Ed Miller
01-02-2003, 07:22 PM
My local B&M runs a NL tourny with a $45 buyin (for T1500) and $20 rebuys for the first hour (for T1000) and a $20 addon (also for T1000) at the end of the first hour.
My question is how to deal with the ante structure... rounds are 15 min each... and during the rebuy period, the blinds are relatively small (starting with a single T25 blind for the first round and ending in the fourth round with two blinds of T75 and T100).
Soon thereafter, though, the blinds and particularly the antes increase quickly in size.
T100-T150 with a T25 ante
T150-T200 with a T50 ante
T250-T300 with a T100 ante
T300-T400 with a T200 ante
T400-T500 with a T300 ante
T500-T600 with a T400 ante
etc.
I have played in this structure now three times, and all three times I have done well in the rebuy period and first couple of rounds after the rebuy... and built my stack up to around, say, T6000. Then the T300 antes hit and I have enough stack to stand about two rounds of antes. I end up catching a round of typical offsuit trash and all of a sudden I'm calling an allin raise for the last remnants of my stack with K9o, because at this point that looks like a pretty strong hand and I need to play now because if I wait one more hand, my stack will be just that much smaller.
My inclination is that the large ante size might force me to play very aggressively preflop on nothing... that if everyone folds to me, I basically have to raise allin with any two cards. Obviously I can't be calling allin raises with baby trash... and I had been trying to wait to take a stab in late position, but by late position, the pot is usually raised already.
I find this structure frustrating because I feel like I am outplaying my competition for the first two hours only to get crapshooted out half an hour later. Is this a typical structure (I'm pretty new to tournaments) and, if so, does anyone have a specific suggestion for me?
My question is how to deal with the ante structure... rounds are 15 min each... and during the rebuy period, the blinds are relatively small (starting with a single T25 blind for the first round and ending in the fourth round with two blinds of T75 and T100).
Soon thereafter, though, the blinds and particularly the antes increase quickly in size.
T100-T150 with a T25 ante
T150-T200 with a T50 ante
T250-T300 with a T100 ante
T300-T400 with a T200 ante
T400-T500 with a T300 ante
T500-T600 with a T400 ante
etc.
I have played in this structure now three times, and all three times I have done well in the rebuy period and first couple of rounds after the rebuy... and built my stack up to around, say, T6000. Then the T300 antes hit and I have enough stack to stand about two rounds of antes. I end up catching a round of typical offsuit trash and all of a sudden I'm calling an allin raise for the last remnants of my stack with K9o, because at this point that looks like a pretty strong hand and I need to play now because if I wait one more hand, my stack will be just that much smaller.
My inclination is that the large ante size might force me to play very aggressively preflop on nothing... that if everyone folds to me, I basically have to raise allin with any two cards. Obviously I can't be calling allin raises with baby trash... and I had been trying to wait to take a stab in late position, but by late position, the pot is usually raised already.
I find this structure frustrating because I feel like I am outplaying my competition for the first two hours only to get crapshooted out half an hour later. Is this a typical structure (I'm pretty new to tournaments) and, if so, does anyone have a specific suggestion for me?