Starting Hands and strategy under unusual ante/bet structure

[SkinnyElvis]

I'm playing in a hold em tournament in a week which uses what I think is an unusual format.

No limit hold em. Aprox. 100 players. Each starts with $1,000 in chips. The tourney uses $25 antes instead of blinds. Once you have ante'd and see your 2 starting cards, you must bet or fold before the flop--no checking. The minimum bet is $25. So to see a flop costs a minimum of $50, but you pay $25 even if you don't see it. Each feeder table will start with 6-7 people.

Questions:
-What starting hands should be played under this format to avoid being blinded to death/what percent of flops should I see
-How should this structure change my overall strategy
-How aggressize should I be at first--some have suggested a conservative approach while others all-in and self destruct early on.

It seems like given the size of the pots, it's somewhat worthwhile to see a fair amount of flops.

Any other tips? This is my first tournament...

Thanks for any help!
~skinnyelvis (Eric)

[cferejohn]

Given that it will cost you ~20% of your stack/orbit to just ante and fold, I think you need to err on the loose/aggressive side. Picking up antes with a preflop bet is going to be very valuable. I would think a 'standard' preflop bet is going to need to be ~200 to have a decent shot at picking up the antes (and that's before limpers; if you have a big hand in LP and multiple limpers, any 'reasonable' (i.e. pot-sized) raise is probably going to commit you.

If the table is passive, you're getting good odds to call with speculative hands with position, but careful not to overdo this.

Note that EP players are even more screwed than usual since they don't have the 'protection' of the blinds.

Do the blinds go up ever or stay at this level forever? If they go up than you are going to be in all-in/fold territory very very quickly.

[SkinnyElvis]

Hi John,
The rules say "ante and minimum bet will be adjusted upwards if it appears games are taking too long."

My friend who played this tourney before said he wished he had been less aggressive and waited for more people to all-in-combust early on.

I'm wondering how far down into bad-hand-land my starting hands should reach with such high antes? Maybe it's not worth it to see the flops if people are all-in with nothing and I can wait till more rational people are left before trying to steal antes.

[cferejohn]

If people are being crazy, I'd definitely stay away from marginal hands and gleefully shove in QQ-AA. Once the crazies are mostly gone, you'll probably have to push on the tighter players with marginal hands (or just get alot of really good hands - that's really the best way to go /images/graemlins/tongue.gif)

[Al_Capone_Junior]

this is a very difficult way to start off your tournament career. you are forced to play VERY loose when 10% of your stack goes bye-bye every four hands. I would play very aggressively and try to steal pots. Don't wimp-bet and open for $25. Bet the pot or more with any reasonable hand. Stealing pots before the flop is gold in this structure.

Personally I hate this structure and if I had ANY choice at all I would not play in this tournament.

al