B
Brave_n_Crazy
Enthusiast
Silver Level
The title is tongue in cheek, of course, but after my big win yesterday the cards seem to have decided to show their love to someone else. Since I can play 85 tournaments with my winnings (at .10 a pop but hey, it's still a lot) I thought I would use this downturn to improve my play during the rough times.
First, when you flop two pair but a potential straight or flush comes on the turn (meaning the river could make said straight or flush for someone else), should you slow down or try to push people out? I've had several instances over the last few tournaments where this has happened and the needed card indeed came. I have not won with two pair in five tournaments, although I split one pot. Should I continue to play as though I had not just lost the last four hands to runner runner? My thought is yes, but someone more experienced may have another take.
Secondly, when faced with a table of highly aggressive players during a turbo and you are not hitting, should you tighten up and pray for a premium hand or just play as normal knowing you will most likely be busted out in the first five minutes? The tournament I was just in is an example. I tried limping with the cards I like to play early only to have someone always raise the pot by a large amount. I tried betting 2.5BB on my better hands preflop only to have someone with a bigger stack either push all-in, or reraise me by a large amount. The raises were sufficient that I would effectively be crippled by calling and losing, and I'm not comfortable making that commitment preflop with hands like KJs.
This wasn't the usual all-in stupidity I'm used to, it looked like four or five players were just being very aggressive with their larger stacks. I didn't win a single hand and only got to showdown when I was finally put all-in by the blinds. When there is only one player acting like this, I can usually figure it out and come over him, but I don't know what to do with multiple players like this.
I finally wrapped my mind around the idea that fewer ITM was fine as long as your ROI was going up in exchange, so I'm not stressing over getting knocked of these tourneys, but I would like to learn to last longer in them if possible.
Cheers
First, when you flop two pair but a potential straight or flush comes on the turn (meaning the river could make said straight or flush for someone else), should you slow down or try to push people out? I've had several instances over the last few tournaments where this has happened and the needed card indeed came. I have not won with two pair in five tournaments, although I split one pot. Should I continue to play as though I had not just lost the last four hands to runner runner? My thought is yes, but someone more experienced may have another take.
Secondly, when faced with a table of highly aggressive players during a turbo and you are not hitting, should you tighten up and pray for a premium hand or just play as normal knowing you will most likely be busted out in the first five minutes? The tournament I was just in is an example. I tried limping with the cards I like to play early only to have someone always raise the pot by a large amount. I tried betting 2.5BB on my better hands preflop only to have someone with a bigger stack either push all-in, or reraise me by a large amount. The raises were sufficient that I would effectively be crippled by calling and losing, and I'm not comfortable making that commitment preflop with hands like KJs.
This wasn't the usual all-in stupidity I'm used to, it looked like four or five players were just being very aggressive with their larger stacks. I didn't win a single hand and only got to showdown when I was finally put all-in by the blinds. When there is only one player acting like this, I can usually figure it out and come over him, but I don't know what to do with multiple players like this.
I finally wrapped my mind around the idea that fewer ITM was fine as long as your ROI was going up in exchange, so I'm not stressing over getting knocked of these tourneys, but I would like to learn to last longer in them if possible.
Cheers