How to Play Big Stack Early?

Hi All,

Was in a $50 NLHE rebuy live tourney on Monday. 60 runners. Top prize was around $3,000 then dropped down to $250 for 7th.

Starting stack $ 2k Opening blinds $25/50 Blind levels increase every 20 mins.

In Round 3 blinds were $75/150. Round 3 was last round where re-buys were allowed so lots of loose play.

Was up to about $3k by this stage, picked up rockets and raised, got 5 all-ins! they held up and I was up to $24k Ave stack by then was $3k .

Then it all went to pot. Tightened up, a couple of bad beats, next time I looked I was at $8k and blinds were already up to $ 800/1600. Ended up shoving , went out in 14th place.

Spent the rest of the night thinking WTF happened?

How do I play big stack early? At $24k there was daylight between me and the next guy.

Appreciate any advice.

CuttleFish

Sorry for off topic. but was this at burswoods point series?

yes, was I at your table?

nah i was railbirding and your stack stood out when i was scouting everyone =P

Was seeing what the player base was like at the monday tournies, been playing just the $40 wednesday ones lately, with some occasional cash games.

Was a nice stack huh! Have played Wed nights a few times. That was my first Monday tourney and found it a lot easier than Wed. More thinking players, less people hoping to pay their rent for a $40-buy-in.

Keep coming back to the site. Will let you know next time Im playing a Wed or Mon tourney and buy you a beer.

Don't tighten up or take bad beats obv.

I dont know about that. I mean early on I doubt that you can run over the table, and there's not that much to gain from stealing blinds.
We want to be the big stack when people are tightening up and folding thinking about the money. Prior to that we have to employ a different strategy.
Just remember that while your lead might look huge, its still far away from certain that you will win or even cash.
Just tough luck.

There has got to be more to this than what you are saying. What hands did you play with that monster stack? The classic reaction is "I have all these chips, now I can play more spec hands and gamble a little", but you are saying you tightened up? I guess I am asking you to quantify that with s few examples of hands you played (in position, out of position).

Of course you can run over the table when you can felt everyone as a small % of your stack. More importantly playing pots with people who will play badly is important.

Haha. online, if I have a huge starting stack.. I'd just wait out the timer until the blinds increase.. but you probably can't do that in live games because people will think wtf are you doing.

Why would you do that? If you have a big stack, your edge comes in having more BBs and more postflop maneuverability than your opponents. When you stall you are negating your advantage.

Well you could try.
There are more than one routes to success.

I just mean that just cause you have a huge stack early on doesnt mean you will win.

Oh, well, I try not to play too loose when I have a big a chip stack, but I still play suited connectors and Ace/rag occasionally. Because if i play too loose, sometimes I don't know when to tighten up, or I might run into multiple bad beats and then before you know it... i'm low stack =(

Thats a really nice position you put yourself in. Should've continued using your image and play style to collect blinds and what not. People usually think "oh i dont want to mess with a big stack" unless they know they have it.

There has now been multiple references to running into bad beats in this thread. What does having a big stack have to do with bad beats? Bad beats are of zero strategic importance.

If you get more chips Play more aggressive. If you flop middle pair dont check it, if you flop any draw gut shot or nut flush don't check it, keep pressure on everyone else. Majority of table will know not to try and bluff the chip leader especially if you have 8x as many chips. I would raise a lot more in late postion putting pressure on blinds and limpers as well( i would raise more in all positions actually). You don't have to change the amount of hands you play, i know i would play more but you just need to check less and bet/raise more(this does not mean make bluffs, but semi bluffing should work well for you). It is just natural that ppl will fold to you knowing you can afford to get your chips more than anyone else at the table. end note: keep pressure on everyone, Do not tighten up!

Thanks for the replies.

@Media - I did play more speculative hands straight after getting the big stack, but then found myself getting into trouble. Thats when I tightened up, but in hindsight, tightened up too much.

@baudib - the only reason i mentioned taking a few bad beats is that i think it had an impact on me tightening up too much.

@fishinthesea -I did actually think about sitting out for a few orbits. this might not have been such a bad thing

Yeah, that is pretty common to get a bunch of chips and start dabbling (and I'll bet position kind of went out the window too) - but that's just a recipe to donk off chips. You can up your aggression without opening up your range too much but if you stop respecting position and don't play accordingly you will get yourself in trouble.
Remember, the number of chips you have is only one criteria of many that determine your strategy and how you adjust. Just last night I chipped up massively on a heater run in the first half hour of a tourney where I raising everything. But I chose to shut it down and "tighten" up. Not because I had become chip leader but because I had a VPIP of about 80 with an AF of 90!!!
Worst hand I was dealt was KJs on the button and the rest of the table was a limpfest. Well most of those pots I raked were not hands that went to showdown so the table did not know my average hand in that run was AQ. As far as they were concerned I was a maniac who they were going to wait for to nail to the wall. Which was awesome because I get dealt AA after being inactive for the second half hour and raise 5 BB after two limpers had come in. Two callers who had to bail after a dry flop and a 3/4 pot flop bet.
My point is a whole lot of chips is not the only factor in deciding how to play the rest of the table.

Got it Media, thanks for the input.

Playing again this Monday.............will try and learn from last week. thanks everyone.

This is sound advice. Very much. Biggest thing, play more position. You can afford to pressure the blinds more. Most of the time, the blinds will think 2 ways
1 dont mess with the big stack
2 He is FULL IT NOW! ( and play back )

But many players do #1 so you can keep stealing even the small pots of small blinds and all the small things... blah lbah lbah it adds up

Position is Super KEY as a big stack. And as a decent player you should be able to know when to muck them. But a C-bet from the HUGE stack, always looks scary. IT is all in the mindddd i love big stacks, more fun!

GL next time hope this helps

i think that i got same problem, i can survive with low-mid chips, but if get few good hands and i get rlly lot of chips fast in early i either play agressive agressive and start to lack of luck or i play to closed.

I think that in that time u shuld only play monster hands and hands that will be after the flop with rlly big chaces for winning the hand.

Story of my life.

-

agressive is the right way to play with big stacks, watch for trappers.