When to shift gears?

I wanted to talk about shifting gears and changing up your play during tournaments. What do you guys do to change up your game and stay unpredictable?

I always look play tight early on and then unleash right around the bubble. Typically when everyone is just trying to cash is the perfect time to build your stack.

I play off my image more than I will 'shift gears' - if you have an aggressive image it helps to wait and have it sometimes... or throw in a squeeze from the blinds or a light three-bet against a loose raiser when you have a tight image etc.

Definitely raising more when the antes are in play than before they start too... As for waiting and playing aggressively on the bubble I think the cat might be out of the bag on that one. Generally if your opponents expect it, try to let them down.

Good luck!

Wow,that opens up a lot of answers. For me it depends on the table, the players. and how the cards are running. If I have been playing tight for a while and its not working for me, then occassionally I will play a hand with less than premium cards and if I win the hand I make real sure to show my cards when I toss them in. Trying to make some or all the other players think that I will play almost any two cards. And all this happens as long as the chips I am sacrafising is not to great.

I let myself have ups and downs honestly during the whole tournament, but I try not to make identical plays in tourneys. Keeping it fresh works.

Switch up your tells.

Admit it, you all have tells. Learn to control them and manipulate your opponents by doing so.

I actually just touched on this in another post. I remember reading an article about this saying danger zone is about 10x the big bet in a No Limit MTT, so like BB 400 and you are at 4000, time to play hands to go all in with.
So at about 20x-30x i guess i would attempt to not play so tight to try and steal some pots or win some draws to stay above it.

I am sure someone can find the site too because i remember the quote from it saying something like, "if you are 50x the BB let freedom ring" or some boisterous statement like that about letting it ring, and play whatever you want.

I am pretty sure this was for online poker as well since that was what i was looking it up for but some sites don't specify. But there were disclaimers on sites, like how fast the tournament is you may have to adjust.

1 site i remember it saying 10min blinds was fast, and i believe it was referencing more live tournaments which usually are like 20-30min? But it mentioned even 10min online or 15 which is not that fast, usually become fast at some point.
And so far I have found this true in my Amateur experience. At some point even if you have double the 2nd place person's chips, eventually around the final tables it becomes all-in fests.
So in a fast situation, maybe even if you are 20x-30x the BB in chips, you can only play All-In worthy hands because if you have 60k chips in a close 3 way tie for 3rd/10 people, and the last place person has even 5-10k, with antes and blinds it is going to become like a 20k pot and risky to call the last place person even.

Not to mention the other people who have big stacks too that intend to play to get rid of those low stacks making your stack vulnerable. Or even bounties.

Image and game flow usually dictate how fast or slow to play. All depends on what the table is allowing

Unless it's a short stack hail mary my motto is: ABC
Always Be Changing.
Keep them guessing. (Oil of Olay also recommended for more seasoned players)

half way to the bubble
on the bubble
and once in the cash

More connectors..

Kingpoetmusic said:

I wanted to talk about shifting gears and changing up your play during tournaments. What do you guys do to change up your game and stay unpredictable?

Click to expand...

I agree with everybody else, some may be more aggressive pre-flop, or, after the flop, when making 1, 2 pair, etc.

I try for the more than one-off, connector; the J7 Q8, K10; the connector that is unexpected, the one opponents will think, "they wouldn't have the guts to play those cards", then you sneak attack and pounce when you get the cards.

This is just my way to shake up my game; others have very astute observations; because it works for them.

Kingpoetmusic said:

I wanted to talk about shifting gears and changing up your play during tournaments. What do you guys do to change up your game and stay unpredictable?

Click to expand...

one word... Balance