How do limit HE tournaments make sense?

I've been playing limit holdem for about a year now and i'm starting to grind out a small profit. I try to play tight aggressive as much as possible, but I still have a lot to learn about the game.


I have never played a tournament, but it makes sense to me that in no limit tournaments the winningest players play tight agressive. In limit tournaments it doesn't seem like this is possible. Keep in mind I am unclear of limit tournament rules. I am guessing that they are played the same way a ring game is played only the biggest winner wins.


With this said, in ring game while tight aggressive player are the only winners in the long run, they are seldom the biggest winner at a table on a single night.


example:

At my typical 10 person table there are about 6 loose players. While 5 of them might be anywhere from breaking even to losing terribly, often there is at least one of them that is catching all kinds of lucky cards which is putting him way ahead most tight aggressives.


Therefore a limit tournament seems like it is just for gamblers.

Or is there something in the tournamnet rules that i'm missing. Or am I not a good enough player to do consistently well in tournaments. Or are there not really that maney lucky loose players as my memory is telling me. Or is it because the low limit games I play in have more loose players than normal.


Any thoughts appreciated


Joe

well, tournaments are played until people bust out. that is, everyone starts with the same amount of chips and plays until they lose all their chips or they are have all the chips. you may already know this, but your post seemed like you might not. so, on occasion, depending on the tournament structure, people can get lucky, and the guys who bust out may be winning players, but their variance was too big for the tourny structure. or they were running bad. whatever. but tournaments also are considered to require a significantly different skill set to find success in than ring games. plays of survival are made quite often in tournaments that are just plain wrong in ring games.


hope this begins to answer your questions. ill let others elaborate.

I forgot to metion this.


In a no limit game tight agressive play can serve to keep you out of a maniac's way until you have an opportunity that you really like. Then you can punish him big. But in a limit game when this chance finally comes you can't punish the loose player by a significant amount in just one shot.


I understand that there are probably many other differences between the two types of tournaments also.


Can you give me any examples of the differnces between limit ring games, limit tournaments, and no limit tournaments. Mostly between limit ring games and limit tournamnets.


Thanks for your response


Joe

i gave you pretty much the extent of my knowledge on the general differences. im sure other people here can give better examples than i could think of. i've never played a limit tournament. ive played a couple no-limit tournaments. and i play low-limit live games.


ill let others elaborate.

If you want all the details just buy David Sklanky's new book.


I'll just mention one obvious point. You don't have to come first that often to come out ahead. Just because it's a longshot doesn't mean it's a bad bet.


D.

In a limit game you can welcome a greater volume of conflict with the maniac rather than one great pay-off- you're not going to lose your whole stack on one confrontation, so having a truly superior hand is not as important. Still punishing the maniac, just differently. The advice in HEPFAP still holds for the most part (IMO), basically get him heads up whenever the table will let you, since he's willing to provide action with inferior hands. He can also be a useful tool in other situtions, like driving others out of the pot because you know your bet will be doubled, cutting everyone's pot odds in half, and you can get your check-raises in more reliably- if he's on your left you can trap people for 2 bets more often. If he's on your right you can take it to 3 bets pre-flop when he raises, hopefully getting it to you & him.


But on the other hand, I'm not too bright, so don't mind me /images/wink.gif


2ndGoat