VizziVizo
Visionary
Silver Level
zarzar78
Rock Star
Silver Level
In a normal tournament , Play speculative hands in the beginning letting you , if you are enough lucky on that tournament, to build a decent chips size letting you going far in a tournament.
If it's turbo mode, you have to be agressive with premium hands, and play speculative hands if your stack let you to do it .
If it's turbo mode, you have to be agressive with premium hands, and play speculative hands if your stack let you to do it .
W
Weissr
Visionary
Silver Level
I like to play some speculative hands if I can see a flop for cheap and only try and build a big pot if I manage to hit a monster. You need to build up your chipstack at some point, why not do it when it's relatively cheap to do so. If the price pf gets too high I don't bother though. Other than that stick to premiums.
Marcwantstowin
Member of the T.S.T
Moderator
In these freerolls the best strategy is to only play AA or KK early in the tourney. Otherwise you will find that you get suckouts more often than not. Also do not bluff at all - not until you reach final 1000 players because the majority of your opposition don't understand bluffs or any complicated moves/ theories. Good luck on your play, but I think you will learn more from playing a low-stakes tournament......
I
Ishouldlovethedonks
Rising Star
Bronze Level
When I first began playing online poker my cash percentage was approximately 43%. As time has gone on my late game play has improved drastically but my early game play has begun to suffer. As a result, my stack is not big enough when i get to mid or late game play unless i get a bunch of double ups or worse i am already out by late game play. Supper aggressors who i call with ak and they have a10 pull lucky cards early on (There are about a dozen other scenarios).
This has happened so much i have begun to make generalized decisions about early game play. i.e. There are so many people just shoving that unless i have aa or kk pre-flop i can't get involved in a hand with a large raiser ahead of me.
My question is: During early game play i wonder if i am simply not focused enough on the habits of my opponents to anticipate their style of play. in other words i am wondering if now that i have played a bunch of tournaments i have not been able to maintain focus as well early on in a tourney when the blinds are small compared to stack size. Thoughts?
This has happened so much i have begun to make generalized decisions about early game play. i.e. There are so many people just shoving that unless i have aa or kk pre-flop i can't get involved in a hand with a large raiser ahead of me.
My question is: During early game play i wonder if i am simply not focused enough on the habits of my opponents to anticipate their style of play. in other words i am wondering if now that i have played a bunch of tournaments i have not been able to maintain focus as well early on in a tourney when the blinds are small compared to stack size. Thoughts?
dealio96
The LAG Monkeys
Silver Level
If I were you I would just stay focused on making + EV decisions. You can't just sit around and wait for AA,KK bc those hands may never come. You should be looking for position bets/bluffs along with well timed aggression, while feeding off your opponents weaknesses.
Also, I don't understand what your question is.
I
Ishouldlovethedonks
Rising Star
Bronze Level
It was a confusing question...
But you still managed to answer it. Thank you for you response.
I think you are correct in that I need to continue to play normally, aggression, raises, etc. Ive had so many people push early with nothing who then suck out it seemed like I needed to change something
This is the first time I have had so many suckouts back to back. Is this common to happen from time to time?
But you still managed to answer it. Thank you for you response.
I think you are correct in that I need to continue to play normally, aggression, raises, etc. Ive had so many people push early with nothing who then suck out it seemed like I needed to change something
This is the first time I have had so many suckouts back to back. Is this common to happen from time to time?
yeezus
Enthusiast
Silver Level
Trust me the suckouts can come back to back to back to back to back. I recall sitting at a site when i was multi-tabling 4 tables at once. I simultaneously went out on all 4 tables on bad beats it was ridiculous. SO just keep ya head up and make +ev decisions and it will work out for ya.
spiderman637
RIP Buck
Silver Level
The most important thing is getting a read on ur opponents playing style...his range of cards and betting pattern....this is very important in any part of the tourney....talking about early tourney play, i prefer loose passive preflop and tight aggresive post flop....this worked very well for me...especially in early levels...
I
Ishouldlovethedonks
Rising Star
Bronze Level
" loose passive pre flop and tight aggressive post flop"
The only problem I've had with that style of play is when I run into a decent hand and there are so many people in the hand that I can not bet them to fold draws. When there are 5 callers the drawing odds end up being against a winning hand on the flop if the possibility for straights, flushes, boats, exist.
The only problem I've had with that style of play is when I run into a decent hand and there are so many people in the hand that I can not bet them to fold draws. When there are 5 callers the drawing odds end up being against a winning hand on the flop if the possibility for straights, flushes, boats, exist.
Arjonius
Legend
Silver Level
This isn't your only problem. Another is that you're asking the wrong questions, or at least not the best ones. You're asking why they won't fold and/or how you get them to fold. The reality is that they won't fold as often as (you think) they should, so it's more important to ask yourself other questions such as how to deal with the fact they do call, or whether it might be a good idea to get yourself into such situations less often.
S
SwiftHax
Rock Star
Silver Level
Start playing very tight, you got all the chips in the world at this point so don't get into these dodgy situations. Instead, identify your table and pick your targets, then wait for a good hand, of course a good hand is a very relative meaning in Poker, KQ is considered a good hand in button and cutoff, but I would consider folding it EP. Basically, play hands that beat your opponent's and don't be afraid to fold if you miss or think you're beat.
Also, I wouldn't consider calling shoves without AA, KK, QQ and AK early.
Also, I wouldn't consider calling shoves without AA, KK, QQ and AK early.
R
rocksolid124
Enthusiast
Silver Level
All depends on position/how deep your stack is. If you're in position and can get in cheaply with your suited connectors/gappers/small pairs etc., then yes, this is the time you want to do so, especially if you are confident in your post-flop play.
Jacki Burkhart
long winded rambler...
Silver Level
As to suckouts and busting out it is just a part of tourney poker.
The great Stu Ungar (3 time winner of wsop main event and other large events) said the hardest thing about the ME was surviving to day 2. Once he did that, he knew he would probably win. The early stages of tourneys are riddled with land mines and even the best players blow up their stacks. And this was when ME fields were about 300 players. The bigger the field the more likely it is that you bust before the money.
My team and I just travelled to a live poker series. Between the 3 of us we played 17 events and we all bricked all of them except our satellites. (We all won several satellites). Now, 0 for 17 might sound really bad but it is totally normal variance. I guarantee you we are good experienced players and between the 3 of us we have just under a million dollars in live earnings (993,000 actually most of which came from our coach's record). We didn't play bad and we didn't even exactly run bad. It's just poker.
I played 10 hours yesterday. Amassed a 40k stack when avg was 18k. Win a small pot with KK once, had AK twice and broke even on it. Had QQ once and won the blinds. Those were the only premiums I got dealt in 10 hours. You can't sit around and wait for premiums in a large MTT. I was table chip leader almost entire tourney by playing in position and by playing situations not my cards. When life hands you lemons make lemonade.
And I busted 40 players from the money. Oh well...I played those hands right and I lost. Embrace variance or play cash.
The great Stu Ungar (3 time winner of wsop main event and other large events) said the hardest thing about the ME was surviving to day 2. Once he did that, he knew he would probably win. The early stages of tourneys are riddled with land mines and even the best players blow up their stacks. And this was when ME fields were about 300 players. The bigger the field the more likely it is that you bust before the money.
My team and I just travelled to a live poker series. Between the 3 of us we played 17 events and we all bricked all of them except our satellites. (We all won several satellites). Now, 0 for 17 might sound really bad but it is totally normal variance. I guarantee you we are good experienced players and between the 3 of us we have just under a million dollars in live earnings (993,000 actually most of which came from our coach's record). We didn't play bad and we didn't even exactly run bad. It's just poker.
I played 10 hours yesterday. Amassed a 40k stack when avg was 18k. Win a small pot with KK once, had AK twice and broke even on it. Had QQ once and won the blinds. Those were the only premiums I got dealt in 10 hours. You can't sit around and wait for premiums in a large MTT. I was table chip leader almost entire tourney by playing in position and by playing situations not my cards. When life hands you lemons make lemonade.
And I busted 40 players from the money. Oh well...I played those hands right and I lost. Embrace variance or play cash.
Sil3ntness
Legend
Silver Level
Quote of the day!
Seriously, I see so many people crying in the chat window online when they get bad beats and go on tilt. These people would probably be better playing cash games where they can vent and just leave the table at any given moment.
