10-23-2005, 01:42 AM
A local B&M poker room holds continuous $40 satellites for $240 bi-weekly MTT's (approx. 200 players per MTT).
Satellite winner gets the entry ticket, 2nd gets the $40 buy-in back. I'm new to tournaments (and new to 2+2), so I've been pretty much just making it up as I go along. I have two questions, any feedback would be appreciated.
First - the setup: You start with t1000. To make fast games, the blinds crank up quickly, moving up every 10 hands with the following structure:
25/50
75/150
150/300
300/600
400/800
etc.
You have to play fast, or you've blinded off 75% of your stack after about 30 hands. Many of the players play ...questionably... (not that I'm very good either) - limping with trash, or raising 30-50% of their stack with marginal hands and then folding when reraised all-in.
My questions:
1) Strategy - How should I tackle this combination of players/structure? My approach has been to play relatively tight PF until the blinds reach 150/300 (granted, that's only 20 or fewer hands). By then the table is usually down to about 7 players. I then loosen up and also try to get more aggressive, pushing with any pair, AXs, AKo-A8o, KQs-KTs, KQo-KJo, QJs, to try to steal the blinds and/or attack anybody who checks, limps, or min-raises. I loosen up my PF requirements as more people get knocked out, but usually only play pairs, two big cards, and suited A's and K's until it's down to 3-4 players, and then I just try to attack the short stacks. So far I've done ok - 50% ITM - but given the miniscule sample size (12 satellites) I'm sure it's more luck than anything else. Any suggestions on what adjustments (or major overhauls) I should be making would be very welcome.
2) Bad Play - Down to 5 players, blinds at 150/300 for two more hands. Hero has t2400 in CO. Button has about t4000, has been TAG and seems to know what he's doing. BB and UTG both seem kind of tight/weak. In two of the previous 5 hands I had pushed (with 99 and with ATs), taking down blinds + one limp, and blinds + one t600 raise, from the tight/weak guys PF.
SB t150
BB t300
UTG calls t300
HERO K /images/graemlins/heart.gif Q /images/graemlins/club.gif raises t600 more to t900 (pot t1650)
Button - reraises all in.
Everybody folds to HERO.
I think only raising t600 was a mistake - this would have put SB all in, but neglected the button's t4000. I felt the button was suspecting me of just bullying the weak guys, so I should have expected his re-raise. I debated about calling - I had about t1500 left - and decided he was just trying to catch me stealing, so I called.
Button turned over A /images/graemlins/spade.gif T /images/graemlins/spade.gif
Second guesses - I feel that I should have pushed KQo instead of only raising t600 - the button may still have called my push, but at least there would be some chance of him folding. And I'm not sure about calling button's push. Had I folded, I would have had t1500 (to button's t5600), and with the remaining 3 players having about t600-t1200 each I had an ok chance to make it to the final two.
Thoughts and critiques? Thanks in advance.
Satellite winner gets the entry ticket, 2nd gets the $40 buy-in back. I'm new to tournaments (and new to 2+2), so I've been pretty much just making it up as I go along. I have two questions, any feedback would be appreciated.
First - the setup: You start with t1000. To make fast games, the blinds crank up quickly, moving up every 10 hands with the following structure:
25/50
75/150
150/300
300/600
400/800
etc.
You have to play fast, or you've blinded off 75% of your stack after about 30 hands. Many of the players play ...questionably... (not that I'm very good either) - limping with trash, or raising 30-50% of their stack with marginal hands and then folding when reraised all-in.
My questions:
1) Strategy - How should I tackle this combination of players/structure? My approach has been to play relatively tight PF until the blinds reach 150/300 (granted, that's only 20 or fewer hands). By then the table is usually down to about 7 players. I then loosen up and also try to get more aggressive, pushing with any pair, AXs, AKo-A8o, KQs-KTs, KQo-KJo, QJs, to try to steal the blinds and/or attack anybody who checks, limps, or min-raises. I loosen up my PF requirements as more people get knocked out, but usually only play pairs, two big cards, and suited A's and K's until it's down to 3-4 players, and then I just try to attack the short stacks. So far I've done ok - 50% ITM - but given the miniscule sample size (12 satellites) I'm sure it's more luck than anything else. Any suggestions on what adjustments (or major overhauls) I should be making would be very welcome.
2) Bad Play - Down to 5 players, blinds at 150/300 for two more hands. Hero has t2400 in CO. Button has about t4000, has been TAG and seems to know what he's doing. BB and UTG both seem kind of tight/weak. In two of the previous 5 hands I had pushed (with 99 and with ATs), taking down blinds + one limp, and blinds + one t600 raise, from the tight/weak guys PF.
SB t150
BB t300
UTG calls t300
HERO K /images/graemlins/heart.gif Q /images/graemlins/club.gif raises t600 more to t900 (pot t1650)
Button - reraises all in.
Everybody folds to HERO.
I think only raising t600 was a mistake - this would have put SB all in, but neglected the button's t4000. I felt the button was suspecting me of just bullying the weak guys, so I should have expected his re-raise. I debated about calling - I had about t1500 left - and decided he was just trying to catch me stealing, so I called.
Button turned over A /images/graemlins/spade.gif T /images/graemlins/spade.gif
Second guesses - I feel that I should have pushed KQo instead of only raising t600 - the button may still have called my push, but at least there would be some chance of him folding. And I'm not sure about calling button's push. Had I folded, I would have had t1500 (to button's t5600), and with the remaining 3 players having about t600-t1200 each I had an ok chance to make it to the final two.
Thoughts and critiques? Thanks in advance.