Live Poker Tournaments

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Texasmanster

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I hope I can get some good advice here. I just starting really playing tournaments. I have noticed in the early stages and even past first break. I am totally card dead. And then as the blinds go up. I find myself in scary situations. It seems it happens more than not. How do you survive? Any advice HELP!!!!!
Thanks
 
Jostone6

Jostone6

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Need self confidence, can not let others scare you.
Look shew himself strong to enter the hand, bet with confidence and without fear.
Look in the eye of your opponent with the intention of demonstrating that he is losing or else look for a neutral table intently.
 
lulu pk

lulu pk

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You need to play the position , take the blind when you are card dead.I don't play many live tournaments but i play 3 big live tournaments end make the money 2 time.You must bi patient don't think that you are in scary situation,you are not alone in this situation ,the must of the players have the same problem.
In one of the tournaments i was down to 6 blind, 2 double up later i was on the average. Never give up this is my advice.
Good luck to you
 
Jacki Burkhart

Jacki Burkhart

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You sound new. congrats for taking up poker and trying to learn. we were all new once and it is fun and scary and you'll NEVER know it all, so just realize that nobody else at the table knows it all either. If each time you play you learn something new, you're doing just fine.

they may have more experience than you, but that can actually work against them sometimes because it is harder to make good reads against beginners, they don't play they way you think they would....

Anyways...here is my basic beginner stratgey for live mutli table tourneys

early levels (frequently the rebuy period).

Play tight and in position. observe the table and try to figure out people's betting patterns. do they always bet the same amount preflop, or does it vary? do they always bet half the pot on the flop or does it vary? will they always bet when checked to on the turn? ...and eventually you'll observe a lot more during the early levels

avoid speculative hands and trap hands in the early levels. (67suited is a speculative hand, KJ offsuit is a trap hand). Play solid starting hands, come in for a raise, and maybe go set mining occasionally if it isn't too expensive relative to your stack because these are usually not dangerous situations....you'll either flop a set or you won't, easy enough to play.

Now, as the blinds go up you'll NEED to play more hands, if not the blinds will eat you alive. You still wanna come in for a raise, but come in for a smaller raise as the blinds go up....maybe 2.0-2.5 the BB. The more expensive the blinds are, the more crucial it is to win the pots you decide to play, so if you flop top pair or better in a raised pot, you should probably try to take the pot down ASAP.

In almost every tourney you'll eventually find yourself at a point of needing to double up. Usually this is around the 10-15 BB stack size. Some players will go into "I need a double up" mania at anything under 20BB, some players don't get desperate until 9 or less BB. You'll eventually figure out your comfort zone but it is important not to blind down to the point that when you do finally go all in your stack doesn't threaten anybody and even if you are lucky enough to double up, you still won't have enough chips to be a real contender.

When you are in "I need a double up" mode, it is better to be the one shoving all in, and ideally you'd do this in a pot where nobody else has limped or raised first. The more people who have VPIP (voluntarily put money into the pot) the bigger chance you will get called. if you have AA, that's fine but if you have 66 you'd prefer to just win the blinds.

Occasionally you'll be faced with a raise or an all in when you have a hand you would have wanted to push with. Beginners shouldn't be afraid to take a race as it may be the best odds you have of doubling up against more skilled opponents. That means when blinds are big you can call an all-in with AK and usually AQ pretty liberally preflop, even AJ is fine if you're getting short stacked.

OK....I think that's enough for now!
;)
 
O

oooo

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Great advices from missjacki!
In most cases, while blinds go up, people tend to get tighter, a good away to rais your stack is to shove from the UTG when you have a K+ hand. Even you get called, you might double up big! It Works fenomenal for me, hope it helps! :)
 
Beanfacekilla

Beanfacekilla

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The structures for these live MTTs are usually pretty rediculous.

Lets say 15~20 minute levels, and usually you start with less than 100 BB.

One charity poker room by me has a structure like this....
30,000 chips
blinds start at 100/100
100/200
200/400
300/600
500/1000
......
.......
20 minute levels


At Motor City Casino it is like this:
8,000 chips
20 minute levels
25/50
50/100
100/200
200/400
400/800
500/1000
etc.
The ones at MCC are really tough as you can see.




I am basically trying to say these things are super high variance, and you don't have time to wait for good spots. Luckboxes prevail. They play sorta like ultra turbos online.

You need to be running good to win one IMO. The structures are tough.

Edit: Also your table-mates will often be screwing everyone over by tanking for 3+ minutes, not paying attention to action (having to be reminded it is their turn, what the bet is, etc.), and just being slow all around. You will be lucky to get one orbit in before the levels go up.
 
O

oooo

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"Running good" will help you in any tournament, but poker is not a game of luck. If you think that it is, you are already a looser. There is some players that put a tape on the cards(for fun), and can even win torunaments without seen the cards. It's all about strategies and the way you play it. You can have 72, but if you play like you have AA, people might believe that you have it.
 
R

RNG

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I wouldnt say all live poker tournaments have bad structures. Its usually bad when itd under $100, but over $100 has some good one. I would suggest not playing a lot of the super small tournaments, they are basically a luckfest. You dont need cards to get in pots, find weak opponents and bluff in certain spots. Don't let yourself get too short because then even if you double up, you can still be in a bad spot.
 
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