I am generally a pretty tight player. The last couple MTTs I have tried to loosen up early while blinds are small & just don't get the cards &, lately when I try to steal, I always pick the wrong spot. :eviltonguThe general idea which I'm sure has been mentioned is you have to feed off what the table gives. If you can understand this then it pretty much defines how you can adjust to the structure/players.
arty:
200bb's deep. By all means try to see some flops with them - - be happy to ply speculative hands (that have potential to flop (& play) well in multi-way pots)... ie. 54s, 97s, AXs, small pp's. < hands you're hoping to get paid off well on when villain won't let go of overpairs & TPTK/ TPGK type hands.
After 50/100 it goes to 100/200. Sometimes it can be about 7-8 hands per round, but other times more if no one gets cards.20 minute levels though, and I'm guessing the next level will be 50/100. If you're really lucky you'll get 75/150 next, but a lot of places will jump straight to 100/200 after that.
So in less than one round of the button (if you get 7 or 8 hands into a 20-minute level you're doing well) that 200BB starting stack will be cut to 100BB, then maybe 50BB before the end of the first hour.
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the above strategy per se, just that you won't necessarily get very long to apply it.
I don't think anyone, at least I'm not, saying rick your stack early. I recently got JJ early. Blinds at 100/200 & someone raised to 925. I re-popped him to 2,500 & he shoved. I felt he had AA so I folded. He showed AA.I am surprised how many of you answered playing loose early is ok. To each his own.
I like to let the donks do what they do early. I try not to get to committed OOP, or with marginal hands.
However, I recently played a live MTT where everyone was playing ultra tight early on. I chose to exploit them for this. I raised wide from LP and stole quite a few pots post flop. You can build up a decent stack at the right table.
But if you get to carried away, someone will trap you and you will wind up crippled.
In general I play very tight early on, and wait for good spots. There will be alot of multiway pots (regardless of a LP raise) in most tourneys I have played. Bad players playing badly. People are calling OOP with tiny suited aces and all that. And they seem to catch often
when there are 4 of them in the hand with you.
It all depends on table. Tight play early on is my general opinion.
Edit:
The blinds are small, so risking your stack to win small pots might not be the best move. You can't win a tournament in the first hour.
i like to play tight at the beginning.not super tight but """tightish"""
i play any suited ace,any suited connector,any pocket pair. and i play them aggresively but i fold everything else.
i dont even bother trying to steal the blinds cause i could care less to win a 60 chip pot. only start stealing pots when blinds are 75-150 and above.
i will raise ANY two cards everysingle time if its folded down to me on the cutoff btt or sb
^^^this^^^"It depends"
It depends on the structure (how deep of stacks we're playing, how fast the blinds increase).
It depends on how the others on your table are playing.
What happens when you are card dead & don't get any of these hole cards to play?i play any suited ace,any suited connector,any pocket pair. and i play them aggresively but i fold everything else.
But not BB?i will raise ANY two cards everysingle time if its folded down to me on the cutoff btt or sb
start at 25/50. 20 minute levels. No antes. 10k starting stack
After 50/100 it goes to 100/200. Sometimes it can be about 7-8 hands per round, but other times more if no one gets cards.
This is quite the opposite of why you would want to play loose early on -i have herd of people playing both ways. but personally i like to play a little tighter in the beginning but maybe a little looser in positions reason being high risk generally low reward.
I thought the faster the blind levels the faster you play ? correct me if im wrongThese types of low buy-in live tournaments really leave you no wiggle room. 20 minute levels live are a joke (at least in my area). You're lucky to get one full orbit before the blinds escalate due to "thinking" and slow players. What has really helped my game and may help yours with these short live levels is practicing with short stack hyper turbos because that is essentially what you're getting yourself into with these $35-$45 live tournaments. In general the house doesn't give a crap about tournament players because they make more money from raking cash game hands and therefore you're lucky if you find a decently structured tournament for that range of buy in.
As stated above. Not even a full orbit before the blinds escalate in most of these tourneys. I really do think playing tight and being patient is going to be your number one friend here and if you top it off with practicing super turbos online you can be better prepared for this type of donkament if it gets to shove or fold time. Again this is just from my own personal experience from live play vs online and what I have personally experienced.
Why playing tight early on?
Because a lot of other people are thinking "The blinds are small and you have more chance to see the cheap flop at the beginning and this is your advantage actually", so they think they would rather play loose.
Well... Then maybe they should try late registration and start playing from the high blind level lol