Need some advice re: tourneys against tourists

[Killer Mike]

Hi everyone,
I haven't been playing for very long, but I consider myself to be a fairly strong tournament player. I've won a couple smaller tourneys, but lately I've been running into a very common problem: playing against "bad" players. Now I'm sure this is a really common thread topic, but I'd really love to hear your thoughts on playing in situations such as these. I've read a couple articles by McEvoy in Card Player that basically advise much tighter play against unexperienced players. Is that what you all do? My biggest hang up is that people are chasing with goofy starting hands despite hefty raises and then catching cards to beat me. I realize playing tighter could alleviate some of this, but you can't stick to strictly premium hands in a NL tournament unless you've got a giant stack or you're extremely lucky. I don't want to get blinded to death!

It sounds crazy, but when it comes to tournament poker, I think I'd rather sit down with a table full of pros than a table full of people who play poorly.

Advice? Opinions?

[Officer Farva]

Pros will chase you too, but with the nuts. If you play long enough, and bet strong enough, the "lucky" amatuers will lose and you will win. Also, you may be underestimating your opponents. There are a lot of very good players (see: Gus Hansen) who play with a variety of starting hands so as to keep their opponents off balance.

But I know what you are talking about. When someone gutshots a staight against my set, I want to throw my laptop across the room and start a fight with my roomate. (Actaully happened)

Hope that helped, though I doubt it.