NL Tournament advice

Hi guys, I've recently switched from limit to NL and I'm wondering if you can help me iron out some of my mistakes.

Playing in 5-6 man tournaments are ok for me but on pacific I can only play $2, $2.50 or $10. lower stakes I'm usually 1st or 2nd and $10 i'm usually 3rd.

When I move up to 10 - 20 players @ $4 - $5, the same thing happens to me time and time again. I play tight but aggressive and manage to win a few hands but then the blinds start catching up. I'm always left outside the winning line with a few players hanging on for the sacred money spot. Then when I eventually catch a hand my money pile is so small that I can't scare any of the chip leaders off and they call and knock me out. I find my tight play is allowing players to bully me but I never have a strong enough hand to call or even bluff the reraise.

I've heard playing loose isn't a good idea and any mid range hands (K, 10) always seem to arrive when I'm in early position.

What am I doing wrong?

Maybe you could do a little more position raises from the button and cutoff position to steal some blinds and pick up a couple small pots. Other than that not really enough info on where you are losing your chips or anything like that.

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The only thing worst than getting a bad beat is getting outplayed...

Your problem is your backgrouns in Limit Holdem. In Limit holdem the basis is primarily on the flop, everyone can basically call and not fear a large raise, and so you get alot of players generally seeing the flop. When you play limit it is advisable to only play hands where u hit a good flop, i.e nuts or pretty close on flop, draws are also available to play because you know it wont cost you very much to see a card.

The Trick in NL play, is to reduce the number of players in a hand early! You need to be aggressive on hands where you hold a high card, i.e an ace, or a king. To knock out the weaker hands like 9,10 or 5,5 - hands which post flop could easily beat you if the right cards come. If you watch good players play they will raise almost every hand when they are in the first position maybe 2 or 3 times the big blind, as a result only those with a decent hand will stay in the pot. This increases your chances of winning.

It seems your problem is that you play far too tight at the beginning. It is important to establish yourself at the beginning as a tight, and a barely ever bluffer. This will make players think that when you raise it up you have a hand to be reconned with, do it too often and they will figure you out, do it too little and your chip difference with the others will increase.

when you are short stacked, try and go all-in on a decent hand with a player who has a smallish chip stack, maybe where you have half his chip stack, not with a player who could easily call without breaking a sweat - he will most likely call with anything, if theres a chance of putting you out.

If you are losing at this higher level, i would advise you to go down to the lower levels untill you have established youself at that level and can easily win. If you lose too often at a level your confidence levels will go down and you will play worse poker in the long run.

Finally Read the guides on this site regarding tournamanet poker play, for information regarding some of the ares i have mentioned. Good Luck.

MMM - were you to post your tourney games up I could look through them and give you more specific pointers. Here are some posibilities though:-

1- it is possible that you are being read too much as a solid player. This could mean that players will suspect you always to have a hand and will be cautious against you giving you low implied odds for $$$ when you get a hand. This is a table image that you can exploit with the odd small bluff but a slightly looser table image might be more profitable.

2 - I dont know what % of flops you see I recommend playing 15-25% of flops at NL although people can play more and make a profit. Generally you should be seeing more flops at NL than limit anyway. Ultimately if lots of money is changing hands on the flop you can see hands preflop that you wouldnt dream of seeing the flop with at limit - e.g. 87s, k10s. Position is less important in NL than limit in terms of start hands I would still be very position aware but it wouldnt preclude me playing something like kj or a10 in early position if there had been no raisers. Ultimately at small stakes NL there are loads of floppers i.e. people who will see flops cheap with rubbish. If you are playing only premium hands you have to be aware of this and be ready to fold if you sense someone may have hit a lucky flop.

3)Also remember that many people will bet on top pair and a medium kicker early. If you are willing to call them with top pair top kicker you will occasionally take an early exit but you will more often find yourself acumulating chips.

4) Many players are hyper aggressive at NL. fancy tactics like check raising and slowplaying are not needed to make a profit at limit (although at the right points they can help) but at NL they are often the easiest way of getting paid. Say you flop a flush, 2 pair etc you can slowplay or checkraise someone into investing a lot of chips. It is sometimes even worth risking someone catching on a flop of something like Acjc6d with even AsKs if there is little in the pot so that you can get all their chips , similarly if you held JJ in that scenario slow playing MIGHT be an advisable tactic.

5 - learn how to bluff BUT RARELY BLUFF - save it for special occasions - there is a bluffing guide by Kaartkeiser here that would be worth looking at.


I would need to see your hand histories to give you more specific advice. GL anyway

When posting a tournament game, am I posting, the hands I play/ all hands. Is there any way from pacific that I can generate a report from pacific or do I have to type it out? If I tyoe it what information do I include?

Just a quick update. I'm now playing 20% of flops and I'm no longer getting bullied. With a bit of luck involved too I've played 4 more 10 man tournaments. been placed 2nd, 3rd, 1st, 2nd. Won $ 30 which has helped my losses.

Cheers guys.

If you were seeing less than 20% of the flops then you were playing too tight. If people see you playing that tight they will try and bully you because they know that if you didnt hit the flop youll likely to fold. The thing I like to do when you get a bully is to wait for a good hand and then give em the old check raise. After doing that they are less likely to try and push you around for fear of the reraise.

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theprofessor@texasholdemforums.com

I shoot for around 25-30%. I dont usually go over 30% unless I get a real tight table that I can pust around, but between 25 and 30 is usually when I play good. But under 20 is way tight.

__________________
"I started with nothing. I still have most of it left."

"I find your lack of faith disturbing"

http://live.xbox.com/member/JediSlayer76

theprofessor@texasholdemforums.com

im glad youve posted woody.
from our telephone convo, i said u were to tight. u need to be more aggresive. raise under the gun with a suit connector, and call with junk if you think they have no pair and the call is cheap. play THF tourny or watch,and u will see how 2 play.

good luck.

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