I dry up in a tournament

imnoobpoker

imnoobpoker

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Hello everybody!

Playing poker for a month now and I still have one problem: tournament, blinds are going up and I dry up. Sometimes, I call it luck, I end up with a good hand and then I get some chips back. But sometimes not. What should I do to go against this?

Thank you for the help again!
 
RED137

RED137

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For me, I try to keep at least a 10xBB+SB+(ANTx10) of the next upcoming blinds. So say the next blinds are 100/200 with 20 ant. I want a stack of 100+200×10=3,000 + (ANT 20× 10 = 200) = 3,200. But I like to round up so 3,500 is good. This allows me 10 orbits to try and make a good hand or double up. But as the blinds raise I increase my needed stack size. I hope this helps, this is what I do to stay afloat. I'm still new to online poker, so I'm sorry if I can't give you a straight forward answer but I tried and I hope it helps you a little.
 
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DaysAreYears

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You probably do not just play enough hands?

If you end up being a lower stack in the table bigger stacks are prone to target you. If you fold enough hands they see you are afraid to play, so they going to raise you a lot. They are most likely to bluff you out of the pot.

Other thing is blind steal. If you are in a good spot, lets say Dealer, or before dealer you should try to steal the pot betting chips but never over 1/3 of your stack, except if you are for sure win. It might seem small, but you can pay your next blinds with those chips. In the end tournament is survival game where the big devour the small slowly.

In the early tournament when the blinds are small you should try your luck with flop even with lower hands. Hope any of this helps at all.
 
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karl coakley

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You probably do not just play enough hands?

If you end up being a lower stack in the table bigger stacks are prone to target you. If you fold enough hands they see you are afraid to play, so they going to raise you a lot. They are most likely to bluff you out of the pot.

Other thing is blind steal. If you are in a good spot, lets say Dealer, or before dealer you should try to steal the pot betting chips but never over 1/3 of your stack, except if you are for sure win. It might seem small, but you can pay your next blinds with those chips. In the end tournament is survival game where the big devour the small slowly.

In the early tournament when the blinds are small you should try your luck with flop even with lower hands. Hope any of this helps at all.

+1

You have to loosen up as the blinds and antes get bigger. There is more out there in the pot and you have to be aggressive and go take it with a wider range. This is why most of the people you see now winning big tournaments are primarily LAG players. You can't just sit and wait for a hand.
 
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Hi imnoobpoker. The best thing I can tell you is the fact that it happens to every player that sits down a a poker table. And if you are now thinking that you don't want to hear that shit, all of us has thought the same thing. And here's something else you might not want to hear. Everything problem you post, we all have been there. So here we are with all of our problems, and we help each other work through those problems. New players have big problems that may take a month or more to get through it. Mine was a bad tilt problem. It took 6 months before I could make myself say OH WELL and go on to the next hand. That's just an example. My friend, just keep the questions coming and we will continue to share our opinions from our experience.
 
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redmast

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When I have the stack reduced to 10BB I try to get good cards and make allin. Not always this tactic is successful. You can lose to a stronger hand or a player who has 100BB. Everyone understands that you are compelled to go to Allin and your hand is not necessarily strong.
 
Nr98

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A valuable lesson for being on a short stack:

"You can't play much poker when you're on a short stack"

If your stack becomes small enough (let's say 10/15BB, tho I'm not sure about the exact amount, that also depends on playstyle and personal preference), you only have two choices. All in or Fold, this either let's you steal the blinds, double up or get busted. Since when betting anything else then a shuff you're pretty much pot committed so it's better to push all in so then you got fold equity as well (the chance that people fold).
 
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John Bor

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Take a break and read books about how to play
 
imnoobpoker

imnoobpoker

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For me, I try to keep at least a 10xBB+SB+(ANTx10) of the next upcoming blinds. So say the next blinds are 100/200 with 20 ant. I want a stack of 100+200×10=3,000 + (ANT 20× 10 = 200) = 3,200. But I like to round up so 3,500 is good. This allows me 10 orbits to try and make a good hand or double up. But as the blinds raise I increase my needed stack size. I hope this helps, this is what I do to stay afloat. I'm still new to online poker, so I'm sorry if I can't give you a straight forward answer but I tried and I hope it helps you a little.

Thank you for the information! But at the end, you still need a good hand to keep your stack up. And sometimes is that a big problem, if you only get 37o, 92o etc.

You probably do not just play enough hands?

If you end up being a lower stack in the table bigger stacks are prone to target you. If you fold enough hands they see you are afraid to play, so they going to raise you a lot. They are most likely to bluff you out of the pot.

Other thing is blind steal. If you are in a good spot, lets say Dealer, or before dealer you should try to steal the pot betting chips but never over 1/3 of your stack, except if you are for sure win. It might seem small, but you can pay your next blinds with those chips. In the end tournament is survival game where the big devour the small slowly.

In the early tournament when the blinds are small you should try your luck with flop even with lower hands. Hope any of this helps at all.

I try to play in the begin only the necessary hands, (tight) and then I'm try to understand when I have to loosen up. Most of the time, after the late registration is over.

Hi imnoobpoker. The best thing I can tell you is the fact that it happens to every player that sits down a a poker table. And if you are now thinking that you don't want to hear that shit, all of us has thought the same thing. And here's something else you might not want to hear. Everything problem you post, we all have been there. So here we are with all of our problems, and we help each other work through those problems. New players have big problems that may take a month or more to get through it. Mine was a bad tilt problem. It took 6 months before I could make myself say OH WELL and go on to the next hand. That's just an example. My friend, just keep the questions coming and we will continue to share our opinions from our experience.

You are right! That is why I try to post as much as possible.

A valuable lesson for being on a short stack:

"You can't play much poker when you're on a short stack"

If your stack becomes small enough (let's say 10/15BB, tho I'm not sure about the exact amount, that also depends on playstyle and personal preference), you only have two choices. All in or Fold, this either let's you steal the blinds, double up or get busted. Since when betting anything else then a shuff you're pretty much pot committed so it's better to push all in so then you got fold equity as well (the chance that people fold).

Maybe I'm to afraid to play lower hands early ingame?

Take a break and read books about how to play

Suggestions?
 
TheNutz4You

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I you are bleeding out, you have to open your range some or you may never get a premium hand to play with. being short stacked you either push or fold. a lot of times you can steal blinds this way and chip up.
 
crimsonblur

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As everyone approaches the bubble in a tournament most of the players are trying to hold on to their chips. Obviously the big stacks are going to try to bully people around so they don't fit into this category. However, if there ever is a time to bluff it is right before the bubble because unless your opponent has a monster hand that they are sure they are going to win with they are likely to fold. So maybe play a little more aggressively as your chips are dwindling away late in tourney.
 
imnoobpoker

imnoobpoker

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I you are bleeding out, you have to open your range some or you may never get a premium hand to play with. being short stacked you either push or fold. a lot of times you can steal blinds this way and chip up.

Yeah, looking for the right spot to do that. But sometimes it is really difficult to know when to open my range.

As everyone approaches the bubble in a tournament most of the players are trying to hold on to their chips. Obviously the big stacks are going to try to bully people around so they don't fit into this category. However, if there ever is a time to bluff it is right before the bubble because unless your opponent has a monster hand that they are sure they are going to win with they are likely to fold. So maybe play a little more aggressively as your chips are dwindling away late in tourney.

Did try this yesterday, but being called by 4Ao, with my KJo. Then I saw a J, but at the end (river) an A.
 
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Sometimes, you need to start shoving when you get close to 10 BBs and not necessarily wait until you reach or go below it.

For example shoving 77 in MP with 2 limpers before you with 12 BBs is essentially the same as 10 BBs​.

Learn how to preserve your short stack by not limping in a lot or calling small bets with speculative hands OOP. For example limping in with QJo UTG with 15 BBs then calling a small raise is a terrible play where you're losing most of the time.

As your stack gets shorter, it's either fold or shove. I keep my shove range at ~25 BBs depending on situation. Yes, sometimes jamming 25 BBs is an option.

Stealing and restealing from the button/blinds is an option. Don't be afraid to play back at BTN stealing from you if they're doing it often.

Finally, sometimes you just have to pick your spots. A perfect example is I'm on the BB with 12 BBs and 6 players limp in. I'm shoving almost ATC here because if I can pick up the pot, it's almost 8 BBs with antes. That's a huge boost to my stack. My bB hand is almost always terrible with no showdown value, so checking my option means I'm almost always check/folding the flop and giving up a great spot to pick up a ton of dead money.

I did this 3-4 times in an MTT yesterday and I think it's one of the key differences in me finishing 2nd and me busting out a lot sooner.
 
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Learn to be a short-stacked-ninja, wait for your power hands and then make a move.
 
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ph_il

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Learn to be a short-stacked-ninja, wait for your power hands and then make a move.
But if you wait too long, your move might not be as effective.

Waiting for and jamming AA with only 3 BBs is still getting called.
 
niphon56

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It's common problem of short stack.
You should play aggressively at early stage to cumulate enough stack.
 
imnoobpoker

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After posting this threat, I'm trying to play more suited connectors and this keeps me more in the game I think. I used to play online AA, KK, QQ and sometimes JJ, premium hands, but when I'm thinking back to that moment, sometimes are suited connectors also good enough to just limp with the pot.
 
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marakhovskii

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Hello everybody!

Playing poker for a month now and I still have one problem: tournament, blinds are going up and I dry up. Sometimes, I call it luck, I end up with a good hand and then I get some chips back. But sometimes not. What should I do to go against this?

Thank you for the help again!

There is one option to cope with this drying out - to break your stack into 3 parts and enter 3 hands on the flop in case of failure to fold. But it's pretty not according to the rules :(The main thing is not to wait for Aces, who always lose against an opponent with any two cards :)
 
imnoobpoker

imnoobpoker

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But which range should I include when I dry up? Playing more 78s, 89s or more A3o/A3s?
 
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you might have to ajust your range a bit if it's a turbo or supper turbo to try to keep chipping up and not get blinded out , if there is a lot of dead money in the pot then is worth trying to pick up the pot s with hands like kq qj jk suited connectors.
 
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If you are watching you can try to get a read on what players are callers and what players are folders.. ALOT of the players are going to be trying to raise and play the mind game. Continuation betting seems to work for some but know when to fold.. tricky game when you are trying to make chips with air but stealing a pot or two in the later game is a must in these games
 
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caio cesar

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Hello everybody!

Playing poker for a month now and I still have one problem: tournament, blinds are going up and I dry up. Sometimes, I call it luck, I end up with a good hand and then I get some chips back. But sometimes not. What should I do to go against this?

Thank you for the help again!

Lol. Join the club. It depends a lot on the kind of tournament ur playing. In general, you must have a decent stack size to make plays and make people fold. With less than 10 bb you cannot make your opponents fold.
 
Ranish625

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Hello everybody!

Playing poker for a month now and I still have one problem: tournament, blinds are going up and I dry up. Sometimes, I call it luck, I end up with a good hand and then I get some chips back. But sometimes not. What should I do to go against this?

Thank you for the help again!

fortunately or unfortunately, but you are not alone, the same thing happens with me and not only.
 
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mex4el

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I think you need sometimes just to be distracted from poker ,,, to do something else ..
 
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