Preparing for a state tournament

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PokerMom

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The Arizona State Ladies Championship Hold'em Tournament is scheduled for 9/13 and I'm trying to get my tournament game at its best. The tourney is capped at 450 players and it has filled up in the past so I imagine it will be full again this year.

Since I am a mom of two kids with a husband who works about 80 hours a week, I don't always have time to get away to the casino to play live tourneys.

I have been playing tourneys on pokerstars and am trying to get some other ideas on how to firm up my game - books, websites, etc? In the past I'd really focused on cash games but due to time constraints I'm looking more towards tourneys as a focus.

Soooo...someone guide this poker momma on perfecting her tourney play. :)
 
Steveg1976

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Well, you can't go wrong with Harrington on Hold'em for touraments. I would say get all Three books escecially if you are limited on time.
 
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PokerMom

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Steveg1976 said:
Well, you can't go wrong with Harrington on Hold'em for touraments. I would say get all Three books escecially if you are limited on time.
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Excellent, thanks for the recommendation Steve!
 
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PokerMom

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Great link KC, thank you! I've played in probably 15-20 live tourneys in the last three years but the last time I played a live tourney was about a year ago. I remember the hand that ultimately led to my demise and I'm still jaded by my "good lay down" (yeah, that's sarcasm, I folded bottom set to a super-tight player who had ultimately had top two pair). LOL
 
arahel_jazz

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Can you get away for an evening? There are some live games at some of the pubs in town (I'm assuming Phoenix area here) that are free to play. It will give you some practice handling cards and chips. The play is a bit on the freeroll side, but there's actually some good practice there.

K.O'Donell's has 1500 chip knock-out tournaments with 15-minute blinds on Tuesday nights at 8PM, and Saturday at 3PM and 8PM. Bring the kids and hubby and they can munch hamburgers while you play. Usually if you don't go really deep, you're out of there by 10PM.
 
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deton8whore

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preparing for a tournament? best advice I can give you is to play your own style... especially near the bubble. books will probably say to play agressive and take advantage of weak players.. then you run into their big pair they've played so slowly... now you wish you just sat back and let someone else bubble, right?

seriously though be prepared to be folding AJ, 99 preflop without even touching an unraised pot from early position.

and when that bubble bursts, play tight. some people that have cashed and are content taking home the lowest payout can suck a railroad spike. you can sit back and get about the 5th worst payout which is about 3 times as much as the worst payout (which is about 4 times the buy in)

play like that, you'll profit. you won't win, but you make poker a living and not have to work.
 
KingCurtis

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deton8whore said:
preparing for a tournament? best advice I can give you is to play your own style... especially near the bubble. books will probably say to play agressive and take advantage of weak players.. then you run into their big pair they've played so slowly... now you wish you just sat back and let someone else bubble, right?
But the reason why you should play aggressivley like others is that you'll just min cash and thats not the point of playing a tournament, it's to win!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
bob_tiger

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deton8whore said:
preparing for a tournament? best advice I can give you is to play your own style... especially near the bubble. books will probably say to play agressive and take advantage of weak players.. then you run into their big pair they've played so slowly... now you wish you just sat back and let someone else bubble, right?

seriously though be prepared to be folding AJ, 99 preflop without even touching an unraised pot from early position.

and when that bubble bursts, play tight. some people that have cashed and are content taking home the lowest payout can suck a railroad spike. you can sit back and get about the 5th worst payout which is about 3 times as much as the worst payout (which is about 4 times the buy in)

play like that, you'll profit. you won't win, but you make poker a living and not have to work.
Click to expand...

whats yr name on full tilt?
 
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deton8whore

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KingCurtis said:
deton8whore said:
preparing for a tournament? best advice I can give you is to play your own style... especially near the bubble. books will probably say to play agressive and take advantage of weak players.. then you run into their big pair they've played so slowly... now you wish you just sat back and let someone else bubble, right?
But the reason why you should play aggressivley like others is that you'll just min cash and thats not the point of playing a tournament, it's to win!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

If you are sitting on $30,000 and have a decent job, there is no reason to rush things. Profit myself up to about $50,000 then we'll talk gambling.

bob_tiger said:
whats yr name on full tilt?
Click to expand...

I think I saw you... I was the sarcastic shoutbox guy. I was going on about how it takes skill to beat an overpair and not luck. And luck would be the ability outplay the opponent.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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The biggest thing I would work on is profiling your table. You need to know who's playing tight, who's playing aggressive, etc. It'll help you a lot when you are trying to scoop blinds and working your way towards the money.
 
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