Q J SUITED!!

lets give you a scenario, opening stages of a tournament the blinds have orbited the table twice the remaining players seem to have lots more chips than me.
do i raise with Q J Suited???
or other similar cards e.g Q 10 suited...


basically i need advice on what to call and raise and when to call and raise them in a NL tournaments early stages!

thanks

swood said:

lets give you a scenario, opening stages of a tournament the blinds have orbited the table twice the remaining players seem to have lots more chips than me.
do i raise with Q J Suited???
or other similar cards e.g Q 10 suited...


basically i need advice on what to call and raise and when to call and raise them in a NL tournaments early stages!

thanks

Click to expand...

Some players play MTTs differently, so this is strictly from my strategy and approach.

No, I would not call. During the early stages of an MTT, blinds are very low and stacks are very big, so there is very little reason for you to get involved in pot with a marginal hand like QJs. Especially in EP. During the early stages, Im sticking to top starting hands and trying to see cheap flops with small pairs. Top starting hands include AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs, AK.

Also, do not worry about your opponents stack sizes and focus on yours. As long as you have 20+ big blinds in your stack, you are sitting safe. You should keep an eye on your opponents' stacks to see who is short, who is big, and who is average stacked.

It depends if i have possition on my opponent. 3x the BB and i got a healthy stack i might call looking for two pair trips or a straight if i hit the Q and its top pair im gonna call his bet if he bets the flop. I'm gonna raise his turn bet just enough to try to take control of the hand thats if my hand dosnt improve on the turn. Now because i raised him on the turn and i have top pair he might check to me and then i can just check if i feel unsafe. If he bets its probably gonna be value and thats where you have to use your better judgement. Keep in mind this is with you and 1 other opponent

I like playing pretty tight early on in a MTT, although if I'm in a late position QJ or Q10 suited I might be inclined to try and steal the blinds, but I definitely trash this hand from early to middle position.

Since plenty of ppl called theres already money in the pot. Queen Jack suited are pritty high cards so raising here can take away quite a few limpers. On the other hand Queen Jack suited is great for draws so you want quite a few ppl to be in the hand just incase if you get the draw going. Making a bet wouldnt be a bad idea but if you do it it shouldn't be that much as to scare the players away.
It all depends on your feel on the table. If the players are very loose dont be afraid to make the pot a little bigger. If they are very tight then you would be better off just calling here. Good luck at the tables .

opening stages? no way. only way I'm playing those hands is if i'm in the blinds and there many limpers. maybe call a small raise if there are multiple players in the pot and hope to flop a monster.

At the start of a tournament, I like to play quite tight, so I am mucking QJs in EP 100% of the time, I will usually fold in in MP as well. From the Button however I will raise with QJ because you are most likely ahead, if the SB or BB wants to call with a maginal hand oop so be it.I'm mainly playing QJs for the flush possiblilites, with top pair and Ok kicker you cannot go mad.

raise?

I personally would make a small raise and see what type of response you get. If you only get one or two calls and catch top pair I'd go allin. I'm no pro yet but thats what I'd do.

Tahat's a marginal hand and only play on the blind or button if nobody raises.

No, that's a crap hand, and you can get outdrawn very easily. I'd probably only play that hand in late position, and I doubt I would raise. I'd probably just limp. Early on you will have too many people calling you with A-rag and beating you.

~H

I have played all the different strategies for the beginning stages. I have found that if you play hands like GJ suited (or connecting suitor’s type hands) for pot value potential, then you are far better off in online Tournaments. In real life tournaments, you have 30 minutes to 1 hour blind raises, you can wait on the big pairs but online the blinds are usually 10 to 20 minutes long.

You really don't have the time to wait on big pairs or really learn your opponents. The day I figured that out I started getting to the late rounds of tournaments and making the money. I give every player unjustified credit for being good players in the beginning and middle rounds, when the pressure of the blinds is low.

I only invest the effort into learning my opponents when the Blind pressure is high. I focus on my stack because at the end of the tournament, people are trying to double up to stay ahead of the blinds or knock people out. If you survive to the late rounds, then you can build a short stack to a really big stack in a short amount of time.

I suggest that when you have drawing types of hands; you should limp to get players in the pot. Don't get into trying to outplay people when you don't have much invested. Then when a potential monster flop comes you get aggressive but not all-in!

If you don't ever go all in, then they have to beat you over a series of hands to eliminate you! This is key to winning consistently online.

With hands like QJ suited you want to catch big flops not big cards in the beginning and middle stages of a tournament. This also gives you the image of a calling station so when you do hit big or get a big pair, people are going to pay you off. The key is to switch to tag when the pressure of the blinds starts taking affect or when you’re at an extremely aggressive table.


If you raise big with a drawing hand in online tournaments, you are far more likely to get re-raise with marginal hands then you would be in a brick and mortar casino. If you get re-raised with QJ suited then what are you going to do. Call? Re-raise? Fold if you’re smart and you just basically bluffed off a lot chips. Big pairs are valuable preflop in the late stages of tournaments when you’re probably not going to get to play the turn and river. Online players will just go all in pre/post flop, so you have to depend on your starting hand.