Suggestions for Super Tuesday firstimer

[jprince]

Well, I won entry into tonights Super. I'm looking forward to it but I'm wondering what strategy shifts I should make and what difference in competition I can expect. I play mostly ST SNGs. My ROI is about 25% over the last several dozen. I'm getting pretty used to playing with a low M but I'm afraid I am playing to conservatively when my M is in the green zone.

I've only played in 10 large MTTs. I've finished ITM 3 times but never made a final table. What can I expect to be different from the usual Guaranteed and 10+1 tourneys.

Thanks for any input,
Heath

[Brad F.]

[ QUOTE ]
Well, I won entry into tonights Super. I'm looking forward to it but I'm wondering what strategy shifts I should make and what difference in competition I can expect. I play mostly ST SNGs. My ROI is about 25% over the last several dozen. I'm getting pretty used to playing with a low M but I'm afraid I am playing to conservatively when my M is in the green zone.

I've only played in 10 large MTTs. I've finished ITM 3 times but never made a final table. What can I expect to be different from the usual Guaranteed and 10+1 tourneys.

Thanks for any input,
Heath

[/ QUOTE ]

First off you need to stop thinking of it as a super, because already I can sense that you are intimidated and a little anxious about the tourney. Good players will also possibly sense this and feed off of it.

You need to view it as an opportunity and just play solid poker. If you have ITM'd 30% in your extremely small sample size, then you are doing ok and you just need to play smart poker.

Don't be afraid!! At all! You'll need to splash around to continue to be in the green zone, so limp early and play position well to take chips early. If you have 9-6o on the button with three limpers, limp along and hit a big flop. Conservative play early will force you to wait around for premium hands and if they don't come you will find yourself struggling in the second hour.

My best advice is to relax and play poker. I've played in exactly three tournies with 100+ buy-in, and each time I'm too excited and nervous so then I donk my chips away bigtime.

That's my advice. Not from a seasoned veteran or anything, but someone who is kind of in your position.

Brad

[betgo]

There are a lot of good players in these but also a lot of fish. Early on, you want to determine who the fish and who the strong players are at your table. This should not be hard. Later in the tournament, there will be few obvious fish, but plenty of bad plays.

A lot of them are basically low buyin players like you who won a satellite. There are also people who have $165 to blow on these things.

There is a reasonable percentage of pros and other good players, but not the stars you see on TV. Some top players can be found in $500+ events. Often when someone posts a hand from this here, someone else will comment on it, saying they were at the table.

The main difference between a Super and a $20 buyins is the play is tighter. That means if you raise UTG in the first round with AQ or 99 and someone puts in a big reraise you should generally fold. People are more likely to make moves on you, but they don't bet crazy, so you need to respect raises and reraises more. You should be able to determine who the LAGs and loose fish are and give less respect to bets from those players.

You need to bet more strongly to protect your hands. If someone is calling you, they are calling for a reason. You don't want to make it easy for them to draw out on you. In low buyin, you may bet small and people will call without much, so you can milk them. This is not such a good idea at higher buyins.

Particularly later on, there is more opportunity for aggression and fancy plays. If the table gets tight, you may be able to steal blinds. It is easier to make a big reraise or raise at limpers and take the pot. You want to play looser from late position, limping behind, raising, calling raises, reraising, etc.; and look for opportunities to steal the pot later in the hand. Often times the flops are heads up: if you think your opponent missed but you missed worse, look for ways to take the pot.

You can play a little looser and more aggressive early on. However, early these are similar to lower buyin, with somewhat less wild action, so play fairly solidly, but play speculative hands.

When I first won entries in bigger tournaments, I learned most from the early play, which is a lot tighter than low buyin. In the Super, the early play is much tighter than low buyin, but much looser than higher buyin online or live events. The later play is not as different, as most of the players are reasonably good to get that far whatever the buyin.

You sound like a decent player, so you should be able to hold your own, and don't be intimidated. Once you play in a few of these, you will get used to them, as you are to lower buyin.

Excellent, thoughtful post, betgo.