Difference between big tourneys and small ones?

[Acesover8s]

So, it turns out I'm getting a lot better at NLHE tourneys. In the last 2 weeks I've got 2 1st place and 1 3rd place finish in 110+ player pokerstars tourneys. Plus I won that 1,000 player tourney a while back. And I got 2nd in my local casinos $80 NL event. So I think I'm achieving some level of skill/luck.

So my question is, if I want to move to a bigger event, say $500 to $1,000 buy in, what differences should I expect, and what do these differences mean for my play? Are the tournaments I'm playing in good practice for these events or should I be playing live games?

Furthermore, how come I can win these tournaments but I'm a donator in live games? And no, I'm not a 'move-in specialist'.

Thanks in advance,

[Martin Aigner]

IMHO there are three main differences between small buy in tourneys and the bigger ones. Internettourneys are something different again. In the small b+m tourneys you usually have several weak opponents. You won´t find most of them in the bigger tourneys (say buy in $500 and up), unless they have qualified via a satellite. So get prepared to be outplayed way more often in the bigger tourneys. On the other side you have to outplay your opponents more often too. For some reason I´ve found that the game in the early rounds is pretty tricky (lots of limping and slowplaying) in europe, in the USA the game in the bigger tourneys tends to be pretty aggressive right from the start. This is just a personal experience, but I might be completly wrong. Anyway, expect to pick up the blinds or play most pots heads up on the flop in the bigger tourneys. Reraises preflop in the small tourneys usually mean a pretty strong hand, in the bigger ones you might look into some strange hands too (if somenone reads you an a steal).

The next difference is the structure. The bigger a buy in, the more chips and time you (usually) have. For this reason the luckfactor will be reduced in the bigger ones significantly.

Another difference is that most small buy in tourneys are rebuy tourneys. Expect to see lots of all in-confrontations before the rebuy period is done. So don´t get too fancy with semibluffes when you have a slim draw before the break. On the other side you can easily get full interest out of your good hands.

Internettourneys are something quite different again. You will see very strange plays on the net. My own (sad ;-) )experience is that the tiltfactor is way higher on the net. Raises are called more often on the net. Be prepared that the limits grow pretty fast, so you have to play very fast too. In the end most internettourneys are more of a crapshot.

Regards

Martin Aigner

[Greg (FossilMan)]

It's kind of like the difference between playing 3-6 holdem and 30-60 holdem. The small game features more opponents who are looser and more passive, on average. The big game features more opponents who play tightly and aggressively.

In the small tourneys, you can do well by knowing how to take full advantage of the truly weak players. In the big tourneys, you have to beat players who are very good or at least decent.

You might say a big difference is where you make your money. In the small events, you make money preflop, by coming in with better starting hands than your average opponent. So, when you raise with AK and get called by A9, while most of the money goes in postflop when the flop is AJ3, you made the money because of their preflop mistake, and your correct choice of starting hands. In big games, most of the players will stick to essentially correct hand selection criteria preflop, and you need to make your money by making good calls, folds, and raises postflop.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

[Acesover8s]

Well now I'm even more confused.

Greg, you're telling me to expect to see more real hands being shown down and Martin is telling me that I should expect more 'moves' to be made.

I guess that makes sense as some players seem notorious for making moves (Chan?) while others seem to only be in with the best cards (Hellmuth?). From your posts, Greg, I would've guessed you would've been the former.

[Greg (FossilMan)]

We're both right, in a sense. I don't expect to see more moves by good players, but certainly more moves that are sensible. Weak players make moves, but it's because they don't know that AJ is a shitty hand once there's been a raise and a reraise.

Also, there is a big difference between limit and NL. Making moves in limit is often a mistake, as they'll often grit their teeth and call you down. Moves work better in NL games, and you'll see more of them from top players.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)