Hello all. First time poster, about two month reader. For those that are wondering I am not in the fantasy poker thing.

I actually have a tournament strategy question. If you tend to try and play a certain style whether its aggressive, tight, etc. But the cards don't come where you can play your comfortable style, is there much you can do?

I know you need to be able to switch gears, but if you can never get into a normal rhythm is there anything you can do? Thanks for the help and hopefully this will be the first of many posts.

Oh and for those wondering I do know enough about the game to know that I don't know enough about the game.

Patience my friend, patience.

There are two strategies I employ when the cards aren't coming... but I really play my own style until I'm down to about 4-5x the BB (IMHO).... you need to make a move before you would need to double up twice just to get to the average stack.

First, attempt to steal blinds more... You will get opportunities, and you just have to take them. Obviously this is harder against loose players, or against chip leaders... but you still need to take chances. Stealing the blinds at least keeps you even in a tourney, and allows you to wait a bit longer for the cards to come.

Second, you should be taking mental notes (or written if it's online) about the players hands that you see in tourney's... are they tight and solid starting hands, or could they be playing garbage?

Now, if they are loose, you can start trying to get away with second pair against them. If they are tight/passive, you can try to bluff 'em when the board is coordinated and you are heads up... or if you think they could be playing with a small pair when an Ace hits the board.

That said, aside from the true pros who sometimes don't even need to look at their hand to beat you, it's incredibly difficult to do really well when the cards just aren't happening.

Thanks. I appreciate the help.

Great advice Bean, most certainly for the novice players. I have been having a rough spell lately, followed basically what you wrote, mostly the blind stealing and watching for patterns for the guys bluffing. I was having difficulty trying the bluffing part of the game and had to overcome it. Played two $5 SnG's and finished second in both. I play tight and have patience, so stealing helps me stay up in chips until I have a playable hand.

a run of bad hands give you an opportunity to really think about you're tournament, assess your play thus far and adjust your goals and strategy accordingly.

keep playing reasonably tight because after a while (assuming you're still at the same table) other players are really going to respect your raises. or if you have the confidence, play a couple medicore hands and try to push your way into some pots, IF you think you can play the man and they are reasonably tight.