Bluffing late stage debacle

azforlife

azforlife

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So, I do really well, throughout tournaments (freerolls) with 500+ players then when it gets down to double digits, I find myself bluffing off my money, & putting myself in less than 10 BB situations & going all in with hands like AJ-AK, A10, KQ & donking off chips; this happens too often! Just wondering if anyone else has this habitual problem & what to do?:confused::(
 
This Fish Chums

This Fish Chums

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Yes, you need to realize that as you approach the end of the tournament, the remaining players have better skills and also start playing tighter so when they do play they tend to have good hands. It's hard to bluff at the beginning of the tournament due to too many players who will call anything as well as nearing the end of the tournament due to players who only play good starting hands or after they have hit something good. Definitely limit bluffing nearing the end of the tournament.
 
Amanda A

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I wouldn't call that bluffing. It's right to go all in with those really good hands with 10 bigs. I think the reality is that to win a tourney you need to win those coin flips when someone calls you AQ shove with pocket 10's and you hit your card. You may have to win a few of those to win the tourney. That's my experience anyway. Good luck!
 
hugh blair

hugh blair

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You gotta push them big hands and win your flips as the blinds are getting that high that you will just be blinded out of the tournament if you want to wait for example 220 hands until you get aces maybe fold A10 and KQ but you gotta push AKAJ a tricky one sometimes i fold sometimes I all in depending on situation use the gap concept good luck in future
 
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Vp888

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This makes sense because the more money is at stake, the harder it is to play
 
azforlife

azforlife

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Yes, you need to realize that as you approach the end of the tournament, the remaining players have better skills and also start playing tighter so when they do play they tend to have good hands. It's hard to bluff at the beginning of the tournament due to too many players who will call anything as well as nearing the end of the tournament due to players who only play good starting hands or after they have hit something good. Definitely limit bluffing nearing the end of the tournament.
Makes sense but I still remember that I made it so easy for people on the final table when I was big stack who would cal all my bluffs routinely & I'd come 2nd but makes sense overall.

This makes sense because the more money is at stake, the harder it is to play
Yeah. Simplicity rules, you're right!

You gotta push them big hands and win your flips as the blinds are getting that high that you will just be blinded out of the tournament if you want to wait for example 220 hands until you get aces maybe fold A10 and KQ but you gotta push AKAJ a tricky one sometimes i fold sometimes I all in depending on situation use the gap concept good luck in future
Thanks for the precise info! & the well wishes! GL to u 2! What's the gap concept?
 
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azforlife

azforlife

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I wouldn't call that bluffing. It's right to go all in with those really good hands with 10 bigs. I think the reality is that to win a tourney you need to win those coin flips when someone calls you AQ shove with pocket 10's and you hit your card. You may have to win a few of those to win the tourney. That's my experience anyway. Good luck!
Yeah, you need to get lucky especially when you're all in pre-flop. My question was 2 ended as in I was also asking how to avoid getting in those less than 10 bb situations? GL u 2 thanks!
 
DougPkrMonsta

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I'm a big fan of bluffing off a bunch of chips deep in freerolls but eventually you'll learn to settle down and take what your opponents are giving you. Watch how they are playing and use their tendencies against them.

You can only avoid getting short-stacked by building a big stack... even then the blinds will catch up to you, so I'd suggest working on your short-stack game.

Learning how to overcome a short-stack and still giving yourself a chance to win the tournament is very important in MTTs (also winning coin-flips lol).

Good luck to you! :D
 
Amanda A

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It's tough to avoid the short stack situation, all I can say is try to only play small pots when you have a mediocre hand and only play big pots when you have a big hand. Don't pay people off when you have top pair and they have 3 of a kind and try to get a big pay off when you really have a great hand, sometimes it helps to be sneaky with this and check to an agressivve player or bet really big on the river so it looks like you are trying to steal. Good luck!
 
azforlife

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I'm a big fan of bluffing off a bunch of chips deep in freerolls but eventually you'll learn to settle down and take what your opponents are giving you. Watch how they are playing and use their tendencies against them.

You can only avoid getting short-stacked by building a big stack... even then the blinds will catch up to you, so I'd suggest working on your short-stack game.

Learning how to overcome a short-stack and still giving yourself a chance to win the tournament is very important in MTTs (also winning coin-flips lol).

Good luck to you! :D
Very true sir! I'm fairly decent at building a big stack from a small stack but I guess building is the better half of maintaining so I'll work on that, I agree on the importance! & gotta note hard to observe tendencies on freeroll tourneys (God help me out of freerolls lol)
 
azforlife

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It's tough to avoid the short stack situation, all I can say is try to only play small pots when you have a mediocre hand and only play big pots when you have a big hand. Don't pay people off when you have top pair and they have 3 of a kind and try to get a big pay off when you really have a great hand, sometimes it helps to be sneaky with this and check to an agressivve player or bet really big on the river so it looks like you are trying to steal. Good luck!
Lot of gold in that comment Amanda, I'll follow them all to the T! Thank you so much for your detailed suggestions, Will do, You're very right & wise :) Cheers!
 
ammje

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I follow the strategy of annette obrestad, play the abc of poker and do not bluffing.
 
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dempdem13

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you have to tighten up in the later stages.
 
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It's not such a bad card ... I do not understand what kind of bluff is here. Just by the end of the game there are strong players, those who hope for luck must have fallen off and it's getting harder to win ... and such cards as AK-A10 are not so bad do not play them out just need an approach and play the apothecary, take notes and so on, this will help you figure out how to play against a specific player)))
 
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Did not you notice with which hand you lose and leave the tournament at an early stage. The situation is similar. Why did you decide that at the bottom of the stage it looks worse. The closer I get closer to the prize places, the more rigorously I approach the choice of the map and the more often I simply throw everything into an allin with a small stack.
 
azforlife

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I follow the strategy of annette obrestad, play the abc of poker and do not bluffing.
Hmm.. Annette, wow it's been a while :D Yeah & small ball poker (Daniel Negreanu)
 
azforlife

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Did not you notice with which hand you lose and leave the tournament at an early stage. The situation is similar. Why did you decide that at the bottom of the stage it looks worse. The closer I get closer to the prize places, the more rigorously I approach the choice of the map and the more often I simply throw everything into an allin with a small stack.
Point gotten! Yeah, I guess they're decent hands, I've just not been too keen on going all in with anything less than AK, JJ-KK, 1010-88 so the other AJ, AQ, 77 hands get me into marginal spots, but yeah those are just symptoms (going all in), I need to better my mid-game strategy by not bluffing so much, I guess!
 
azforlife

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Guys & gals, I kinda feel y'all telling me to get tighter but the pros say, Big stacks need to be aggressive & this makes sense because as you can see the majority even in this forum is leaning towards tight-nitty-play :p so it makes sense to get those antes but I just need to bluff "smarter" I guess! Appreciate all the input, this is not on my subscribed list for some reason!
 
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In late stages of large tournaments (especially freerolls) you find yourself up against consistantly better players than the beginning of the tournament and you need to adjust your play accordingly. The bluffs that worked earlier probably won't work there .
 
MKaizer07

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That does happen to me but what usually happens is me losing chips to a player who gets lucky in the hand. Or I lose to calling stations and donkeys. I hate when they cripple my stack by playing bad or getting really lucky.
 
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So, I do really well, throughout tournaments (FREEROLLS) with 500+ players then when it gets down to double digits, I find myself bluffing off my money, & putting myself in less than 10 BB situations & going all in with hands like AJ-AK, A10, KQ & donking off chips; this happens too often! Just wondering if anyone else has this habitual problem & what to do?:confused::(

Try playing smaller pots and controlling the pot more. In freerolls the quality of play is a lot lower so you are going to get a lot of loose calls, your not going to bluff many people.
 
azforlife

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Try playing smaller pots and controlling the pot more. In freerolls the quality of play is a lot lower so you are going to get a lot of loose calls, your not going to bluff many people.
Pot control is definitely a key concept that I've been subconsciously thinking about & I'm glad you re-affirmed that! & I've sort of gave up on bluffing esp. the CC freerolls :) Thanks Karl
 
azforlife

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In late stages of large tournaments (especially freerolls) you find yourself up against consistantly better players than the beginning of the tournament and you need to adjust your play accordingly. The bluffs that worked earlier probably won't work there .
They sure dont work, the bluffs that is :) unless I'm really picking my spots & the point about more skilled players as the field thins!
 
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