Card Dead

J

JamaicanKid

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How do you handle being card dead for a long period of time in a tourney? It can be quite frustrating............
 
horizon12

horizon12

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Without good cards, you can also play, only cautiously
Downswing at all happens, advice:
- Play to bankroll
- Go to the limit below
- To train more loose game
- Play less, learn more
 
steveiam

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If i play my hand like i have aces what does it matter what i have.
 
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femoral

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Patience is a virtue I have sat there folding tons of unplayable hands. but you do have to mix it up or when you do get a hand no one will give you any action.
 
Karozi615

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you fold more.. it really is that simple
 
hobonc

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If you have the chips you be patient. If you start to get SS you pick a spot using position, villain tendencies, and other factors to give you the most chance of success and shove. You risk getting such a small stack that winning a hand becomes irrelevant. Playing within your bankroll becomes more important here.
 
Arjonius

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You fold a lot and look for spots where you can use your tight play to help maintain a playable stack. Stealing and re-stealing become increasingly important as your stack to blind ratio shrinks, which means you should look at widening your steal and re-steal ranges.
 
IntenseHeat

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Patience, Grasshopper.

I hope you don't mind me using my baseball analogy for this. Here it is. I'm the type of player that would rather go out swinging then get called out watchig strikes go by. At the same time, I have enough patience to wait for a good pitch, and not start chasing balls in the dirt.

I too have sat through numerous hands without seeing a decent hand for what seems like hours. It is important to remain patient and not try to force the action. Others will begin to perceive you as being tight, which is not a bad thing. You can take advantage of this perception to steal blinds in late position or to play back at others who make obvious attempts to steal your blinds.
 
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Without good cards, you can also play, only cautiously
Downswing at all happens, advice:
- Play to bankroll
- Go to the limit below

pretty sure none of these apply in a tournament setting as was the original post was asking.

In a tournament setting sometimes you have to create your own hands. A good example is with blind stealing situations against certain opponents viewing you as tight. This can help calm the bleeding while trying to ensure you have enough chips where a double up can give you some cushion. Aside from playing your A game, luck and the right timing can get you the win.
 
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rumsey182

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here is a secret: you don't need to have the best hand when they fold,.......
 
horizon12

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pretty sure none of these apply in a tournament setting as was the original post was asking.

In a tournament setting sometimes you have to create your own hands. A good example is with blind stealing situations against certain opponents viewing you as tight. This can help calm the bleeding while trying to ensure you have enough chips where a double up can give you some cushion. Aside from playing your A game, luck and the right timing can get you the win.
For the MTT is also true when you play not to BRM, you play more constrained and tight and waiting only premium hands, and it makes it difficult to make profitable decisions when you have to play more marginal hands.
 
el_magiciann

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You fold a lot and look for spots where you can use your tight play to help maintain a playable stack. Stealing and re-stealing become increasingly important as your stack to blind ratio shrinks, which means you should look at widening your steal and re-steal ranges.

I agree with you sir, that is the best you can do in these situations :)
 
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manjake

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Don't widen your range when card dead. Discipline is everything

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Jblocher1

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Don't widen your range when card dead. Discipline is everything

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So what your saying is.......

I should wait to get good hands? What if I'm card dead for the entire tournament? Do I allow myself to get blinded down looking for premiums?

OP, it's ok to play tight early but once you get down to like 20BB you need to open up the range a bit, and once your down to 10 you should be open shoving. Getting blinded down isn't good, you need to win pots always, even just the blinds in the late stages of a tourney can make a big difference
 
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cotta777

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The first option would be too fold until you get a good spot if it really wont change Just take any half decent hand in position maybe 3-bet a late raiser and just Go for it You will be able to steal alot of the time either pre flop or with a c-bet.
you have to get credit for being so tight.


Option B
Train yourself to play without looking at your cards until you become good enough to run deep in tournaments without looking at your hand
 
dj11

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Those card dead runs are part of tourney play. After enough tourneys, you will sometimes remember that you will get those rushes of multiple hands which restore your position or better, and use that knowledge to balance your game.
 
Arjonius

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The first option would be too fold until you get a good spot
I suspect a number of relatively new players miss the distinction that "a good spot" and "a good hand" aren't exactly the same. A good spot is often a situation where your hand is modest but other factors are working in your favor. For instance, when you've been folding a lot and have a very tight image, opponents are likely to give you credit for a stronger range when you enter a hand, which improves your chances of success when stealing, re-stealing, squeezing, etc.
 
Jackdaclown

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I think when you are card dead , you have to readily be in on stealing blinds with pre flop raises. Even though you may not have a good starting hand, depending on where you are position wise and how people perceive you at the table, along with stack sizes and blind sizes, you can take some blinds while card dead. Be cautious to whom you are playing with and how they have been playing the last 25 hands or more. With some patience and a couple stolen blinds and limps into your stack, a monster will arrive, just how long are you willing to wait?...good luck
 
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So what your saying is.......

I should wait to get good hands? What if I'm card dead for the entire tournament? Do I allow myself to get blinded down looking for premiums?

OP, it's ok to play tight early but once you get down to like 20BB you need to open up the range a bit, and once your down to 10 you should be open shoving. Getting blinded down isn't good, you need to win pots always, even just the blinds in the late stages of a tourney can make a big difference

I can't stress how much I love this answer :)
 
Arjonius

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I think when you are card dead , you have to readily be in on stealing blinds with pre flop raises. Even though you may not have a good starting hand
When you have a good hand, it's not stealing. It's betting for value.
 
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JamaicanKid

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All the 'stealing blinds answers' are great too....that is, until you run into those Russian calling stations......
 
glenn6971

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Arjonius nailed it on the head. Look for spots to steal to keep a working stack and when you do hit a playable hand more than likely you will get action.
 
Jackdaclown

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Then make notes of those players and remember that you can cut your losses now instead of losing more chips and slow down by not trying to steal against them but others. Obviously though you may have only so much time to be able to make your moves cause eventually you should shove with a bit more variety of hands 15 BB and smaller. Good luck and hope that you can get through those times where the cards just run from you and go elsewhere. :)
 
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When I am not getting cards, I stop playing cards and start playing poker.
 
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manjake

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So what your saying is.......

I should wait to get good hands? What if I'm card dead for the entire tournament? Do I allow myself to get blinded down looking for premiums?

OP, it's ok to play tight early but once you get down to like 20BB you need to open up the range a bit, and once your down to 10 you should be open shoving. Getting blinded down isn't good, you need to win pots always, even just the blinds in the late stages of a tourney can make a big difference

No, I'm not saying that you should let yourself get blinded away waiting for premiums. What I'm saying is that opening utg with kj in full ring just because you are card dead is bad play, kj has no value there. Card dead or not you should be disciplined with what hands you play in different positions. You need to pick your spots, hand ranges change dramatically depending on position, I think open shoving a hand like T7s from the button with 10bb is perfectly fine for example

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