The newbies “Big cards, play aggressive” strategy problems.

Michael Paler

Michael Paler

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Things I have learned the hard way, 101.

One of the first articles I read about tournament poker for beginners involved talking about how you need to stick to big hands (AA, KK, QQ, AK, AQ suited) and play them “very aggressively”; ie; Raise real big preflop, and C-bet with vigor. I had been playing awhile, and the first thing I noticed about this advice was...my game suffered, and I do mean horribly. The problem basically boiled down to these factors:

1. Online Free Roll: When you start w 1,000 and the blinds are at 10/20, your raise should be 2.5 to 3x the Big Blind. NOT 8, 10, or more. Why? Well, opening up for 100 is TEN PERCENT of your stack! Even if you start with 2500, remember that the weakest players are at the beginning, so that limp-in with QJ (Q-x if it’s suited!) now warrants a call (?!?). If they flopped a Q, then they might check that top pair to you and are not going to fold to your C-bet.

2. What is a good C-bet? 1/2 to 2/3 the pot...So if you got 2 callers, the pot is now 345 at least, so you now bet around 300 or more. Again, do you think a rookie will fold top pair to this bet, afraid you have AA? Nope, so now you’re into this pot for 400, almost half your stack. If they don’t fold and you don’t improve on the turn, then what? Bet again on the turn if you have missed? That is the “aggressive” way. Now you have 60-80 percent of your stack in with AK, no pair, no draw, and get wiped out by a rookie with QJ, or worse, Q2 suited.

3. How long can you survive opening up each hand you decide to play for 10% of your stack? I can tell you, NOT LONG!

4. Lets say you raised preflop to 100 w KK and flop 342. Great, right? Now you bet 300 after being checked to and get three callers. Now, the turn brings a 10, and you decide to shove. Then your callers show A5 off, 10-10 and 2-2. Now, you are drawing DEAD. River a K and you still lose to the guy who flopped a straight.

You must read any flop you get. Why invest 10% of your stack only to be forced to fold? Hey, big cards are great, but you have to connect in some way. And when you bet too big too early, you quickly become “pot committed”. Then you are most likely going to go to the rail. Since so many limp in with god-only-knows-what and will call any raise with it early in the game, you have to be careful. If the blinds are changing every 5 minutes, you don’t have time to wait for the big cards. Plus, you want to wait until you have WAY better than one top pair before you go Rambo on ‘em. So, in short, no, you do not have to C-bet every frigging flop!

If you are like me, you start off with any free roll MTT you can find. It’s not easy. The “advised” strategy works far better with decent starting stacks and long blind intervals, so beware. No free games have this. 1k and 5 minutes turns poker into bingo, but it’s a great place to learn. The aggressive strategy works best in live games where chances are, if they paid XX-$ to get in, you will have a few less loose cannons at the table. In a free game online, they might all be loose cannons.
 
PurgatoryD

PurgatoryD

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How long can you survive opening up each hand you decide to play for 10% of your stack? I can tell you, NOT LONG!

This is my complaint about a lot of the strategies I have read about. You can use the strategy for all of 2 or 3 hands because after that, unless you win the hand, you are seriously short stacked!

Nice article. I think this goes to the overall strategy that every stage in a tourney is different. You cannot play the beginning like the middle, and you cannot play the middle like the end. That's what makes it fun! :)

Thanks again! It will be interesting to hear what others have to say as well.
 
Propane Goat

Propane Goat

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You bring up some good points, I've noticed that often in the first few hands of donkrolls whenever somebody raises 10+BB pre there's almost always somebody else that will shove and then often 2 or more will call. It seems like it's better to just shove big hands pre early on and if they don't hold up then just wait for the next freeroll, even if you raise 10x BB and no one shoves you will still get a ton of limpers following like puppy dogs holding things like 86o, and they will call almost any cbet amount with bottom pair or even nothing at all.
 
BluffyouBAD

BluffyouBAD

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It's hard to play correctly in free rolls cause very few people are doing so and your good hands are much more likely to lose to rags since many fish in those don't fold.

I hear what your saying about your stack size in relation to our continuation bets but there's no set amount and let's be honest, until you weed out first round of fish that c bet is getting called down by any pair alot.

You gotta adapt. Can't always sit and wait for AA or Kk. Lots of times even with those hands you end up all in Pre against two or three others hands.

This is what makes free rolls so hard. You can play perfectly and stop get busted and its not uncommon to see. Next time you play one note the times in a showdown the best hand preflop loses to something you wouldn't have played with a raise in front of you.

I like to be tight early but selective, I go back to being a Tag like always once most fish are gone and I get more aggressive as it progresses since ppl we waiting for monsters to try and finish in money.
 
TeUnit

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think bluff is right- adapt and overcome, do what ever they let you- ie if they will fold to a min bet, then min bet etc
 
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marcumx

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good post..almost like i wrote it. i have a book by evyly Nyg or however u spell her name, and she suggests just this...raising 8 x with these top pairs. you might the blinds which in levels 1-5 isn't much. if i raise 3x or more it's going to be when the antes kick
 
carv3523

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in a freeroll is difficult to use tactics, I think in the beginning the majority of players are aggressive and so one thing that does is encourage them to bet and then send the all-in. or so I would play but my big hands these pairs or never give me so I'd rather go all in and not let games often arm themselves with junk hands
 
Aces2w1n

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Big hands at the start you just need to shove... Since you will get everyone calling, you'll get maximum value so when you do win the hand, you should be set to play a long tournament.

if your playing very tight to get in these situations you should get deep into a tourney every couple.
 
Michael Paler

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Please invite her

good post..almost like i wrote it. i have a book by evyly Nyg or however u spell her name, and she suggests just this...raising 8 x with these top pairs. you might the blinds which in levels 1-5 isn't much. if i raise 3x or more it's going to be when the antes kick

By all means, ask her to join in a carbon $50.00 freeroll at 10:00pm and try the "8x" trick, assuming she doesn't have 200 left by the time she gets a decent starting hand. When 5 people call her 8X UTG w AA and she loses to some donk with Q-3 calling every street for 2 pair on the river, tell her this...

"Mike Paler wants to know...How's that 8x workin for ya?". So, yes, you are correct sir!

By the way...."good post..almost like i wrote it." Really? Are you trying to pee farther than me? Try proper capitalization (I not i, and at the start of each new sentence) and don't leave out words ("you might the blinds" should be "you might win the blinds"). Come on dude, I want you in our freerolls, and you must have quality posts! (Just don't go back and look at all mine, now that I said that, lol):ridinghor
 
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GWU73

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Beating (cashing) freerolls is fairly easy, but requires VOLUME even with huge fields. If you are in a field of 3,000 and 100 get paid obviousely you may need to play 20 or more to cash, but I was very successful playing freerolls. My very first forray into online poker (2007) was $0 to $400 playing low buy in and freerolls. I liked to time several sites and play in as many freerolls as possible at a time to increase my odds.

I am an overall winner in tournaments and in cash games at low and micro stakes levels. I do not kill them, but I win.

My strategy is just play conservative poker, including limping behind with pairs etc.. while effective stacks are deep, play tighter as they increase until there is pressure to be more aggressive them add blind stealing when apropriate. If your stack gets short look for late position opportunities to shove steal / resteal. Figure out who reeeaallly wants to cash and apply pressure near the bubble. I like to reraise all in and just shove <15 bb at this stage vs these guys because they will fold their JJ and AQ hands. Just avoid the guys who like to call unless you actually have a monster.

I often reached the bubble short stacked, and would be in tho top third going into the money. This strategy works pretty well in the low buy in tournaments too. I do not recommend this strategy for higher buy ins - I have never paid more that $35 for an online tournament, and I like to keep touraments under $10 because I do not feel like I am a great tournament player. If I can beat them, you can beat them.
 
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