Early tournament play

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Scoobie007

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Tight or Loose in Early Tournament

In the first round of tournaments should you play suited connectors, one off connectors other low value cards? Or stick to pocket 99, TT, and up. before opening up.
 
Aces2w1n

Aces2w1n

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If u play well deep stacked widen ur range... u want to get chips off the bad players before others get it..
 
Aces2w1n

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No point entering marginal hands if ur opp in position will shove.... its all about how quick u can adjust to the table. Comes easier with xp
 
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RamdeeBen

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Ok here's my opinion.

In general I'd recommend a tight image and folding these hands but it's just can't be correct when we're so deep especially when vs bad players.

Say for example we have a tight UTG open and we have 78s in the BB and we're getting 2-1 this should always be a call just purely for implied odds. The hand isn't going to get us into trouble and they are easy to play.

As for opening, it really depends on the position but I still open kind of wide early in tournaments. It isn't a leak to fold marginal hands but if you feel you're at a table with an edge and playing vs fish you want to be playing as many hands as possible especially in position.
 
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Boyle mrunson

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If you have confidence in your post flop abilities, then play the suited connectors, small pairs, etc. When I started playing tournaments, I adopted the NIT style and pretty much only played my big hands early on. It worked fairly well for me. Since then, I have gained a lot of experience and opened my range quite a bit. Still, it's always better to be in position when you play these types of hands...
 
tARsh

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Tight early imo, you can expand your set mining and Suited Connectors ranges when not compromising your stack preflop and you have good implied odds.
Otherwise it's harder to isolate and control pots and variance for a lot of reasons the earlier you are.
 
Everybodylovesdeuces

Everybodylovesdeuces

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I used to play super loose early. But I've found because part of my edge is hand/people reading that I really need an hour or two at a table before I'm super comfortable knowing my opponents ranges and how to play against each of them. You def don't want to donk off a bunch of chips too early playing lots of mediocre hands and getting trapped yourself. As I started pulling the reigns back a little I noticed I was getting to the middle of the tournaments with more chips on a consistent basis (yes there were times I flopped a monster w/T8 and took a whole stack but more often I was just loosing too many chips to compensate)
 
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Pahs1011

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it all depends on the players at your table, early in tournament I think you need to play the players as well as playing your hand
 
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lobbyrunner

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Turbos a bit argo deeps tight
 
horizon12

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It depends your skill postflop game, if good play in postflop , you can enlarge range hands for open raise this all pairs , Ax , all suited connectors and all gap connectors, broadway ..

But if you not very good in postflop game , better play tight , open raise only premium hands and limp all other hands..
 
fletchdad

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Structure is paramount to how you play. In a Turbo, you NEED to get busy earlier, in a DS regular structure, you can see who is playing how and react accordingly. etc......

Basically, playing tight early on is better, but there really is no one size fits all. It is all situational, and depends on your style. A number of good points made already. The main thing . IMHO - is to try to profile the other players so you know HOW to play against who. Getting moved a lot screws this up, and by the time you build an image - in a large player pool game - you may get moved, so building an image is only really gonna help if A: players are paying attention int eh first place, and B: you get to stay at the table long enough to capitalize on your image.

Pay attention to your immediate right and left. To many details to go into, but basically exploit players as much as you deem possible.
 
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terryg642

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The only thing that I would like to say that's a little different is you have to take the field size into consideration the larger the field the more luck you will need to take down the top prize .So you might want to widen your range of hands for the larger fields.
 
Marcwantstowin

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I have played both tight and loose early in tournaments and find that the higher the amount of players in a tourney means that there are more loose players as a %. The opportunity to make the most of this may come your way, therefore you must make the most of it. I find it a good idea to keep an eye on both the tournament average stack size and your stack compared to the blind sizes, Good luck in your endeavours.

:D :D :D
 
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nygmen2007

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I like the idea of being aggressive early because there are a lot of donks out there that you can easily get chips off of... I know the opposite could be true and you can be out just as easy, but that is what I am a fan of the uncertainty, and I am sure I am in the minority on this, but aggressive early....
 
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Shadowman647

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100% limp in with good drawing hands like suited connectors early in a tournament. You hit and you can easily double off the fish. After that, tighten up as normal and follow standard shove/fold ranges and see what happens. :p
 
Jacki Burkhart

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Structure is paramount to how you play. In a Turbo, you NEED to get busy earlier, in a DS regular structure, you can see who is playing how and react accordingly. etc.......

Yes^^^

The only thing that I would like to say that's a little different is you have to take the field size into consideration the larger the field the more luck you will need to take down the top prize .So you might want to widen your range of hands for the larger fields.

Also Yes^^^

so in a regular speed SnG for instance, I have a nice sustainable ROI by just playing like the mayor of nitsville for the first few levels. In MTTs, however because of the field size even with deepstacks and good structures I think at the very least you need to set mine. Any dingbat can manage to play a small pocket pair post flop. "No set, no bet". Hard to get into too much trouble while set mining and the implied odds are tremendous.
 
spiderman637

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I generally love to play little loose early in the tourney, but i play loose only till flop and then i play according to the strength of the hand and strength of the players around me....
In late stages i tend to play little tighter...
 
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Pietertje010

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Start of an Tournament

You have a lot of tournaments where over 10.000 players.
What is the best strategy at the beginning do you think?

First sit out for a half hour or just play and you will see what happen?
 
romych007

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I think the best strategy is to
play good hands with more
aggression in the early stages
and form a good stack
 
rytciaq

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If a freeroll:
Call with a wider range, as the opponents are weak and loose as a goose
Any pocket pair over jacks are profit
If not:
Sit tight and only play with premium hands until the antes kick in
 
tARsh

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I find myself generally being more patient in larger field size tours. Feel like generally with that many chips in play and that many donks around you can find really good spots if you are patient enough.
By and large though, I dont abberate my play significantly.
So set mining good pot and implied odds suited connectors.
Playing AK and AQ AJ as connectors aka dont endeavor to isolate to 2-3 handed with it etc.
less pre flop commitment understand that with that mass of chips and players the relative number of BBs wont be recognized very much (ie a bet of 200 at 10.20 despite being 10bbs seems smaller esp if a deep stack mtt) also players often feel a sense of being overwhelmed by the volume and be more aggressive thinking they have to accrue more chips faster.
 
mendiolacubicle

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Play premium hands at first stage, get involved with family pots with suited-connectors. You have to chip-up and prepare for the next stage/phase.
 
Slawa1986

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At the start of the tournament, you should not play weak hands! It is better to wait. Only of course, if it is not Hyper-turbo tournament!!!
 
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edaleballer

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I play connectors suited connectors low pairs, keep in mind blinds cheap still. all goes right im doubled or tripled up on a premium hand. lose a little win a lot.
 
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hffjd2000

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For 10,000 players, have to gamble at some point and get lucky to go deep.
 
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