13 replies to this topic

[iam5hashank]

Hi Friends,Planning to play Sunday Million, Sunday Warm Up and Spade tourneys today. I will be playing such a major tournament for 3rd time. I played sunday million prior to this and cashed twice out of three times. I am here for advise and preferred strategy to playing such major and large field tournaments. Please feel free to give any advise (Every bit of it will be important). I am really looking forward to your comments.--BestShashank

[donk4life]

Get aces a lot and don't lose races.

[iam5hashank]

donk4life, on 12 August 2012 - 04:35 AM, said:

Get aces a lot and don't lose races.

something that was in my hand?

[Mercury69]

Fold AQ to a raise and re-raise most of the time.

[colonel Feathers]

Mercury69, on 13 August 2012 - 06:01 AM, said:

Fold AQ to a raise and re-raise most of the time.

Win more races then you lose.

[Mercury69]

colonel Feathers, on 14 August 2012 - 07:58 PM, said:

Win more races then you lose.

Dominated or behind more often than you thinkI have no problem with people overvaluing AQ and i will admit my opinion is nitty, but I'd rather not be the guy calling (or re-raising) with AQ when ther's already been a raise and a re-raise. It's situational and should def be read-based, but to say it's a play that makes sense in a tourney, esp a big tourney, is optimistic. In fact, if i have AQ and I am the first raiser or I decide to call a raise (I have no problem playing post-flop), I am almost certainly folding to a shove, esp if it's for my tourney life.Run some sensible stats and let's see the results. For example, use at least one small pair and use a variety of suited and/or Broadway holdings for a third hand (ie: QJ, JT, even KQ, assuming he/she is Russian and short stacked). Then sub out the Broadway hands and use AK and then use any other Ax for a 3rd sample.If I can learn something here, that's cool, but I think that any hand in which AQ is a favorite the % is going to be so marginal, you cannot call it profitable.

[TrueAce13]

I think an ace and a queen are pretty strong holdings in unlimited betting Texas holdem

[Mercury69]

TrueAce, I def agree, but the inherent vulnerability of any high card holding needs to be assessed in the face of active bettingWith AQ, a re-re-raise is an option and the table dynamic needs to be taken into account, but personally I am feeling better getting to the flop and see what happens

[TrueAce13]

Well every situation has to be taken into account. We aren't playing in a vacuum, though sometimes one play seems to be better than another play. When we face action w/ AQ, we obviously have to think, "how active has this villain been", "what position", "does villain like to steal", "will villain get into leveling wars w/ people". There are so many different dynamics that come into play when playing tournament poker. For example, taggish player w/ 35bbs opens MP. competent reg 3bet jams the button w/ 22bbs, and we are in the SB w/ AQo. This is a spot where you have to take into account everything about the situation. How much is in the pot? What's both villains range. Once we figure a lot of this out, we can look at pokerstove to make sure we make the most +EV move in situations. We can't look at hands as, "I have AQ, there has been a 3bet, I have to fold". We have to make sure we account for all action, villains, and table dynamics. Alright, I feel that I'm rambling, but ya...tournament poker is all about being able to read different spots correctly.

[Mercury69]

TrueAce, I hear and agree. Thx for your feedback

[HighwayStar]

<---folds AQ to single opens regularly.

[Mercury69]

HighwayStar, on 15 August 2012 - 01:54 PM, said:

<---folds AQ to single opens regularly.

Highway, is that based on anything specific, like position?

[HighwayStar]

Yeah if a decent tight player (really need a fair few hands with someone to be sure of this) on a 11-14 BB stack opens instead of shoving in EP their range is v strong. Easy fold in MP and really close from button/blinds. It's really not close vs some, their ranges can be QQ+.I wouldn't get into a habit of folding it in this spot though, only vs specific players.Also there are a ton of spots on bubbles of SnGs where it's correct to fold it to raise or even just open fold it.

[Mercury69]

Awesome, thanks