What is the strategy of "All-In'ers"

Hi,

I played online poker on different sites and different levels, mainly in tournaments (freeroll, 1$ to 20$).

No matter the buy-in, it seems that there is always a lot of players (1 to 3 per table) going for All-In with any cards for the first 15 minutes. Is there a strategy that I don't understand?

My best bet is that those players do not care for their money, and don't want to waste time building up their stack. If this is it, why are they playing? I doubt this is efficient to make money.

It's way more common to see them in freerolls and cheap ticket tournaments but I believe the reasoning goes something like this:

Get a marginally playable hand
Either double up or lose
If you double up (some repeat this process once or twice) you start the tourney with a good advantage and it's "worth playing"

If you lose, then there's no time "lost" in the process and you can move to a more profitable use of your time 😂

I'm not a fan of the process myself and I believe it takes away some of the stability of the game in the first rounds, but, hey, you'll end up beating them more often than they kick you out.

Myself2020 said:

If this is it, why are they playing? I doubt this is efficient to make money.

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does it matter why they're playing or if they want to buy-in and jam any 2 cards, sometimes multiple times? who cares what other people do with their money, it's no concern of yours.

and you're wrong, this is a very efficient way to make money.

I see these type of players in freerolls or low buy in, when I play tournaments with buy in higher than $3.30, I don't see them frequently in the regular tournaments (except in the turbo and hyper turbo). But, I guess that their strategy is go big or go home.

ohshootmybad said:

does it matter why they're playing or if they want to buy-in and jam any 2 cards, sometimes multiple times? who cares what other people do with their money, it's no concern of yours.

and you're wrong, this is a very efficient way to make money.

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Sorry "ohshootmybad" if I made you think I was against those who do it. I'm just trying to understand... And I'm happy for you if this kind of play fits you.

Maybe my mistake is that I "play" poker (ie: for the fun of it, not to test the random outcome). If I ever play to "really" make money, I'll consider this startegy.

The main goal for them is act like idiots.
And we must admit they are doing a hell of a job!

Myself2020 said:

Hi,

I played online poker on different sites and different levels, mainly in tournaments (freeroll, 1$ to 20$).

No matter the buy-in, it seems that there is always a lot of players (1 to 3 per table) going for All-In with any cards for the first 15 minutes. Is there a strategy that I don't understand?

My best bet is that those players do not care for their money, and don't want to waste time building up their stack. If this is it, why are they playing? I doubt this is efficient to make money.

Click to expand...

Freerolls are notorious for this type of play and you're not going to see a change to this anytime soon they have nothing invested so they take the chance of doubling up. Plus a lot of freerolls and low game buy-ins offer small rebuys early in the game making it seem to this type of player that the all-ins are worth it

Myself2020 said:

Sorry "ohshootmybad" if I made you think I was against those who do it. I'm just trying to understand... And I'm happy for you if this kind of play fits you.
...i don't play this way, i don't even play mtts from the start. the point i was trying to get across was 'don't waste your time on things that don't matter'. there is no strategy to this and there is no reason to try and figure out why players are willing to play like this.

Maybe my mistake is that I "play" poker (ie: for the fun of it, not to test the random outcome). If I ever play to "really" make money, I'll consider this startegy.
...when i said this is a very effective way to make money, i wasn't speaking about the players that do this. no, in the long term, they're losing players (assuming this is how they play on a consistent basis). maybe a few might get lucky and hit a huge score for a profit but, for the most part, they're losing money.

instead, this is an efficient way to make money if you play better than them. making money and doing well in poker is all about making more correct decisions. the more +ev decisions you make, the more money you make in the long run. and what are these players doing? they're just inflating the prize pool and that's more money for you to make off of them.

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above.

From my point of view, I think they just want to gamble and show their craziness and many people will call them when they have a strong hand. Their purpose is building stack, especially on rebuy or freeroll tournaments. This strategy is often not good because it required a very good play when you have a deep stack and must reach the final table to have profit.

The strategy of the first all in player is to tax the limpers and the small raisers and scoop the pot,the second and third all in players are looking to build or break their stack.

Just wanted to mention that there are different ways for 'all-iners' to behave. One strategy that works well is the player with a decent sized stack who seems to go all in at least once every orbit of the table. You'll notice that sometimes he's targeting a particular player. Or he seems to be attacking the small stacks. At the bubble the attack will hit the medium stacks that want to survive. It's aggression at it's finest and can be quite difficult to counter.

Success in this game depends on two factors: Stack Size Relative to Blinds Table position With a stack of 10 to 25 big blinds, the button should be played through mini-raises of 2BB. Position gives you the edge to steal the blinds. When your stack approaches the 10BB mark and less, you need to switch to the push-fold strategy. The less chips you have, the wider the range to go all-in.

To go all in or to not go all in that is the question. On the one hand preflop all in clears out all the mid range hands and weaker Ax Kx hands. The advatnage to this is you dont have to worry about A4 hitting two 4's on the flop and busting your KK. Also if you go all in with a premium hand and get called by another premium hand that isnt quite as good or a maniac with a weak hand and the run out is good then you get max value for your hand. Those are the two good reasons I can see for going all in preflop.Other wise I think all in preflop is a waist of time and money your might as well play roulette or blackjack or the lottery if you just shove all your hands preflop. It is purely a gambling game if you play that way.

I can not call it a strategy but some players use this approach so that they either bust early and switch to something else to do or build big stack early and try to use it to get deep in the MTT. Usually these are players that do not care too much which of these 2 options will happen.

The majority of these types of players essentially have zero idea how to play tournament poker.

Their thought process is usually along the lines of;

"If I shove everyone might fold and I'll win the pot. If someone does call, I might hit and still win the pot."

These types of players think that if they can hit a double-up or triple-up in the first few hands, it will increase their chances of making it ITM or even winning.

They are, of course, completely wrong.

Tournaments are marathons, not sprints..

Without solid strategy and patience, you're never going to do well in MTT's regularly, regardless of how many chips you manage to bink in the first few hands.

Even if one of these players were to go all in on the first hand, get called by all eight opponents and win the pot.. They've still got a snowflake's chance in hell of winning the tournament.

They're just too impatient.

I've seen it time and time again.. They catch a triple up first hand but twenty to thirty minutes later, they're gone..

Call off half their stack with AT/AJ v AK, and lose, and then already they're back in the mentality of 'I need to double/triple'..

If you keep risking your tournament life (even with premium/monsters [let alone the ATC trash these players push with]), eventually you'll lose.

It's inevitable...

P.S. Often when I get busted down to, say, 15bb by one of these players and they now have 150bb (thanks to some miraculous bink), I'll tell them that despite the 10:1 chip advantage- they'll bust first. It amuses me how often that comes to pass...