Paraise 10+1 limit tourney questions.

[Fitz]

What is the best strategy for these tournaments? In ring games, I average just over 1 BB an hour, but I've not had much success with these tourneys lately. I recently finished playing 50 of them (Not a huge sample, but enough to begin getting an idea of results); my results are:

Buy in $550 Win amount $480 net loss $70. 4 first place finishes 6 seconds and 5 thirds; in the money percentage 30%. I also have 7 fouth place finishes.

Normally, I play the first two or three rounds very similar to the way I play a normal ring game. As we get into the higher limits, I tend to tighten up. When we get to 5 or 6 players, I try to pick on the short stacks and work my way into the money. I often seem to end up in the last 4 or 5, but short stacked unless I've been able to catch a big hand in the previous round. This makes me easy prey for the big stacks, and probably explains all the 4th place finishes. I have occasionally gotten caught in a steal and lost too much, or overplayed a pocket pair, but for the most part, I think I try to avoid these pitfalls. I must be missing something though because I know others who manage to do much better with the tournaments.

Any advice appreciated,

Thanks,

[sam h]

its hard to say without actual example hands, but my first thought is that you are probably playing too tight. as the blinds go up and the table gets more shorthanded, the premium on stealing gets pretty high. but you seem to indicate that you tighten up as the tourney progressives. the premium on winning these tournaments is high enough that, imho, you need to be aggressive and take chances in order to have a shot at accumulating a big stack. try not to look at getting caught stealing as a pitfall. its more of a necessary risk.

[Fitz]

Thanks for the response; I think you may be right. I've been thinking through some of the tournaments I've played, and I think I definitely need to concentrate more on good positional play. I probably do play a little too tightly late in the tourneys; it certainly gives me something to work on.

Thanks,

[Smackdab]

I agree wth ed in that as the blinds go up and the game gets a little short handed tightening up play is probably the reverse of what you should do.

However, making moves to steal blinds etc must be done with an awareness as to how the others play and stack sizes. If you are short stacked obviously you may have to be a little more selective in hands that you play. Conversely, if you arer severely crippled in terms of stack size you will HAVE to be willing to gamble before you are blinded out.

Tournaments require constant adjudtment whether they are multi table or single table. There are lots of factors to consider.

The leak I had when playing tournies that was really costing me, was allowing too many blinds to be stolen in heads up situations. The game really loosens up then. I am not advocating calling a pre flop raise heads up with 72os here but the raiser only need be successful 2 out of 3 times to really eat into your bankroll.

Hope this info helps. I am looking forward to see what other posters think on this subject as abouy 90% of my play is in single table tourneys online. I have shown a bigger return on these than live games but always looking for ways to improve.

Good Luck!!!

[gisborne]

I solely play $20 single table limit hold-em tourneys at PP. I beat them, but I don't know for how much (I'd guess somewhere between $5-10 a tourney). On top of that, I pay almost 0 attention at the table until the blinds hit 25-50 and sometimes even 50-100. At one time I even used Post & Fold in Turn button for the first round. The reason for that is because I have trouble focusing for long periods of time when the stakes are so low. Here are some strategies that I follow:

1. Play slightly loose in the early game. That means playing 66 up front, T9 suited up front, Ax suited more often than normal, etc. The reason is to try and build a bigger stack for when the blinds go up. I stop doing this after the blinds hit 25-50.

2. Early on, I tend not to fight really hard for pots on marginal hands. For example, if by chance it gets folded to me in the small blind I will fold more often that I would in a ring game.

3. In the middle game (15-25 up to 50-100 depending on number of players left) I tighten up and play more normal poker.

4. When the blinds hit 100-200 or sooner, depending on how many players are left, I become much much more agressive. I start paying attention to the players. More often than not, I will raise with Tx unsuited or better out of the small blind when folded to me. Winning the blinds becomes very important, and most of your opponents don't realize this.

5. When I am down to <2 BB, and if it's folded to me in the SB I raise with any two cards. You'd be surprised at how many people fold.

6. Be very aware of chip position, number of players, and how they are reacting to raises and the blinds. There are many situations where you can raise any 2 cards and KNOW that you will win the blinds...usually because 2 players have become obsessed with not getting knocked out before the other.

7. If you can't steal, it's often not worth getting involved. If someone has come in preflop, tighten up considerably.

8. Be ready to commit your chips on trash hands. If someone raises before the flop with 200-400 blinds, and you are in the BB holding 82o with another 300...put it in.

9. When you are low in chips, find a hand to commit to. You don't have many chances, so if you are on the button with only 5 players and <3BB in your stack you should be very loose.

10. Qx > 98s when going all in.

11. When heads up, I raise any Tx or better out of the SB unless the BB is a calling station. With position, the initiative, and the huge blinds you need to be hyper aggressive.


A lot of what I said might be wrong. Some of it may not make a lot of sense. Hopefully it will be of some use to you though.

[RollaJ]

While I hate to give advice on this, because I play these alot here are a few nuggets.....
Play the begining (levels 1-2) as if you were at a full 2-4 hold'em game, you will usually get 5-7 seeing the flop so look for suited connectors/one-gappers.
don't fall in love with high cards if they dont hit
always value bet the river, most of the time people are there with a busted draw
On level 2-3 play carefully, always know how much money you have, and how much you can bluff with, lose, and still have a good chance of winning. Top pair seems to go a long way here.
Levels 4&up...
Do your best to not go out in 4th, avoid confrontation!
If you are short stacked try not to make your all in be on a call, it should be on a 1st in raise pre-flop (steal-steal-steal)
Try not to steal when chip leader is in the BB
Try to make your all-in raise when it will be very close to double the BB or more in no limit.
When down to three players Play Very Aggressive
Check out heads up play in Malmuth-Sklanskys HPFAP
See you at the tables /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

[gisborne]

HPFAP gives totally inadequate advice for heads-up play imo. You could write a whole book on the subject. However, use HPFAP as a starting point and work out pre-flop and flop scenarios for 2 and 3 handed. It's worth the effort, and you'll learn a LOT about poker if you put in the work doing this.