Tournament Do's & Dont's

[vinylspiros]

BUMP BUMP ... good thoughts and worthy of reflection. There are a few comments that I tend to disagree with, but actually each action 'depends' on the particular circumstances.

I would add, "if you think your opponent is bluffing by going all-in, they usually are not" unless their play tendency is 'maniac'.

Wally

Wow, had forgotten about this thread.lol. You know alot of the time when someone goes "all in" pre it looks like ak or a medium pp. Cause aces and kings and even queens usually just make a min raise nowadays in order to not draw any suspicion and also to induce a 3 bet. All in all, it really depends on their position and STACKSIZE! Which parts did you disagree with? I would be interested in hearing some debate on tourney strategy.

 

[Kauwidinoc]

Thank you for your thoughts. I agree with you in most cases I think i have to change my mind more and more and the posts will help me further

 

[sickpuppy]

Great post you hit it all on the nose! I wood only change not steping on the gas sooner. I want to give tbl image like ill call week and try and get more players in the hand sometimes we all know slow play gets us beat but i will be agro from the start. And i have had troubles with overbets but have got much better.

 

[Jacki Burkhart]

I have played on and off for several years. My preference has always been tournament poker. At the lower limits the TAG strategy worked well for me in keeping me from making difficult decisions. However, wins where few and far between. I would go deep in many tournaments but it was rare that I would be a threat.

I am reworking my game. Looking at everything differently. So far the results are mixed to negative but I have plenty of weaknesses that I need to fix. For the first time I am having to think through the whole process for each hand I am involved in. I'm using parts of my poker brain that I have never had to use before.

The point I'm trying to get to is I no longer feel that the very tight at the beginning of the tournament is the correct strategy. I'm not talking about taking crazy gambles but I do believe that I should be in there mixing it up with the weakest players before they give their chips away to other players that aren't me.

Yes, this.

I think it is correct to play TAG as a beginner and even intermediate until you develop some good base skills. Then it is time to expand your horizons and you'll have the poker sense to know when you're ahead, when you're beat, when you're at a critical inflection point that you have to gamble, when you are at a coasting point and can fold AJ without a care in the world...

I used to play TAG exclusively for about 2 years and had about a 30% in the money percentage, but I barely broke even in the long run. Then I started trying to play bigger buy-in tourneys and TAG didn't even get me in the money 25% of the time any more, and when I did cash it was tiny.

Nowadays I cash less frequently but usually am a contender when I do and the paydays are much bigger. Bigger ups and downs, bigger risks, bigger rewards.

 

[Jacki Burkhart]

Didn't Greg Merson get down to under 10bb in last years wsop main event before going on to win ?

actually when Merson won in 2012 he was down to under 3BB at one point! I Know right! I think Merson got so short on like day 3 or 4 of a 9 day event! way to stay focused and not give up, not get desperate, just look for the best spot for your stack size.

got ya. cool thanks. one more thing,whats the difference between M and BB.(i know what M is and how u calcualte it,i just never used it)

isnt ot more or less the same thing?

M and #BB are both methods to manage your stack size with the blind levels

I prefer M, it is more accurate. If you are playing in tourneys that tend to have antes for most of the tourney it's worth learning this.

Each time you successfully blind steal, your M just went up by exactly 1

it's also slightly more time consuming to calculate but worth it, IMO.

most people tend to think/talk in #BB so if you do start thinking in M you'll have to be able to explain the same story to people in #BB too...

Yeah it's just more useful when ante's come into play and especially in tournies where antes are a lot bigger.

agreed, sometimes the antes are as much if not more than the SB+BB. In those levels if you are only using #BB instead of M you are thinking that your stack is better off than it really is and you're minimizing the need to blind steal.

 

[oooo]

I tottally agree with what you said here! I have been using this exact same strategy on PS and it is working GREAT! What I have to do is follow this part here:

Dont turn into a chicken if the player to your left is playing back at you from the blinds when your making button raises. Ok so you make a button steal attempt and you get 3 bet or 3bet shoved. Let it go if the bet is too big and your hand isnt as good. Dont use position as an excuse to play absolute garbage and commit yourself with marginal hands. If you think your hand is better than his,then 4 bet shove,even if your deep in the tourney. Dont fold to any agression from the blinds and be bullied out of stealing because without stealing blinds,most of the time you will not be able to make it as deep as you might want to make it.

That I should be doing but whenever the guy on my left gets bigger then me, I get very nervous... Well until I get a read if he is a nit, if he is, then I'm cool again! Great topic man! Here get some love :beer: