Live Tournaments, when is it not worth while?

[winky51]

Well I sat down looking at all my records of tournaments.

I have played 13 live tournaments, placed 3rd, chop top 3, and 7th. About 120-140 players

hate online tournaments, I feel blind.

I did notice a couple things with the live ones.

1. the 30 min round tournaments allowed me to take less risks with my whole stack. I was all in maybe once or twice before the money and 80% of the time with the best hand.

2. The 20 min blinds made me go all in 4-5 times on average before the flop. I bascially had to win 5 times in a row to make the final table. Best hand of course but 5 times in a row.

So this blind structure I like. 30 mins, 4000 chips. It plays well.

As for my style. I am mor like Harrington. But I do like to raise with suited connectors to mix it up. I steal a lot, but just enough to keep my tight image. I play the psychology game very well. My instincts are dead on 95% of the time. I know how to get players to show their hands, get them to talk, give me tells. Thats why I like live tournaments. Now vs a pro I almost have no shot because they dont give tells. But vs the rif-raff at the $200 tournaments they are easy to read.

I usually take my time for everything. Say the same things play the same way, go through counting stacks everytime I am in a hand. If I am the aggressor with the set or a weak hand I talk to my players when faced with a decision. I see many players talk when they are weak and be silent when they are strong. Only time I dont budge is preflop. I think of hot women or something. They ask for a chip count I lay it out and let the dealer count. I find the silent treatment is more ominous. I study my players, their habits, their betting and repeat mental notes on them. The one thing I dont have big enough yet are balls for my instincts in real marginal situations like I have K high and I am sure the other player is only on a draw to a low straight on the turn. But I do make plays and raise with crap. Usually I want my cards mid to low, suited, and somewhat connected so I make something

The card rooms at the local dog tracks and Jai Alai frontons here run MTTs that start with t1500, blinds 50/100 and increasing every 15 minutes. I've made the 2nd to final table in this thing twice and no further. You need to be slapped in the face with the deck and make some pretty bold plays in order to FT these.

Incidentally, Florida law prohibits losing more than $32 on a single poker hand so their $100 buyin tournaments start as 25/25 limit for the first 3 hands, t2500 to start, to bypass the legal problems. Then it's 15 minutes of 25/25 NL before jumping up to 50/100. Amazing how, at the same room, the cheaper structure is a horrible crapshoot and the higher one actually favors solid play.

I no longer play the cheap buyin MTTs there.