playing tight in a poker game tournament

[Minus272c]

When is the best time to play tight in a poker tournament, from the start or at the latter stages of the game, and how about you see yourself as the chip leader on a table? Because I do miss lots of opportunities when playing tight.

I play by stacks and position
That means when i start a regular tuornement on pokerstars i have 100bb and on featured 166bb.
Theres is plenty of room to play alot of hands especially in position with 100bb and above, so
IMO your missing alot of opportunitties playing tight from start.

That said, there is no reason to engange oversized pots, or go crazy with trash hands, or play
weaker hand combos out of position.

I think its more fun to play poker, than flipping with AA, KK and AK once you get then

Try and play by stacks, and youll do just fine

 

[22meandu]

Put your chips in and get lucky . Sit out and miss bad beats . Play rounds as if you have AA every hand . Fold AK & KK every time your gut tells you to . All really bad pieces of advice ,but all better than playing tight all the time . :albertein

 

[pirateglenn]

Hi Lovido,

its a good question you raise as i see so many players especially live who tighten up their game/range at various stages of a tourney - especially early and also around the bubble or near breaks.
The truth is..the really good players exploit these situations and look to chip up around these times and build a stack, depending on your reasons for playing, some play for fun, others to develop their game and then others to cash and some to win - its good to be consistent with your game with the ability to be flexible when needed.
I always play to win - min cash for me doesn't really interest me - but that is different for all players and because i know my ranges, pot odds and probability, i use my math knowledge to good effect - that said - if i have a lock on a player and see them play a little different or funky, i will sometimes look them out.
My overall advice is - play your own game but learn from the mistakes you make and will keep making - this will define the level of player you become or already are.
Learning everyday is great as certain situations will repeat themselves - good players will test you with air or if the board runs a certain way..you have to have a controlled amount of aggression and bravery but keep true to yourself, more often than not - if your gut tells you to play or fold..do that.
I have found from watching many games of poker - especially on here, the top 3% of players tend to always have that card or that hand..they are consistent and also demonstrate an ability to change gears in tourneys as and when needed.

You will soon work out who the top players are and i wish you every success on here..
Last Advice..the best players can fold in the tightest of spots...the best players can identify the spots to attack

Regards

Pirateglenn

 

[kdawg71]

Playing tight or aggressive by the amateur

Whether it is early, middle or late in the tournament never dictates to me as whether to play tight or loose. Being on the pay bubble does, but sometimes that doesn't even matter if the I feel as though the odds are in my favor. More than anything to me is how the pace of the game is going on the table that I am playing on at that very moment. What I mean is that sometimes I can sense the mood of the table (Do I play tight in certain scenarios? Do I loosen up in other scenarios)? The driving force being that I maximize my wins and minimize my loses. Naturally of course that is not always going to happen. What kind of frame of mind am I in? That more than anything dictates to me what plays I will make in each scenario. Keeping focused on every little piece of information that I can absorb from the atmosphere of the table environment that I am playing on. Again things aren't always going to work out in your best interest everytime ,but as a generality you will notice an upswing in your stack of play by doing these.

 

[duson]

For the most part people recommend to play tight in the early stages of a MTT but I typically open up wider while the blinds are smaller. But usually I only raise High pairs/Broadways, otherwise I limp. Towards the bubble and end game, depending on my stack I'll play tight if I'm short, aggressive if I'm stacked.

 

[luckybet89]

So generally I always play a wider range in the beginning stages of the tourney as I see this stage the part to accumulate chips for the later part of the tournament where im going to be playing a lot less hands. Once it gets to around 400/800 or 500/1000 things start to get crazy and there tends to be a lot of all ins so I am pretty choosy with what cards I choose to continue with and also am super observant of position. Once I get to the ICM stage I prefer to play a pretty balanced position based range of hands.

The Problem with playing too tight throughout the tournament is that it basically causes the hands you do have to be played face up and it allows your opponents to completely exploit you. My suggestion would be to create a range of starting hands from each position that you would feel comfortable with and just stick to those. I would look up some preflop charts and design a range based off of one of those and memorize it.

 

[bstest]

It depends on how comfortable you are with the buyin cost of the tournament and its payout structure. For myself if the buyin has little impact on my account and the payout structure rewards heavily to the top winners, I will play aggressive at the beginning. With bigger money tournaments I play tight and as smart as I can throughout first trying to make it to the money. After that its a matter of getting a feel for the players.

 

[fa1920]

Depending on each situation the strategy varies a lot, in early phases the game is tight, bubble also tight, late phases ITM the game NIT although tight also serves, but the important thing is to acquire as many chips as possible in ITM to be able to aspire to a table final. Being big stack you can afford to open a lot of hands, but it's all quite complex to explain everything, you have to be more specific. And I'm telling you, if it's a K.O. tournament. the strategy changes drastically

 

[luckybet89]

Depending on each situation the strategy varies a lot, in early phases the game is tight, bubble also tight, late phases ITM the game NIT although tight also serves, but the important thing is to acquire as many chips as possible in ITM to be able to aspire to a table final. Being big stack you can afford to open a lot of hands, but it's all quite complex to explain everything, you have to be more specific. And I'm telling you, if it's a K.O. tournament. the strategy changes drastically

If you mind touching on this a bit what do you mean when you say the K.O. strategy changes drastically? In what ways?? Genuinely curious

 

[fa1920]

If you mind touching on this a bit what do you mean when you say the K.O. strategy changes drastically? In what ways?? Genuinely curious

Because the bounty is given more priority in certain decisions and you will have to send all-in or be paying with wider ranges against certain players most of the time.

 

[luckybet89]

ahh ok that makes sense. thanks for clearing that up

 

[xbronk]

I think that in the final stages when you get to the winning places, the players tend to go with any hand and the goal at that moment is the final table to win the tournament good luck greetings

 

[alannalmeida]

Just my experience

Usually I try to make some staks at the begin and try to maintenance myself in the high stakes, when i'm reach the prize positions, i usually play more aggressively, more like, bet in the hands i think are good, at this point I usually have players more time with me, so that way, i think cand read better them at this point.

I hope can help