Tourney stratagy flaw

[me454555]

I usually play in Single Tourney home games. $55 in chips starting w/1-2 blinds and escalating blinds ever hour or so. I play a pretty solid game pf but my post flop game could probobly use some work. Even w/that, I am usually the only person at the table that has any conception of how to play.

Most of my opponents are the call any 2 if its cheap, take your hands to the river type players. Occasionally they will get fancy and try to bluff or trap but in generall its wait for a hand and bet it.

I feel I should be killing these tourneys but I'm failing miserably. I usually get really cold cards, at least by my standards, and get short stacked early. Then I have to go all in to double, get a little unlucky and get busted out.

Here's my questions
1) How do you prevent trying to get shortstacked early when you're just waiting for a hand. PFRs don't seem to do anything b/c people just call anyway?

2) I started playing a lot of suited hands b/c the games are pretty passive. If no one has anything, more times than not it'll get checked around. I don't dare bluff at it b/c people will always come along regardless of their hand. Are there any other adjustments I should make?

3) Am I playing too tight for the this tourney? If so where should I loosen up my play?

4) What type of gameplan would you use to approach it?

[aaronjacobg]

I find many of the same problems. Raising does not help my read much at all b/c they will call with any face card. if i don't hit my hand i still have to figure out what they might possibly have. I find it pretty easy to bluff and read other solid players because they are tight enough that i know that they are generally not holding junk or any two cards.

I also find that playing solidly makes me easier to read because when the flop comes low cards when i raise, they could have the junk that flopped or they could also have a good pf hand, i just don't know.

Sorry to hijack this post but it seems that we are suffering from the same general problems and i hope this adds to the help we receive.

Jake

[Kidd_King]

The key to playing a bunch of bad players is, that you can't bluff them. If you don't hit your flop, and try to bluff at it, usually they will call because they either hit it, or are looking for a long shot draw (or not so longshot).

Play it hard if you have the nuts. Back off if you don't hit anything good. Play everything as directly as you can.

If I get shortstacked early, then I buckle down, and take advantage of the calling stations when I really have a hand.

I think the biggest thing you need to work on is picking off their tells and how they play. There is this one player I know, who will call any bet, big, or small down to the river card. If its just me and this person heads up, I know that they won't call my all in. If I'm sure they didn't hit anything, I'm all in.

So just watch your players closely. If they are playing almost any hand, play aggressively but watch their reactions to see if they improve. If you felt they improved, fold.

If anything else other than this, read up on material to play against LPP's and LAP's.

But I think good tight play will get you far, especially with such small blinds and blind raises every hour. Let the weak kill each other off, and take it home.

Good luck with your games.

[me454555]

I tried a similar stratagy last night. I was down to 35 chips b/c I coudln't buy a hand or hit a flop. I went all in after a lp raiser w/QQ. He hit an ace on the river and thats all she wrote

Thats the problem w/this strategy. I make it to the final 4 or 8 (depending on the size of the tourney) but I can't do anything b/c I don't have the ammo to compete w/the lucky players. I find I have to double up b4 I can even think about playing aggressive.

[aaronjacobg]

i try to make my friends use deeper stacks and longer blind periods to combat this problem. They do not aggreeusually because they do not have time for a real tourney in the first place. these adjustments give us more time to build our stacks before we have to challenge a large stack with a lot at stake even before the flop.

Jake

[nwaddell]

i agree. when i play my home tourneys, no one really wants to play a tourney that lasts longer than an hour. the short ones benefit the lucky players. the longer the tourney, the more skill required. so try to introduce a longer toureny, with a bigger buy-in/payout to induce them to play.

[me454555]

Thanx for the advice, do you notice the same problems in party SnGs?

[rjc199]

Yes, party sit-n-go's are horrible with the escalating blinds. I can usually always make it into the final 4 by playing reasonable, but by the time that rolls around I have only won like 3 or 4 hands and I'm short-stacked and really can't play well anymore.

There are better sites for playing in tournies.

[AtlBrvs4Life]

If you are always short stacked by the time you get down to four players, you need to adjust your strategy.

[me454555]

How so?

[PITTM]

stealing blinds is sooooo important in party sngs, if you dont steal, you wont win, unless you have really hot cards and lots of luck.

rj

[Girazze]

You need to steal blinds at the appropriate time as well as being more aggressive with your monster hands. If you have calling stations at your table, take advantage of them when you have a big hand and your stack will grow. These calling stations don't go away easily so don't be afraid to bet a nice sum!