8 replies to this topic

[Monsieur]

Hi everybody,

I just came back from a live tourney in a city nearby here in Germany and busted out quite early (something 30ish out of 52), as I didn't know how to adjust to the stupid structure.

Everybody was given 1500 Chips to start with and the blind levels were as follows:

20/40 for 25 min
40/80 for 25 min
100/200 for 20 min
200/400 for 20 min
400/800 for 20 min
1000/2000 for 15 min
2000/4000 for 15 min
5000/10000 for 15 min

So you only start with a M of 25 which is getting reduced to just 12.5 after 25 minutes of play (by the way, we don't have fancy shuffling machines here, so the dealers do the shuffling themselves after every played hand).

Nobody at my table really seemed to have adjusted to the structure or played the all-in fest after the blinds were raised so that the M of most people was just at 5 or so.

I played very TAGish up to the 200/400 level, where I had just about 2000 chips because I couldn't manage to find a playable hand and didn't trust my reads that much as I'm quite new to live poker as I'm only 19 and this was my second time in a casino (legal age to go to a casino here is 18).
At the 200/400 level, I decided that I wanted to win and had played quite poorly before so I started to push a bit and got busted.

So now my question is:
How should one adjust to this crappy tournament structure? Should one stay away from playing it and stick to online tournaments (I'ld like to go there again in two weeks )?
Any advice is very much appreciated.


By the way, if anybody will ever be here in the Northern part of Germany let me know as I'ld like to show you around in our poker rooms

[Actuary]

welcome to FCP.

you're off on the right foot and the right forum.
We don't take kindly to foreigners around here though.
Just ask BudBundy and Verdimme

Ok..now to your tourney

There is tons of variance in tourneys
No strategy is going to offset the variance in any short run.
You'll have to get lucky.

Don't play tag.
You need to get chips while others are letting their M's drop to "play anything" levels.
Be aggressive.
Play postionn
Steal pots and move weak tighties off hands.

In a slower structure you can wait for hands, not here.

[No_Neck]

what you need to do is find a few people at your table that will surrender thier big blinds without a fight, and steal that one every chance you get. Figure out who you can steal from and rob them blind.

You need to make sure you understand "M" look in the tourney forum lots of stuff in there about it.

[Monsieur]

Thanks for your informative answers.

I understand that tournaments do have a high variance and don't even mind being one of the first five busting out if I felt that I played quite well which I absolutely didn't yesterday.
Now the next time, I'll go and try I'll just start aggressively attacking the other players and hope I'll still be able to let go if I will meet some resistance.

I don't understand the foreigner thing though as poker is an international language and imo North Americans do profit if it gets more popular throughout the world, because more fish are there to come.

[Actuary]

I don't understand the foreigner thing though as poker is an international language and imo North Americans do profit if it gets more popular throughout the world, because more fish are there to come.

Actuary has an odd sense of humour,
Don't mind him

[shrimp4789]

welcome to FCP.

you're off on the right foot and the right forum.
We don't take kindly to foreigners around here though.
Just ask BudBundy and Verdimme

Ok..now to your tourney

There is tons of variance in tourneys
No strategy is going to offset the variance in any short run.
You'll have to get lucky.

Don't play tag.
You need to get chips while others are letting their M's drop to "play anything" levels.
Be aggressive.
Play postionn
Steal pots and move weak tighties off hands.

In a slower structure you can wait for hands, not here.

So how do you counter this type of player at your table? They are forcing you to play tight, and if you dont get cards then your a bit screwed are you not? I find it difficult, esp in turbos to do anything with a "bully" or a super aggressive person at my table....how do you play against them?

[Zach6668]

So how do you counter this type of player at your table? They are forcing you to play tight, and if you dont get cards then your a bit screwed are you not? I find it difficult, esp in turbos to do anything with a "bully" or a super aggressive person at my table....how do you play against them?

Eventually, you'll have to take a stand in a marginal situation...

[TB17]

Ok..now to your tourney

There is tons of variance in tourneys
No strategy is going to offset the variance in any short run.
You'll have to get lucky.
Don't play tag.
You need to get chips while others are letting their M's drop to "play anything" levels.
Be aggressive.
Play postionn
Steal pots and move weak tighties off hands.

Actuary's long pointless post can be summed up in the bolded line

In which case, I'll post it 10 more times:

Don't play tag.
Don't play tag.
Don't play tag.
Don't play tag.
Don't play tag.
Don't play tag.
Don't play tag.
Don't play tag.
Don't play tag.
Don't play tag.

[Actuary]

So how do you counter this type of player at your table? They are forcing you to play tight, and if you dont get cards then your a bit screwed are you not? I find it difficult, esp in turbos to do anything with a "bully" or a super aggressive person at my table....how do you play against them?

honestly, I have little experince in MTT's, and none in Turbos like this.
I would think the best thing to do, is be like him - in a Turbo, and watch for good players adjusting


In normal paced MTT"s, you can pick your spots and trap him. Unless he's catching hands, someone will stand up to him and knock him down. Lots of players can only play bigstack poker and flame out when they lose a chunk. In a sort of related note. Last night we were 4 handed in a 9 man STT. Stacks were about 5000, 4500, 2300, 1700. I had 4500. blinds were 75/150. Chip leaper was raisng every pot. Even preflop shoving several times. He would often shove his BB after a short stack limped from Small blind. We got to 3 handed and finally HU and my stack was 3800 to his 9700. I took his BB a few times and repopped his pfr maybe 4 times, to take it preflop (while we were 3-4 handed, I mean). We played a few soft pots together. But mostly, I let him pound the others. I pounded a little, but not much. THese other stacks were so weak tight and playing to cash, I wasn't about to go out 4th trying to show the bully who was boss. Bully hadd a good read on everyone and knew I needed a huge hand to play with him preflop. HU I told him he played very well on the bubble (different style than I, but I admired it). He said the same of me, understanding my predicament. Had the other short stacks ever gotten it in gear and started stealing or calling agannst leader sometimes...then I too would've had to step it up, assuming they actually dble up thru him.

So you adjust based on entire table. In a turbo with a bully who plays really fast and loose, re-raise him (isolate) and gamble. You have to realize he's not likely getting a good hand every time. He prefers easy chips, and when you play back, he may avoid you next time. Be willing to go broke and a maniac will dbl you up.

other should be able to help you more.
finally, it's always about making the most money on average ( i.e. Maximizing EV), some players let pride get in there way. I was not upset with Bully stealing my blinds constantly, as I kept my eye on the other stack falling much faster than mine.