Early tournament small ball vs doubling up

guccipix

guccipix

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I think the first several levels of an MTT are easily the most challenging. For me, decisions are hardest to make at this stage, and players are the most unpredictable. So to make it to the mid stages, I usually choose between one of two strategies.

1. Small Ball: in this strategy, you want to chase top pair, so get involved in a lot of small pots in good position with hands like AT+, JT+, KQ, KJ, etc. try to win a lot of small pots and avoid 50/50s and huge risks.

2. The Double-up: now this strategy is pretty much the opposite of the other. The goal is to wait and wait for the best opportunity to take a flip or get it all in post flop. Seek a set, flush, big pair, straight etc. especially against an opponent who likely has something they can’t fold.

Obviously the first option has less risk and is probably the less stressful way to play as well. How do you tend to play the early stages of an MTT?
 
BnaD

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I play small ball until someone wants to get it in while I'm ahead. Not looking for all in preflop without QQ+ or JJ sometimes if I know the guy has been playing loose and I feel they are light in the spot. I'll get it in with a top tier combo draw. bankroll management is key 8]
 
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stamark

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Following one strategy I think it's a mistake. I usually mix it up depending on the other players of course
 
leogetz79

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i like to be conservative at the star. and double uo only if im 90% sure i will win
 
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H3adShOtXD93

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Generally I feel it depends on the type of tournament you are playing here and the size of the field you will be playing against, as well as blind structures.

In general, I play turbo and hyper turbo MTT's and like to get the aggression going early on but will give credit to those that show strong resistance in the early stages. Small ball / pot control is important but if I either have the nuts or a big combo draw and someone is happy to risk going broke on it with me then so be it, you need the chips to run deep!
 
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freestocks

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I like to double up early especially in freerolls. I don't have to be the reckless one in any tournament, there is always someone.
 
XYZ2123

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As with most questions about poker strategy, the answer is that it depends on the situation. Whether to play more pots or less early on depends on how deep your starting stack relative to blind structure. The deeper it is, the more pots you can play. Otherwise, if you play many pots and never hit the flop, you will become short stacked quickly. Also depends on your table, your opponents (if you have any info on them). Of course, you can only advance in and win tournaments if you build up your stack, so you will have to double-up and take flips if you're getting short stacked, even early on. This is why MTT's involve more of a luck factor than cash or SnG.
 
mariale_1990

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In the initial stage I play very carefully, very conservative and try to follow my instinct, but I also try to analyze the rest of the players to decide how to play, it also depends on the game modality and which tournament is
 
jfmcd86

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i play small ball in the first 5 blind levels until i have a reasonable stack to play with. then i switch strategies from there. Most likely be switching from strategies from strategies all throughout the tournament
 
kraemer

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I think that avoiding too many coinflips is the better way as long as you have a decent stack size in comparison to the blinds... No need to risk your tournament with small pocket pairs if you have 90 BB left...

Once the blinds have increased significantly you will not get away without some risky plays to double / triple your stack...
 
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I agree with what a lot of the other people here are saying, early on it is better to small ball. You don't want to push all-in too early as the odds aren't really high enough to be worth while due to variance. Once you get rolling and people start raising all in pre or all in on the flop and you'vs got 2.5x+ their stack, that's when it becomes worth it to throw some calls out as you will still be fine if variance takes you down.
 
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It depends, I chose sometimes to play doubling up or small ball. If I feel kind of good for the day and really lucky, then I'll play doubling up, if I fell kind of bad and unlucky, then I mostly prefer to play small ball.

Best Regards,
Jatoshi
 
aqqr

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I think the first several levels of an MTT are easily the most challenging. For me, decisions are hardest to make at this stage, and players are the most unpredictable. So to make it to the mid stages, I usually choose between one of two strategies.

1. Small Ball: in this strategy, you want to chase top pair, so get involved in a lot of small pots in good position with hands like AT+, JT+, KQ, KJ, etc. try to win a lot of small pots and avoid 50/50s and huge risks.

2. The Double-up: now this strategy is pretty much the opposite of the other. The goal is to wait and wait for the best opportunity to take a flip or get it all in post flop. Seek a set, flush, big pair, straight etc. especially against an opponent who likely has something they can’t fold.

Obviously the first option has less risk and is probably the less stressful way to play as well. How do you tend to play the early stages of an MTT?


Hey. Both options are good. If you play a lot of tournaments at once, then you may to play a coin. It is necessary to act reasonably on postflop. By the way, hands like ATo/JTo are not very good. I play a lot of speculative hands (22+,54s,A2s+) at the low blinds stage to collect a nut. It is difficult to say something concrete. You just gotta to make good decisions. If to speak very abstractly, the second variant of planning is more reasonable, if it is MTT.
 
Shrops

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Small Ball

Early on in a tournament I tend to try to keep to small ball. When the blinds get big I play big.
 
radartodd69

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I tend to play small ball but often times some other player at the table will force the issue of playing large pot poker. This is when I play the big ones JJ,QQ,KK, and AA. Sometimes I might get in the pot with AQ or AK, but generally I'll only do that when I have the other player covered.
 
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OneMoreTry

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Following one strategy I think it's a mistake. I usually mix it up depending on the other players of course

This. Adapt to the table, pick the right strategy for the players you are playing with, get a read on them.

(and hope for not getting switched every 5 minutes :rolleyes: )
 
Spaceman

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If I had to choose either see more flops and lose some value or wait to flip coins to either double up or lose it all, I would choose the first one. But thats my strategy and its may not be optimal. Even with pocket Queens I prefer to see at least a flop rather than flipping preflop. Since its early on the mtt, there are no antes to steal, so the risk is not worth it for me.
 
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i try and play the early stages the exact same as the later ones. pot sizes are just smaller. i still keep my basic range, i keep my bet sizes the same ie. 2.2-2.9 bb open bet. i keep my eye on the hyper aggressive all in type, and just wait to cooler the eff out of em.
 
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Doubling up during the first part of tournament play is always idea. Although I'm not looking to take major risk, I want to get those crazy players stack with a good hand. I tend to wait for the hand to come. Later if I'm good with chips >30 BB then I'm trying to just win a round or two of blinds. I'm also waiting for an opportunity to take out small stacks. Never confronting really large stacks. I will put some flips out from time to time.
 
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