Stack Building 101

[Jah Red]

I understand that this is a very general, "it depends", type question, but I'm gonna ask it anyway.

What are the general guidelines and stategies, if any, to building your stack early in a MTT? I seem to usually find myself short stacked and relying on ALL-INS much to short of the $$.

I have tried to be UBERTIGHT playing only premium. This only works for me in the very few occasions that I get good cards right away.

I have tried to be loosy goosy in the later positions which only increased my varience, although I seem to go a little further using this approach.

Again, I know this is real base level stuff, but I think it might be helpful to newbies to No-limit MTT like myself.

Thanks

Jah

[theGorn]

I'll take a shot. Here are some general tips:

1. Play premium hands and respect raises. (except for pt 4)
If you have a raiser in front of you do you really want to call with J10o?

2. Be aggressive.
How do you play a J high flop with AKs? If you were the initial raiser, bet it again.

3. Use position to raise for value (other players making mistake by calling) or to bluff (Try stealing those blinds).

4. Know opponents. Are they weak-tite? loose-aggressive? You need to adjust your play accordingly.

5. Be willing to risk it all. Sometimes you might just have to put in all your chips on a stone cold bluff.

6. Start making adjustments to play when you stack is < 8-10x the blinds.
My take on this is you are going to have to start take risks if your still far away from the money.

Just my opinions. Hope this helps [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Jeff

[MichaelOar]

In the typical party poker 1k chips to start 15 min level tournaments, I have found that doubling up the first time is the most difficult part of the tourney. Play tight---but when you get a hand you like, you must be very aggresive with it. In my mind, I don't want to make a "big laydown" during the first hour. If I have an even money (or even am a slight dog) to double up, I'm going to take a chance in the early going. Once I get over that initial hump, my whole gameplan changes. I cannot tell you how many times I've sat in party-multi tournament, made one pre-flop raise the first hour, had to muck my hand on the flop, and gotten to the second hour with only 600 chips. If you are in this spot, you are looking pretty bad. Note that the slower blind structure of the $150+ buy-in tournament doesn't tie your hands nearly as much. In the lower buy-in tournies though, I'd take a chance on doubling up early or going home. Remember, there's always another NL tournament right around the corner . . .
Michael

[The Prince]

Really, the best approach is to play your normal ring game strategy. This means playing draws when odds are there and playing as aggressive. Moreover, you should play even more aggressive because your opponents will be playing tighter. This means pushing draws a little more since they should fold more.

Increasing your tournament chip variance might be a good thing, since you need to build your stack to be in contention in the end. And this might even mean more profits in the end, since you should finish higher more often, meaning more finishes in the top three.

If you take a look at players like Gus Hansen and Phil Ivey, they play pretty loose and aggressive. So, they often bust out early. However, when they hit, they will be at final tables pretty often.

Nicolas Fradet (The Prince)
www.wptinsider.com