gergery
08-03-2004, 05:16 PM
The comment below from cferejohn is one of the best detailed explanations of just exactly what specific skills are required in ring vs. tourneys that I’ve seen yet. Can others add to it? Anyone else want to comment? I’ve been playing mostly tourney’s (still fairly new) and have had trouble adapting to ring games as well as I’d like.
In addition to the other comments in this thread, you do need to get more aggressive the longer the tournament goes because your stack is getting smaller and smaller relative to the blinds. Tournaments require the ability to slowly ramp up your aggression throughout the event. More than any other form of poker, tournaments require the ability to change gears, and many players have a lot of trouble with it.
Players who are solid ring game players often have the problem you are having. Their tight strategy does well in the early going, but when the blinds get big, the fact that they are routinely mucking marginal hands 2 or 3 off the button when folded to when aggressive players are stealing blinds in this situation costs them.
Similarly, some tournament players start off way to aggressive. These players can do quite well if they survive through the 3rd hour (this is assuming a standard ~5 hour online tournament), but bust out so often in the early going that they rarely get to take advantage of this.
If you are commonly reaching the mid-levels with an average stack, it sounds like you are playing pretty well through the first stagesof the tournament. The fact that you never have a big stack implies that you are probably not value betting enough in the early going, as others have suggested, but generally, your early game is OK. Now you need to add the other piece of the puzzle and add in some aggression.
Poker is a game where you take advantage of other player's mistakes. In the early going, there are usually quite a few bad overly loose and/or aggressive players around. You can take advantage of them by value betting or trapping. Once 2/3 of the field is eliminated, most of the remaining players tend to err more on the side of caution, in fact some players even get *tighter* at this point, since they can smell the money. You need to be able to adapt your game to take advantage of this environment. Throw in some steal raises with crap when it is folded to you in the CO (assuming the blinds are reasonable players). You're going to get the blinds quite a bit, and if someone plays back, it's pretty easy to lay down 83o...
In addition to the other comments in this thread, you do need to get more aggressive the longer the tournament goes because your stack is getting smaller and smaller relative to the blinds. Tournaments require the ability to slowly ramp up your aggression throughout the event. More than any other form of poker, tournaments require the ability to change gears, and many players have a lot of trouble with it.
Players who are solid ring game players often have the problem you are having. Their tight strategy does well in the early going, but when the blinds get big, the fact that they are routinely mucking marginal hands 2 or 3 off the button when folded to when aggressive players are stealing blinds in this situation costs them.
Similarly, some tournament players start off way to aggressive. These players can do quite well if they survive through the 3rd hour (this is assuming a standard ~5 hour online tournament), but bust out so often in the early going that they rarely get to take advantage of this.
If you are commonly reaching the mid-levels with an average stack, it sounds like you are playing pretty well through the first stagesof the tournament. The fact that you never have a big stack implies that you are probably not value betting enough in the early going, as others have suggested, but generally, your early game is OK. Now you need to add the other piece of the puzzle and add in some aggression.
Poker is a game where you take advantage of other player's mistakes. In the early going, there are usually quite a few bad overly loose and/or aggressive players around. You can take advantage of them by value betting or trapping. Once 2/3 of the field is eliminated, most of the remaining players tend to err more on the side of caution, in fact some players even get *tighter* at this point, since they can smell the money. You need to be able to adapt your game to take advantage of this environment. Throw in some steal raises with crap when it is folded to you in the CO (assuming the blinds are reasonable players). You're going to get the blinds quite a bit, and if someone plays back, it's pretty easy to lay down 83o...