Card dead in later stages of a tournament?

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TRiGG3R

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In the latter stages of a tournament what is the best option when you are card dead and the blinds are getting big?

Would you let yourself blind away to 10/15 bbs then get it in with a big hand?

Or if u feel this happening do you try to make something happen with speculative hands? I.e 3bet with them in late position hoping to pick up blinds and raise?

I would appreciate your input guys
Thanks Mark
 
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cj2327

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Depending on the tournament, 10 bb may not be too bad at all. Regardless of where you are stack-wise, though, you have to get more aggressive as the blinds go up. Picking up blinds is key
 
FlushhDraw

FlushhDraw

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Patience Grasshopper patience. The big hand will come.
 
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TRiGG3R

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Sometimes you have a big stack of say 60-70bbbs in the money then the blinds get big and the cards dont fall. Then suddenly you are with a 10bb stack looking to get it in. It can be frustrating amd something im trying to work on. Picking up chips without a real hand
 
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JAAMEZz

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patience is the key, also the position/card strength obviously comes into play
 
JoseFerreras

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Pick your spots to steal the blinds or to steal the pot. Play hands in hopes you hit the flop and can make something happen.
 
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vladikov

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At the final stage I have had similar problems but if you are a final table, just notice how your opponents play. If you are not very aggressive, you can try stealing even with 2 and 3 in the hand. Although it is very risky, but after quite a few folds, Think that you have a pretty strong hand. Another option is any ace card to play all in
 
eberetta1

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I sometimes have to make something happen when i am the dealer or am in the hijack position.
I normally do not go in with ace rag, but in this situation if there are only 1 or two players remaining to act, you can hope they fold, or double you up. Otherwise, your demise will eventually be by folding.
 
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Supmargy

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patience is the key, also the position/card strength obviously comes into play

How much of an importance is position when blinds are really high? Sure you can see what others did, so if 5ppl call/shove before you you fold, but still.
Since it's almost always fold/shove, you kinda play your own game and hope it works out.

This is assuming ppl have 5-15 BB at the table for example.
 
madjek

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In my opinion this is why tournament poker is a lot of luck. Especially playing live. A lot of tournaments just don't have great structure. The blinds go up too quick and are too short. So you get in this situation way too often and stealing blinds becomes hard as someone will always call. I think playing higher stakes is a totally different game and sometimes find it difficult to adjust when I can (rarely) afford to play in the better structured games. It is really hard playing live tournaments with turbo type structures for me as I do try to be patient and often find myself in this short stacked card dead situation. I wonder if playing aggressive and trying to build a stack in early-mid stages or just bust is better strategy? I seem to get close to bubble a lot of the time but am almost always in shove/fold mode .
 
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In the latter stages of a tournament what is the best option when you are card dead and the blinds are getting big?

Would you let yourself blind away to 10/15 bbs then get it in with a big hand?

Or if u feel this happening do you try to make something happen with speculative hands? I.e 3bet with them in late position hoping to pick up blinds and raise?

I would appreciate your input guys
Thanks Mark
In a live tournament it is good to give nothing away by your behavior, when you are card dead. Don't let anyone catch on that it is frustrating and annoying. Of course it is, but rather project strength than weakness.

For me I have always found that in this situation you need need to attack at the right times. Study the guy on your left, because he will be button, when you want to steal a hand, and he will be BB when you are SB.

Can he be bullied ?
Is he a decent player ?
Is he tight and cautious ?
Will he defend the BB ?
Can you bet him off hands ?

A weak player in this situation, on your left is a good thing ...

Also understand that if you are in late position (CO, Button), then 1st into a hand with an Ace is reasonably strong. Kx (no ace) will or should not be calling here, and a weak ace (in SB, or BB) can't really call either.
 
AgentXtreme

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be patient , and sometimes make moves with some suited connectors in position , steal steal steal but always in position , don't put yourself on a tough situation , this period of the tournament is so important , you can make it profitable by stealing because most of the players if you are in the bubble or close to it , they become tighter
 
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Until the actual heads-up, bluffing is quite easy and timing your big bets is basically if there is only one or two after you all-in preflop with a remotely good hand and 9 times out of 10 they surrender to you if you are rarely raising preflop.
 
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tmannie

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In my opinion this is why tournament poker is a lot of luck. Especially playing live. A lot of tournaments just don't have great structure. The blinds go up too quick and are too short. So you get in this situation way too often and stealing blinds becomes hard as someone will always call. I think playing higher stakes is a totally different game and sometimes find it difficult to adjust when I can (rarely) afford to play in the better structured games. It is really hard playing live tournaments with turbo type structures for me as I do try to be patient and often find myself in this short stacked card dead situation. I wonder if playing aggressive and trying to build a stack in early-mid stages or just bust is better strategy? I seem to get close to bubble a lot of the time but am almost always in shove/fold mode .
I agree 100% most of the smaller money tournies are more like casino games . I play them mainly to experiment and try different things, but because of their nature I suppose the results of the tests can not be too reliable either.
 
Amanda A

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I use Harrington's M (M = blinds and antes for one round) so reps the number of rounds you can survive. If I'm 5-8 M I'm looking for a spot to shove based on cards, position and action in front of me.
 
vov4ik

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the card in the late stages of the tournament to come is very bad, I agree with many players that patience is needed patience and the card will be excellent, but the map does not always come, you need to play on another card, or you can just fly out of the tournament!
 
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From 10-15bb 3 bet is useless better than all-in, since at 4 bet you can not throw it out anymore (you are tied to pot)
 
Andrei Korolev

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Both options are quite suitable to do it...
 
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In the latter stages of a tournament what is the best option when you are card dead and the blinds are getting big?

Would you let yourself blind away to 10/15 bbs then get it in with a big hand?

Or if u feel this happening do you try to make something happen with speculative hands? I.e 3bet with them in late position hoping to pick up blinds and raise?

I would appreciate your input guys
Thanks Mark

Remember tournaments are not cash games, you cannot keep waiting for hands to come.
1. Position becomes a lot more important factor than cards later in the tournament.
2. As soon as you get an opportunity to steal some from the Late Position (HJ, CO, BU), you have to take it.
3. Also, you need to understand what hand ranges fair well in flipping situations (60:40 dogs) and take those flips.
4. Add to that, you need to develop a 3-bet calling and folding range with 25-30bb stack size.
5. If those opportunities don't happen, you need to be good with your Push/Fold strategy.
6. And remember to take ICM into consideration once you're in Bubble situation.
 
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