tournament newbie

[oddjob]

a buddy of mine is starting to run small no limit hold em tournaments. we did one so far. most of the people haven't played much hold em at all, let alone a tournament. i'm probably one of the most experienced hold em player, but never played a tournament.

i found that when i was playing with these new players, and i'd raise preflop (maybe triple the big blinds) it didn't deter these players from playing garbage, probably cause they don't know any better. should i be making bigger preflops bets, early in the tournament, or be thankful they're calling with garbage?

i got knocked out pretty early, as some of these new players got lucky and caught two pairs on my big pocket pairs.

the guy who placed 2nd, is a poor player but has played a while, but did well, because he was willing to bluff all in a lot, and no one seemed to be willing to call his bluffs, until much later in the tournament. (i also watched him play K5o for a preflop raise, and call bets to the river catching a king on the river)

is this aggression good strategy for no limits against a bunch of newbies?

also it seems like towards the end, there's hardly a pot that goes unraised preflop. if you have AA or kk is it a good strategy to limp against a player you know will raise if he's playing then reraise him?

any advice to a tournament newbie is welcome as we will be playing more and i had fun, although it's a completely different game then the structure and spread limit games i'm used to.

thanks in advance.

[drewjustdrew]

Assuming there are no ante's, I would say to keep your raise about the same, but do more limping than you would against better opponents. Since they are willing to call against power preflop, they will also be willing to call very large bets with semi-good hands post flop. Wait until you get a very favorable flop and make them pay.

If people do not have a problem calling your raises, you should only raise with very strong hands. Otherwise, you will rarely be a significant favorite going into the flop since you will seemingly always get callers.

[Your Mom]

I have the exact same problem. No one respects my triple blind raises except for one other player who I taught to play. What kind of tournament structure do you use?

[pauly2x]

I play in a similar situation in a home tourney once every three months. These guys love to play garbage hands and it does get frustrating.

Generally, I try to tighten up my preflop raising standards (to big pairs, big suited connectors, etc.) and limp a little more. Basic poker strategy dictates that you must be able to realize why you raise, why you call and why you fold. IMHO, raising in these types of games is good for getting more money in the pot, but doesn't do much to glean information from your opponents (because they play garbage) and it's near impossible to push them off a hand. I try to keep a low profile early on and pound them when I get a cooperative flop. Don't misunderstand, raising is still a valuable tool, because you're going to get callers while you hold superior cards. Now when the blinds go up and the chip stacks become concentrated among fewer players, that's when the better players should go to town.