Odd poker tournament set up - all short stacked

Benoit · #1 03-30-2005, 09:52 AM

At the nearby card club, they have a quick $10 buy in tournament each morning. They do it on 2 tables with rebuys until the first blind increase, and they increase like every 10 min. The starting amount is $300 in chips and the 1st level being $20/$40. Now it's odd to me, but to call you need 3xSB and to raise at least by 3xSB, so at least $60 pre-flop to call. Last part is they pay the top 3 spots (higher the spot, the larger the payoff), but no heads up play because they stop when only 3 are left and count up their chips for rank.

So anyway for strategy starting out, it seems like my only choice is to go all-in with any good hand and hope to pick up the blinds or double up. If you get lucky enough to build up faster then the blinds, then you can play normally somewhat... Anyway that's my take, what's your take?

nuclear500 · #2 03-30-2005, 10:35 AM

Yah, you're short stacked. You pick up any big Ace, AK, AQ AJ, KQs, TT and up push.

You're gambling, not playing poker when its like this for everyone. 95% of the time people get crap anyway, so pushing with more marginal hands might be a good strategy as well.

You want to double up asap, then slow down a bit and get as many button steals in as you can.

Benoit · #3 03-31-2005, 03:37 AM

Yeah I was thinking that too, I already played a couple times and I see people are desperate to build their stacks and call all-ins frequently. Guy made the right call with pocket 10s in late position to my KJo $300 all-in bet UTG+1, but I spiked the jack on the flop.

But then on the total opposite side, I see people just limping and only sometimes doing mini-raises. Does that mean they are playing like it's a weak limit game and haven't adjusted? Or maybe it means they are playing the way they found to work best... I've noticed the same 8 people play this way and make it to the last 5 consistently... Interesting.