Online SnG & MTT Question |
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Posted Fri Jul 28, 2006 8:41 pm GMT by gainsomeskills
Hello guys...Hope all is well with everyone.
Been playin all SnG's and MTT's recently. No more cash games...Just not my style of play. I've been doing fairly well lately. I finally broke through and made my first final table online. One week later I made another one. Go figure.
Anyways, umm, I still seem to have one achilles heel with my tournament play. It's letting myself get too short stacked.
I am a very tight-aggressive player. I fold most hands in early position, am very cautious raising in middle position, and only steal when I think conditions are optimal.
That said, I often find myself in tournaments short-stacked while others keep on adding to their stack. I sometimes want to steal, but either find someone in front of me raising or I begin to second-guess myself and then fold.
Sorry it's long...But you guys have any positive suggestions on how to cure this ill? Or at least buy me some more time so I'm not impatiently waiting for a hand to move all in with?
Thanks. Take care.
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Posted Fri Jul 28, 2006 9:47 pm GMT by mooseontheloose
I sometimes have this problem because if I'm playing tight for starting hands and then agressive when I have something strong it can be very tough with bad cards or if I don't get paid off when I land a hand.
I think you need to try stealing the blinds a little more. Remember if you steal them once you're covered the next time they come to you. Also, if you raise a few times from late position and get the blinds you may be able to sucker someone in a time or two later thinking you're on a steal but in fact are holding Rockets.
I'm not an expert or even a veteran but my best advice is to play a little looser at the beginning. Nothing reckless or anything but if you can see the flop for a simple call with a mediocre hand like unsuited connectors, Q10, etc. then you should try and get in. A lot of people play a lot of crap early on and push hard trying to get a lead early and often if you can flop something good but unexpected you'll often catch people being over-agressive.
IE. You hold Q10 off-suit, 3 of you go in and flop is Q104 rainbow. You'll assume you're in good position here and someone with a pair of 10s will often push at you hard.
You can still get caught at times so you need to be able to read what these people are attempting to do (if they are stealing or actually have a hand).
Once the blinds start going up you'll want to play tighter, especially if that's how you're comfortable. This means that you need to make sure you get paid off (slowplay when possible), steal a few blinds when possible, etc. in order to stay above water but I've found the best way to keep yourself going if you're a tight player is to try and pick up some chips early if you can do it for cheap and avoid risking your stack.
Just my $0.02, I'm sure others will be a lot more helpful.
Posted Sat Jul 29, 2006 2:39 pm GMT by ninetensuited
i too play very TAG in early stages and perhaps supa or scanx would be better suited to answer this question than me. But ive made several final tables. I used to have the same problem. but now it doesnt happen as much. in tourneys i see about 20% of the flops in the first hour. i dont play hardly any ands. but when i do, i make them pay to see what i have. prime example. 2 nights im playing the 5$ mtt at 1am et. on Full tilt. 2nd hand i get JJ and its raised to me and get 2 callers flop comes J T 2 rainbow. I check, others check. turn is 4. i check raisor bets 500. other guy raises all in, i call and raisor calls. river is an ace they turn over pocket tens and pocket 4's tripling me up. i didnt play another hand until the last hand of the first hour. when a short stack who had 600 chips calls the bb and its me and him heads up. i have 7-8 of hearts and flop is  he pushes i call he had top pair bad kicker. end of first hour, im chip leader and have seen 2 flops. moral of my story is. you just have to wait the idiots out and make them pay when you have a good hand
Posted Sat Jul 29, 2006 3:15 pm GMT by Jefecaminador
At the start of the tourny is when you can take advantage of many of the weaker players. Try to get a read on which players call too much and exploit that. Get in on as many pots cheaply as possible and push hard with decent holdings. Don't be afraid to throw a lot of chips in with only top pair good kicker against these calling stations. Its worth the risk to build a big stack, and most of the time you will be ahead.
Once you've built a stack then you can slow down and tighten up a bit if thats your more comfortable playing style.
Posted Sat Jul 29, 2006 5:53 pm GMT by ninetensuited
jefe. ive thought of doing that. but never really had the balls to do it. as my strategy seems to work for me, but i may try that in the 5$ tonight on fulltilt
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