winning strategy or foolish?

[aaronlowman]

I have found that when playing in online tournaments, if I have a significant chip lead (and the blinds relatively small), I begin to play a bit more loose. That tends to happen to most of us (I need more patience), BUT what I also began to notice was that more people tended to flat call before the flop. Then, bigger pots (more pre-flop callers) kept people in the hands longer than they should have (flush and straight draws). Unless I hit a miracle flop, I was able to easily muck my hand and my opponents would continue to battle it out. Not every hand, but often enough my opponents would eliminate each other for the price of one called bet (from me). I place high enough to cash, and win a good bit of these tournaments as well. Every once in a while, I would hit my flop and make up some money I "gave away". What are your thoughts on this? Could this be a true phenomena? Is it an acceptable move or boneheaded? I have not had the guts (balls) to try this in a B+M, so I am not sure if this is just an internet thing or what. All responses are welcome. Thanks,

Lowman

[Jason Strasser]

Blah.

Just play tight aggressive.

[TheFink]

Depends on lots of factors I think. Certainly there's a case for calling pre-flop and trying to take it away on the flop if you think u can consistently outplay opponents. Also in shorter, faster tournaments where the stacks are not so deep it's often safer to call to avoid getting into trouble with marginal hands.

But I'm not sure that calling and then folding when you've missed is the correct strategy - you say you have a good stack, so why not raise pre-flop to take it there or bluff the flop when u miss?

[aaronlowman]

hey Fink,

Thanks for the response! Just to clarify, I said it is easy to muck losers. I do not always muck, and I do not always limp. I make my share of raises with good and marginal hands, and I steal often enough. thanks again

Lowman