play for second

E

evilpoochie

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one of the best things i ever found that most people don't do is they go for first. Here is a better strategy most of the time if you play for second you will last a lot longer then the people who go fir first and if you do make it to heads up anything can happen.

Happy gaming
Evilpoochie
 
LaMinaccia

LaMinaccia

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If you're trying to fool your brain into thinking you're playing for second in a tourney I can't see it working since we join these games to finish first. Speaking for myself I only play any game to finish first and this reminds me of when I used to pick opposite of my real picks for football and of course I still did bad because I knew I would be picking the opposite.
 
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pokerbassethound

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I always try to hang on for third in a SNG. I just TRY to be patient and last. I just want that double up.

In larger tournaments I play for first. In larger tourneys to me you have to have big chip count to outlive that bad beat thats coming. I tend to take my shots online. However in live large tournaments I am somewhere inbetween. Live seems to be a slower tighter game. Online it just seems to easy for people to shove or call all in with that draw.
 
salim271

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Instead of the idea of playing for second, I like the idea that was pronounced before by someone on the site. If you're playing an MTT or SnG try and keep in middle position in terms of chips.
 
kidkvno1

kidkvno1

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That does work more, i'm always thinking as long as i get 2nd place i will be happy, i end up in 1st somehow...
 
salim271

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That does work more, i'm always thinking as long as i get 2nd place i will be happy, i end up in 1st somehow...

I always think ill be happy in second, so i get out in 4th :D
 
dwolfg

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I always try to make the best possible decision I can and not worry about the results(As much as possible).
 
sammyfive

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I just play with a generally competitive attitude and always play every turn like it could be my last. Then you just play and don't get get caught up with the results.
 
cardplayer52

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Well this all depends on the pay out stucture and how deep my stack is. In a SNG I normally play to cash first and then play to win. It's when i play to win before I cash that I'll often end up bubbling. And when the bubbe ends even if i'm in a comfrtable 2nd I'll still take big chances to win. If I can double though the chip leader it often makes me almost a lock for 2nd and gives me an even better shot at 1st. And in a MTT there is just too many variables to take into account. But for the most part I'll play to win.
 
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billyth3kid

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its a great strategy.. in big tournys that pay out 1000$ for first and 80$ for 9th... a lot of the time if you fold the first 10 hands of the final table ull find urself with 6 people left getting paid 200...instead of getting knocked out in 9th with ak vs 44... u can usually make it down to the final 4 if you fold a few big hands...the at that point n e thing can happen....now if your playing a 9 seat sng they yes go for first every time... but in these 500-5000 seat tournys.. when you make the final table a lot of people go crazy and push with n e ace or pocket pair... u can let the first ten hands go and get up in the better payouts easy
 
Weregoat

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If you do better tricking yourself, that's fine. If you have more reasonable expectations based on your skill level, that's fine.

I almost went way off topic. But keep in mind if you have a goal to make a certain place, then you're going to be scared to commit yourself. Say somebody makes a sick bluff at you - You're holding QQ on a board that reads K76. You have to decide if you want to take your QQ to showdown for all your chips right now. If you haven't made your goal, but you don't think your opponent has you beat, you will be more likely to lay it down.

And expect to go on tilt when they flip over QJ.
 
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Tonawanda

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Very interesting idea. I was in a nice tourney last night (coincidently I landed in 2nd place). There was some suicide plays at the final table and as you would expect, there were some big winners and lossers as a result. There seems to be a general concensus that you should play to win at most all stages of a tourney with a couple of exceptions. I wonder if some players take that too literally. I think playing to the level of your ability and the cards that you're dealt isn't a bad thing. Going out early unnecessarily is losing. I think you're are a winner when you have finished as high as can be expected in any given situation. However I must agree, the aggressive take no prisoners approach often seems to take 1st.
 
bazerk

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I generally try to benchmark myself.

C'mon, make it to:
  • 1st break
  • 2nd break
  • ITM
  • Final 3 tables
  • Final 2 tables
  • Final table
  • Top 6
  • Top 3
  • HU
  • 1st
This helps me to avoid being overwhelmed by all the other things I'm trying to be aware of @ the table...one baby step @ a time.
 
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The_Pup

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I don't get this 'play to win' idea. Presumably everyone wants to finish first and so starts the tournament with that intention. I guess people mean they will gamble their seat in order to get a big stack - I think that is something different from 'playing to win'.

I like bazerk's approach as it breaks the tourney down into manageable chunks and gives a sense of how many risks we have to take. By having a goal of getting to the next stage in a position of reasonable comfort we can play a fairly safe game.

Here's an example of what I mean: in my first online MTT (about 1000 entrants) I just got through the bubble, with 100 people left I was about 80th in chipstack, 50 about 35th, at the final table I had the smallest stack that was about 1/4 the size of bigstack, last 3 I had half what 2nd stack had, heads up I had 2/3 the other's stack, last player I had all the chips.

Moral of the tale: you don't have to be up the top of the 'leaderboard' to win a tourney until the penultimate hand - but you cannot win it from the rail.
 
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poker_stu

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To be honest, I don't like bazerks approach, at least not in the beginning of a tournament. I see absolutely no use in trying to reach the first or the second break by all means and therefor missing many +ev spots. Why should I be happy, if I manage to be able to play for two hours, just ending up with 10BB left and not having won anything at all. I think the winning to play attitude is very important there in order to accumulate a lot of chips.
 
kidkvno1

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I always think ill be happy in second, so i get out in 4th :D
Every time i think "i will be happy with 2nd" i end up placing higher then i thought i would 1ST...

Then i would say aim for 1st so you would place 2nd:p :thrasher:
 
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leon818

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i think "this idea" is adoptable in some cases only...especially when all of the players in the final table are seems to be aggressive competitors... if you're classify as one of the aggressive players...i believe you wont play it in second...
 
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j_unatrix

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I think even if you are going for 2nd dude that really is a going for first strategy you are implementing and by now you in your mind are definitely switched over to "im going for the win" because yea the best strategy in my opinion is tight play survive until the last couple of spots ant then aggresion for the win.
 
zek

zek

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It depends on the payout difference between first and second place. I play a lot of 18 player SNG's and there is not much of a difference so I'm fine making it heads up. The bottom 4th payout feels like a bubble loss so I like to get at least into the top 3. In a big tournament there can be thousands to millions between first and second place so it matters more getting that nice once in a year -> lifetime payout.

-Raymond
 
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