Planning on starting to play tourneys

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SwiftHax

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I've been playing Cash Games for over 4 months now and I'm slightly winning/break-even player down on variance. I don't have much experience with tourneys, but I've been playing some freerolls including CC ones which I've had some success with and I'm almost confident that I can start playing tourneys.

My question is, where should I start? What buy-ins? What player fields? What structures?
 
suit2please

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This question is like all poker questions... It depends...

What do you like playing? This is the major factor as you should enjoy what you are playing. On pokerstars you have a lot of options as there is enough traffic in everything. I would say go with SnGs though instead of MTTs.

Then its choose 6 through 180 mans maybe more. The bigger the field the more buyins for that level you should have.

6 max or Full Ring?

Then speed; normal, turbo, hyper. Again the faster the speed the more buyins you should have. Generally start with normal speed.

Try a few different types and sizes. Choose the one you like best. Then play only that for a while.
 
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SwiftHax

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I've heard the game in MTTs is softer compared to SnGs which are full of regs. I'm not sure if I'm a big fan of STTs because I seem to be a bit lacking in shorthanded play.
 
suit2please

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Haven't played on PS since Black Friday. MTT fields may be softer overall, but whats the minimum field you'll be playing against 1000+?

Generally have at least 100+ buyins for MTTs, probably more unless willing to reload.

And, your going to have to get better at shorthanded play no matter whether playing STTs or MTTs, unless you never plan on final tabling.
 
S3mper

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Quick hide this thread from WVHillbilly as he will try to keep you in the cash games.

Tournament poker is where the real men/ Very strong women play and the reason is in a tournament you can play flawlessly for hours and still not earn a penny in fact you could lose a few pennies. Do that without quitting poker or breaking your PC and you are a real man or a very strong women

As to where these cash game players see a wittle bittie bit of variance and have to create a tilt room PFFFFT
 
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adougy13

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When I first started playing tournaments I would play the $1 or $2 buy ins and II found it helped me get more comfortable with tournament poker. Once you have a better feel or start winning you can then make the jump up or to the style you feel most comfortable with.
 
Propane Goat

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Absolutely stay away from any kind of turbo structure if you're new to tourneys. Success depends on being able to open up your range as blinds get higher and effective stack sizes decrease, and it is critical to gain short-handed skills because the payoffs don't really start to kick in until you get down to the last few players and you will have to go HU to win. You wouldn't even think about shoving a hand like KTo pre-flop at a cash game, in a tournament you will be shoving hands like these and much less during high blinds, and in certain situations folding a hand like this would be a bigger mistake than shoving.

STT's will give you more opportunity to get short table experience because it only takes a few knockouts to produce a short table, unlike MTT's where it can take hours and hours just to get to the final table.
 
Arjonius

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You should start by looking into what the main differences between tournament and cash play are. This will help you to start recognizing situations sooner where, if you do what comes naturally for you in a cash game, you'll be making a sub-optimal decision in a tournament.
 
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Hi :)

This might Help just a quick direct guide on what might be best for you

Q. Blind Structure 10 to 15 minutes = (who does it suit)

A. if you want post flop play and you have post flop skill absoloutely what you want to be playing.
the main reasons a good player wins here is more hands = more mistakes
and more exploit opportunity.
In theory we should all be training to gain an edge to use in these structures.


Q. Turbo Tournaments (5 minute structure) = Who doest it suit?

A. Anyone who plays a push fold strategy, lacks patience wants to play more games in a day while sacrifing exploitive opportunity variance will control your outcome alot more often than in a standard outcome.


Q3. What size tournaments should I play?
A. large fields will mean less big wins and more time consuming, The traditional and in my opinion the best way to become good at tournaments is to play alot of smaller ones so you can practice different stages of the tournament in good volume - this is how you become experienced late stage.

Tip = Dedicate one day to the big tournaments Sunday ;) maybe one evening.
the rest of the time your working hard on your game grinding the 45 mans, 180 mans, 90 mans whiles't making a profit.
 
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Maybe you guys are right :) I'll try my luck in regular speed SnGs.

When talking shorthanded, I mean 4 and less players because I used to play 6max.

What are the things I should avoid? And what are the most important things about MTTs I may be missing?
 
suit2please

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What are the things I should avoid? And what are the most important things about MTTs I may be missing?

Just trying to squeak by into the money is a mistake. Many players just try to get itm, on the bubble you can take advantage of this. Most of the money in STTs comes from 1st place, same as with larger field SnGs and MTTs, most of the money is final table +. Look at making good decisions not just making it itm, could min cash tons and still be a loser overall.
 
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Your bank depends, you can begin in tilts that do not have repurchase, this way you avoid to spend mas of what you had to, thereabouts it is possible that you puncture something important
 
marcela_lula

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when I started playing tournaments I started with 010 cents now I have the luxury of playing tournaments until input 15 dollars that's progress
 
Carl Trooper

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Get ready for some rage from these games :p

Unlike cash, you can play for 10 hours, perfect.... you're doing great!.... then you lose 1 hand and you find yourself on the bubble of a tourney!
 
S3mper

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Get ready for some rage from these games :p

Unlike cash, you can play for 10 hours, perfect.... you're doing great!.... then you lose 1 hand and you find yourself on the bubble of a tourney!

Then after the above happens you find yourself at the cash game tables anyway tilting off your roll lol
 
Propane Goat

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Get ready for some rage from these games :p

Unlike cash, you can play for 10 hours, perfect.... you're doing great!.... then you lose 1 hand and you find yourself on the bubble of a tourney!

^this

Nothing is more brutal than putting in hours of patient effort and being the chip leader on the bubble as a result, then busting out in two hands because of bad beats by people making the most blatant mistakes and getting rewarded for them. Stuff like holding AA as the chip leader and getting 100+ BB in the middle pre-flop, then some fish flips over something like A5o and makes a flush on the river with the 5, that's really hard to take sometimes. That leaves you short stacked so you shove AK on the next hand and get beat by K3, this is when the computer gets thrown out in the street.

This one for example: Ladouceur was so close to making the FT and this hand destroys his stack
 
teepack

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Teepack's tourney tips:

1. Play $5 or less buy-ins to begin with until you get comfortable.
2. Play the regular speed tourneys with at least 12-15 minute levels. Patience has to be part of your game in tourneys.
3. Pay attention to the players at your table and try to identify the weak ones. These are the guys you want to get into hands with.
4. Above all else, avoid re-buy/add-on tourneys. These are money pits.
5. Be comfortable with long streaks where you don't cash. That one top 3 finish will more than make up for it, but you have to be able to stick with it.
 
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poltax

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try to play freerolls and learn how you have to play wen the bubble is coming
and than how to play on the final table
do that for a few months and than go on
than you can play for smal buy ins and so an
 
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Ok, so I've started to play some $0.50 9 man Turbo SnGs and it's a very soft field. So far, I've made a couple of bucks profit. 3 places awarded and I finished 2nd three times and once 1st. Played the tournament in total of 7 times, I think.

Not proud of some plays, but overall I think I'm doing OK and it's a good experience for short-handed play.
 
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Just a little update on my SnG luck. I played the same 9 man SnG 5 times today. Went out in 3rd the first two times, on the third game bubbled 4th with some dumb shove and in the last two games finished 1st, so around $3 profit.

Played the last two simultaneously. First one had a tough field. When only 3 of us were left, one guy was disconnected so we slowly took his stack away. When heads up, opponent had more than 2:1 chip advantage. I managed to outplay him and soon we had around the same stacks, he had like 0.5BB more. I open 43s, he calls. Flop is TT and some undercard, two diamonds giving me a flush, he bets and I raise. He calls and turn is a brick, I'm almost sure he has a T, so I check the turn back. River is the Ace of diamonds, he bets small, I raise and he shoves. Easy call, cripple his stack and a couple of hands later, won.

Other was a bit easier. I was the shortstack after losing half my stack in some dumb mistake. We were 5-handed, two players sitting out and the other two playing too tight, so I had my stack trippled by the time both sitting out players were busted. 3-handed I increased my lead even more and became the deep stack. Busted some other guy with AT against AQ and then the remaining player was extremely short and I took his stack away a couple of hands later.

Fields are extremely soft and no wonder some people are 12-tabling these.
 
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Start with small buy in with less people. Usually like a 2.00 buy in with 6 people. Try that out, get a feel of tournament style or even do a small sit and go tourny. Play a few then work your way to the big tournys and the turbo tournys so people don't just sit around haha. Good Luck
 
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I'm up around 16BI's so I have to be doing something right. I had quite a brutal beat today, when my opponent called my shove with a bottom pair on the flop, I had flopped the nut-straight. On the turn he paired his second card and the river gave him a full house. I was shortstacked, so I got over it easier.

In general though, I mostly suffer from variance when 3-handed ITM and 4-handed on the bubble when there's a lot more aggression.
 
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Tgen

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It depends on your bankroll and what you actually enjoy , if you try hard you can win on all of them.

Ideally you should try to reduce your variance as much as possible which means seeking tournaments with less players , weak population , slower blind structure etc..
 
Jacki Burkhart

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Quick hide this thread from WVHillbilly as he will try to keep you in the cash games.

Tournament poker is where the real men/ Very strong women play and the reason is in a tournament you can play flawlessly for hours and still not earn a penny in fact you could lose a few pennies. Do that without quitting poker or breaking your PC and you are a real man or a very strong women

As to where these cash game players see a wittle bittie bit of variance and have to create a tilt room PFFFFT

^^^ha ha ha ha ! S3mper you crack me up constantly. ;) strong women of the world...UNITE!

Teepack's tourney tips:

1. Play $5 or less buy-ins to begin with until you get comfortable.
2. Play the regular speed tourneys with at least 12-15 minute levels. Patience has to be part of your game in tourneys.
3. Pay attention to the players at your table and try to identify the weak ones. These are the guys you want to get into hands with.
4. Above all else, avoid re-buy/add-on tourneys. These are money pits.
5. Be comfortable with long streaks where you don't cash. That one top 3 finish will more than make up for it, but you have to be able to stick with it.

^^^^spot on. Only thing I would suggest is even cheaper than $5 as that is comprised of fairly decent players. I'd say $2.50 or less.

...Ideally you should try to reduce your variance as much as possible which means seeking tournaments with less players , weak population , slower blind structure etc..

^^^ yep.

In general I would expect as a decent cash player you have good post flop skills and are used to playing deepstacked. You will want to seek out slower/better structures to emphasize your strengths. You will need to work on your short handed game especially as it relates to ICM and push/fold on the bubble. But this is not terribly hard to master at all.

STT will most closely mimic the table dynamic you are used to (meaning players are not constantly changing, no table moves etc.). and also STT has lower variance for building your confidence and protecting your roll.
 
Jacki Burkhart

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oh also, a key difference in tourneys vs. cash is that because of the increasing blinds you have to be WILLING to get your stack in behind...of course it is never the goal but you have to be willing to accept that risk.

for instance, in cash you could play a perfect session and never get your stack in when you're behind.

In a tourney if you NEVER get your stack in behind, you are probably not getting it in often enough and are at risk of blinding out.
 
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