7 replies to this topic

[faketree]

Tonight I have the first part of a World Series qualifier. It works like this:Buy-In $155 per player10 separate single-table tournamentsWinner of each STT moves on to the final table.Winner of 10 handed final table wins seat in main event.Now, I am an avid Sit-n-Go online player. I play exclusively on UltimateBet and play mostly the STT with one or two MTTs thrown in during the week. I rarely sit in a ring game.I have gotten pretty used to the stucture of the STTs on UltimateBet and have worked out a good strategy that has netted me a 68% in-the-money rate. However, two things about tonights STT concern me. First, you have to finish 1st. 2nd is just as bad as last in this one. So that takes away the luxury of sitting back and waiting for others to bust themselves in the usual loose game. Second, based on past tournaments at this particular cardroom, I'm pretty sure that the structure is going to lend itself to a push-in game. What I mean by this is low starting chips and/or quick blind escalations. This usually means if you lose the first hand you've played, you'll be so crippled because of the structure that you'll be all-in on your next playable hand.Does anyone have any ideas or strategy concepts for this type of a game. I'm thinking that I just have to be super-aggressive and be willing to bust out first. Really push my marginal hands (60%/40%) and hope to get lucky. Basically keep constant pressure on everyone from the start.Any info or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[Socrates]

What's the schedule? Are you taking all the chips you win from table 1 to the final table and continuing where the blinds left off or are you going to the final table, getting a new stack and starting the blinds over?As I see it, it seems rather insignificant anyway, you should just play like you would play to win a single table, you just have to do it twice. No one will have an advantage chip wise at the final table.

[CHiSEL]

what site is this on? i play Ub a lot and haven't seen this sort of shootout tourney there. they have supers for the world series, but not the stt step ones like you're talking about. thanks!

[faketree]

UPDATE: 3rd place.Q1: its 10 STTs and the final table is a restart. everyone gets the same amount of chips. and playing the normal game isn't possible because you need to win. second is no good.Q2: its not an online tournament. it was in my local cardroom in Petaluma, CA.just got back from my STT. finished third in an unlucky all-in. however, i played one of the best games i have ever played live. the structure wasnt as horrible as i thought it would be. they started us with $4000 chips and the blinds at 25/50 and raised every twenty minutes.i still decided to play a very aggressive game and it was a good decision. the table was very tight. usually if someone raised it folded around and he took the blinds. the other time there would be a caller, bet on the flop and fold. it was surprisingly tight because this cardroom is full of terrible poker players. well it worked to my advantage and was able to run over the table. i even called a guy down that i thought was bluffing with bottom pair (2's). he had AQ and got none of the board. after that every time i raised people got out of the way. which was great because i was able to pick up a lot of blinds and ante's and limpers.when it got down to three i was the chip leader but the other two were very healthy. i kept up my aggression and lost an AK vs. 88 pot which halved my stack. then lost another JJ vs. AQ and out.all in all though, when the game was full, i was really playing a good game and am happy with that. thinking of entering another one and see what happens. it was a good time.[/quote]

[Socrates]

Tough break with 3rd. I do have a question for you though. How can you not play your normal game at a STT, even for this? Are you telling us that you don't normally play for first or have "regular" game that you can win a table with?

[Sullyarmy]

I think what he was saying is you can't have your typical tight play because its more of a crap shot cause the blinds go up...I understand what he "was" thinking before he went to the tournament. He was thinking starting chips will be low and blind will go up every 20 min which is very fast in live game because you only get to see 10-15 hands ever level. So you have to start playing marginal hands early so that the blinds don't eat you up in the 3rd or 4th level. Typically that is when you lost about 3 to 4 people and you have to pay those blinds alot and the big stack can afford to gamble when you are forced all in with a small pocket pair or something along those lines.I would like to play in a live tourney were you get about 5000 in chips with no-rebuys and limit go up every hour...which will never happen unelss im willing to spend $1000. Did you notice if most of the people were online players? If so i can guarantee you took down some pots because they are scared of live play or unfamiliar with it. That is the great thing about live you don't have as many loose calls and crazy play because people don't wanna be seen when they make some crazy play and get knocked out... they are no long simply a name, and they don't wanna give the impression they are stupid and don't know how to play, even though they will probably never see you again they want you to walk away and say wow that guy was pretty good or w/e

[faketree]

Socrates said:

Tough break with 3rd. I do have a question for you though. How can you not play your normal game at a STT, even for this? Are you telling us that you don't normally play for first or have "regular" game that you can win a table with?

I've been playing STTs pretty much constantly and have a good strategy that works for me. That strategy is to finish in the money. While I'd obviously like to win every one of them, if you can't finish in the money consistently, then your rate drops and you're not in the positive anymore. This usually means I'm waiting around for the first 4 or 5 to knock themselves out before I open up and start playing non-premium hands. This works online because the games are usually so loose waiting is the proper strategy.But for this, because of the structure and having to win the whole thing, chip count is the most important factor. So waiting around early is not an option since you have to accumlate chips by picking up blinds and antes and punishing the limpers with large raises preflop.That is just the way I feel about it. If you have a different strategy then go with it. That's poker. This works for me though and I think my ideas about how to play this particular live STT were right on.

[faketree]

Sullyarmy said:

Did you notice if most of the people were online players? If so i can guarantee you took down some pots because they are scared of live play or unfamiliar with it. That is the great thing about live you don't have as many loose calls and crazy play because people don't wanna be seen when they make some crazy play and get knocked out... they are no long simply a name, and they don't wanna give the impression they are stupid and don't know how to play, even though they will probably never see you again they want you to walk away and say wow that guy was pretty good or w/e

No these were all cardroom regulars and they are usually unbelievably loose in the ring games which is why I was so surprised at this. I'm pretty sure that maybe one other person at the table played online, tops. Maybe they just aren't used to no-limit because they're sitting playing 4/8 and 6/12 12 hours a day 7 days a week. Most of these people are there all the time. And I mean all the time. Many retirees and plain old degenerate gamblers. Very profitable venue.