Needing advice early on in a tournament

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Rakotobe

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Hello everyone, i've been playing online tournaments for a few months now, but i find it extremely hard to get in the money bubble.
Anyone here (that constantly get to final table) have good tips on getting through the all in shoves early game?
There are so many of them!

Most of the time i try to wait for connector/suited higher than 9/10, but blinds goes up so fast that, than by the time i find a good hand. my stack is down by half :(

Do you guys only wait for pocket pairs and just shove all in and pray?
 
AntonEast

AntonEast

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It depends on what kind of tournaments you play, but in general you should play very tight in the beginning, probably tighter than you already play. It's hard though to give you a good answer when I don't know the buy-in, blind structure and starting stack.
 
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Steve_StudAA

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I have been called a fish, but those turbo tournies can be tough.

You need play super tight, but when in position, button or cutoff and folded to you, you can shove almost any 2 cards and steal the blinds to keep you alive till you get dealt some decent hands. You can get away with this if you have played tight, but not to many times.
 
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Rakotobe

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Sorry, forgot to mention. I mostly play freerolls and low buy-ins atm for practice.

An instance of a hand that eliminated me. (10 players were still at table)

Blinds were 150/300 ante 30

* I was Small Blind with 3695 chips with Kc Qs
* The Big Blind player had 3211 chips
* player 3, 4, 5 Folds
* player 6 with 17016 chips Calls 300
* player 7, 8, 9 Folds
* The Button player had 4695 chips Calls 300

- I Raise to 1050
- Big Blind REraise to 1800
- player 6 Folds
- Button Calls 1800
- I Call 1800

= FLOP = Qc 5s 10s (pot @ 6000)

* I go All In with 1865
* Big Blind Calls
* Button Calls

They show their cards:
Big Blind had 8c 8d
Button had As Ah

= TURN = 9s
= RIVER = 3s

I lose with lower flush.
Here's my Questions.

- Was it a good move to Raise 1050 preflop? i had no idea the button had pocket AA as i always thought it was a bad idea to limp with pocket Aces.
- Should i have called that ReRaise from the big blind to 1800?
- Post flop (without knowing everyones hands) i had top pair and a good kicker with possible runner runner flush. was it a good idea to go all in there?


Thanks for any tips
 
Last edited:
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Steve_StudAA

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KQ os is death in the small blind, very playable from the button. You just cant get a read on where you sit with that hand. I fold that hand everywhere but the button or cut-off where I raise it.
 
AntonEast

AntonEast

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I would not raise preflop, as Steve mentioned KQ off is not a hand you would raise out of position. And if I got re-raised in that situation I woulda again fold, when someone re-raising like that it's likely he has pocket pairs or like AK. The flop is bad for you because you think you have the best hand, and that's why you should fold these kind of hands if someone raises that much. When considering the all in the flush is not something to consider, the odds is just too low for it to be considered. I get the all in in the way that you have top pair and a good kicker and if they had a low pocket pair or like AK, AJ you could have the best hand here and you would scare them to fold. But it ended up pretty bad. The guy who had aces played very strange so I understand he confused you, but that's sometimes how they play at low stakes and that's why raising preflop and calling the re-raise was a bad idea.
 
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risky101

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I think calling out of small blind for 150 is fine , raising can be ok .if u call and go 3 way to flop only around 1400 in the pot. After the turn u probably get it all in even if u smoothe call preflop...think u made a play and probably would of worked againt any hand except kk or aa.. but I prefer the call there in case he slows down and u see a cheap river
 
nutthink

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play very tight in Early ,try to play open hand only unless you have 3x or more standar chip
 
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QA77

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I think you should play tight early on and just try to build your stack with good hands. If you get through that phase, you will have a lot of chips or be short. Either way I think you need to play tight aggressive and get to the money bubble with a bigger stack. If you have a bigger stack then you can put a lot of pressure during the bubble and just add to your chips. And don't try to just limp to the final table, you will have to take risks. There is not a lot of difference between 15th and 7th. So what I am saying is that when you are near the final table you should play aggressive and try to have a top 3 stack because the top 3 is what really pays off.
 
Gabinho12345

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Sorry, forgot to mention. I mostly play freerolls and low buy-ins atm for practice.

An instance of a hand that eliminated me. (10 players were still at table)

Blinds were 150/300 ante 30

* I was Small Blind with 3695 chips with Kc Qs
* The Big Blind player had 3211 chips
* player 3, 4, 5 Folds
* player 6 with 17016 chips Calls 300
* player 7, 8, 9 Folds
* The Button player had 4695 chips Calls 300

- I Raise to 1050
- Big Blind REraise to 1800
- player 6 Folds
- Button Calls 1800
- I Call 1800

= FLOP = Qc 5s 10s (pot @ 6000)

* I go All In with 1865
* Big Blind Calls
* Button Calls

They show their cards:
Big Blind had 8c 8d
Button had As Ah

= TURN = 9s
= RIVER = 3s

I lose with lower flush.
Here's my Questions.

- Was it a good move to Raise 1050 preflop? i had no idea the button had pocket AA as i always thought it was a bad idea to limp with pocket Aces.
- Should i have called that ReRaise from the big blind to 1800?
- Post flop (without knowing everyones hands) i had top pair and a good kicker with possible runner runner flush. was it a good idea to go all in there?


Thanks for any tips

You should just limp as well or shove preflop. Raising to 1050 isn't a good idea. Post flop play is standard.
 
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ivanbbb

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Hello everyone, i've been playing online tournaments for a few months now, but i find it extremely hard to get in the money bubble.
Anyone here (that constantly get to final table) have good tips on getting through the all in shoves early game?
There are so many of them!

Most of the time i try to wait for connector/suited higher than 9/10, but blinds goes up so fast that, than by the time i find a good hand. my stack is down by half :(

Do you guys only wait for pocket pairs and just shove all in and pray?


A friend of mine! You need to be sure! It comes with the knowledge! When you begin to understand against whom to play and how to play! What you feel in your plate! And you understand how to play! And it is necessary to perseverance and hard work! No luck in poker! This is hard work!
 
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karl coakley

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I have been called a fish, but those turbo tournies can be tough.

You need play super tight, but when in position, button or cutoff and folded to you, you can shove almost any 2 cards and steal the blinds to keep you alive till you get dealt some decent hands. You can get away with this if you have played tight, but not to many times.

While I'm not calling a shove early without AA or KK, you don't always have to play really tight. It is a small portion of your stack to see a flop and usually I like to get off my doughnut (above the starting stack) as quickly as possible. I am always playing small ball poker at every level, if you are going to let me see a flop with hands like KQ and small pairs for 60 or 80 chips I'll ride along. Generally if you have a small hand, play a small pot, if you have a big hand, play a big pot.
 
eueu

eueu

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Only play with monster hands at the beginning of the tournament.
 
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illind

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just go all in every hand! jk playing super tight unless your in position is the way to go
 
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davem86

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I dont really think it changes much the higher you go up unless your are playing super stakes.

Continue to play your game.
Its hard to consistently place at the final table every time.
 
nutthink

nutthink

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play very tight.. play hand only against 1 or 2 player.. gl bro
 
thetick33

thetick33

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Hello everyone, i've been playing online tournaments for a few months now, but i find it extremely hard to get in the money bubble.
Anyone here (that constantly get to final table) have good tips on getting through the all in shoves early game?
There are so many of them!

Most of the time i try to wait for connector/suited higher than 9/10, but blinds goes up so fast that, than by the time i find a good hand. my stack is down by half :(

Do you guys only wait for pocket pairs and just shove all in and pray?

need to know what site you play on? I let stacks go down to blind on carbon for some reason i catch generally if have that type of patience after waving the white flag lol. Is weird but timely luck

best pro advice i ever got is one rule any mtt you cannot win in first hour of play. So yeah best strategy is to play and build with what are given but do like to maintain averages etc.. if can. Also when gets to crunch time act before the bubble dont mix it up 3-4 players mix with position one guy make a move if have to semi bluff sometimes any ace is good. just saying good luck
 
Micro Maven

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1) No. You are very short in chips, you should shove but limping in this specific situation is ok (and calling if BB shoves and both limpers fold)
2) 100% of the time at least call
3) 100% of the time call
 
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