How are Limit tourneys different from ring games?

[Equal]

(Also posted in MTT forum - I wanted to post it here as well to get insight from the regular mid/high limit players)

I was lucky enough to recently qualify for the WPT Party Poker Million Tournament upcoming in March. It is a Limit tournament, which is definitely an advantage for a rookie like me, where a mistake will cost me a couple big bets, and not my whole stack.

Unfortunately, there are not many Limit tournaments for me to play and get some practice in. Also, I haven't come across any books on the subject. If someone could point me to a book that discusses Limit tourneys, please let me know.

The Limit tourneys on Party tend to have blind escalation that restricts the amount of play. Basically if you lose one big pot, you are in deep trouble. So they don't really simulate the much slower structure the WPT event will use.

I am aware of the Party "semi-Final" tournaments coming up in early February, two of which are limit. These tourneys start you with a bigger stack and have longer levels. I am looking forward to them as it will give me as good practice as I am going to get.

That being said, ther's not a lot of info/books out there on Limit tournament strategy and I am wondering how it differs from regular limit ring games we play everyday.

So what are the differences?

Some of my thoughts after playing a couple Limit tourneys on Party:

It seemed like when I was a small stack mid-tournament, I wanted to wait for a big hand preflop, since most of the money is going in pre-flop and on the flop. It seems like you have to wait for a big hand, since you will likely be called by a big stack. What if you have AK, but miss the flop? Do you keep betting, hoping your opponent will fold, or do you play a weak-tight strategy with a small stack?

Also, do you refrain from playing drawing hands with a medium or small stack? Normally, they might be +EV, but you can't really keep seeing flops because if you don't win a big hand, your stack will be decimated pretty quick.

Any help would be much appreciated, as would any advice from players here that have played in big buy-in events.

Thanks,
Pete

[kowboy]

Get yourself a good poker simulator that mimics play. I use DD tournament because its one of the only mac compatible programs. This is a good tool to get the feel of slower escalating blinds. See if you can round up a home game for small stakes but use tournament format so you can see other opponents face up. Although Mason has rated this book fairly low I think Championship limit holdem by Cloutier and McEvoy can be of some assistance. I had a problem with their tight approach but it could keep you in the tournament and if you catch the cards you could go farther then ram and jam approach. Good luck to you! [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

[TStoneMBD]

http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_maga...amp;m_id=65544

[Equal]

Thanks! I'll definitely pick up that book. What's DD? Is there a PC version?