How To Win At MTT Poker

I recently found this site and thought I would post a few thoughts. I play on party, Paradise, and stars in the largest mtt no limit tourneys available after
6:00 pm PST most nights under this name. I especially like the 8:00 pearl and 6:00 R&A on Paradise, the 7:15 10 R&A on stars, and the nightly specials on party for 150 or 200 buyins. I also frequently play the 100 buyins on party. Generallly I am playing 2 to 3 tourneys at a time.

That in itself does not mean i know what i am talking about whatsoever perhaps i just have a lot of money to burn. I have one poker superstition and that is too not talk about winnings so you will have to decide whether i know what am talking about with an incomplete knowledge of my play (however u can verify my play because i told u exactly where i am at.)

So on to the topic. Winning mtt is very simple, find a way to surive the first 80-90 percent of people, then hit a good run of cards that hold up. I have told this to people and they think i am an idiot as i suspect many of you will. Which is just fine because 90 percent of poker players lose and I have yet to ever see a devout loser turn into a winner, so essentially I write this in vain. However, i see this site has many neophytes who might actually listen so i write on.

In the first hour of any mtt (excluding rebuy/addons) you will lose approxiamately half the field. That half obviously has no chance of winning. More interesting, in most tourneys if you post and fold that first hour, you will still have about 2/3 to half your chips, and have already beaten half the field by NOT DOING ANYTHING. Note i am not saying this a recommended strategy. It is however better to be there with a short stack then not at all.

In that first hour you will generally find people risking 150 chips to take 25 chips in blinds for example. What lunacy. Calling those same bets with J-9. Hello? Every poker hand has to be evaluated with an estimation of risk and reward along with consideration of the ultimate goal. You can not win a MTT in the first hour. It simply can not be done. Even if you could bust every person on the table you still would not have near enough chips to be competitive at the final table.

So thought number one is tight is right in the first hour of a MTT.

I am out of time for tonight. Playing the 6 oclocks on party and Paradise. If people are interested I will continue to post.

Regards,

Soupie

I firmly believe u are better off not gambling until you absolutely have to ie. your stack is less than about 3X the blg, little, and antes combined.

However, I of course will play legitimate hands in the early rounds. For example, I love to see small pairs or suited connectors for the minimum bet in the early rounds usuallly from late position. Those same loose players will double you up if you flop big and it is wise to risk 1% of your chips if you have the possibility of doubling up.

I also will at times well overbet a big hand ie aces in the early round. Blinds are 5 and 10 and I will open with 200. It is amazing how many times you will get multiple calls.

As an aside, If you hear someone complaining about aces you know they dont understand the game. At any point in the tourney, with aces, my goal is always get as many preflop chips in the pot as possible and let the cards fall where they may.

So to expand, my first point: Tight is right in the first hour, but that doesnt mean you dont use your head and look for legitimate situations to take chips.

I make it through the first hour about 90% of the MTT I play.

Point number 2: Shut your pie hole unless you are eating pie.

If someone beats your hand with a draw out or pure junk, a proper response is nh or just nothing.

Think about it. Bad players play bad cards and that is what makes poker profitable. You want them playing bad cards. Bad cards will win at times, that is the breaks.

You have to protect your head space and that means exercising self control at all times. If you can not control what you type into the chat box you are losing poker player, as you will not be able to control what hands you play as well.

The only person dumber than the action, loose player is the person who tries to chase them away with insults.

Until next time.

Regards,

Soupie

Point 1 Tight is right in the first hour of a MTT.
Point 2 Shut your pie hole unless you are eating pie.
Point 3 Play where you belong.

It is imperative for good play that you be risking enough money for it to be meaningful to you and not risking so much you are endangering your financial or emotional health.

This level of play is unique to each individual. I personally risk about 500 a night and sleep like a baby win or lose. If you can't sleep when you lose, you are playing beyond your financial or emotional means.

If your play is sloppy and you find yourself bored, you arent risking enough. This is not the usual problem, most people tend to risk too much.

Also, your income or personal financial situation is not completely relevant to the level of tourneys you play. If you can't sleep after busting out of 5 dollar tourney, u should be playing 1 dollar tourneys. That simple.

Also, (this will strike a nerve) if your spouse is not supportive of your play, you will find it extremely difficult to play winning poker. MTT takes a lot of time and concentration. This will take away from family time. Most spouses become irritated if you have a hobby that costs a lot of moneyand takes a lot of time. I promise your however if you make consistent money, they rather enjoy your "hobby".

So to sum up, play the limits and games that keep you interested and not anxious.

As a note, if I continue this thread, it will probably take 30 or so posts to get to all the topics I would like to . These first three should take a losing player to break even immediately if they have reasonable knowledge of poker. It is helpful if those who are really interested would write a brief note just to let me know I am not wasting my time.

Regards,

Soupie

Point 1 Tight is right in the first hour of a MTT.
Point 2 Shut your pie hole unless you are eating pie.
Point 3 Play where you belong.
Point 4 Stop telling bad beat stories.

Now i know a substantial portion of this site is dedicated to telling bad beat stories, so i suspect this might get me banned. It however of no value to talk about how your aces got wacked by 46 in the big blind. It brings you down and quite frankly no one wants to hear it. Think about it, the last time you heard a bad beat story where you compassionate and caring, or did you just want them to shut up so you could tell your own bad beat story that was much worse.

Everyone takes bad beats. It is part of the game. Here's the second part, you have to drill into your head, everyone gives bad beats. I have not had one final table appearance without getting lucky at some point. You are not going to beat 500 or 1000 players without getting lucky at some point. Remember your luck is their bad beat

So if bad beats are regular part of the game, either accept them or stop playing.

What you think about expands, whether good or bad. If all you talk about is how horrible it is playing poker, how good is your game going to be?

This however is not intended to stifle legimate dicussions of correct play, I think you can tell the difference.

Regards,

Soupie

Point 5 Specialize

In my humble opinion, you are far better off in today's online poker world if you specialize. There is a vast array of games and limits offered. If you only play the same situation over and over, you increase your skill in that game compared to the guy who is bouncing from limit to no limit to omaha, to seven stud, to pot limit high only omaha, etc. Playing the same game regularly will give you an edge.

For example, when you play limit, many more situations pay to draw due to pot odds. So, as I have, get used to drawing and playing more pots and then play a no limit tourney my thinking is screwed up. I suddenly want to start calling and calling and calling on hands I have no business calling in no limit even though they are perfectly legitimate plays in limit.

The difference between live no limit and MTT no limit tourneys is also substantial as the goals are completely different. Live games are to leave with as much money as possible, each hand has exactly the same goal, minimize risk and maximize rewards. MTT are completely different, with the progressive blind structure and rewards to only a few at the the top. An AQ on the button means something totally different in round 1 vs. round 9. In MTT, your thinking and playing style must evolve with the situation of the tourney (ie your chips stack, blind levels, where are the big stacks, where are the crying calllers, where are the aggressors etc.)

Now I know someone is just about to fire off a rebuttal about how they are trying to be well rounded and learn the whole game and TJ Cloutier can do it why can't I. Here is what you do to test this. Play 2 rounds at 3 different games that you don't normally play, then go play your regular game. See if I am right, does it change your game and approach?

This goes back to point 3 as well, play where you belong. If you are trying to maximize your earnings you play the games you have the best edge because you know more about that game than the next guy.

Regards,

Soupie

Lefou,

I am not sure who would specialize in freerolls. Trying to beat 1800 people going all in everyhand for a 100 first prize sounds like self flaggelation to me personally. Second, in the online community there is no reason to try to "be the action" guy. In large mulit table tourneys, you are basically anonymous so trying to cultivate a table image would have minimal returns in my opinion. I can see your point if you play in a small card room with the same people over and over.

Point 6 Be a big picture person.

As I am writing this today, I have failed to place in the last 16 MTT's I have played. Not 1 dollar, nothing, natta, zippo. Not a very good feeling. I did get and 2 and a 6th on Sunday that paid quite nicely, but those emotions do not hold out for 4 days and 16 tourneys later.

If you specialize in MTT's, there will very good times and some losing spells. How do you know the good times are better than the bad times? You need to keep records and look at the big picture.

So here is some of my stats over the last 629 tourneys. There are an average of 491 players. My average place is 175. On average i pay 99 dollars an entry fee. In those tourneys, I have placed in the money 115 times. I have made the final table 46 times. I have 5 firsts, 4 seconds, and 12 third places.

Now I feel better, because I know my game is more than the last 4 days. I have the records and money to prove it. So tonight i can once again sit down and play with the confidence I have an edge over the field.

Time is short so I will try to expand this point later.

Regards,

Soupie

Point 1 Tight is right in the first hour of a MTT.
Point 2 Shut your pie hole unless you are eating pie.
Point 3 Play where you belong.
Point 4 Stop telling bad beat stories.
Point 5 Specialize
Point 6 Be a big picture person.

Any thoughts, comments or clarification on the first 6 points? Beyond this point, we will need to get into specific situational poker which will be tedious work. If you follow the first six you should be a winner in MTT's over time, say 3 months combined. There are numerous playing styles that will win if applied correctly, so how to deal with certain poker situtations is largely opinion anyway. I look foward to some lively discussion.

Regards,

Soupie

Point 7 Have some guts with the nuts.

When you are fortunate enough to have the nuts, have the courage to put a lot of chips in the pot. Sounds simple enough but how many times have you seen someone with the nuts check the flop, turn and then make a small bet on the river, which of course you or someone else paid off.

When you have the nuts, you need to at least try to double through someone, not just be content to pick up a few chips. Lets examine an example, you are heads up on the river with the nut straight, you can bet 100 chips and you make get called say 8 out 10 times or you can bet all in 1000 chips and get called say just 2 out of 10 times. In the course of 10 hands you would expect 800 chips from strategy 1 and 2000 chips from strategy 2. Stategy will yield 2.5 times more chips in the long run. True you dont get the satisfaction of showing the nuts that often, but isnt it a lot better to have more chips?

Also with the nuts, try to extend the betting and give people a chance to hang themselves. I like to bet the minimum on the flop if I have flopped the nut flush or something. You wont be chasing anyone out who would have called your all in river bet ( there is no such thing as bluff call, you have to have a little something.) By extending the bettiing rounds you increase peoples emotional and chip commitment to the pot. After all poker is game of egomaniacs, and many a person will let his ego affect his calling or raising decisions.

Now the turn you can set the trap, if you got called on the flop, check. Hopefully someone bets for you but if not thats ok. If someone is over commited to the pot based on their chip position, I would of course go ahead and put them in.

The river of course is bet all in. This pattern i like to use ( but not always) stinks to high heaven. Small bet, check, All-in looks like a steal and players who dont know your style will be more apt to call your all in bet.

You may not like this strategy. Post your own, I'd like to hear it. The basic point remains get your chips in action when you have the nuts.

Regards,

soupie

Point 1 Tight is right in the first hour of a MTT.
Point 2 Shut your pie hole unless you are eating pie.
Point 3 Play where you belong.
Point 4 Stop telling bad beat stories.
Point 5 Specialize.
Point 6 Be a big picture person.
Point 7 Have some guts with the nuts.

Point 8 Two special situtations to tighten up.

I have noticed there are 2 places in the course of any online tourney it pays to to tighten up, because you will make a quite a bit more money. They are right after the field is in the money and right when you bust down to the final table.

For example, in a 500 person tourney where 50 are paid. Going from 60 to 50 players may take a while. Most of the field is watching the board to see how many are left and you are hand for hand which can really slow down the pace. Nobody wants to leave now after 3 hours of play or so. The desire to get paid at least a little something is tremendous. So most will tighten their play considerably, especially the short stacks who can afford to go 1 or 2 more rounds.

Now you hit the magic number 50, everyone is typing in congrats on making the money and so. There is this tremendous emotional release and people start hitting the raise and call buttons with abandon as compared to before. You can just hear the chorus of "were in the money." They reason I feel it is appropriate to tighten up is that you can often move up 20 places without doing anything during this period. I am not saying don't play good hands or take chips when they are offered, just resist the emotional trap and refuse to join in.

The same thing happens when the final table is seated. It usually takes quite a bit of time to bust out number 11 and 12. A lot more hand for hand. A lot more stress as you may have been playing 5 to 7 handed for a while. And remember, most people are exhausted by this point. Even here on the west coast it may be 1 or 2 in the AM in some tourneys, much later than most US and Canadian players go to bed

So you get to 10 players and there is this round of congrats and so on. Usuallly, 3 people or so will bust out within a round or two often times over playing marginal hands. To me, this often represents the same emotional release of finally making it. If at all possible you need to move up at the final table, it is imperative to long term success. The moneys all at the top.

As I said in posts past, everthing beyond point 6 was going to largely opinion based on personal observation. Please feel free to post your own observations.

Regards,

Soupie

*Last edited by Xianti on Tue, 05 Oct 2004, 7:42pm; edited 1 time in total*

(Continued by soupie)

Point 9 Thou shalt not steal from the wounded.

Anyone every notice that when you are losing you can't wait to play again and when you are winning you are just looking for a polite way to hit the door and bank those winnings. That is common to all investment that involves risk and uncertainty. There are hundreds of book written about this same phenomenon in the stock and commodity markets (and I have read a lot of them.) We all want to feel good and winners feel good, losers feel bad.

This scenerio plays out in miniature through out a MTT. For example, blinds are 100/200 and one of the players gets his stack wacked on a viscious bad beat say aces beaten by tens. He was the table leader at 7000 chips and now has 4000. No matter he is still in fine position chipwise, he's wounded and wants those chips back now, right now. Do not steal from this man for several hands, especially the very next hand in the game. He is far more likely to call and raise. Be however more willingly to play strong hands for more chips. I think ripptyde would agree this is not the time for your standard 3x the BB raise with 7-4 off into this man's blind.

The converse is also true to an extend with many players. I however feel slightly less confident about this point as it is dead wrong for a few players. If someone is recently won a big hand or two, they usually are a little easier to steal from. It is a emotional high to win a couple big hands and many people will not want to risk their chip position immediately without strong hands. However, a caveat, a few players immediatlely start playing like King Kong with a big stack calling everything in site, so you have to exercise caution as always.

Regards,

Soupie

*Last edited by Xianti on Tue, 12 Oct 2004, 8:25pm; edited 1 time in total*

(Continued by soupie)

Point 10 Give yourself 2 ways to win every hand you play.

If your betting or raising the hand, you always have 2 ways to win the hand, the field can fold and you take the pot or they can call and you can win at a showdown.

This is why ripptydes favorite hand of 7-4 off works with a raise into an unraised pot. Say half the time the field folds, he takes the pot. The other half they call, if they check,he bets and represents the winning hand, and they fold maybe half the time again. Once in a while 7-4 flops the joint and he really takes them to the cleaners. Constantly keeping the pressure on you opponents will force them into mistakes, even if you have the worse hand. And by the way, 7-4 is a really easy lay down if you get checkraised or reraised at any point.

On the other hand, calling raised pots gives you only one way to win. You have to beat them. With any 2 non pair cards, you will only flop a pair about one third of the time. Your odds of flopping 2 pair are about 5%. The flop simply does not improve your hand often enough to just call especially heads up. You would be better off raising 2-7 on the button than you are calling AJ in first postion. You have far more outs raising 2-7 on the button because they can give you the pot before the flop or on the flop with a "rep bet"

The underlying principle is that you increase your outs with an aggressive game of betting or raising with minimal calls.

Regards,

Soupie

*Last edited by Xianti on Tue, 12 Oct 2004, 8:25pm; edited 1 time in total*

(Continued by soupie)

Point 11 Count to 10 then begin.

This is my biggest fault. Guilty as charged many times. It is so easy to click that mouse when faced with a big call. There is no reason to hurry and I dont care if I take 20 seconds of the tables time, it just an impulse or reflex. One reckless moment in time and several hours of reget.

Fishstick's "Questions to ask yourself" on the homepage of this site is a good read to buttress my point. Even if you have a joint, you should take a moment to put your opponent on a hand.

What does he have and why is betting at me?
What do I know about his style of play?
Is this the most efficient use of my chips at this point of the tournament?
Did he hit a draw?
Has he been softplaying me for the kill?
What was the preflop action?

Also, if you are faced with all-in call in the first 2 rounds with just top pair, lay it down, this is a sucker play and I'll get you with the gigantic bet. It works too many times.

To sum up, take your time, every site gives you at least 30 seconds to think. Use it.

Regards,

Soupie

*Last edited by Xianti on Tue, 12 Oct 2004, 8:24pm; edited 1 time in total*

(Continued by soupie)

Point 12 Consider the blinds.

A recurring theme of several posts is something like " I am a great player until about 3/4 of the way through then I never seem to make the money" or "I just cant get to the final table." Below is posted a blind structure i lifted from Paradise to illlustrate a common MTT. Both Party and Stars are similar I dont know about other sites.

Level Blind Ante
1 10/20 -
2 15/30 -
3 25/50 -
4 50/100 -
5 75/150 -
6 100/200 -
7 100/200 25
8 200/400 25
9 300/600 50
10 400/800 50
11 600/1200 75
12 1000/2000 100
13 1500/3000 150
14 2000/4000 200
15 3000/6000 300
16 4000/8000 400
17 6000/12000 600
18 10000/20000 1000
19 15000/30000 1500
20 20000/40000 2000

For purpose of discussion, let's assume the folllowing, there are 1000 players, blinds go up every 15 minutes, you start with 1000 chips, you see 60 hands an hour, and lets also assume that half the field busts out every hour which I have noticed to be fairly accurate.

So here you are, you have made it to the second break, you have the the average stack of 4000 chips, and there are 250 players. Up to this point you have seen 120 hands. Blinds are now 300/600 with a 50 ante. It is now costing you 1200 chips per round to stay at your current level. You will be gone in 30 hands if you do nothing, but post and fold. You absolutely must play and you are unlikely to get an ideal situation, not impossible but unlikely.

Next point, you have to add to that stack. By round 12 in just 45 minutes, blinds will be 2000/1000 100 ante. If you manage to stay even for the next 3/4 of an hour, you will be completely destroyed in 10 hands of round 12.

By the end of the 3rd hour, you can assume there will be about 125 players left, average chip stack of 8000 chips. But a closer look, reveals the average stack is pathetic. 3000/1500 blinds and 150 antes. One round will completely destroy the average stack.

Based on these scenerios ( which I feel are fairly accurate) you need to have a fundamental shift in your thinking, somewhere between round 6 and round 10. No longer can you play cards and statistics like a ring game, You are going to have to gamble up, take chances, riptyddy away if I may say. You have to be fearless. Stop worrying about running into aces in the big blind. Forget about all the other times you got screwed. Play like you own the joint and have so much money it just doesnt matter.

Time is no longer a friend. YOU ABSOLUTLEY MUST ADD TO THAT STACK TO STAY COMPETITIVE.

You see, MTT tourneys are not fair. The format will not consistenly get the best players to the final table. The blinds rise too rapidly and the rounds are not nearly long enough to separate the wheat from the chaf. Yes the best players will get the money in the long run, because your play does matter, but on any given night the format will not reward the best.

Loose creative play is rewarded in the later rounds for the following reasons: the blinds are large creating a substantially larger reward for capturing them, most loosy goosy players have already busted out in the first hour (has anyone ever seen a player who played every hand win a large tourney? I havent), the average player who makes it too round 9 is much better than average ( obviously) and these players tend to play what i would term tight/aggressive, and lastly, in at least in larger buy in tourneys, nobody really want to risk their stack on less than top shelf hands, making steals much easier.

The blinds and blind structure with consideration of you own stack size must dictate your play in later rounds if you expect to be successful in MTT's.

Regards,

Soupie

(Continued by soupie)

Point 13 Consider the implications of an all in bet.

The all in bet is the great equalizer in no limit poker. It is the power of telling the table, i have aces and if you dont think so, come beat me. It gives your opponent only one out to beat your hand, a showdown. There are no more fancy moves to be made. No slowplaying, no checkraising, no underbetting or overbetting the hand. You have made your final decision, now it is up to them. You are going to see all five cards regardless, period. They can not bluff you out.

When used judiciously, the all in bet gives you addition outs, and that is your opponents fear. What are they afraid of? You may really have aces, they will get a bad beat, they may be afraid their spouse will telll them how stupid they are if they lose a bunch of chips at once, they may be afraid of not making the money or making the top 200, or just about anything.

Here is some specific situations to consider going all in.

1. Ripptyde is sitting 2 to your left and shoving 7-4 down your throat. If the players to your left are consistently stealing your blinds, you may have to just slam right over the top of them. Let's look at an example, you have blinds of 100/200 and this is 4th time in the last hour the player one to the left of the button has raised 3x the big blind and thats you. With the rising blinds you know you have to put a stop to this, so you go all in for say 2000 chips. There is 900 chips in the pot with his 600 and the 2 blinds of 100/200. Because you have given up the last 3 blinds to him, he is going to have you tagged as a tight, passive player. You were easy money, now you suddenly stand up and say screw you and the horse you rode in on with the all in bet. Unless he happens to have a great hand by accident, you will usually get a fold here from him. Emotionally, you have just whipsawed the aggressor from greed straight to fear. So here are your outs, he can fold and you can take the 900 chips and significantly heighened table image to the next hand or he can call and you can win at showdown, worse case he beats you at showdown, but you were going to blind out anyways without doing something.

2. Consider going all in the later rounds when you have a fairly decent hand and there has been no strength shown. For example, you get AQ on the button, and 3 people call in front of you. The chances you have the best hand here are pretty good. There are 4 and half big blinds in the pot plus antes. Going all in here will net you a nice pot with less risk. Sure you have the risk of getting called and beaten at showdown, but at this stage of the tourney you run the same risk of someone flopping a baby set or 2 pair with a calling party, the aq only flops a pair about one third of the time anyways why screw around if you can take the pot now?

3. If you have happened to win the last couple pots especially in a showy fashion and then you get aces or kings. All in to win. Always be aware of what your opponents are thinking, if you have taken 2 or 3 pots in a row, they are suspicious. Your chances of getting good action are much better if the little box in the bottom says "soupie wins the pot" 3 times in a row.

I know statistics, pot odds,and implied odds are all important, but what is more important in no limit is your opponents head space. How they play, what they will play in certain situations, what the bets mean. There are certain players you can safely lay down kk against if they reraise you before the flop. Sometimes, you can use this information to take their chips with the all in "nuclear option" bet. Whether you win or lose is largely detemined by how you react to how they play the game.

Regards,

Soupie

(Continued by soupie)

Point 14 Analysis of the weak lead.

This seems to happen, quite a bit. Someone raises the pot from position say 3 times the BB, the flop checks to them, and they bet the minimum, one big blind. Now if you are like me, your first reaction is what is that? Second reaction, I need to raise here. Third reaction, is that just someone using my favorite move trying to suck me?

In my opinion, the weak lead means weak more often than not. It is often times 2 big cards that have missed trying to capture the pot with a minimum of risk. It is an ideal checkraise situation to capture the pot especially against the players who are classic position players. In other words, if a player has shown the pattern of consistently raising the pot from late position, this is a low risk checkraise with any 2, regardless of your cards. Now I wouldnt always pile all my chips in, but if I need chips, this is one situtation to attack.

If the weak lead means weak, why do players do it? Two reasons, sometimes it works. With a 3X BB bet against just the BB call there are 7 and half BB's in the pot plus antes. If one BB will capture more than 7 times it's value, it doesnt have to work that often. Secondly, it is almost reflexive to bet a pot you previously raised, but because the hand sucks, they will just bet a little.

Ripptyde, talks about repping the ace, the weak lead is not how its done. You have to bet about what you raised before the flop to legitimately rep the ace.

If someone you know to be a strong player uses the weak lead on you, ignore this whole point.

Regards,

soupie

(Continued by soupie)

Point 15 Thoughts on the Rebuy/Addon Tourneyments

The two rebuys i regularly play are the 30 dollars rebuy on Paradise at 6:00 PST and the 10 dollar rebuy on Stars at 7:15 PST.

My strategy changes, but varies widely with the table make up. Sometimes you sit down on almost every hand someone is all in. With in 15 minutes there are huge stacks at the table. Other times there is fairly normal betting,raising and folding with pots well below the size of your chip stack.

If the play is wild, the only thing u can do is join the party with your best hands. I will probably launch all in with ak, aq, and pairs medium and up and calling with other hands as I can just to see the flop. This type of table play is ideal for rebuy tourneys as you are going to need a big stack and doubling or tripling through people is the only way to do it.

If the play is fairly normal, at the beginning, not much to say that has not been said. Be patient, however, a lot of times people will really loosen up after about half an hour and a couple beats. Then the gloves come off and it is time to gamble up. Just get your chips in on your best hands and let ladyluck guide the way.

A rough rule of thumb for rebuys is you need to be prepared to pay at least 5X your initial buy in as an entry fee. So if it is a 10 dollar buy in, you need to be comfortable with spending 50 to get past the rebuy period. If that is too much money, you are playing at the wrong tourney. Scared money becomes other peoples money, almost always.

I know a lot of people hate R/A tourneys. Those same people complain about pocket aces. And those same people are losing poker players.

The rebuy/addon tourney is simply another wrinkle, that requires an adjustment to your strategy. It actually favors the best players even more as they can adjust their play from one phase to the next without anxiety. Many players can not adjust their play. They play loose/tight/passive/aggressive and stay that way until their chips are gone.

To sum up, my thoughts on the Rebuy/Addon's are to play modestly tight/extremely aggressive in the first hour and preplan to pay at least 5X's your intial entry fee.

Regards,

Soupie

(Continued by soupie)

Point 16 Analysis of the strong lead

This situation plays out throughout all tourneys many times. You are in the blind and your hand warrants a call into raiser who are raised you say 3x the BB. Now the flop comes and he comes charging at you again with that same size bet. This is the repping bet that ripptyde talks about. Ace high board, check to the raiser, the raiser reps the ace with a strong bet.

Three choices here fold, call, reraise.

In order, I would fold if my hand is legitimately weak and the pot is of little value to me relative to my chip stack. Even if you have the read he is bluffing, it is not always correct to reraise. If the value of the pot is minor, it is best to often times let it go for a better opportunity. Your reads are not always correct (right?) and it simply is not worth the risk to reraise 9X the big blind just because you think he is bluffing. We can all remember the times when we finally thought we could get a piece of the action player and came away missing a limb.

Calling, although seemingly the weak play, can be correct. If you have flopped the joint or have a big overpair to the board, a call may be warranted. It may be the only way to get an aggressive player to pay you off as many strong players will smell a trap with the first reraise and lay it down, although they will aggressively hang themself into a crying caller. Done that many times myself.

Remember, there is no such thing as a bluff-call. Calling with crap is a weak play made by losing players. Find a better use for your chips.

Lastly, the reraise, by far the most fun. A reraise here is ideal anytime you think you have the best hand and the pot is large enough to take the risk. The reraise here gives you an ally, that is your opponents fear. His greed drove him to raise the pot before the flop and on the flop, and now you are taking him to new emotional territory, fear. Suddenly, he is no longer driving this ship, you have just effectively told him, " screw you and the horse you rode in on." You also doubled your ways to win, he can fold or you can win at showdown.

This a special situation to reraise which you may not have considered. Your chip stack is relatively low, but still strong enough for a powerful reraise. The flop and your hand are such that you know you are going to the river wi

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