PP 220+20 St Maaren Satallite

[unfrgvn]

I've qualified for this tonight @ 23:45 EST. Any words of advice? Has anyone played in one of these? Did it play tight or loose?

TIA

[rainman3000]

I have played in one of them and made the mistake of playing to tight against the competition.

The key thing to remember is to play in a fashion that will let you gather chips and still be strong enough to make the top 5 or 6 that usually get the trip.

I made the mistake of playing way to aggressive when we got down to the final 20 people. I lost a couple of hands with big pocket pairs trying to take people out.

[B1GF1SHY]

I've played in one and the competition is fairly tight. After awhile some boneheads come out of their shell and start playing stupid though.

[Lloyd]

I have played in it twice. The first time I made it to the final table, was second in chips, and made an absolutely stupid call of an all-in bet by the chip leader. Horendous play on my part and I got knocked out.

I played last night and learned from my previous mistake. Once I made the final table (again, second in chips), I played much more cautiously than before and let the big stack go to work on the small ones. I qualified and will be going to St. Marteen.

Overall, I think the level of competition in this tournament is below average for a buy-in of this size. At least half of the entries are from qualifiers. This, of course, doesn't mean that those who qualified versus paying the full buy-in are less of a player. But I do think it changes the nature of the game. People think "Well, it only cost me $22 to get into this so what the heck, I'll throw my chips around and see what happens."

I think the most important thing to remember is that you do not have to win this tournament. The first time I played, I tried to win it. If I one on my call, I'm the chip leader. But I lost, so I was knocked out of the tournament. The second time I played all that I cared about was finishing in the Top 5. I wound up finishing 5th and that was perfectly fine with me.

It's going to take 12,000-15,000 chips for you to qualify. This presumes about 100 entrants. Early on I played fairly conservatively. My goal was to double up a couple of times so I only played in pots where that was a good possibility or I had a huge advantage for a small pot. I did not play any coin flips early on. I did not want to risk my entire tournament when I knew there would be plenty of chances down the road that I could be in control over. If someone went all-in and I had AK, I'd pass. It just wasn't worth it (unless I was short stacked). I essentially played this way throughout the entire tournament but added in some steals once the blinds got large enough that they mattered. My entire tournament pretty much came down to 3 hands where I doubled up. I waited patiently for people to make mistakes and took advantage of them. There was no need to play like a maniac. I was certainly very aggressive at the right time. But I made sure that I had a large edge, or a solid read on my opponent.

Once I reached the final table I played even more conservatively. I was 2nd in chips and had more than double the amount of the 6th place person (one out of the money). We had a large stack at the table, which I think is the norm. The large stack (more than twice my chips) was playing conservatively but would occasionally go all-in. Of course, all of us in the Top 5 folded so that he was up against the small stacks. Let him build up his chips at their expense. It will get you into the money. One person even folded pocket aces. He was 3rd in chips. Why take a chance that you can lose.

Anyway, to sum it up. The competition is average. Patience is key. It only takes a few victories to win. This is one of the easier tournaments to finish in the money if you play smart.

Good luck and if you have any specific questions I'm happy to throw out my two cents.