I see a lot of people saying wait for premium
hands during the first hour of play. This sounds great in theory, however you're looking at 8 min blinds and by playing this tight when you do have good hands other players will have already built stacks large enough to try to bust you. And the last thing you want is multiple players calling your all in when you finally find those aces.
I think you have to play moderately tight despite where you are in the tournament. However, you're going to have to see some flops (As cheaply as possible) and you are going to have to make some hands. To win or even place in one of these monster 5k people PLUS(!!) tournaments you are going to have to get lucky a few times and create a stack that you can play with.
Simply doubling up in the first hour is useless. You're going to be sitting there with your 3k chips looking around the table at guys with 15k plus stacks that ARE willing to bust you with mediocre hands.
So what to do? I think you have to see flops with medium strength hands early (CHEAP) and flop to them, bet out (You WILL be called most of the time) and take a few chances as time goes on.
You'll start to feel when the blinds get big enough that a standard raise (3-5 times the blinds) is going to work as a steal. However in some of these tournaments... that point will NEVER happen.
I see as many flops as I can in position. I find that most of my successful bluffs are going to come after the flop when everyone checks to me. And I may have to fire another bullet after the turn. I'll bet (min raise)my drawing hands when I'm out of position to try to get a cheap look at the next card. People in these tournaments see that min raise and a lot of times they'll call when otherwise they would have bet (more) instead.
However, I will RARELY EVER slow play and never use the min raise when I have any kind of hand in these tournaments. When I flop a monster and make a large bet, a lot of times people just flat out wont believe me and will sometimes go over the top with nothing thinking they can get me to fold when I'm priced in even if I WANTED to fold.
Basically, stay away from the big bluffs, slow playing, and bet your draws out to get you to see them on the cheap. Be aware when you see that third sooooooooted card hit the turn. Dont be surprised when you pot bet the flop and were called, and they hit the flush on the turn. Most of the players at this level are not concerned about pot
odds, and figure their flush draw is a better hand after the flop than your set is, and would call the bet even if they could see your hand.
The more of these tournaments I play in, the more I seem to understand them. If I waited on aa/kk/ak, by the time I got them it usually wouldnt matter anyway. AA all in with four callers is not exactly my favorite place to be.
