Straight Forward Plays in Tourneys

I know that sometimes playing straightforward makes you predictable but I have found (through trial and MANY error ) that I make the most money if I sacrifice many of my most aggressive finesse plays and become meeker.

Small buy in online tournaments aren't a test of your best poker abilities; they're primarily a test of survival.

On the other hand cashing just doesn't do it for me (or for any of you I assume) and honestly good cards just don't come around that often so some level of trickery/thievery/imaginative play must be done.

How, however, do you get by the thinking that if the tricky play goes south you could be facing moving all in as the only viable option. In online tourneys there just doesn't seem to be enough chips to make these plays worth it (unless they work).

in tourneys you should always play abc poker at least until the cash bubble because there are lots of clueless people playing in the field. there's no point trying to pull off advanced plays on them or signalling your intentions through bet sizing because they won't understand what you are doing and therefore your play won't work. after the cash bubbly, the people who are still in the running are usually a bit more knowledgable and are usually better players so you can start making some moves there. but remember that blinds are high so if you do choose to make moves, time them wisely cuz if it goes wrong you're be severely crippled.

The last few days it seems EVERY SINGLE time that I make the right preflop bet, SOMEBODY always makes a stupid call....I know the 8 other times I made the same move, I won...but it's always that ONE time where I get put out.....It's just been burning me up lately and I wanna go off like Hellmuth.

abc poker is fine when playing a mtt the only thing is that u need to know when to change gears so that you wont just sit there and make tight plays-eventually you have to go for it-i heard on an espn show once-:u have to be willing to die in order to live in this game" that to some extent is some good advice-i suggest play tight then start opening up-do not become predictable-the_urge27

You have to be willing to die to live in this game. That's a good way of putting it. I also like this quote from Phil Gordon's Little Green Book:

You have to pick your battles, but at some point, you have to pull the trigger and run a chance of ending your tournament run.

Wonka,
I guess the best way of comparing it would be that you need to minimize the bullets that you're playing with. I'd rather play Russian Roulette with 1 bullet than 5 (or the way some people play, 6 ). It's hard to lay down a good hand - that's something that I'm working on (and failing miserably with), but know that next time he re-raises you, there's a good chance he's going to find one of the 5 bullets.

It's tough but you have to be willing to make a move now and then, even if it might cost you. I do agree that it's your best bet to play tight early, but why play so tightly for a long time and not use that to your advantage? If you've been sitting at the same table for a while and have developed that "tight" label, you should be able to play that and re-raise someone or push them off a stronger hand because of it.

every time i get a bankroll built up it seems that i end up being at a talee where i get sucked out on.i find myself hitting two pr on flop making big raises only too be called bye a donk who is preying on a card for str8 or hes got 55 or some other low pr wich i woulda folded from the start of the hand,then every 1 at table says im bad player because i lose too a river card 18 outta 20 times. i find it very disturbing too find myself letting these types of players agitate me i lose all control.i find its hard too play online because no matter what u have theres always some fool who will call
last night i had kk went all in guy had k4 called well 44 10 fkopped now this is totally disturbing a week prior i had raised the bb 2000 i had kk she had k2 22 8 flops what are the odds this happening 70 percent of time too me makes me wonder about playing online.

I would think in the long run you win. I think most of us would prefer your position to that of your opponents. All your money in with the best hand, best by far, and in a very dominating position when you see the cards turned. Sometimes chit happens and you move on. I will take you move every time. Even if you got called with a 3x or 4xBB bet and you see the flop you describe, how do you lay down your K's.

True enough in micro stakes online tourneys, one generally needs to play ABC poker for the first stages as the finer subtletys of poker are lost on most of your opposition. They won't be putting a story to your play so don't even bother (in most cases,..but you will find others who are capable of laying down hands, etc.).
I find it's very important to establish playing styles, ranges and tendancies of your opponents right from the get go. Classify who the loose calling stations are, who's a tight mouse, who's a maniac, a TAG, etc.
Pay even closer attention as the antes come into play or as you are about twice as many players as the bubble. The players who begin to play more aggressively here are the ones you need to watch out for,.. they are the ones who are more likely knowledgeable about what it takes to win a tourney (also watch for the ones who are just wishing to skate into the cash).
A bit more finesse can be thrown in once you are deeper into the tourney, use your earlier reads to your advantage now.
For sure the initial hour (or more) is all about survival. If you can keep up to around chipstack average.. .bonus, but if not don't freak out about it as it's always easy to pick up a large pot or two once the antes come into play or once the blinds have gone up considerably. Yah... and avoid 'fps.. fancy play syndrome,... it'll be lost on the large majority of them.
GL!

You got it all right there.
Yesterday I played a freeroll hosted by doesn't matter on fulltilt and placed 7th effectively being at the tables for about a quarter of an hour.
Usually I don't sit out anything, but in the first half hour I had to repair the dish-washer, so I only started with about 900 chips.
Then I played very aggressively, mostly with nothing - stealing hell of a lot of blinds and limps until I had about 8K.
Then I got KK and flopped a boat (KKK1010) which I slow played.
2 guys went all in (A10, Q10) and I won.
Now I had 24K.
Then the damn dishwasher flooded the kitchen - I had to see to it again...
When I came back I was 30th, just in the money.
I started collecting blinds and antes again and only got called once, holding 88. The other guy went all in with AQ after flop (Q,10,8 rainbow) and I doubled up again to 60K).
I collected some blinds again and found myself being under the last ten, placing 5th.
Then I got K7 in the BB, checked and flopped 2pair - K,8,7 rainbow.
The button went all in and I called, maybe I shouldn't have - but I did.
He had K8.
So I placed 7th.
Altogether I didn't show more than 8 hands in the whole game.
Might have been very lucky but I collected 50% of all the chips I had stealing blinds and antes.