Strategy advice: Need to finish top 5 out of 20

[DrCool]

The particulars: Local cardroom has a Aces cracked free entry tourney. If you get Aces cracked you get a free entry into a tourney. Every week there are 3 preliminary tourneys. Top 3 from each of those go to the final table for the week. Top 2 from there go on to the semi-finals. This is where I am at now.

The semi-finals will be 2 20 person tournaments. Top 5 from each of those go on to the final table. Winner gets $10K. Nothing for second place. It is being billed as "win an entry into the WSOP" type of thing but they are just gonna pay out $10K and let the winner do what they want with the money. Chip counts don't carry over either.

What would the best strategy be to finish top 5 out of 20? I don't care if I only have 1 chip at that point or a huge stack. Just need to finish top 5.

Should I play super aggressive and try and build a stack early since everyone else will be thinking if they just play super, super tight they can eek into the top 5?

Should I play super, super tight and hope everyone else is playing super loose?

Obviously I will need to make some determination as to how I should play when I see what everyone else is doing but in general how would you play this?

[CardSharpCook]

Making the top 25% in any tourney isn't easy. Hoping to blind your way in (while waiting for monsters) just ins't going to work. Play your normal aggressive game. There is a difference though. Once you accumulate a good chip stack, you can tighten up and wait, but I always like staying aggressive, but choosing who I steal from. Blind steal from big stacks and keep on accumulating. Of course, you must be the biggest stack for you to do this, but the other players will be happy to let you take the role of policeman and will fold some damn good cards. Just a thought. In general, you build up, you wait, you build up, you wait.

CSC

[ThrillFactor]

[ QUOTE ]
The particulars: Local cardroom has a Aces cracked free entry tourney. If you get Aces cracked you get a free entry into a tourney.

[/ QUOTE ]


I still don't get it?? /images/graemlins/confused.gif













OH! Ok. Now I do. If you get aces cracked you get free entry into the tourney! That makes sense now.


j/k /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[ghostface]

What are Aces and how do they get cracked??

I'm so lost on this one. Is that when you rip one of the cards on accident?


As a side note, when you play in a tourney where you just have to place, you want to build the stack as early as possible rather than play rock tight in the beginning. With the early big stack you can wait it out while still staying aggressive and being the bully that having the stack allows you to do.

[MicroBob]

For those who don't know....Aces cracked is just a promotion that some rooms run during their ring-games.

For example 'Aces cracked wins a rack (of white)' usually means that if you have a pocket Aces and your opponent out-draws you on the river then you win $100.


Obviously this guy was playing at some room where 'aces cracked' wins a free entry into this WSOP tourney thing.



As for how best to place in the top 5 of a 20 player tourney...umm.....it depends. There really isn't a magic formula.
Obviously the style of your opponents (and their general intelligence) as well as teh blind-structure could all be factors to consider.