|
||
|
||
|
Server Time: 1/8/2009 4:39:56 AM PACIFIC |
 Some tourney strategy questions (long), SeanCandy, 29. Dec 2003 09:52 | ||
| View ( Message | Thread ) | Return to Thread List | |
| I have been playing online multi-table low buy-in (5+.50, 10+1 and 15+1.50) NL tourneys for about 4 months now and need some help in strengthening my play. I tend to play a tight game and will get aggressive when I feel I have the best hand. My problem is this, I am good at surviving through 80% of the field, but invariably when the blinds start to escalate I am usually short stacked. This makes it tough to steal blinds when several stacks at the table have a 3 or 4 to 1 chip lead over me. I don't like having to wait for a premium hand and hope it holds up against a larger stack. I feel that picking up blinds and antes uncontested is crucial to building a stack in NL. I usually like to raise in LP with semi-bluff type hands like KQ, AT, KJ, J10, Ax...What is the best course of action if the some reraises you? or if they call and the flop is useless. I feel like I lose chips on these plays more often than not. Another thing I notice is that early in these tourneys the looser players seem to gain chip leads by playing marginal hands that hold up against other marginal hands. Hands like small connectors any Ax, Kx Qx, Jx suited or not in any position. I don't think playing those hands is a recipe for winning tourneys, but they do seem to bust players sometimes when a guy holding AK loses to a guy holding A4 when A4 hits the flop. These are just a couple things I've been thinking about in relation to what I've been seeing in my short tourney experience. I've got the survival skills down, its the chip building that is a gray area for me and there has got to be more to it than just hoping to catch a rush of good cards. Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated. Thanks SC | ||
| Return to Thread List | ||
| Re: Some tourney strategy questions (long), Smokey27, 29. Dec 2003 11:02 | ||
| View ( Message | Thread ) | Return to Thread List | |
| My advise: 1. Don't worry about other peoples stacks, worry about yours. 2. When opening in late position always raise and if a blind calls and you are headsup and they check the flop always betout again. 3. J10 is trash. Do not come at the blinds, unless they are weak tight folders with anything less than an ace. An ace is a pair of ones. Statistically if you are on the button and everyone folded to you, assuming they would play any ace, as you stated, and you do not have an ace, the blinds are a foavorite to have an ace or a pair. Therefore your king high hand is not the best hand on average (Math: 2/17 that the blinds have a pair, roughly 16/32 that they have an ace, combined roughly 20/32 or 60% of the time they have you beat. I think alot of players do not understand that j10s,qjs,k10s hands that are marginal but playable in limit poker are worse than Aceduece offsuit in a headsup confrontation. It is critical to have an ace or a pair to attack the blinds, an ace in your hand reduces the chances that the blinds have an ace. 4. Tourneys are about survival if you are being blinded out by playing to tightly i would recomend playing more hands but that cant be the case if you are attacking the blinds with j10. Dont burn up chips attacking the blinds without the goods (a pair or an ace) unless the blinds are very weak and extremely tight. | ||
| Return to Thread List | ||
| Re: Some tourney strategy questions (long), JLenart, 29. Dec 2003 11:23 | ||
| View ( Message | Thread ) | Return to Thread List | |
| Smokey, On some level I disagree with a few of your points. Blind stealing, espescially in mid rounds as blinds increase, becomes critical. I try to steal more during these stages espescially when we get close to the bubble and play tightens up. I undertsand your point about the odds of the blinds holding pairs or an ace but you're position is still favorable on the button. Just my opinion. | ||
| Return to Thread List | ||
| Re: Some tourney strategy questions (long), Smokey27, 29. Dec 2003 13:23 | ||
| View ( Message | Thread ) | Return to Thread List | |
| I agree with your points as well. All I am saying is that if you attempt a steal and get played back at and you didnt come in with an ace or a pair you are going up hill. Sometimes you dont get enough pairs or ace high hands to make legitamite opening hands. And if you read my post I state that stealing with less than an ace high is only worthwhile if your opponents will likely fold. IF that is the case you dont even need to look at your cards, if you opponent calls preflop and checks the flop and is not a check raiser you dont even need to look at the flop before you bet. Many players overvalue j10s, qjs or k10s kjs, and mathematically speaking a rag ace is a much better hand heads up. Think about it, only 10% of the time with a premium suited connector (one with max strech so 45 up to j10) will you make a str8 or flush the other 90% of the time you are a large underdog to an ace high. Neither hands improve, ace wins, both hands improve ace wins half the time (ace pair beats either opponent pair) you both make two pair ace wins. My key point is that in a tournement you will mostlikely be heads up when you steal from the button and your hand selection is vastly different than in a ring game. | ||
| Return to Thread List | ||
| Re: Some tourney strategy questions (long), Highflyin3484k, 29. Dec 2003 17:54 | ||
| View ( Message | Thread ) | Return to Thread List | |
| I dont know about a large underdog, its really close to a coin flip I did A Ko vs. 45s and AK is only a 58% favorite, I think people tend to underestimate the value of live cards. | ||
| Return to Thread List | ||
| Re: Some tourney strategy questions (long), Smokey27, 29. Dec 2003 19:47 | ||
| View ( Message | Thread ) | Return to Thread List | |
| You are correct, but even in the worst case scenario for a rag ace, Ace 6 offsuit (black cards no two card str8 possibilities) versus j10s (diamonds or hearts) the ace is 51 to 49 so any rag ace is a little better than any j10s. (100,000 hands on wilsons software) 51 to 49 or a little better depending on whether the ace is the suite of the opponents sutied connector, or the value of the kicker (under 5 helps make str8s and over 7 takes away str8s from the opponents j10) is for taking the two hands to showdown. If you look just at flops the rag ace outflops a suited connector most of the time because the j10 picks up a draw at best most of the time on the flop not a made hand. a rag ace is a made hand before the flop because you are ahead of any unpaired non-ace hand that didnt flop to it which is what happens to most hands on the flop. I would rather bet a rag ace on a flop that i didnt hit that was checked to me headsup than bet a draw that i picked up on the flop with a suited connector. Only big draws like a str8, flush, and two overcards are draws that are favorites to get there after the flop. | ||
| Return to Thread List | ||
| Re: Some tourney strategy questions (long), Highflyin3484k, 30. Dec 2003 00:58 | ||
| View ( Message | Thread ) | Return to Thread List | |
| correct I was just pointing out the face that AK does not dominate 45s | ||
| Return to Thread List | ||
| Re: Some tourney strategy questions (long), KevinK, 31. Dec 2003 01:59 | ||
| View ( Message | Thread ) | Return to Thread List | |
| I feel your pain. The loose ones get lucky or bust out. If the flop misses, you might still be able to bet out and catch the pot, but I would get a read on the others and what kind of hands they play before trying something that risky. What do you play? If its freerolls or low limit tourneys, you will see people drop like flies. If your good hands hold up, you can amasss a stack easily. In lower limits, people seem to like limping in with any cards since its cheap. Even if you bet out a 100 of a 1000 stack, you will still get callers with marginal stuff since they don't realize discretion is the better part of valor and that there is no need to risk your chips early on. Then again, if they did realize that, I wouldn't get to finish at least 100 of a 4000 field before I fell asleep. | ||
| Return to Thread List | ||
| POKER FORUM HOME | POKER FORUM | LINK TO US | ARCHIVE | ONLINE POKER | Copyright 2002, United Poker Forum |
|
Getting Started |
UPF Tournaments |
Poker News, Views, Rules |
Poker Strategy & Psychology |
Money and Bankroll Poker Bonuses & Promotions | World Series of Poker (WSOP) | Play Online Poker | Poker Odds & Statistics | Tournament Poker | Poker Books, Videos & Learning Tools Looking for a Poker Game | Poker Bad Beats | Not Quite Poker | Quizzes and Polls | Forum Suggestions & Bugs |
|
|
|
|
Interesting Links: Online Poker | Free Poker Games | United Poker Network |
|