Playing in my first live tournament Sunday. The structure etc. follows. From what I've seen on FCP I'm guessing that the structure is less than ideal. Any advice other than TP/MM?

Thanks


2. Entries are limited to the first 99 participants.
3. Players seated in a live game (a game raked by the house) two hours prior to the start of the
tournament will have first opportunity to purchase a seat for a $50.00 buy-in, a $5.00 entry fee, and a
$5.00 dealer tip.
4. If entries are still available one hour prior to the start of the tournament, all other interested players
can purchase a seat for a $50.00 buy-in, a $5.00 entry fee, and a $5.00 dealer tip.
5. All entrants will start with $2,000 in tournament chips.
6. Once the tournament is full, alternates will be taken for the first hour of the tournament. Alternates are
players who do not make the initial cut-off and may have an opportunity to play if a player is
eliminated during the first hour of the tournament. Alternates cannot be a player that has already
been eliminated from the tournament only one entry per player. Alternates will be taken from a first
come designated alternate list and will be seated in the available seat where the player eliminated
from the tournament was seated.
Blinds: 20 mins each.
o 25-50
o 50-100
o 75-150
15 min. break/race off $25 chips
o 100-200
o 200-400
o 300-600
15 min. break/race off $100 chips
o 500-1,000
o 1,000-2,000
o 1,500-3,000
15 min. break/race off $500 chips
o 3,000-6,000
o 5,000-10,000
o 10,000-20,000
o 15,000-30,000
Blinds will continue to double until the conclusion of the tournament.
13. Players are eliminated from the tournament when they have no more chips.
14. Payouts and Percentages are as follows:
10 PLACES – 32%-21%-15%-10%-7%-5%-4%-3%-2%-1%

Push in Fest after the 1st hour

Good time to read up Harrington's zones in HOH2 as you will hit the yellow zone in no time flat with that structure.

Be careful of committing too much of your stack on any one hand unless you're willing to go all the way (e.g. more than 1/3 you're pot committed)

Get Lucky

I played in a tournament very similar in structure to the one you're going to play, and I'll try to give as much insight as possible.

Blind Levels 1 and 2:
Push your premium hands.

You will NEED (NEEEEEED) to accumulate a stack here, because in the later stages if you have an average stack, your M is rediculously low.
Expect to see a lot of marginal holdings all in PF from shorties. What I found to be very effective in the first few levels was to take advantage of loose 'donks' trying to see a cheap flop. I would simply push (almost any two sometimes, granted I am relatively sure they have weak holdings) or raise enough to make them have to make a decision. Sure, it backfires occasionally, but you're not there to win one pot, you're there to win the final pot.

(At least in the tournament I played in, it seemed that no one read HOH2 and NO ONE knew the value of position.)


Blind levels 3-5/6:
Tight Is Right.

The type of play doesn't really change, but the swings in chip stacks can be rediculous. Chip leader can lose all their chips in 2 hands by calling all ins w/ marginal holdings. Don't target these players to steal from, target the weaker 'avg stack' people who don't seem to want to get into big confrontations without premium hands.

Blind Levels 7-?
Win your flips.

This is the TIME FOR COINFLIPS. Yeah, I know no one really wants to get their money in there for a flip of a coin, but in tournaments like this, it's usually inevitable. Just hope a couple times you hold AK and your opponent mistakes you for a PP and calls your all in w/ AQ-A10... pray for those situations.

Beyond..:

Final few tables and final table time, Just play your A game and hope to not get unlucky. All you can hope for in these "turbos" is that you can get your money in the middle w/ the best hand. From there, it's up to the poker gods.