people call u or raıse to you then u must be take BUT too much crazy thnk just rısk good luck to table

Huh???

everyone here seems to be on the same line of thought that I am. I look at it like this... If this were later rounds in a high buy in tourney and someone was all in preflop (whether it be utg, reraise etc.), I held AQ and it was going to cost most or all of my chips. I'm folding unless I'm shortstacked or pot committed. Play your normal game! don't call the maniacs all in just because he's a maniac with a large range.

fold more and be more paitent because they will donk their chips eventually

Boy can I relate to your frustration,
I find it most benificial to sit out for the first 1/2 hour.
I watch my cards and try to jump in with high pocket pair.
Seems to me that watching the donk off is kinda fun. For tagging purposes. Later when you bump into them you can use it to fight them with, because for the most part, anyone who jumps into the fire is not a very tallented player.
Best of luck in all you do, Bearcat

This happens all the time to me as well. Just sit back and be VERY patient. Until he goes out for playing dumb or until you get AA KK or QQ. then its your turn to push

pateince...wait until u pick up something lyke aa-10's or ak aq then play a pot iwth him..trap him..and dont bluff

i have found that the early all inners are in the lower cost trnys and it doesnt matter if you have a premium hand its get lucky ....yes i like to inter with jj or better but sooooo many times in those situations my aa kk or whatever gets beat by j7

It depends on how far you've gone in the tournament. Calling all-ins in the beginning of tournaments is risky if you don't have A-A or K-K, and perhaps A-Ks, even though this hand plays bad in multi-pots. As long as you have at least 20 BBs and no antes, there is no real reason to risk your whole stack for a coinflip. And remember that A-Q only plays well against A-x, with x being equal to or lower than J. All pocket pairs have the edge against your hand, and it's dominated by Q-Q, A-A, K-K and A-K. However, if your stack is equal to or less than 10 BBs, it's an easy call, and if nobody has gone all-in when it's your turn, you should move all-in.

THANKS fOR THE ADVICE>>>> I WILL APPLY THE WAIT THEORY FOR TEH FIRST FEW ROUNDS UNLESS I HAVE ONE OF THE TOP FIVE HANDS>> THAT WAY I'M SURRE TO AVOID FRUSTATIOn FROM GOING OUT TO THESE NO TALENT LUNATICS> OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THE NEXT GAME>>>>>GOOD ISH

Anytime i look at an all in pre-flop and consider a call, I think "do I want to risk my tournament life with this hand." Not, "do I have the best hand." I don't like to call an all-in on coin flips, when I'm even or behind in chips. This is simply my opinion. My advice is break your game down into different levels of betting and calls and see how successful you are and modify your game to what you believe is solid play. Freerolls are a great way to utilize strategies because it does not cost you anything and can be more valuable than the cash prizes. I consider freerolls academic research into the thousands of players you will encounter.

Well, do so it'll help...
..and btw. your CAPSLOCK is on, lol.

during a freeroll, i honestly try my luck vs 1 all in person with a jj qq kk aa. with 3 people all in, i fold stuff like aq and stuff just because it gets too crazy. sometimes you have to wait out til these players bust out or slow down. they will pay you off later because they dont know what to do with their huge chip stack.

i think you gotta check raise or just check call. If you have a tight table image the crazy people will usually put you on a big hand when you call their bets. if you bet they may raise which doesnt help you anyway as they still could have anything.

You have wait for the right moment. He will keep doing it until he gets caught. I have seen a player do this all the time in freerolls. I have seen them crack Aces and Kings to win hands with total junk. But if play properly and wait for the right hand you can take them down. Maybe not everytime. But for sure most of the time.

wait for a premium hand and double up through them, and then play very tight until the first break of the tourney, even sit out so your not tempted. By then most of them are gone so you can loosen up

Isn't this an argument to not fold? If you fold they'll donk of their chips to someone else. If you call with a marginal hand you have a shot to get your chips in a big favorite to build a stack yourself.

i uauallsl wait for paint cards j,q,k, or ace or a pair myself and then take the chance thier usuaally bluffers anyway but i also play freerolls 2

I know your frustration. The more I play the more I see them going all-in all the time. I just sit back and wait for them to do something wrong and someone else kicks them out. then I can play poker with poker players and not have to deal with the kids who think they know how to play with the all-in's.

Im doing quite well in small SNG's with an 'all in stratagy' once im through the bubble.

People have tightened up for quite a while and the blinds are huge.

All in with pretty much any two cards in position.

3 things happen

1 you get HUGE fold equity
2 you steal the now LARGE blinds which mean every hand is worth about 10% of all money in play

3 you get lucky.. people call but seeing as you play monsters in the same way as everything else you can easily bust someone when they play a lesser hand than usual against you.

Over the last few weeks I have been placing in small SNG's by playing well before the bubble.. but at this level its grtting me a win around 1/3 of the time and second more than half of the time... third.. well I have that anyway!!!

I USUALLY WAIT FOR TWO ROUNDS UNTILL ALL THE DONKEYS ARE GONE AND THEN I START PLAYING, BUT IF YOU PLAY ON AP, YOU MIGHT WANT TO PLAY ONE HAND OR ELSE THEY WILL KICK YOU OUT OF THE TOURNAMENT

Loosen up your calling range and try to take their chips before someone else does!! At least that's what I'd do

I agree with the rest man stay away from them they will knock themselfs out soon enough they have no skill and are trying to punk people which works only for a short time then they get caught.

Pisses me off too man...idiots calling an all in preflop raise w/ Q2 offsuit against my AK suited and they hit the 2...internet poker man. Whoever has spent more money wins.

Play super tight. I would fold everything except AA or KK. Like everyone else said these players usually burn out fairly quickly. While it is nice to be able to double up off these players, I would rather stay in the game and get my chips off someone else.

ya thats a great idea...

Usually if im in an after dark freeroll (yes im sort of a donk) i will usually call the first hand if i have 2 picture cards or a mid range pocket pair. The reason is this. ALmost everyone in those tourneys are crazy players so you have to become one to beat them. once you win a big hand (or lose) then you can just sit back for a while.

I think this ia awesome how many replies this post has gotten. Since I wrote it, I have been doing better. (not racing those crazy maniacs without a top top hand) and have been making it a lot further down in tournaments. Also, not going crazy with the anger sharks that swim in my head. hehe. But I think that strategy is the definent way to go if the tournament means something to you and you don't want to just race at the start for teh whole enchillada without a top 5 hand. Anyways, good ish everyone for continuing to post, debate, and comment on this issue affecting us good (or decent) poker players out there. Thanks alot and good luck to everyone on the felt out there (just not against me).

When I get an all-in idiot early in a tournament, I usually deploy the following 4 step program:

(1) Delay action
When the idiot goes all-in, I delay my action for the maximum time(usually 30 seconds). The reson is this drives them nuts. They want to be all-in 10 times a minute if possible. They want ACTION! When I delay, their main motivation (the rush of a race or satisfaction of "pushing" others out) is hurt.

Sometimes, other players catch on and they too delay. This totally drives them nuts.

However, if the idiot just limped (or folded ), I don't delay. This sends a clear message that any time he or she goes all-in, there is at least 30 seconds of inactivity.

Occasionally, this results in the idiot backing down and not going all-in as much. When that happens, I play my usual early tournament game IF I have position on the idiot for that hand.

(2) Use chat
Often (but not always), I supplement delaying with chat by telling them how stupid they are. This totally drives them out of their skins. At this point they hate me so much, that they would call an all-in by me with two blank cards. Repeated chatting how stupid they are after they push all-in does wonders. If you decide to use my system, please don't be repetitive. Alternate between idiot, super-donk, moron, retard, and so on. They are all of course synonyms for these kind of idiots, but it is more effective to very your chat. Otherwise the idiot may "think" you are getting irritated. We DON'T want that. We want the IDIOT to be irritated.

(3) Trap them
If I am out of position with respect to the idiot and if I have a premium hand (TT,JJ,QQ,KK,AA), I will usually limp. They are so stupid that they don't notice my change in action. They usually raise all-in because of the hatred raging towards me in their empty heads.

If I am in position, obviosly I call with one of these hands when idiot pushes.

(4) Collect chips
This is why I didn't include AK. It is not a good hand against an idiot. They could have anything and often they are only 40% dog. I don't want to gamble with an idiot of that calliber being only 60% favorite. Wait for a big pocket pair.

See, as easy as 1-2-3
Damn, I meant as easy as 1-2-3-4


Note: Some good players may disagree with the chat aspect, or even the delay aspect. But this is all designed to maximize the idiot's push/call range so that when we finally get something premium, we are almost certain to get paid off.

If we just get very tight(which is correct), the idiot may fold to our push or fail to push if we limp.

I personally call this "Hate Equity". Make them hate you so much that you are virtually certain to get paid off on your big pocket pair.

__________________________________________________ __________
God created the world in 6 days. Then he noticed that something is missing. And he created the Donk.

9 handed, out of position, AQ looks like garbage vs an all in.
Normally when you are faced with this situation, you are racing.
Do you want to flip coins or play poker?
That is a question you must answer.

if he's proven to go all in with any junk, trying to race cards, and you have what you think is a hand to crush his range, why not take the gift he's offering?

If I read that I might be a 3:1 favorite against his AJ, why wouldn't I want to play to double up. That's what the early rounds are about, playing when you are a favorite. Are you going to fold the best hand pre-flop every time? Not being able to gamble with the best hand is weak play, in my opinion.