Need advice!!!

I have been playing on-line poker for over a year now (freerolls) and have done ok for myself. I end up in the money more often then not because I play very tight at first. My problem is once I get into the top 50 or so, I start to panic because the blinds are getting big and I am way behind. Should I be playing more aggresive at first and then playing tight?

sometimes I have this problem too, but I keep on going tight in the end to get in the money, if you play agressive in the beggining you will find a lot of donkeys calling everything
I like to play tight the whole tournament and just calling the right loose agressive players

i think you should only play big hands at that point like aa ak kk kq qq qj jj 10 10 and 99

Few play tourneys perfectly. An argument could be made that only Phil Helmuth does it best.

If you are at the point where you are getting close to the money, and start panicking, then what you need to do is work on the panicky pat of that statement, not so much on your play.

How does that panic effect you? Does it make you do anything? NO! It makes you THINK you have to do something that under other circumstances you would likely not do.

2 things about ITM finishes;
1 As often as not, the chip leader at the bubble will not be the winner and
2 You can't win it if you don't get ITM first.

My own personal experience is that even if I am last at the bubble, I tend to do better than when I am in first at the bubble.

I suggest you keep an eye on the Rail Requests, and catch one of our deeper rails. Here you can watch, and read about one or the other of our members getting deep, and often ITM and via a rail thread perhaps catch a glimpse of what is going on.

Google "Bond18" and check out his posts about stack sizes vs blinds and how to get past the bubble. Quite instructive and helpful.

dj11 said:

Few play tourneys perfectly. An argument could be made that only Phil Helmuth does it best.


2 things about ITM finishes;
1 As often as not, the chip leader at the bubble will not be the winner and
2 You can't win it if you don't get ITM first.

My own personal experience is that even if I am last at the bubble, I tend to do better than when I am in first at the bubble.

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REALLY?? the chip leader on the bubble of a big MTT will win more often than not?? I don't agree.....I don't even agree on SnGs about this.

I don't even agree that the leader of the final table will win more often than not...at least I don't think I've ever seen this in the few final tables that I've made.....

You do need to change things up in tourneys tho....IF you remain top 10 hands tight all game you won't have the chips to WIN.....assuming that's what you want to do. It is fine to start out very tight...but you must loosen up...especially in SnGs....If you can see a cheap flop with suited connectors even some suited gappers...Go ahead once in a while...you don't have to do it everytime, but, those can be some good money makers.

Let's say 78s in your hand and you flop 568, go ahead take a stab at the pot...remember, in these tourneys after the donks leave....there are quite a few tight players playing...watch your table, see what's going on.....I'm not saying I'm a pro or even GOOD by any stretch of the imagination...but there are hands you can see cheap flops with and do well with....just keep at it..and if you're happy just making the money, just be happy being ITM.

To tell you the truth you have to play more aggressive because players already know that you are playing tight so therefor you can get away with couple pot by raising big with an ok hand. But you cant be greedy you have to take the position into play you cant be raising from everywhere cause then you be throwing your chips away.

deankn68 said:

My problem is once I get into the top 50 or so, I start to panic because the blinds are getting big and I am way behind.

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Your stack to blinds ratio is a big factor later in the tournaments.
Harrington on Hold'em Volume II does an excellent job covering this.

Trying to keep this as simple as possible, Your chip stack divided by amount of $ it costs you to play a round (the BB plus the SB plus what you would spend on antes from each position) is called your M. If your M is 10, you can survive 10 rounds before being forced all-in by the blinds/antes. 10 is also considered the last of the healthy M's.

When your M is 6 or less, you only have two moves: shove or fold
The reason being is that your shove still has fold equity because it's enough to hurt most people if they call and lose. Plus, if you make a smaller bet and have to fold, you're crippled. The next hand you're pretty much forced to go all-in anyway, and if you double up then you still won't have an M of 10 so you'll still be in trouble.

The general rule with a low M is to shove any pot that nobody has willfully put money into yet. Of course, there are exceptions. I'm not doing it with 2/3o UTG, and I'm not doing it with little rags when the BB is a calling station.

So really, it's about sticking your neck out *before* you become powerless. You might have to suck out, but if so make sure you do it when you have enough chips that a double-up will improve your situation. IE, better to win as a 1:2 dog and get an M of 12 than to fold your way to an M of 3, get AA, then double up to an M of 6.

There are specific better/worse hands in-between your M of 10 & 6. Get Harrington on Hold'em Volume II to learn about those.

play poker with feeling like your already out and you nothing to lose
Just relax and stick to your game no matter what the blinds

godoy said:

sometimes I have this problem too, but I keep on going tight in the end to get in the money, if you play agressive in the beggining you will find a lot of donkeys calling everything
I like to play tight the whole tournament and just calling the right loose agressive players

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I agree, I usually do the same thing, However, I usually play tight at the beginning until I have a good chip stack. When this happens I try and see exactly who i'm playing with. (Fish's, sharks, etc) If i'm sitting at the table with more fish's than sharks then I play Big Stack poker and bluff a lot. Raising pre-flop and a continuation bet on the flop. Study your opponents very well so you know when to fold and when to raise. Calling is not in my vocabulary.

ashershi said:

If i'm sitting at the table with more fish's than sharks then I play Big Stack poker and bluff a lot. Raising pre-flop and a continuation bet on the flop. Study your opponents very well so you know when to fold and when to raise. Calling is not in my vocabulary.

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The first half of what I quoted, is part of your leak I think.

bluffing A LOT in online poker just doesn't work well. There are times when you can bluff. I was playing in the FT freeroll today. We were in the money already. I don't remember all of the details, but, I had KJ and flop was Axx. I didn't think either of the two people in had an ace. These are CC players remember, not your everyday players. I took a stab, and took it down.

NORMALLY tho, you're not playing with people who care if you see their showdown. Normally you've got 8 other people at the table, and one or two of them will have a fair enough hand to call you, or at least to think that they do.

The second half is an "ok" strategy, but, you can't ALWAYS raise. I guess that I shouldn't say can't, but, you SHOULD mix up your play...call raise 3x bb raise 5x bb.....if you ALWAYS go 3x BB, while people will never know what you're raising with, they'll eventually figure out what your range is.

Continuation bets are also not as effective in online poker. If you didn't pair that ace...and someone paired their 8 when they're holding 87s, if they put you on AK. They're going to call or raise.

You have to remember, you cannot look into these peoples eyes and try to get a read, you have to just notice the pattern. Do they always make a Cbet, and this one time they didn't?? Does that mean that they have the nuts?? Does it mean that all the times before they DID have the nuts and this time they don't? There are just so many things that can go wrong. Play solid poker and hopefully you'll do just fine. I said before, I'm not a real good poker player, but, if I am on...and patient, with a few moves thrown in here or there, I do alright.

There are many good articles and posts here, read some of them, and good luck on the tables...

I think sometimes at that point it is what it is. I do believe in a couple of things though. Bad things happen on the bubble and also people go crazy right after making the money. I would say give it a couple of go-arounds once you make the money. You prob more than likly will make the next bracket and I think at this point you should wait for a Face card pocket pair to make the more or let the blinds eat you out ;-)

TheMountainBoy said:

I think sometimes at that point it is what it is. I do believe in a couple of things though. Bad things happen on the bubble and also people go crazy right after making the money. I would say give it a couple of go-arounds once you make the money. You prob more than likly will make the next bracket and I think at this point you should wait for a Face card pocket pair to make the more or let the blinds eat you out ;-)

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This is all well and good if you're satisfied just making the money. If you want to win the game or go deeper than just making an extra buck, assuming you're only playing smaller stakes 10 bucks or less, you need to get chips. The next bracket in this type of tourney is only a few cents...a buck.

Someone in this thread mentioned Harrington on Holdem series of books...they're very good reading. (Now, if I'd only apply what I've learned)

So many people are afraid of the blinds late in a tourney. That when I like to get aggressive. Scared money don't make money.

it depends on whether or not you wish to win the tourny or just place in the money. to place just keep playing tight and the aggressors will take you out, but you will still make the money you hope or if you want to win you will have to get aggressive some time. you will have to take them off there blinds at times. you will have to go all in with nothing sometimes to get chips. if they think you are scared, they will tear you up. you have to pick your moments and trap as much as possible. the big stacks are going to bluff at least 30% of the time as they know the short stacks will fold and wait. gotta call them sometimes. get those chips.

You should look to start finding more steal spots where you can pick up chips and have a stack that can go deeper. Late position raises 1 off the button or on the button are often very effective. Just keep in mind how aggressive the players to act after you are as well as how the blinds react to these raises.