30BB or less: hand ranges

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neilv93

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Hey guys, quick question about having less than 30 bigs.

Small pairs, suited connectors, weird Broadway mixes like QJo... When you drop below 30 bigs is that when these type of hands should be eliminated from my range?

I feel like a lose a few chips here or there in MTTs because I'm being too speculative in terms of seeing flops with 87s or pocket 4s.

Is this wrong? Or at what blind level should I stop playing these hands? <20BB?
 
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subdylzep

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you are correct in your assumption i would say. I Would eliminate hands such as 10J suited and JQ suited even KQ suited once you drop below 30BBs. Even small PPs and hands as high as 1010. Its ok to play these hands soft when you see a more aggressive player open the action and think he could have something like AQ or AJo. you are putting yourself in a race position and with 30BBs left you dont necessarily have to race. Once you are below 15BBs then you can put yourself in a position to get in isolation with hands like high suited connectors or low PPs. But when you have 10-30BBs left you should tighten your range up just a bit, Im not saying you cant play them aggressive but be more selective of when you play the hands. If you can see them in isolation then that is best and if you can get a reraise in with 99 or 1010 preflop to give yoruself a read on the opponent go ahead and do it, but dont do it with a lot of action behind or when 3 or so people limp into the flop. If that many people are in the flop chances are they are sharing some of your good cards or they are going to come to the flop so you can play the hand softer and see what the flop produces before you make any more moves. Tighten up your play when you get under 30BBs and you should see an increase in your bankroll in tournament play. Make sure you are evaluating the people you are playing against too, if its a looser player you are going to want them to play against you but not the whole way, so maybe a reraise preflop would help to isolate them and let them miss the flop, or give you a chance to get away after the flop. If its a tighter player maybe you will want to just call the flop and see what happens, or even raise them preflop and take an increase in your stack without risking seeing any cards. Its about who you are playing , in what position, and the amount of people in the hand that you are going to want to focus on when you are under 30BBs. generally one or 2 players are going to playing aggressive so keep yourself away from racing them when they get to see 5 cards on the board, just gives them a better chance to make their hand. You want to limit what they see and get yourself into isolation when you get the chance. Also dont be afraid to try to steal some blinds or produce a squeeze play against a tighter player(s) in the hand. Good luck and i hope you do well.
 
VizziVizo

VizziVizo

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If you have more than 25 bb - everything okay, if less - begin to play Ah's, pocket pairs and strong connectors in late position.Try yo play these hands for cheap, but do not forget about bluffing, a lot of players are afraid of your all in if you are short, so use it.
Good luck!
 
Bob23bk

Bob23bk

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Big concept here Vizzi touched on briefly, use position to your advantage! Pay attention to who defends blinds vs those who won't even call a min raise and exploit these super tight players. Keep your table image in mind (don't steal from the same player all the time, or steal every orbit, etc)
 
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RandyMarsh

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I think its ok to play some of the hands u are eliminating with 30bigs. Especially when u factor in pos and whether the hand is multiway or not
 
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rw11687

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Personally, I don't change my strategy when I have 30 BBs. That's more than enough to play with online and not get antsy. I don't really begin adjusting my ranges until I near the 15 BB range. Of course, a lot of this depends on how my stack size relates to the rest of the table.
 
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