Tournament strategy

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jerohit

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what is best way to play when blinds are high .. you have average stake size..
Specialy what type of card should play..


I normaly finish mid ITM in tournment and never win any tournament.. My AK beaten down by pocket 5 5.. what I am doing wrong..
 
bushy_lufc

bushy_lufc

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Well firstly if you think AK is beaten down by 55 you're wrong... 55 is ahead pre flop so if AK won it would actually be beating down 55. When stacks are at 30bb average on your table and you have this rough stack suited connectors and small pairs become much less valuable and its more about making top pairs so big broadway cards are the way forward. You should look for who is stealing a lot and try and re steal vs them.
 
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Sobrosa

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Start using an odds calculator and you begin to see that not always what we think the best hand really is, I also always had this doubt her, but now I'm a more aggressive player.
 
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stevenparker91

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I may sound like a broken record on this site, but the best way to approach a strategy is based off opponents not times. There are certain times that most others play a certain way. The point is, you need to counter your your opponents, if they are playing very tight, try some steals in position. If they are playing really loose, then tighten up and pick your battles. Also, like sobrosa said, use an odds calculator. If you were getting 3:1 pot odds or better on your AK, then you made the right call, it just didn't go your way that time
 
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Vesloval

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AK suited vs 55 is close to 50% chance to win preflop with the 55 slightly ahead. It is close enough to 50% that you have to remember this. In a tournament if you keep making those calls you will lose 50% of the time and if someone has the same stack size as you ; that's it you are done. so weather you have 55 or AK dont keep going all in preflop unless you have a larger stack size then the other guy or are desperate to get back into the game. Also note if you went in 89(suited) vs 55 it is about the same odds. AK is a nice hand but not a hail-marry.

If you raise preflop with AK and 2-7-6 come up the odds are the guy with 55 knows you probably don't have anything. so you can bet big and hope he folds or play safe and let him have it. now if a 7-2-Q come you you can raise and perhaps he might believe you have a Q and he will fold. depends on your position and how well you know the guy.
 
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Senneville

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what is best way to play when blinds are high .. you have average stake size..
Specialy what type of card should play..


I normaly finish mid ITM in tournment and never win any tournament.. My AK beaten down by pocket 5 5.. what I am doing wrong..

First you dont have a hand with AK. Only marginal hand. If oppenement raise the pot its because he have a hand or maybe not. But in your situation and its all the same for everybody if you dont made a pair with AK you lose it. Bad beat for me yesterday night. Have AK diamond in BB raise 8 time the BB , everybody fold exept the small blind with is J-3 clubs and win with pocket 3 on the river. after I make the continuation bet ont the flop turn and river. lol thats poker
 
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sillymunchie

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snap on what everybody else has said, they are correct :)

now for the tactical side that will help your MTT game in the mid stages

once you hit 25-30bb your safe and can steal some blinds (you should already know who is going to let you steal there blinds)
if you get below 20bb your tightening up a little but if somebody has been stealing your blinds lately now is the time to fight back :)
once your at 10bb your out of the game.... so to speak, you literally are going all in only, your wanting the calls, because your wanting the stack size that will help you progress

final note, if your struggling at MTTs to make it to the final table, practise on smaller MTTs..... the big sites have these massive prizes but the variance is soooo high because there are so many people to get through, find a tournament with about 120 or less people in it and your variance will be lower and you can get on the final table more often practising some of the things i have mentioned :)
 
proud2Bwhack

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yeah, smaller MTTs for sure. pokerstars has a 90 person SNG that is great for practicing final tables. Poker Stove is a good free odds calculator, has a phone App too.
 
Zacccpanec

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You just need to play a more loose game against shorter stacks and more conservative game against long stacks
 
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coachlary69

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55 vs. AK. 55 is ahead 51.78 percent, while AK is at 48.2 going into the flop. If one of the 5's is of the same suit as the A or King, then the 5's are even more ahead in the hand. I would just keep playing because there are going to be times when AK beats the 5's, and actually, I'll take the AK any day. Sounds like you haven't been playing that long so give it time be patient. The cashes will come.
 
IntenseHeat

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I know you I say it a lot, but I believe that at this stage of the tourney you want to be playing tight and aggressive. That's where my game always starts. I begin tight/aggressive. I might loosen up once I've built up some chips and some of the maniacs have been eliminated. As we get into the latter stages of a tournament, I'm going to revert back to tight/aggressive. Not so tight that you watch your chips dwindle away as you wait for A-K, but now is not the time that you want to be bleeding chips, trying to see a lot of flops with marginal, speculative hands.

This is also the time that you really want to be focused. Position is important. But not just your position. You want to see who is constantly raising from the cutoff and the button, and who is constantly raising UTG. Of course we know that a player must be strong if they are raising from early position. Not necessarily. I find a lot of players will raise from UTG at this point because they will get credit for having a strong holding. If they can take down the blinds from UTG then they are basically freerolling their own blinds. The point is that if you are dealt a decent hand, it might be worth it to get involved if you think someone is just making a position raise.

Also, you might want to pay attention to where the short stacks are. I know a lot of players are inclined to keep pressure on the short stacks by constantly raising their blinds. Be careful though. At some point they are going to have to make a stand. In fact, you might want to be aware of any stacks below 15xBB. When these players choose a hand to play, it will likely be for all their chips. So when you are selecting hands to play, you might want to have in mind what you would do with your hand if someone were to play back at you, which they will if they feel like you are raising light to steal blinds.

And when it comes to stealing blinds, don't get too carried away, not just with stealing a certain player's blind every time you're in the cutoff. That too. I mean at some point, they are going to look you up. But I'm talking about going all-in to steal blinds. Few things irritate me like a player going all-in just to steal blinds. Why so much? It looks super suspicious, like the last thing you would want is for someone to call you. Just because you've got twice my stack doesn't mean I won't call you. I try to play smart, not scared. And I would love to turn it around to the point where I'm the one holding twice your stack because I caught you shoving with J-3 off. Why risk half of your stack to try to pick up the blinds? Why risk 20xBB to pick up 1.5xBB + antes when you could get the job done with 3xBB. Even if you get flat called and miss the flop and have to fold, you're only out of 3xBB instead of 20xBB.

I don't know. That's just what I think.
 
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TheImperator

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what is best way to play when blinds are high .. you have average stake size..
Specialy what type of card should play..


I normaly finish mid ITM in tournment and never win any tournament.. My AK beaten down by pocket 5 5.. what I am doing wrong..

If you're losing coinflips, you're losing coinflips. That's just poker.

You say you normally finish mid ITM and never win which tells me that you aren't doing enough in the mid-to-late game to accumulate chips to go on and be competitive at the final few tables and final table itself.

A lot of players have the problem that once they hit ITM, they rest on their laurels a bit and fail to keep accumulating chips, leading to cashes like the ones you're speaking of.
 
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Chipsteal_jj

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Play tight and steal blinds because at this stage of the tournament a lot of people will play very tight and you can easily increase your stack by raising on the button/sb etc.
Don't try to bluff your opponents from the pot as well as they are willing to risk more at this stage and will also call medium strength hands for a chance to build up their stack for the FT.
 
IntenseHeat

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I forgot to mention the other thing that I always say. And that is "raise". Always raise. I like to raise to at least 3x + 1x for each limper in front of me, up to 5x. A raise will keep speculators out of the pot. Minimizing the opposition increases your odds of winning the pot. If it hasn't been raised in front of you, you should be raising. If someone raises in front of you, it might be okay to just call, depending on the size of their raise. I don't like flat calling a min raise with several players left to act. It's too easy for players that were thinking about limping to talk themselves into calling a min raise. If there is a raise and a call in front of you, you need to weigh the potential of winning a big three way pot against the diminished odds of actually winning the pot against multiple opponents.

The point is that I want to play pots against the fewest possible number of opponents. This can be accomplished by raising. My simple rule of thumb, especially at this stage of the tournament is, if I wouldn't raise with it, then I won't play it. Of course my range may differ from yours. I see a lot of players that are willing to call someone else's raise with a hand that they would be unwilling to raise with, which seems a little backwards to me. I guess we all play a little different. And that's why we all see different results.
 
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JohnBoyWWFC

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Those of you ITT thinking about specific hands instead of ranges are thinking incorrectly. Also, you need to factor in fold equity. If you are the one shoving when you have AK, you can almost never be making an error. Think about the fact that a typical raising range on the button is around 65% of hands, so if you shove in the blinds with AK v a button open, you're going to get folds and just win the blinds and antes the vast majority of the time and the times when you do get called, your hand plays fine against their RANGE of hands. Yes, sometimes you'll be flipping, but sometimes you'll dominate them. Sometimes you'll run into AA/KK but this can't be avoided.
 
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Fello1319

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With 55 is game very risky, is better wait for better hand but in the start game you can do with it raise. You also must watching your oponents if they are low or high gammers.
 
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tolino_666

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hi guys, personalli i think that there is no matter the hand you have, because some day you will win with everithing and some days will lose with AA in hand. So my best advice is to see the flop first and then start to play according that
 
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TheImperator

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hi guys, personalli i think that there is no matter the hand you have, because some day you will win with everithing and some days will lose with AA in hand. So my best advice is to see the flop first and then start to play according that

OP has already said it is late tournament and blinds are high, and you have an average stack.

Taking flops is not going to be an option in a lot of cases, not with an average or short stack. Depending on how high the blinds are, he could already be in an obvious shove/fold situation!

His biggest problem is his results-oriented thinking... "My AK beaten down by 55..." -- he posted a specific idea and feels he may be doing something wrong strictly because of the result he had.

People need to worry about making solid, profitable plays more than they need to worry about the results of those plays. If you are consistently making profitable decisions, you will be in profit long term.
 
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UncleConRon

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My Opinion

I don't think your doing anything wrong. Ace-king wins two thirds of the time. you want to win like that "always on top while winning.". So let them get you while they can. It makes your winning streak longer.
 
SBEP

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what is best way to play when blinds are high .. you have average stake size..
Specialy what type of card should play..


I normaly finish mid ITM in tournment and never win any tournament.. My AK beaten down by pocket 5 5.. what I am doing wrong..

If u have avarage size stack when the blinds are high means u play too tight, good agro player is always above average stack, or hes out of the game :D one or the other, but long story short u need to play cash games to get that aggressiveness, that u despretly need, coz u r not complete poker player without it, your style of tight play will some times get you in the money but never DEEP ITM where the real money is, and thats all there is to it, remember RISK is the onlyway u make MONEY, sometimes it pays out, most of the times doesnt, but when it does, ooooooo boy :D
 
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