Poker Tourny Strategy?

[NORM77]

Hi There,

I play in a weekly live poker tourny vs 8 opponents with a
$50 buy in. The Tourny structure is as follows...

Each player gets $1000 in chips

Blinds are-
- 0-30 mins= 5-10
- 30-60 mins= 10-25
- 60-90 mins= 25-50
- 90-110 mins= 50-100
- 110-130 mins= 75-150
- 130-150 mins= 100-200
- 150-170 mins= 150-300
- 170-185 mins= 200-400
- 185-200 mins= 250-500 (tourny is usually heads up
or over here)

Basically, I have been doing farely well in these tournies
but, I feel my main problem has been that I have been getting blinded down with a medium stack once the blinds get to the 50-100/75-150 range, and I am getting impatient and making mistakes which either cripple my stack or get my self knocked out.

Does any one have any suggestions on what a good strategy to implement under these tournament conditions would be.

btw- 1st place wins $270, 2nd place= $135 & 3rd Place wins $45.

Any feedback, any of you have would be much appreciated!

Thanks.

[Mr_J]

Wow, prize money is heavily biased towards 1st. There's a strategy guide for $10 online tournies somewhere a few pages back. It might give you some idea's.

[PokerCat69]

I think that tournament sounds horrible.
Third place loses money??
Also the blind increase is too slow, who wants to [censored] around all day playing that?

If you always find yourself blinded down it means your playing way too tight. Open up your starting hand requirments, or limp in more and hope to make a set on the flop. You can't wait for pocket Aces you know!

[bigredlemon]

8*50 = $400
total prize = $450

math awry somewhere?

[NORM77]

Yea,

The Pay out is based on winner gets $60%, 2nd 30% and 3rd 10%... It usually takes about 3.0 hours to play, same guys each week, no one has complained too much about the length ( I realize it is a bit long)

I have read the $10 SnG Strategy, basically just wondering If I need to make any adjustments with the blinds taking a little longer to increase (ie: should I be playing more hands early to try to accumulate chips)?

The last few tournies I have been blinded down rather then going out in a blaze of glory.

[NORM77]

me + 8 opponents= $450

[livinitup0]

I agree with opening up your hand selection. But only in the right circumstances. In tournament play hand selection isnt just determined by position, pot odds, and overall hand strength, but also about with the escalating blinds. In the early rounds i always limp in (when i can) with whatever i think will beat out a whole table if it hits, Axs Kxs, small pocket pairs, etc. It only takes once or twice to gain a large chip lead. then you can virtually clam up and basically be gauranteed a decent chip stack when down to 3-4 players. By that time your table image is extremely tight, so now its much easier to steal blinds when everyone else is worried about being the one taken out before the money. Blinds are usually high at this point and stealing on or 1 before the button usualy works to gain enough chips to survive to heads up. If you get to heads up, the blinds will be putting you all in within a small number of hands usually, so just pick the best hands and run with them. It works for me, may not be pro player strategy but I've won or gotten second in 80% of the last 20 home games ive had. Works well online too.

[MrMon]

One thing I've noticed about home game tourneys is that most of the players have very little short handed experience. Playing tourneys online, you do. If they're poker smart, but not tourney smart, opening up when you get down to 4 may get you the chips you need.