Hello guys i wanted to know how do you play your first phase of any tournament?
I play it super tight. I can fold A 8 or some hand like that cuz i know that some fool will raise with some hand like 5,7 and i will lose. So, i'm waiting for the right opportunity to get some chips. Later when idiot players get's out i start to play normally. How do you guys play it ?

i try to see a LOT of flops because the blinds are so cheap. But then tighten up mid tourney after they start getting high & the antes go up. Once youre down to the final 3 or 4 players, its loosey goosey time again.

also, dont forget to bring your lucky hat and cross your fingers !!!

I might have some different experiense. In early stage there is a lot of ''monkeys'' who bet like idiots so i can't see much flops but i don't want to sit out. Maybe if you play some 10$ tournament or such, it might be better play, but under that all idiots, like for real!

For me it depends all on the current situation and type of tournament. But mostly tight and in position. As said there are a lot of idiots who play any Ace or any suited cards and connectors. And even when you have the nuts, make strong bets they keep hanging in with nothing and get a lucky draw. But when the blinds are cheap and I am in position with a reasonable hand I will limp or call a small bet. But it depends on the players etc.

Idiots. idiots.. May be u never hav gone all in with good hand at the start of tournament? Good start is very important for all distanse

At the beginning I mostly play tight and min-raise good hands and decide further when the flop comes. Mostly I play monsters in the beginning stages of a tournament. Be patient cause fish are all around in this phase.

tight agg people call with anything so your running into alot of 4 card straights/ flushes but when u hit u can make them pay!

play safer in the beginning, and takes advantage of opportunities

avoid big pots with weak hands if our hand looks weak or do not have it really bad and discard problem in the early stages that our cell is really great compared to the blinds and strong hands aggressively pre-flop and should be within the limits of posflop you re-raise

I always try to keep it tigth, the lower the buy in the more craziness. Somtimes in low buy in and freerolls I tend to be influenced by the madness.

I play alot of micro turbos and I can say it is important to keep eyes open early for crazy people at these stakes, if you find that people are calling way too light or are being way to overly aggressive its a great opportunity to build a stack early. You can often make crazy shoves or all in calls with just above average hands such as A 10 A J, even KQ and have many fish dominated. These edges will become much harder to find later in tournaments.

depends if its regular speed or turbo. I usually play like you - rather tight and try to make most of my value hands. In turbo you have to look for more action so sometimes you play hands like KTs T8s JTs 87s etc

I always play super tight in the first phase, but in case if I have a very strong hand in the first few rounds I go allin.

at the beginning of the tournament I play with a large range of cards aggressive, depending on position and stack size make the decisions

At the beginning I try to wait for a good hand, but it is often not possible and it remains the only rely on luck

Utg - fold almost everything. might call or min-raise with pairs or A10s+ KJs+ Ajo+ depending on how people are playing pre flop.

Mid- call if raised already, min-raise or 2.5bb if called. Cards same as UTG

Button/late - same as mid but raise 2.5/3bb, might raise with Axs, Kxs if one or two in pot.

Hope this helps. Sometimes its better to play a little loose if you want to see more pots and want a big stack early on the game but if you want to play patiently then this.

In the initial phase of tournament playing is needed nevertheless enough neatly. To watch after position to study players from bad position to play only with strong hands.

In online tourneys, I find you need to be super aggressive early, especially in lower buy in tourneys. Fortune favors the larger stack. Get it in early, hope for the best and move on if it doesn't work. A lot more money can be made cashing large than just making the bubble all the time.

Originally Posted by KWILD

In online tourneys, I find you need to be super aggressive early, especially in lower buy in tourneys. Fortune favors the larger stack. Get it in early, hope for the best and move on if it doesn't work. A lot more money can be made cashing large than just making the bubble all the time.

worst advice ever please note how many posts people have before you consider their opinion. alot show up for a week to get into couple freerolls and drive people crazy with game types like this.

Originally Posted by wildyetty

worst advice ever please note how many posts people have before you consider their opinion. alot show up for a week to get into couple freerolls and drive people crazy with game types like this.

Yeah i agree.

Originally Posted by KWILD

In online tourneys, I find you need to be super aggressive early, especially in lower buy in tourneys. Fortune favors the larger stack. Get it in early, hope for the best and move on if it doesn't work. A lot more money can be made cashing large than just making the bubble all the time.

I feast on super-aggro maniacs like KWILD in freerolls and small buy-in MTT's. Being tight and patient will let guys like KWILD hang themselves with overbets and preflop shoves early in the tournament. In the later stages, I open up my betting range considerably.

It depends on what the table brings.

At the beginning, some tables are crazy and others are normal.

Just play your game and adjust what the table gives.

I go shove and pray for good double up start, and than i play agressive as always

I wonder how you start playing mtts, and tournaments turbo,

thx

First I try to double up or win some good pots due an aggressive style. But when the blinds getting higher I try to play carefully and don`t look at every hand. I think that my mistake is to call all ins preflop with good hands late in the tournament.

In the early stages you need to play a lot of post-flop play, and well isolate preflop. We need to be aggressive in order to collect the most chips. Since there will be many fish-players, do not expect strong hands, because the top pair with top kicker on the flop will not guarantee a win, so it's worth to play a lot of hands.

On First Phase I try to play loose and I bet in the flop if I have connected top pair with good kicker or better hand. After I play tight or depending on the type of Players on the table.

In early stage you should try to play more hand and make more limps dont raise 5bb or more pre flop

I also play in the beginning very carefully. When the fish is still smaller, it is easier to play.

I try play with monster-hand , other i folding

a good tournament player needs to be adept at more than one style of play in early stages, but in a nutshell:

• If the table is playing loose, tighten up.
• If the table is playing tight, widen your opening range.

Either approach should be followed by a post-flop strategy that's consistent with the available fold equity:

1. against tight, weak, fit/fold opponents where there is lots of fold equity, consider a higher cbet% and bet strong draws aggressively, adding fold equity to the actual equity in your hand.
2. against very aggressive opponents, consider taking a check-call line more often and allowing them to bluff and to overvalue second best hands.
3. against calling stations, bet multiple streets for value, never bluff and never assume/hope that they will do the betting for you.

in later stages, it's more important to have a strong 3bet strategy and target tight/weak mid-stacks, but early on with deep stacks just beat them with superior hand selection given th table dynamic and post-flop play against different profiles.

in summary: It's probably best to come into every event with an open mind and figure out the table dynamic before deciding how best to counter it.

Play tight, play from possition (y)

Juega sólido y no dilapides tus fichas con manos medias.

Evita las manos iniciales que puedan ir fácilmente dominadas, tipo , que suelen

conectar mejor pareja de mesa con un kicker medio.

Juega de forma agresiva y directa tus manos premium y los sets.

Juega tus manos especulativas, como las parejas bajas, de forma barata.

Si tu mano especulativa no conecta bien con el flop, abandónala sin arriesgar más fichas. pokerstar.com

I like to play very nit at the beginning of microstakes mtts. OOP I only play the better hands. If on position, I might limp some marginal hands that can win me a huge pot if I hit the flop. If I do hit something huge on the flop, I'll play it aggressively, since u can be against 2-4 opponents. Otherwise I'll just check and try to see a free card and fold to any action

I'm still learning, and I've only ever really played in freerolls, which I know doesn't help a lot with the learning.

I usually play very tight unless I have a killer hand just because the sheer volume of people going all-in and hoping to get lucky is eventually going to overcome my playing smart.

So generally, I play extremely cautious until the idiots have filtered themselves out. I'm never the chip leader mid-way in, but I often have found myself in the top 3-4% of the field when the bottom 1/3rd are out.

I need to adjust what I do after that because I rarely finish there. Finished 13th out of 6500+ last night which is probably the best I have ever done. I finish in the top 30-35% a lot, but out of the top 15% more often than I'd like.

early i play passive and tight, if i got good hand i get in and play, but my play is usely to see flop in the cost of blinds only if i got playable hands unless fold.

Depend on the format,i tend to play more open in a hyper turbo tourney.

I play slow at the beginning of a tourney.

A freeroll is different. Then I am an idiot like a fox.

a8 fold is not super tight, and play should be carefully studying opponents and opened isch based on their range. default range of your opening aj + KQs tt + as set maining can be to practice

wow my thread went viral lol :P

I'm in lock down mode to start usually. I am not one to dictate the table play. I will then adjust my range based on the play around me.

well for me it depends alot on how the rest of the table is playing-if its a fairly tight table i might play looser and look to steal pots when i can-if its a loose table with aloit of ppl pushing all-in i might look to trap by being patient and waiting for a hand-if its a mixed table i might mix it up a little myself by playing tight for awhile then loosening up for awhile-there is no set way i play early-i look for chances and oppertunity,s to chip up

Originally Posted by Methodless

I'm still learning, and I've only ever really played in freerolls, which I know doesn't help a lot with the learning.

I usually play very tight unless I have a killer hand just because the sheer volume of people going all-in and hoping to get lucky is eventually going to overcome my playing smart.

So generally, I play extremely cautious until the idiots have filtered themselves out. I'm never the chip leader mid-way in, but I often have found myself in the top 3-4% of the field when the bottom 1/3rd are out.

I need to adjust what I do after that because I rarely finish there. Finished 13th out of 6500+ last night which is probably the best I have ever done. I finish in the top 30-35% a lot, but out of the top 15% more often than I'd like.

Well, when I read this it's like I'm looking in a mirror . But even when i have AA or KK i fold when there are already 3 or more "players" allin.

basically play tight and try to hit sets, and go loosening the extent that the blinds increase

I play tight and try to catch a whale with a monster hand. Getting a double up early helps a lot

Tight aggressive is definitely the way to go in the micro stakes. As mentioned already, there's a lot of players who will play any 2 cards purely to try and get a good chip lead in the hopes that they'll do well in the tourney. Playing too many pots against these guys generally won't be a good idea as they could have anything - literally.
Be patient and wait for the better hands. Play more aggressively when you hit with them though and hope to get called off by those who play junk