Building a frickin stack

[Gary07]

Hey guys im new to this forum, even though i've been reading it for awhile. I've searched for posts on how to build a stack but havent really found much. I think that if u play tight and aggressive (the way i try to play) u can make it far into tournaments and have a shot at making the money, but a hard time winning the tournament unless u have been making a lot of hands. So what kind of things do u guys do to try and get the extra edge in building ur stacks besides some of the obvious things like stealing the blinds. Do you guys loosen up at a certain level, bluff more on certain stacks, etc. Any strategies or ideas are appreciated.

[whiskeytown]

let me give you an interesting piece of math.

Let's say you're playing a Pokerstars tourney - start with 1500 in chips -

now lets say you get 18 hands in approx. a level - rough estimate, and it may not always be an even 18, but let's say you do.

Let's say you steal or try to buy the blinds preflop 3 times for every two times you're the big blind. (i.e., raise and everyone folds) - this is assuming you don't get called when you have a monster and get paid off. - If you do it twice every 18 hands, you'll essentially stay even. If you try it three times, it seems insignificant.

But here's what you're gonna look like after 12 rounds or 3 hrs.

round is on the left, chip stack is on the right...I approximated for blind sizes and made them 8 handed antes in later rounds cause occasionally, you're 8 handed.

1 - 1530
2 - 1575
3 - 1650
4 - 1800
5 - 2025
6 - 2325
7 - 2850
8 - 3675
9 - 4975
10- 6575
11- 8975
12- 12775

---------------

now, as you can see, the first hr or first 4 rounds, not too hot - avg. will be 3000, and you're not even close.

As you get to the 2nd and 3rd hrs, however, and as those blind steals represent a diminishing supply of chips in relation to the blinds and players, they mean a lot.

Average stack is about 15000 when you get to the money, and you're real close to that at the third hr. And remember, this is essentially ONE blind steal for profit and one for every time you're the BB - heck, sometimes I get those for free anyways. -

this doesn't account for every time you raise with AA and get repopped by JJ, but it also doesn't account for when you raise with A3 suited and get repopped either - hopefully they'll balance out.

Long story short, be aggressive when you're the first one to do so, esp. with decent hands....don't be afraid to call once in awhile to let people know you will, and focus on taking all the chips before the flop after the antes start. I guarantee your chance of winning a hand is much better with no opponents then it is with 2, even though those two may be putting more chips into the pot then no players.

My last good showing in a satellite (where I ended 5th out of 300 when it paid out) - I only showed down 10 hands (lost 5) and had about 30 without showdowns.

RB

[wegs the wegs]

try here