Blinded Out

[PompeyKing]

I was playing in a tournment at Turning Stone.... I had a very tight table image and I was playing very tight. I just did not have the courage to make any kind of move. I wanted to "cash" so much that I just waited for a big hand. When I would enter a pot, I would fold if I didn't hit the flop and if I did and bet, I would win the pot. I just could not make a move w/o cards. I was finally blinded out... I felt like I played very poorly..
I thought about my game after and realized that I needed to be more agressive. I could have used my table image to win some pots and then be able to make a real move when I had the cards.
Oh well.... a lesson in poker.....

 

[shinedown.45]

I was playing in a tournment at Turning Stone.... I had a very tight table image and I was playing very tight. I just did not have the courage to make any kind of move. I wanted to "cash" so much that I just waited for a big hand. When I would enter a pot, I would fold if I didn't hit the flop and if I did and bet, I would win the pot. I just could not make a move w/o cards. I was finally blinded out... I felt like I played very poorly..
I thought about my game after and realized that I needed to be more agressive. I could have used my table image to win some pots and then be able to make a real move when I had the cards.
Oh well.... a lesson in poker.....

Don't be afraid of the table.
When you open the betting, and you don't hit the flop, just pretend you don't have a check button. not sure of the odds of winning on any c-bet, but I would say(maybe, will surely be corrected) about 60-70% of the time when you make a continuation bet regardless if you hit the flop or not.
use our search feature and look up Aggression, position betting and also look in the articles section for MTT strategy and one more thing that may help a little(had helped me a little with my aggression) is to search Big Slick.
Hope my advice helps you out some, and if I hadn't said it before, Welcome to CC bud.

 

[chrisash]

A friend I recently taught to play has that exact same problem. It's confounded by the fact that she actually got lowest cash prize in a live tournament recently, so she thinks it's the right strategy to 'wait for people to knock each other out'.

I was on the rail the other day and saw her fold a hand preflop - read her and knew it was a good 'un. Later I found out it was AQ suited - there wasn't even a raise. :-(

 

[Mvemjsunpx]

That's one of the big (& most common) mistakes people make in tournament play: they hope they can just bleed themselves into the money.

However, your primary goal shouldn't be to just make the money, it should be to get far into the money. Just simply hoping to survive long enough to make the money isn't profitable in the long run. Bottom money isn't worth much (typically less than 2 buy-ins) & you're not going to survive long enough to make even that most of the time anyway. Big cashes are what makes tournament play potentially profitable, so you can't play scared.

If everyone else at the table is folding everything near the money, then steal their blinds periodically. Don't be afraid to raise good hands even if you feel there's a risk of bubbling.

 

[chrisash]

Exactly... lowest cash place 30% of the time versus top three places 5% of the time? You're going to come out better overall by playing for the big prizes, and hopefully your play will improve at the same time as well.

Don't be afraid to push with your hands. I don't know about online (I'm rubbish online) but live, pay a lot of attention to peoples tells - once you have them figured out, you can get a lot of value from your hands by knowing just what they'll call to. You can make a lot more of slow playing a monster in live play, particularly in late position.

Tournament play - early on, play tight, you should be able to double up a couple of times and stay above average with the few good hands you'll invariably have. Later on, loosen up a bit and overplay your draw cards (KQ, A10 etc).

 

[heatfan03]

it depends. are u playing to cash or to win? If your playing to cash then well first off u shouldnt be playing to cash but if u are then tight is right. If your playing to win (which you should be) then open up a bit play more agressive take a couple risks. As all the greats say you cant win a tournament with out occasionaly playing those coin flip hands with your tournament life on the line.