Card Dead

Thank you Brother same to you and yours.
Hope to see you Sunday night :wink:

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OK, here is a secret that I’m only telling you so please keep it private ok?

There is no justice in poker tournaments. There is no fairness in poker tournaments. You cannot win a poker tournament without running well at some point.

Actually, I need to credit Doug Polk for these comments but he’s 100% correct. Tournaments are high variance events and the shorter the format, the higher the variance. Most of the MTT’s here are extremely short format. That being said, there are things you can do to increase your chances of going deep, even if at a table with loose passives and loose aggressives at the start.

  1. Tighten up and then tighten up some more at the early stages. This is true for any tournament but especially with the player types you are describing. Do not try to beat these players at their own game. That means not wasting a single chip you don’t have to. Do not open-limp or limp-behind K9s, ever (hint hint). Do not over defend your blinds. Let players damage each other while you keep your powder dry. As you said, before blinds increase and antes are added, there is not nearly as much incentive to put yourself at risk for these pots.

  2. Be patient - lets face it, playing poker at a table of loose passives is about the most boring, frustrating and annoying way to pass time known to man. Well, sadly that’s just the way it goes sometimes. Do not get tempted to play hands just because you’re bored.

  3. Practice pot control - at the early stages try to keep pots manageable. This is harder with tons of players in every pot but you still can do it. Pay attention to stack sizes and decide before you enter a pot how far you are willing to go with the hand in the best and worse case scenarios. If pots are bloated pre-flop because so many players entered, recognize what the bet sizes will look like on the flop and beyond. You are quickly playing for stacks in these bloated pots so make your decisions beforehand.

Not rocket science and won’t make you win tournaments but should help. Being card dead early is better than being card dead late. I will disagree with Marc about bluffing at these stages and against these player types though. Bluffing calling stations is a recipe for disaster. Bluffing a gaggle of them is suicidal for your tournament life. Save your bluffs and semi-bluffs for later stages against players who know where the fold button is located. Save this type of play for blind-stealing and re-stealing. Do not waste your chips doing it early unless you have a really really good spot and even then be careful.

GL and congrats on the 2nd place earlier. Card-dead just sucks and sometimes you will bust out of a tournament without having a decent hand to play or many good spots to try and steal. It happens. The biggest mistake you can make is forcing the issue before you need to. So play tight, play smart and survive. That’s your whole strategy for the early stages.

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very well said my friend.

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I had to LOL !!! even before I started to read it .

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even I understood this LOL.

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Beautiful stated, Warlock1, and answers a question I’ve asked myself, whether or not I should be playing the hand more often while the blinds are low. Now I have this good advice and will go forth better armed.
Jan

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You are the man!
Extremely detailed and very valuable!

I decide to give it a go and what better place than the 1.5K rebuy event here on replay. Why this game because everyone is shove happy :joy:

Thinking the hand through and deciding how far I’m willing to go based off of stack sizes post flop sure made a difference instead of mindlessly shoving preflop all in was undoubtedly successful :slight_smile:

Waiting for the deeper stages to work in bluffs when antes and blinds are high (with rebuys being over) sure made a difference (meaning the bets were more believable), I think for fear of others possibly getting knocked out closer to the bubble and not making the money :moneybag:

Using these tonight I’m shocked at how easy it was to get to the final table and woohooo cashed for another 2nd place today :smiley:

I don’t know if it was because of the advice or the less experienced players in any event it worked and I’m going to try it again at higher stakes, probably tomorrow.

Astoundingly Amazing, again thank you very much sir! @1Warlock thank you for the gift of knowledge.

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P.S. the LAPC is coming to town starting Jan 9th I’ll be trying this strategy for the mega super satellites, starting at the lowest level :wink:

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stop buttering him up LOL !!!

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Hahahaha

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great post.

only a little thing i would like to add: which is when you play super turbo tournaments.
if this is the case i would still use the same theory, but i would widen my range depending on the speed of the tourney.

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Speaking of hand ranges would anyone like to share theirs? Click here for Forum Post

And then you go bluffing into a calling station with a missed straight draw and she calls with 3rd pair no kicker (Bounty Hunter MTT). LOL - shame on you :slight_smile:

Make a sticker and place it where the betting button is on your screen that’s says “Fish don’t fold”.

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Lol

Yes indeed, rough day today and old habits are hard to break (sometimes you fall off the wagon, man I’m thirsty).

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I need another sticker…
for the calling button, when you flop a straight and the other guy flops a flush and piles the money in… enough said.

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Some more tips or notes to myself when card dead or playing in general in no special order:

  1. Treat every hand as a new hand - This can be very difficult dwelling on past hands. When I’ve missed the board and have not connected and finally wake up with a strong hand, I’ll want to play it weak because of past experience of missing flops, instead I should play it as it is a brand new hand and try and get the best value I can.

  2. Make the best of big hands - Try to maximize and get as much out of the hand as I can because it could be a while before I get another. I may get blasted for this one but I see many players on replay shoving all in pre flop with pocket aces (which I believe is a mistake unless you expect to get called), the reasoning I hear is because they don’t want them to get cracked but what if everyone folds? I prefer the regular 3x raise and if the board gets scary I’ll try and take it down on the flop or try and pot control (as stated above) but I definitely want to get the most out of it I can. I wouldn’t slow play it to the point where Im going to get drawn out, but Im getting off topic I want to get the most out of the hand as possible and that comes with a trade off.

  3. Realize there are downswings - Im going to lose a lot of tournaments, A LOT, but continue to play your best (easier said than done as noted by the sticker comments above :wink: thanks buddy :smiley: hahaha)

  4. Don’t go against the grain - Ive done this many times trying to force the action with failed miserable results. Stay aggressive and pick spots well. I find myself trying to change the game forcing raises larger and larger when I see 6 or more callers consistently every hand. What I think I should do is play my normal game be patient wait for better cards 3x it and if everyone wants to call so be it (play the best I can).

  5. Value Bluff - I like to value bluff as if I were trying to get value (as if I have the hand won, by betting a quarter of the pot) if it fails I don’t lose much but you have to have the table presence and against certain players this just won’t work and timing is everything.

Mental tips for myself :smiley:

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Deleted, no bearing on the post :wink:

Betting 250-300 preflop with pocket pair or AK is not really a bluff.

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All in pre-flop on bullets is advice from a champion Hold-em player. I’ve been doing that, but it breaks my heart to miss the chance to increase this potentially lucrative moment. I’m going to slow back with my bullets and try to milk the table a bit more. Besides, someone at the table with an enormous chip stack is likely to raise my all-in and come out ahead anyway. Been there!

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