[Closed] Strategy

uhm... We can't really talk about sng's and tourneys in the same thread... so well I'll just talk about the tourney site of this here...

The Basic strategy tells you you can sit back and relax with 24+ bb's.. This is not the case in tournaments... You always have to maintain your stack..

10/20 - 40/80
You talk about being tight in the beginning... TAG is right but you also gotta be happy limping suited connectors and pocket pairs early on... And not raise hands like AJo early or ATo at all... These hands with 15/30 blinds have reverse implied odds since most of the times these hands to terrible in multiway pots... On the other hand if you get into some action 100bb's deep with 78s you might double or even triple up if you hit the right flop... Implied odds are really what you need to understand in the early stages of a tournament...

50/100 - 100/200
I would still play really TAG here... No antes yet and still a lot of loose players getting lucky... Here you should just stop limping in most cases... Suited connectors and small pocket pairs are not the hands you wan't in this case...
It's okay too make blind steals from time to time but I wouldn't be really tight about them... Just build up your image being a TAG player on this stage... Unless you fall short then you gotta play Push/fold on this stage.

175/250 + 25 antes
10% antes... here you should forget what cards your holding from time to time and make some steals.. I would loosen up here... Even if your 30bb's deep you still need to loosen up here and maintain your stack since every orbit is eating around 400 chippies from you... You should read a lot about advance blind stealing and blind defending on the internet...

on the bubble
If your playing a mtt you don't mind bubble-ing if you do you have a leak.. Getting itm in a mtt is only like 0.5x the BI... But here you should really loosen up.. if you have a big stack put the pressure on the short stacks that just wanna get into the money... if your a shortstack here is the spot you gotta double up.. Don't be shy busting close to the bubble...
When you get close to the bubble you gotta keep your eyes open.. Both look out for how your opponents are playing and you also gotta look at your own image...
You gotta know what players are playing too cash and what players are playing to win...
You gotta defend your big blind against any weak shortstack so he doesn't try stealing it again...
The bubble is the perfect spot for abusing all shortstacks and blind stealing... Most players tighten up around the bubble but a player that is going for the win loosens up here..

Well hope this will help... after reading your post I guess you need to start stealing more.. Read some articles on both stealing and defending and re-steals...

Goodluck in any future tournaments

These are stuff you might consider in later stages of a tournament, say after 1h or 2h or play.

When you get a big stack, you dont have to wait. You can open for a raise Ax hands in late position. Also open with connected suited and broadway hands and pocket pairs ofcourse. The situation has to be such that there is no obvious risk in someone shoving, such as maniac behind you or a real short stack on tilt or what not. Also, the smaller the effective stack sizes the smaller your opening raise should be. After the first 1h, a good open raise is often 2.5bb or less.

Put in the occasional 1 barrel bluff, but no automatic c-bets and no multistreet bluffs. Keep postflop bets small, 1/2 pot is plenty enough in tournaments. And only valuebet in situations where majority of hands you might imagine your opponnt calling your bet with are weaker hands. Its not enough you have the best hand, you have to get a worse hand to call.

Also, include 3betAI bluff in your arsenal. When you have 13-20bb stack its very profitable. When someone opens for a raise in late position, who has slightly more stack than you and seems like a reasonably balanced player (not too tight, not too lose), you shove regardless what cards you have. Say he opens to 2.5bb from CO, and you shove 15bb from BU, blinds fold, and it gets back to him. He now has to call 12.5bb, for a pot worth 32.5bb (with antes). So he needs 38.4% equity to call, which means most players wont automatically call, to make it worse, if he calls he will be crippled if he loses. Yet if he folds he will have a real nice stack left. You on the other hand have increased your stack by 33%. I usually only start making light 3bets once I get past into the money, too many callingstations before then. And dont use it too often or you will get called by weak hands.

Keep postflop bets small, 1/2 pot is plenty enough in tournaments.

also make it 2/3 when the board is really draw heavy imo

Thanks for the advise guys.

I think my leak is at the stealing and protecting of blinds, it should help keep my stack steady at the later stages of the tourney. The 3betAI bluff is also good advice thanks

Originally posted by Dragar
Thanks for the advise guys.

I think my leak is at the stealing and protecting of blinds, it should help keep my stack steady at the later stages of the tourney. The 3betAI bluff is also good advice thanks

Dont bother defending your blinds, except with a rare 3betai when stack sizes and positions are good. Its very very difficult to break even, playing from the blinds, and the variance is a bitch in tournaments. So just surrender your blinds (exception being you dont give up BB against SB). Also, dont call with too many hands, but open alot of pots, especially in late position if there are weak players on your left. If you have agro or callingstaions on your left, then you have little choice but to wait for good cards.

a lot of players seem to play the bubble pre & post bad

post bubble know that TribunCaesar tends to loosen up a lot & there is a lot of chips to be won with players pushing with pretty marginal hands but personaly then to tighten up because of it & loosen up when the game tighten up closer to the final table when the game tighten up again & not realy sure its right thing to do

on Ipoker u see so many using up time pre bubble & playing ultra tight and normaly just getting in the money give a realy bad return for the effort