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transition between cash game and tournanment play

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  1. fishsticks19 fishsticks19 is offline

    Portland, OR
    United States

    Posts: 80
    Joined: Jan 06

    Jan 25th, 2006 (1/25/2006 11:52pm)

    I have played for a while in low to mid limit cash games both online and live, but have very little experience playing tournaments especially NL. I usually clean up on the lowest buy in limit SNGs on party poker but past that im stuck. I was wondering if you guys had any basic pointers on how to make the transition. I know that people are usually better at one or the other, and I positive that I lean way towards cash games, I just want to be somewhat succesful as a tourney player, or at least competent. I play exclusively limit cash games so no limit can be tough for me to get my head around. My biggest problems are overplaying pairs such as 9-Q, especially early on in a tourney, and overvaluing top pair with a solid kicker.
  2. timzc1 timzc1 is offline

    Vancouver
    Canada

    Posts: 2,262
    Joined: Jan 06

    Jan 26th, 2006 (1/26/2006 1:22am) in reply to fishsticks19

    practice your tourny strategy for cheepie cheepie with MTT sit-n-go I am sure this would be good, too (some sites have this: ultimate maybe?)

    Oh: one more thing... remember when you learned the importance of position in cash-ring games? pos is v v important in MTT no lim tex H tournies, but there is a WHOLE NEW BIG thing to learn: YOUR STACK size (and your opp's stack size) in relation to blinds / antes. its a complex topic, and someone far more competent than I could speak on it, probably... This point ties into the related topic of HOW FAST the blinds go up - 6 min levels = a FAST LOOSE (crazy) game, 10 min still pretty nuts in the later stages, 12 min starting to be a bit tighter until pretty close to the end, 15 min getting tighter yet, etc

    --timzc
  3. acecatcher26 acecatcher26 is offline

    AR
    United States

    Posts: 4,351
    Joined: Jan 06

    Jan 26th, 2006 (1/26/2006 2:47am) in reply to timzc1

    HERE IS MY SUGGESTION, IM A DONK MYSELF BUT I AM ON THE TOURNEY LEADER BOARD THIS YEAR AT stars... PLAY ROCK SOLID TIGHT FIRST COUPLE STAGES WHEN THE BLINDS INCREASE
    INCREASE UR AGGRESSION. WHEN THE BLINDS GET HIGH JUST RUN THE FREAKIN TABLE OVER! U WANT EVERYONE ON THE TABLE TO BE AFRAID IF THEY GET IN A POT WITH U IT MAY COST THEM THEIR WHOLE STACK. PLAY UR POSITION AND UR STACK IF IM SHORT I MAKE A MOVE PRETTY QUICK I DONT THINK THERE IS ANY DIDNITY IN BLINDING MYSELF OUT IM READY TO GAMBLE AT THIS POINT, BUT DONT CALL OFF UR CHIPS BET THEM OFF LMAO.
  4. timzc1 timzc1 is offline

    Vancouver
    Canada

    Posts: 2,262
    Joined: Jan 06

    Jan 26th, 2006 (1/26/2006 4:37am) in reply to acecatcher26

    I like ace catcher's advice.

    re: never "call off / blind off your chips"

    One of the many keys to stack management is the following concern: if you ever get so short stacked that you have almost no chance to r pre flop and steal the blinds, then a big and key aspect of NO LIM stratgy is out the window for you. After all, winning the blinds and antes with 100% chance (when all fold) is a "free round of play for you". When you fall to les then 10 betting units, you should probably start to strongly consider finding a hand that will be THE HAND you make your stand, and going for it... as your stack gets less and less, "your hand" might start to look like (a rather pathetic) qks or 88 or etc. Try to never fall below 3-4 betting units: odds of you getting back into the tourny and netting FT -- let alone top 3 $$ -- is slim to none. its better to find a hand befor this occurs and go for it. if you bust out, you bust out.

    --timzc1
  5. xcalibur1120 xcalibur1120 is offline

    Helena, AL
    United States

    Posts: 313
    Joined: Dec 05

    Jan 26th, 2006 (1/26/2006 4:16pm) in reply to fishsticks19

    Tight, tight, tight real early. Most people who have played these for awhile will agree although there are some who can play a loose crazy game really well (see P0Ker H0). Your flop % should be about 10-15% which is probably about half of what you had at a cash game. Early on in the tourney, you can splash around with pocket pairs hoping to hit your sets in a raised pot since many people STILL can not fold AA or KK or even AK for that matter when you make a check raise or a strong reraise. You need to learn the GAP concept which is from, "Tournament Poker for Adavanced PLayers" by Sklansky. Basicly, what this says is that you need a much stronger hand to call a raise with then you need to open a raise with your self. Ex: A guy UTG raises 3XBB you are in 6th postion and look down and find AJ. This should be an insta fold (what???) and it may take you a while to realize this cause it really is different from a cash game strategy. On the other hand, lets say it fold around to you in 6th postion wtih your AJ, here you should make a 3X raise. In addition, I don't recomend playing hands like suited connectors or A3 suited or something unless you are on the button or button +1 and there are multiple limpers in the pot. You'll find that you try and chase the flush/straight but unlike a cash game...you're done if you miss. The real object is just to get all your money in the middle in a favorable situation. This runs counter to Doyle Super System mantra of, "Usually when all the money is in, I have the worst hand." Well he can do that cuz he's picked up some small pots all along and can afford to take some risks. While you still have to gamble, I don't advise putting all my money in the pot when I flop a 4 flush like you might in a ring game. GL mate, I hope it helps.--Xcal
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