So! There I was playing satellites and noticed that there are clearly different strategies to using the clock in terms of available time during each hand.
So I got to wondering whether there is an optimum approach to the use of the clock in satellites. I'm NOT talking about just before the bubble, I am talking about all the way through the tournament from the very first hand.
How do you use the clock and why?
There are those players that for every hand, they run the clock right down and fold as the clock gets to zero. i.e. see as few hands as possible. (Its always interesting to see how these players time management changes when they play a hand)
There are those players that look like they pre select their action and fold immediately it comes to their turn to play. i.e see as many hands as possible.
Does the approach change depending on how big your stack is relative to the rest of the field / table? i.e. Big Stacks play quicker....small stacks play slower etc.
Does it change with the value of the buy in?
I would be interested to hear what your thoughts are.
Thanks
Bentley Boy
As a good player you want to see lots of hands early. The more hands you get the more chances your skills will help you to win a ticket. Unless you are in a rare situation where you know for sure if you just fold you can easily get a ticket you do not want to be slowing the game down at this point.
Only once you are reasonably sure that you have enough chips to make it to the win should you slow the clock down. If you are pretty sure, you can slow it down anyway and then see how the game goes for a while, if you lose some then speed it back up, however it's not bad to not go slow here either so maybe faster is a better option anyway. If it is a tough decision, then look at the rest of your table and see what they are doing and follow. This could make you a friend at the table which may be important when the blinds get huge and they decide to leave your blinds alone and let you live.
Save your extra timer for when the blinds are huge compared to your stack and when again you are 100% sure you can fold away and win. Be sure you wont be needing a break, as if you need to go do something really quick, that timer is also good for that as well. Be sure to use it before it goes into hand to hand mode.
Once you are in hand to hand mode, resume normal speed unless that particular hand may knock you out before that same hand on another table gets you a win as playing slow here just slows down the game needlessly.
Once you are guaranteed a win, it can be good not to enter any hands. Keep an eye on how many players are left to be eliminated and the rate at which they are leaving and make sure that you are still correct. Remember that you will be seeing these players again, so being overly greedy when you have a guaranteed victory can have negative effects in the future against great players who will remember that you weren't so nice to them and when the situation is reversed they will dropkick you off the table.
Also you don't want to risk getting sucked into a hand thinking you are going to be the winner and get knocked out when you could have just folded, nor do you want to get bluffed because you can't call a huge bet or risk having to play another hand to keep your guaranteed win had you just folded. Players pay attention to that kind of thing sometimes and will bet into you with nothing.
Occasionally you should still gamble it up with players that you know are betting into you simply because they know you will fold. You can tell because they will have a big stack and will still be trying to pound everyone even know they could just fold because they know they can take advantage of that fact and look all cool having a monster stack that they don't really need to win. If you play a lot of tournaments and are likely to be seeing them over and over, especially if they are a pretty good player, you may want to make that call anyway and make them remember that you wont put up with that bs and are willing to lose the win just to not be bullied. In the long run that may be a good move.
If it is a very important tournament do not do this though obviously. You don't want to give away a huge win for you if you may not be winning the same tournament over and over.
Good luck at the tables.
