[Buzz]

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How should I be playing the tournaments differently?

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Cue Ball - Probably tighter.

You need to make the final table to win, and you need to survive to make the final table.

That written, if you're the smallest stack at the start of the final table you probably won't win the tournament. Thus there are two general ways to play, one emphasizing taking fewer risks, even folding some very playable hands under certain circumstances so as to give getting to the final table top priority and the other emphasizing taking unnecessary risks (but risks that are favorable betting propositions) to increase your stack size.


The difference is in the emphasis.

For example, if you have enough chips to make it to the final table and get dealt
A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 2[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 3[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], do you play the hand or fold it? Let's say if you fold it, you'll almost surely make the final table, but if you play it, you'll either make the final table with a bigger stack or you'll bust out on the bubble.

You're always going to play that hand in a ring game, and you'll almost always play the hand in a tournament - but do you want to risk all on that hand when you're on the bubble in a tournament?

That's the decision.

That's one of the differences between tournament strategy and ring game strategy.

Maybe I've made the example too extreme.
Maybe I should make your hand something not quite as good as A238s. Let's say you only have A278s.

A278s is a good enough starting hand that you're still always going to play the hand in a ring game, but you may hate yourself all the way home if you bust out with it and miss making it into the money by one player in a tournament. (On the other hand if you eke your way into the final table and then bust out immediately because your stack is too small, you may hate yourself all the way home for playing like a pussy).

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How should I be playing the tournaments differently?

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Hard to say. Maybe you've just had some bad luck. But there are differences between ring game strategy and tournament strategy. I hope I've captured the essence of one of the key differences.

(I feel like I always can make it to the final table. But to make tournament playing worth while, I have to win or get a share of first place. So I'll be probably be playing at least the first of the two hands noted above. And if I bust out on the bubble, so be it. But whether I would play either of those hands on the bubble or not isn't necessarily how you need to play to have tournament success).

Just my opinion.

Buzz