Who can give me asome suggestions?

Hi everyone. I´m new to the site and after reading some good advice on other threads i was hoping maybe some of you could help me become a better Texas poker player.
I only play in tournaments, anywhere from 20-200 participants in each game. I usually play 1 tournament every day. I think i am just an average poker player, nothing special but not all that bad. I think though that i must do some things wrong because i just never win. I will list below a few things i do, and your opinions about those things will probably help me out a lot.

1) When the tournament begins, my first goal is to at least win something. That means, if 20 players get a prize, i shoot to be number 20. That means i play very tight, i only play hands when i have a pocket pair, two pocket cards with both being higher than 10, or an A and another card both suited. As you can imagine i play almost no hands. I basically watch. Is this okay?

2) It is annyoing because this scenario happens often; i have a J and Q pocket cards. On the board are K, 3, 6. 7, J. One player raises 100 chips (we all have about 700 chips left) and i fold my pair of jacks thinking that guy may have a pair of kings. Often he doesn´t, he just has a pair of 7. If you were in this situation, would you also fold your pair of jacks, or not?

3) This happens often also. When i watch the other players playing, some player in the middle raises the big blind. Let´s say 10 people are at the table, and he sits 4 seats after the big blind. More often than not, this player who was the first to raise loses ther hand. Should i call these players who raise in these situations more often, because i never do unless i have a great pocket?

4) I also noticed a lot of online players call a big blind when they have an A and any other card. I normally fold when i have for example an A and a 7 because i figure chances are one of the other 5 players who called the big blind have an A and another pocket card higher than a 7. What do you think about this?

5) I have to say, by playing tight i win a prize about 25% of the time (but the prize is usually only a few dollars more than the buy in). It seems to me that by playing tight you can never really come in the top 5 in a tournament. Should i take more chances or risks? Maybe some of you guys can give me prime examples of the mistakes "tight players" make which if they didn`t than they could be more successful.

Thanks a lot for the help. Johnny

Welcome to the site! Well Im assuming this is for either low limits or play money so I hope this helps

1. Its good to play tight and aggressive, but if you want to live you have to be willing to die .don’t play dumb but play for first, I would rather go out with pp K against ppA in the first 5 hands rather than get blinded out in 21 spot with 20 paid.

2. honestly you should have folded post flop pre turn (assuming it wasn’t checked to the river).I just try and maximize the size of the pots I win and minimize the size of the pots I lose. I don’t like to call a bet post flop on a bad draw half hit it and then paying him off on the river.

3. hard to say, just play your game, if you think your going to win bet if you think you’re going to lose fold. a good raise on the dealer button to steal some blinds isn’t always a bad thing

4.lol it’s the A poo mentality “hey I got A 2 ill call” in low limit you will also see a lot of raises called with the A poo.but if you have A K or even A 9 you have them dominated

5.dont just play tight to play tight .play tight to win when you got good cards get your money in when you get bad cards get your money out. if you’re going to play tight you have to win big pot because you’re not picking up the blinds and pots that the other players will by playing hands.

Well hope it helps this site has some great free rolls with good players so if your sick of the A poo mentality you should check them out

Thanks for the tips. And yes, i do play low limit texas hold´em. I usually play the $5 or $10 tournaments.
I´ll check those freerolls out too, thanks.

Go to a book store and get a poker book. The stage your at you need to read a basic book. Not anything fancy like the super system which you can read later. Go thru the link here and sign up for an account at bet365 and read the poker tips offered on the site. Mike Caro book could help you. Or Lou Krieger has a small book. You can learn for free in free rolls. Well somewhat, but you need not spend money to learn. I started in May of 2005 and played only play money until July. I started to play free rolls July 1st, never put a dime of my money on any poker site and have so far taken $4500 from poker sites on the Web. Be careful of some sites though because they require that you deposit before you win money in the free roll or they won't give you the free roll money. It's actually not free. And any money you win on the site from the free roll money they won't give you either unless you deposit before the free roll. Good luck in your endeavor. If you have an aptitude for the game you'll be rolling in money soon.

I have a pretty good e-book. It is written by Theo Cage "Insiders Secrets To Online Texas Holdem". If you are interested PM me your email and I'll send it to you.
Until then good luck

Again, thanks zzbob for the suggestions.....
@papacrete.......Thanks a million, really nice of you to offer this to me. I will pm you now.

@papacrete....i`m unable to send you a pm, it says that i do not have permission to access that page. But i don´t mind putting my email address here cause it´s my second one and i hardly use it. Thanks again.
i_bleed_blackandgold@yahoo.com

Johnny,
Lemme give you a couple of quick tips that I picked up from on of McEvoy's books:

stage 1 of a tournament (pre-ante): The key is survival. You can't win a tournament in the early rounds, but you sure can lose 'em there. Play very tight, but solid. Don't gamble yet. You should look to increase your chip stack between 25% - 50% each blind level.

stage 2 of a tournament (once the antes kick in): The key is accumalation. This is the area where the chip stacks are defined, and timid players tighten up as they get closer to the payouts. Use this to your advantage. If you are fortunate to have a large chip stack, use it. If you are shortstacked, this is where you must gamble. Be willing to push with a drawing hand, or coin flip, and use your reads to make sure you aren't drawing dead yet. Know your percentages and pot-odds. You need as many chips as possible to use when you get to the final table.

stage 3(in the money): If shortstacked, again, gamble, gamble, gamble. If you lose, you know you went down fighting. If you have the large stack, play a little tighter. Don't waste chips trying to chase down the smaller stacks to eliminate them. Let them fight it out amongst themselves, and only get involved when you have the goods.

That's my general strategy, take from it what you can, and best of luck.

i will try and answer some of yer questions.. first, i notice you dont take into account position relative to the blind. (ie, , if you are on the button, ,or in front of the gun) there are some charts and basic guidelines to this all over the net.

2nd, you seem to be a bit gun-shy. in a basic freeroll the begining is normally easy time to double/triple up on bad players. sure sometimes you bust out, ,but thats odds fer ya.

the 3rd thing i notice from yer message is that you have plenty of time to watch. you should be watching how the other players bet. 9times out of 10 you can peg 1-2 players at your table within a few min. then its just waiting fer that hand

and 4th.. one strategy wont win a tournament... you have to play different depending on how your table is then and there. sometimes you have to bluff, sometimes play tight..

lastly, so some research on pot odds. again that info is all over the net
Myst