chardrian's Rebuy Strategy

{Discuss here: http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=30069}

Ok - this post is probably going to be coming in segments. Instead of posting my entire hand history, I've decided to post pertitent hands and discuss how they did or maybe did not go with my overall strategy.

First of all - a little background. I started really getting into rebuys less than 6 months ago. I have a fulltime non-poker job so I am not playing multiple tournies a day. However, I am playing multiple tournies a week. When I first started, I was one of those guys who bought in once and then treated it like a freezeout with a huge payout structure. My goal then was just to make the money. I have now seen the . The goal for these tournies now is to make the final table and win it all. To do this you need to be willing to rebuy immediately, rebuy twice if you get beat, rebuy twice again and buy an add-on - you need to be appropriately bankrolled. I think 7 total buyins is totally fine. If you luck out you will only need 3. 5 is common. And 7 also happens to be pretty common for me.

I have gone up to something like 15 when I just kept repeatedly taking bad beats, but this is not profitable (you basically HAVE to make the FT just to recoup your entries). So for me now, I will play loose as a goose for my first and second rebuys (4 total entries), I'll then tighten up a bit when I rebuy again (for etries number 5-6), and I will rebuy once more after that but basically play tighter than tight. So 9 total rebuys is my new maximum.

Rebuys are freaky. The rebuy hour is total loosey goosey play. Focus and patience really are not extremely important during the rebuy hour. As soon as the first real hour begins, however, you need to become an extremely focused, patient, and well just a good poker player. These things last a long long time. If you can't remain focused for 6 hours, you are going to be depending more on luck than skill. My biggest leaks were (and occassionally still are) becoming impatient and making that one big bonehead move that everyone else is waiting for you to make. What follows are some general ideas with some hands as examples. The word "general" is in bold for a reason. You can't play a tourney by a book; you need to use your own style and your own reads. I have seen both very loose and very tight players do well. Watch how others at your table are playing, learn from that, and oh yeah have fun - I have been noticing how many other players lately really are not enjoying themselves. Although these tournies do take a lot of focus, that does not mean you need to have a rod up your ass making your eyes go .

I'm trying to think of a few odds and ends that I woulda found helpful: In general my major rebuy tourney is the nightly Paradise $30 Rebuy. I would say in general you are going to see somewhere around 200-250 hands before you make a final table. I will keep adding to this as I see fit.

REBUY HOUR

As others have already posted, the rebuy hour is basically its own separate tournament. Just a couple of months ago I thought it was an ok strategy to buy in once and just hope for the best. Although this can work occassionally, it is a really really bad strategy. You gotta be bankrolled to take bad beats and rebuy again. The whole point of these tournies is to make the final table - cuz if you do the payouts are huge.

In general I try to see as many hands as possible and I give myself as many outs as possible.

Some examples:

Table "$20,000 R&A 19" (MTT) -- Seat 3 is the button
Seat 1: vincentdimeglio (1,880 in chips)
Seat 2: NOGERA (1,500 in chips)
Seat 3: DzNutz (1,490 in chips)
Seat 4: Rekopduts (1,420 in chips)
Seat 5: tucisloose (3,000 in chips)
Seat 6: chardrian (2,790 in chips)
Seat 7: Big_Col (3,000 in chips)
Seat 8: Araiza (2,920 in chips)
Seat 9: POKERMAN05 (1,500 in chips)
Seat 10: randomisgood (3,000 in chips)
Rekopduts: Post Small Blind (10)
tucisloose: Post Big Blind (20)
Dealing...
Dealt to chardrian [ Ac ]
Dealt to chardrian [ 2h ]
chardrian: Call (20)
Big_Col : Call (20)
Araiza : Call (20)
POKERMAN05: Call (20)
randomisgood: Call (20)
vincentdimeglio: Call (20)
NOGERA : Fold
DzNutz : Fold
Rekopduts: Call (10)
tucisloose: Check
*** FLOP *** : [ 5d 4c Js ] pot = 160
Rekopduts: Bet (170)
tucisloose: Fold
chardrian: Call (170)
Big_Col : Fold
Araiza : Fold
POKERMAN05: Fold
randomisgood: Fold
vincentdimeglio: Call (170)

I call this during the rebuy hour cuz I gave myself 7 outs. If an A or 3 hit the turn I bet out.

*** TURN *** : [ 5d 4c Js ] [ 2d ]
Rekopduts: Bet (650)
chardrian: Fold
vincentdimeglio: Fold
Rekopduts: Winner -- doesn't show cards

Some would call that bet as well thinking 2 more outs have been added. I'm ok with giving hands up during the rebuy hour.

The very next hand...

Table "$20,000 R&A 19" (MTT) -- Seat 4 is the button
Seat 1: vincentdimeglio (1,690 in chips)
Seat 2: NOGERA (1,500 in chips)
Seat 3: DzNutz (1,490 in chips)
Seat 4: Rekopduts (1,900 in chips)
Seat 5: tucisloose (2,980 in chips)
Seat 6: chardrian (2,600 in chips)
Seat 7: Big_Col (2,980 in chips)
Seat 8: Araiza (2,900 in chips)
Seat 9: POKERMAN05 (1,480 in chips)
Seat 10: randomisgood (2,980 in chips)
tucisloose: Post Small Blind (10)
chardrian: Post Big Blind (20)
Dealing...
Dealt to chardrian [ 2c ]
Dealt to chardrian [ Ah ]
Big_Col : Call (20)
Araiza : Call (20)
POKERMAN05: Call (20)
randomisgood: Fold
vincentdimeglio: Raise (190)
NOGERA : Fold
DzNutz : Fold
Rekopduts: Fold
tucisloose: Fold
chardrian: Call (170)
Big_Col : Call (170)
Araiza : Call (170)
POKERMAN05: Fold
*** FLOP *** : [ As 8s 7c ] pot = 770
chardrian: Bet (910) - in case you didn't notice, this bet puts me down to 1500 chips so I can rebuy again if I'm beat or outdrawn. I am more than willing to call an all-in reraise here.
Big_Col : Fold
Araiza : Call (910)
vincentdimeglio: Call (910)
*** TURN *** : [ As 8s 7c ] [ Qh ] pot= 3500
chardrian: Check
Araiza : Check
vincentdimeglio: Check
*** RIVER *** : [ As 8s 7c Qh ] [ 2d ] pot = 3500
chardrian: Bet (1,500)
Araiza : Fold
vincentdimeglio: Call All-in (590)
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: 4,700 | Board: [ As 8s 7c Qh 2d ]
vincentdimeglio lost 1,690 (showed hand) [ 5h 5d ] (a pair of fives)
NOGERA didn't bet (folded)
DzNutz didn't bet (folded)
Rekopduts didn't bet (folded)
tucisloose lost 10 (folded)
chardrian bet 2,600, collected 5,610, net +3,010 (showed hand) [ 2c Ah ] (two
pair, aces and twos)
Big_Col lost 190 (folded)
Araiza lost 1,100 (folded)
POKERMAN05 lost 20 (folded)
randomisgood didn't bet (folded)

When I get what is generally a so/so hand during a rebuy hour... I raise. Some examples:

Game #961744549 - Tournament $20,000 R&A - 15/30 No Limit Texas Hold'em -
2005/09/05-12:23:52.7 (CST)
Table "$20,000 R&A 19" (MTT) -- Seat 5 is the button
Seat 1: vincentdimeglio (3,000 in chips)
Seat 2: NOGERA (1,995 in chips)
Seat 3: DzNutz (2,900 in chips)
Seat 4: Rekopduts (1,720 in chips)
Seat 5: tucisloose (4,150 in chips)
Seat 6: chardrian (4,440 in chips)
Seat 7: Big_Col (4,310 in chips)
Seat 8: Araiza (4,805 in chips)
Seat 9: POKERMAN05 (2,970 in chips)
Seat 10: randomisgood (2,710 in chips)
chardrian: Post Small Blind (15)
Big_Col : Post Big Blind (30)
Dealt to chardrian [ As ]
Dealt to chardrian [ 7s ]
Araiza : Call (30)
POKERMAN05: Fold
randomisgood: Fold
vincentdimeglio: Fold
NOGERA : Call (30)
DzNutz : Fold
Rekopduts: Fold
tucisloose: Fold
chardrian: Raise (150)
Big_Col : Fold
Araiza : Call (135)
NOGERA : Call (135)
*** FLOP *** : [ 3d 6d 7c ]
chardrian: Bet (550)
Araiza : Call (550)
NOGERA : Fold
*** TURN *** : [ 3d 6d 7c ] [ 2c ]
chardrian: Bet (2,200)
Araiza : Call (2,200)
*** RIVER *** : [ 3d 6d 7c 2c ] [ 9c ]
chardrian: Bet (1,525)
Araiza : Call (1,525)
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: 9,075 | Board: [ 3d 6d 7c 2c 9c ]
vincentdimeglio didn't bet (folded)
NOGERA lost 165 (folded)
DzNutz didn't bet (folded)
Rekopduts didn't bet (folded)
tucisloose didn't bet (folded)
chardrian bet 4,440, collected 9,075, net +4,635 (showed hand) [ As 7s ] (a
pair of sevens)
Big_Col lost 30 (folded)
Araiza lost 4,440 (showed hand) [ 6s Jd ] (a pair of sixes)
POKERMAN05 didn't bet (folded)
randomisgood didn't bet (folded)

Table "$20,000 R&A 19" (MTT) -- Seat 7 is the button
Seat 1: vincentdimeglio (3,000 in chips)
Seat 2: NOGERA (1,830 in chips)
Seat 3: DzNutz (2,535 in chips)
Seat 4: Rekopduts (1,720 in chips)
Seat 5: tucisloose (4,150 in chips)
Seat 6: chardrian (8,995 in chips)
Seat 7: Big_Col (4,265 in chips)
Seat 8: Araiza (2,325 in chips)
Seat 9: POKERMAN05 (2,970 in chips)
Seat 10: randomisgood (2,710 in chips)
Araiza : Post Small Blind (15)
POKERMAN05: Post Big Blind (30)
Dealing...
Dealt to chardrian [ Ts ]
Dealt to chardrian [ 9s ]
randomisgood: Fold
vincentdimeglio: Fold
NOGERA : Fold
DzNutz : Fold
Rekopduts: Call (30)
tucisloose: Call (30)
chardrian: Raise (150)
Big_Col : Fold
Araiza : Call (135)
POKERMAN05: Fold
Rekopduts: Call (120)
tucisloose: Call (120)
*** FLOP *** : [ 2c 5s Tc ]
Araiza : Check
Rekopduts: Check
tucisloose: Bet (300)
chardrian: Raise (1,000)
Araiza : Fold
Rekopduts: Fold
tucisloose: Call (700)
*** TURN *** : [ 2c 5s Tc ] [ 8s ]
tucisloose: Check
chardrian: Bet (3,000)
tucisloose: Call All-in (3,000)
*** RIVER *** : [ 2c 5s Tc 8s ] [ 3c ]
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: 8,630 | Board: [ 2c 5s Tc 8s 3c ]
vincentdimeglio didn't bet (folded)
NOGERA didn't bet (folded)
DzNutz didn't bet (folded)
Rekopduts lost 150 (folded)
tucisloose lost 4,150 (showed hand) [ 5c Kh ] (a pair of fives)
chardrian bet 4,150, collected 8,630, net +4,480 (showed hand) [ Ts 9s ] (a
pair of tens)
Big_Col didn't bet (folded)
Araiza lost 150 (folded)
POKERMAN05 lost 30 (folded)
randomisgood didn't bet (folded)

And when u get beat, u just shrug it off and say nh:

Table "$20,000 R&A 19" (MTT) -- Seat 8 is the button
Seat 1: vincentdimeglio (3,000 in chips)
Seat 2: NOGERA (1,830 in chips)
Seat 3: DzNutz (2,535 in chips)
Seat 4: Rekopduts (1,570 in chips)
Seat 5: tucisloose (3,000 in chips)
Seat 6: chardrian (13,475 in chips)
Seat 7: Big_Col (4,265 in chips)
Seat 8: Araiza (2,175 in chips)
Seat 9: POKERMAN05 (2,940 in chips)
Seat 10: randomisgood (2,710 in chips)
POKERMAN05: Post Small Blind (15)
randomisgood: Post Big Blind (30)
Dealing...
Dealt to chardrian [ As ]
Dealt to chardrian [ Js ]
vincentdimeglio: Call (30)
NOGERA : Call (30)
DzNutz : Fold
Rekopduts: Call (30)
tucisloose: Fold
chardrian: Raise (150)
Big_Col : Fold
Araiza : Call (150)
POKERMAN05: Fold
randomisgood: Fold
vincentdimeglio: Raise (2,970)
NOGERA : Fold
Rekopduts: Fold
chardrian: Call (2,850)
Araiza : Fold
*** FLOP *** : [ Ah 2d 4h ]
*** TURN *** : [ Ah 2d 4h ] [ 2h ]
chardrian said, "nh"
*** RIVER *** : [ Ah 2d 4h 2h ] [ 9d ]
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: 6,255 | Board: [ Ah 2d 4h 2h 9d ]
vincentdimeglio bet 3,000, collected 6,255, net +3,255 (showed hand) [ Kh 8h ]
(a flush, ace high)
NOGERA lost 30 (folded)
DzNutz didn't bet (folded)
Rekopduts lost 30 (folded)
tucisloose didn't bet (folded)
chardrian lost 3,000 (showed hand) [ As Js ] (two pair, aces and twos)
Big_Col didn't bet (folded)
Araiza lost 150 (folded)
POKERMAN05 lost 15 (folded)
randomisgood lost 30 (folded)

And when you get a monster. You try to get 1-2 others in the pot with you and get as much value as possible. If you get bad beat, better now than during the next hour. If not, you are rolling:

Game #961777268 - Tournament $20,000 R&A - 50/100 No Limit Texas Hold'em -
2005/09/05-12:51:12.0 (CST)
Table "$20,000 R&A 19" (MTT) -- Seat 5 is the button
Seat 1: vincentdimeglio (2,565 in chips)
Seat 2: NOGERA (10,100 in chips)
Seat 3: DzNutz (2,310 in chips)
Seat 4: DJCBoston (0 in chips)
Seat 5: tucisloose (9,965 in chips)
Seat 6: chardrian (10,460 in chips)
Seat 7: Big_Col (1,930 in chips)
Seat 8: Araiza (2,000 in chips)
Seat 9: POKERMAN05 (6,930 in chips)
Seat 10: randomisgood (5,950 in chips)
chardrian: Post Small Blind (50)
Big_Col : Post Big Blind (100)
Dealt to chardrian [ Kd ]
Dealt to chardrian [ Kh ]
DJCBoston said, "pooopi3e"
Araiza : Fold
POKERMAN05: Fold
randomisgood: Fold
vincentdimeglio: Raise (650)
NOGERA : Fold
DzNutz : Fold
tucisloose: Call (650)
chardrian: Call (600)
Big_Col : Fold
*** FLOP *** : [ Qc Th Qd ]
chardrian: Check
vincentdimeglio: Bet (1,800)
tucisloose: Call (1,800)
chardrian: Raise (4,000)
vincentdimeglio: Call All-in (115)
tucisloose: Fold
*** TURN *** : [ Qc Th Qd ] [ 4d ]
*** RIVER *** : [ Qc Th Qd 4d ] [ 4h ]
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: 7,680 | Board: [ Qc Th Qd 4d 4h ]
vincentdimeglio lost 2,565 (showed hand) [ 6d Td ] (two pair, queens and tens)
NOGERA didn't bet (folded)
DzNutz didn't bet (folded)
DJCBoston didn't bet
tucisloose lost 2,450 (folded)
chardrian bet 4,650, collected 9,765, net +5,115 (showed hand) [ Kd Kh ] (two
pair, kings and queens)
Big_Col lost 100 (folded)
Araiza didn't bet (folded)
POKERMAN05 didn't bet (folded)
randomisgood didn't bet (folded)

Game #961781191 - Tournament $20,000 R&A - 50/100 No Limit Texas Hold'em -
2005/09/05-12:54:13.9 (CST)
Table "$20,000 R&A 19" (MTT) -- Seat 7 is the button
Seat 1: vincentdimeglio (3,000 in chips)
Seat 2: NOGERA (10,100 in chips)
Seat 3: DzNutz (1,410 in chips)
Seat 4: DJCBoston (3,000 in chips)
Seat 5: tucisloose (5,515 in chips)
Seat 6: chardrian (15,575 in chips)
Seat 7: Big_Col (1,780 in chips)
Seat 8: Araiza (4,950 in chips)
Seat 9: POKERMAN05 (6,930 in chips)
Seat 10: randomisgood (5,950 in chips)
Araiza : Post Small Blind (50)
POKERMAN05: Post Big Blind (100)
Dealing...
Dealt to chardrian [ Jh ]
Dealt to chardrian [ Jc ]
randomisgood: Fold
vincentdimeglio: Fold
NOGERA : Call (100)
DzNutz : Fold
DJCBoston: Raise (300)
tucisloose: Call (300)
chardrian: Raise (3,000)
Big_Col : Fold
Araiza : Fold
POKERMAN05: Fold
NOGERA : Fold
DJCBoston: Call All-in (2,700)
tucisloose: Fold
DJCBoston said, "gmable again...y not"
*** FLOP *** : [ 2d 4c 9c ]
tucisloose said, "a q"
DJCBoston said, "6666666666"
DJCBoston said, "6666666666"
DJCBoston said, "6666666666"
*** TURN *** : [ 2d 4c 9c ] [ 3d ]
DJCBoston said, "5"
DJCBoston said, "5"
DJCBoston said, "5"
*** RIVER *** : [ 2d 4c 9c 3d ] [ As ]
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: 6,550 | Board: [ 2d 4c 9c 3d As ]
vincentdimeglio didn't bet (folded)
NOGERA lost 100 (folded)
DzNutz didn't bet (folded)
DJCBoston lost 3,000 (showed hand) [ 6h 6d ] (a pair of sixes)
tucisloose lost 300 (folded)
chardrian bet 3,000, collected 6,550, net +3,550 (showed hand) [ Jh Jc ] (a
pair of jacks)
Big_Col didn't bet (folded)
Araiza lost 50 (folded)
POKERMAN05 lost 100 (folded)
randomisgood didn't bet (folded)

I ended this hour in first place with over 19,000 chips. With such a big stack, do you need to bother to add-on? Yes.

I also think it's important to note that once you do get a big stack in the rebuy hour you can tighten up a bit. My two big hands - KK and JJ came at the end of the hour and I'm not letting these suckers go preflop during a rebuy. However, with the stack I had, I would be willing to let hands like 77 or ATs go to huge preflop bets.

I saw 50% of the hands that hour - I think that's about right for the rebuy hour.

FIRST HOUR

This is quite often the most important hour. Even if you lost all your chips on the last hand of the rebuy hour. If you rebuy and add-on, you should be in decent shape chip wise compared to the blinds during this first hour.

I actually get paper out and start taking notes on each hand at this point.

I note who is limping in; how much people are raising; do they make continuation bets - if so for how much. I generally play very very tight the first 10-15 minutes just to see what the table is doing and then go from there. If you already know how people at your table play, you generally can still see quite a few flops for (relatively) cheap at this point so take advantage if you can.

When the opportunity to strike comes... take it: This might seem like a weird example, but you'll see people tilting, making bad plays, etc. a lot more frequently than you might think.

Game #961830563 - Tournament $20,000 R&A - 100/200 No Limit Texas Hold'em -
2005/09/05-13:34:49.8 (CST)
Table "$20,000 R&A 6" (MTT) -- Seat 5 is the button
Seat 1: WRSBE-BACK (5,695 in chips)
Seat 2: cory! (26,035 in chips)
Seat 3: Senor Sock (3,695 in chips)
Seat 4: cburggreek (9,095 in chips)
Seat 5: Juliet1971 (7,270 in chips)
Seat 6: Finkle_J (9,855 in chips)
Seat 7: chardrian (22,150 in chips)
Seat 8: btrface5 (5,175 in chips)
Seat 9: Shep123 (7,430 in chips)
Seat 10: mgmgmg (17,747 in chips)
Finkle_J: Post Small Blind (100)
chardrian: Post Big Blind (200)
Dealing...
Dealt to chardrian [ Jd ]
Dealt to chardrian [ Qc ]
btrface5: Fold
Shep123 : Call (200)
mgmgmg : Fold
WRSBE-BACK: Fold
cory! : Call (200)
Senor Sock: Fold
cburggreek: Fold
Juliet1971: Fold
Finkle_J: Call (100)
chardrian: Check
*** FLOP *** : [ Js 2h Qd ]
Finkle_J: Check
chardrian: Check
Shep123 : Bet (650)
cory! : Fold
Finkle_J: Fold
chardrian: Call (650)
*** TURN *** : [ Js 2h Qd ] [ 8h ]
chardrian: Check
Shep123 : Bet (2,000)
chardrian: Raise (4,500)
Shep123 : Raise All-in (4,580)
chardrian: Call (2,080)
*** RIVER *** : [ Js 2h Qd 8h ] [ 5h ]
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: 15,260 | Board: [ Js 2h Qd 8h 5h ]
WRSBE-BACK didn't bet (folded)
cory! lost 200 (folded)
Senor Sock didn't bet (folded)
cburggreek didn't bet (folded)
Juliet1971 didn't bet (folded)
Finkle_J lost 200 (folded)
chardrian bet 7,430, collected 15,260, net +7,830 (showed hand) [ Jd Qc ] (two
pair, queens and jacks)
btrface5 didn't bet (folded)
Shep123 lost 7,430 (showed hand) [ Ad 4c ] (high card ace)
mgmgmg didn't bet (folded)

When you get badbeat/make a mistake there are a couple things you need to try to do: 1) don't tilt - shake it off. Never dwell on prior hands. This also goes for the "aw crap why didn't I play my A9 offsuit" when the flop comes 99A and the guy with AK takes it down. Concentrate on your play, on your current hands. 2) If you're gonna make a mistake try to make it as cheap as possible. The following hand is an example:

Game #961845630 - Tournament $20,000 R&A - 100/200 No Limit Texas Hold'em -
2005/09/05-13:46:34.2 (CST)
Table "$20,000 R&A 17" (MTT) -- Seat 8 is the button
Seat 1: Big_Col (17,218 in chips)
Seat 2: RICHMO (13,585 in chips)
Seat 3: BIGMENIS (8,258 in chips)
Seat 4: lilred36 (9,335 in chips)
Seat 5: cory! (25,572 in chips)
Seat 6: chardrian (29,605 in chips)
Seat 7: frenchboy (6,780 in chips)
Seat 8: theboy26 (7,350 in chips)
Seat 9: eellee (26,380 in chips)
Seat 10: jlm22jlm71 (8,960 in chips)
RICHMO : Ante (25)
BIGMENIS: Ante (25)
lilred36: Ante (25)
cory! : Ante (25)
chardrian: Ante (25)
frenchboy: Ante (25)
theboy26: Ante (25)
eellee : Ante (25)
jlm22jlm71: Ante (25)
Big_Col : Ante (25)
eellee : Post Small Blind (100)
jlm22jlm71: Post Big Blind (200)
Dealing...
Dealt to chardrian [ 5s ]
Dealt to chardrian [ 6s ]
Big_Col : Fold
chardrian said, "thur works better"
RICHMO : Call (200)
BIGMENIS: Fold
cory! said, "dur"
lilred36: Fold
chardrian said, "u can use it for all three"
cory! : Fold
chardrian: Call (200)
frenchboy: Fold
theboy26: Fold
eellee : Call (100)
cory! said, "sad that i was an english major also"
jlm22jlm71: Check
*** FLOP *** : [ Qc 6c 6d ]
eellee : Bet (200)
jlm22jlm71: Call (200)
RICHMO : Call (200)
chardrian: Raise (1,000)
eellee : Call (800)
jlm22jlm71: Fold
RICHMO : Call (800)
*** TURN *** : [ Qc 6c 6d ] [ 4c ]
eellee : Check
RICHMO : Bet (400)
chardrian: Call (400)
eellee : Call (400)
*** RIVER *** : [ Qc 6c 6d 4c ] [ 9c ]
eellee : Check
RICHMO : Bet (1,000)
chardrian: Fold
eellee : Call (1,000)
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: 7,450 | Board: [ Qc 6c 6d 4c 9c ]
Big_Col lost 25 (folded)
RICHMO lost 2,625 (showed hand) [ Qs Kh ] (two pair, queens and sixes)
BIGMENIS lost 25 (folded)
lilred36 lost 25 (folded)
cory! lost 25 (folded)
chardrian lost 1,625 (folded) [ 5s 6s ] (three of a kind, sixes)
frenchboy lost 25 (folded)
theboy26 lost 25 (folded)
eellee bet 2,625, collected 7,450, net +4,825 (showed hand) [ 7s 7c ] (a
flush, queen high)
jlm22jlm71 lost 425 (folded)

I should have raised the turn there, to see if he really had the flush. I didn't - but I also minimized my mistake.

I only saw 16% of the flops that hour. Partly because I like to see how the table's playing the first 10-15 minutes, partly because I was card dead and didn't have many stealing possibilities. But even with my huge chip stack, I didn't spew chips. I waited for opportunities and took them. I focused on playing my table and not my cards.

MIDDLE of TOURNEY - 2ND HOUR UNTIL IN THE MONEY

While that first hour is where you hope to double through on some one. This is probably the most difficult part of a tourney. Unless you are fortunate enough that you are catching great cards and people are paying you off, you are probably going to have to make some moves at this point. If you've been taking notes, now is the time to use them. Use your position, steal blinds, make a play based on your read. Usually at this point, there are players who are forced into push or fold mode. If that's you pick a good time and push. If it's not you, make sure you have a good read if you're calling - you really want to make sure you have the best hand preflop if you're calling an all-in unless the pusher is so shortstacked and u are a blind that pot odds mandate you to call. The majority of these hands are based on reads and I will play them differently depending on that read. The following is solely an example of a hand played based on a read. The majority of the time I would simply fold this preflop. If I felt he was making a steal, I would normally just reraise preflop. But based on my read, this guy called any reraise preflop, so I made the following play:

Table "$20,000 R&A 28" (MTT) -- Seat 7 is the button
Seat 1: radjapan (45,175 in chips)
Seat 2: jonsilver (31,588 in chips)
Seat 3: R KIDD (29,150 in chips)
Seat 5: Ms.Lesh (17,950 in chips)
Seat 7: eellee (169,170 in chips)
Seat 8: ACARI (16,700 in chips)
Seat 9: chardrian (93,325 in chips)
Seat 10: mr pattaya 1 (67,064 in chips)
jonsilver: Ante (200)
R KIDD : Ante (200)
Ms.Lesh : Ante (200)
eellee : Ante (200)
ACARI : Ante (200)
chardrian: Ante (200)
mr pattaya 1: Ante (200)
radjapan: Ante (200)
ACARI : Post Small Blind (2,000)
chardrian: Post Big Blind (4,000)
Dealing...
Dealt to chardrian [ Jd ]
Dealt to chardrian [ 3d ]
mr pattaya 1: Fold
radjapan: Fold
jonsilver: Fold
R KIDD : Fold
Ms.Lesh : Fold
eellee : Raise (12,000)
ACARI : Fold
chardrian: Call (8,000)
*** FLOP *** : [ 2c Ah 5d ]
chardrian: Check
eellee : Check
*** TURN *** : [ 2c Ah 5d ] [ 9c ]
chardrian: Bet (12,000)
eellee : Fold
chardrian: Winner -- doesn't show cards
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: 27,600 | Board: [ 2c Ah 5d 9c ]
radjapan lost 200 (folded)
jonsilver lost 200 (folded)
R KIDD lost 200 (folded)
Ms.Lesh lost 200 (folded)
eellee lost 12,200 (folded)
ACARI lost 2,200 (folded)
chardrian bet 24,200, collected 39,600, net +15,400 [ Jd 3d ] (high card
ace)
mr pattaya 1 lost 200 (folded)

At some point, you are very likely going to have take a stand that you don't generally really want to take. It's the one hand that's gonna make or break you. The following was that hand for me, but again it was based on a read. My read said he was not going to make this play with QQ-AA cuz he'd want to extract with those hands, he would make this play with any two broadway or 88-22. So I felt I was ahead in a race or perhaps dominating him and worried a bit about TT or JJ:

Table "$20,000 R&A 28" (MTT) -- Seat 9 is the button
Seat 2: jonsilver (46,588 in chips)
Seat 3: R KIDD (25,100 in chips)
Seat 4: belchingtoad (30,460 in chips)
Seat 5: mgmgmg (21,868 in chips)
Seat 6: mennasjoint (14,155 in chips)
Seat 7: eellee (125,760 in chips)
Seat 9: chardrian (35,660 in chips)
R KIDD : Ante (100)
belchingtoad: Ante (100)
mgmgmg : Ante (100)
mennasjoint: Ante (100)
eellee : Ante (100)
chardrian: Ante (100)
jonsilver: Ante (100)
jonsilver: Post Small Blind (1,000)
R KIDD : Post Big Blind (2,000)
Dealing...
Dealt to chardrian [ 9d ]
Dealt to chardrian [ 9s ]
belchingtoad: Fold
mgmgmg : Raise (21,768)
mennasjoint: Fold
eellee : Fold
chardrian: Raise All-in (35,560)
jonsilver: Fold
R KIDD : Fold
*** FLOP *** : [ 7d Qs 9h ]
*** TURN *** : [ 7d Qs 9h ] [ 2d ]
*** RIVER *** : [ 7d Qs 9h 2d ] [ Td ]
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: 47,236 | Board: [ 7d Qs 9h 2d Td ]
jonsilver lost 1,100 (folded)
R KIDD lost 2,100 (folded)
belchingtoad lost 100 (folded)
mgmgmg lost 21,868 (showed hand) [ Kd Qc ] (a pair of queens)
mennasjoint lost 100 (folded)
eellee lost 100 (folded)
chardrian bet 35,660, collected 61,028, net +25,368 (showed hand) [ 9d 9s ]
(three of a kind, nines)

Finally, while I am in total agreement that you need to step up the aggression around the bubble cuz it's a great time to steal highly valued blinds and antes, you also need to be careful about it. E.g. although the temptation to push with your mid stack against 2 or 3 limpers in front of you might be great, you should only do it if you are pretty certain that those limpers actually WILL fold. As long as you have 12xBB or greater, I am now a proponent of the 5x raise during the rebuy hour. The 3.5x raise during the First Real hour. And the 2.5x raise when the vast majority of the field has less than 10x the BB. If you have less than 12xBB with antes and Blinds - I favor the push preflop as basically my only move.

THE FINAL STAGES - MONEY UNTIL THE FINAL TABLE

As soon as you make the money, it's very similar to that first period right after the rebuy hour. A good chunk of players are thinking "woo hoo I made the money" and push on their next A8 hand. The following is an example of both players playing their hand poorly. Jonsilver should have just pushed preflop, and RKIDD really should have waited (although his push is defendable with such a small stack):

Table "$20,000 R&A 28" (MTT) -- Seat 3 is the button
Seat 1: radjapan (37,775 in chips)
Seat 2: jonsilver (30,788 in chips)
Seat 3: R KIDD (18,750 in chips)
Seat 4: karsten123 (13,500 in chips)
Seat 5: Ms.Lesh (29,550 in chips)
Seat 6: drdes11 (31,102 in chips)
Seat 7: eellee (155,770 in chips)
Seat 8: ACARI (13,300 in chips)
Seat 9: chardrian (105,525 in chips)
Seat 10: mr pattaya 1 (78,664 in chips)
jonsilver: Ante (300)
R KIDD : Ante (300)
chardrian said, "woo hoo!!"
chardrian said, "u made it"
chardrian said, "we made it!!"
Ms.Lesh : Ante (300)
drdes11 : Ante (300)
eellee : Ante (300)
ACARI : Ante (300)
chardrian: Ante (300)
mr pattaya 1: Ante (300)
radjapan: Ante (300)
Ms.Lesh : Post Small Blind (3,000)
drdes11 : Post Big Blind (6,000)
Dealing...
Dealt to chardrian [ 6d ]
Dealt to chardrian [ Qc ]
chardrian said, "we're in the money"
chardrian said, "!!!!"
eellee : Fold
ACARI : Fold
chardrian: Fold
mr pattaya 1: Fold
radjapan: Fold
jonsilver: Raise (16,000) with [AJ]
R KIDD : Raise All-in (18,450) with [A8s]
Ms.Lesh : Fold
Karlos_Bossa said, "Acari, aces coming in the next 3 hands"
drdes11 : Fold
jonsilver: Call (2,450)

Don't be one of these players. Tighten up, stay focused, read the table, play your players. Blinds are usually now huge, so steal when appropriate, but know when to lay off as well.

Depending on your chip stack, you might be able to make some "great plays" here. But to be honest, this period is generally either steal the blinds or all-in preflop. The vast majority of hands are played out before the flop.

Pay attention to your chip stack compared to the blinds, and make your plays accordingly.

A lot of times you just need your luckbox to work out here. I got lucky when my A cracked QQ, and got very lucky when my AA got up against QQ.
-----------------------------------------------------
Game #1361704543 - Tournament $80,000 R&A - 2,000/4,000 No Limit Texas Hold'em -
2006/03/19-23:58:53.0 (CST)
Table "$80,000 R&A 3" (MTT) -- Seat 3 is the button
Seat 1: gap74 (28,800 in chips)
Seat 2: DEEKAY43 (21,114 in chips)
Seat 3: shark_0714 (58,574 in chips)
Seat 4: kice32 (30,352 in chips)
Seat 5: chardrian (45,900 in chips)
Seat 6: Mr. Lobo (72,217 in chips)
Seat 7: jjyehyeh (97,567 in chips)
Seat 8: trainers (27,160 in chips)
Seat 9: terminatorA (92,197 in chips)
Seat 10: cool0813 (144,346 in chips)
DEEKAY43: Ante (200)
shark_0714: Ante (200)
kice32 : Ante (200)
chardrian: Ante (200)
Mr. Lobo: Ante (200)
jjyehyeh: Ante (200)
trainers: Ante (200)
terminatorA: Ante (200)
cool0813: Ante (200)
gap74 : Ante (200)
kice32 : Post Small Blind (2,000)
chardrian: Post Big Blind (4,000)
Dealing...
Dealt to chardrian [ Ad ]
Dealt to chardrian [ Jd ]
terminatorA said, "ty"
Mr. Lobo: Fold
chardrian said, "KK?"
terminatorA said, "no"
jjyehyeh: Raise (12,000)
chardrian said, "close?"
trainers: Fold
terminatorA: Fold
cool0813: Fold
gap74 : Fold
DEEKAY43: Fold
shark_0714: Fold
kice32 : Fold
chardrian: Call (8,000)
*** FLOP *** : [ 7h 2c Ah ]
chardrian: Check
shark_0714 said, "youll have to watch that one on tv to find out"
jjyehyeh: Bet (16,000)
chardrian said, "guess so"
chardrian: Raise (33,700)
jjyehyeh: Call (17,700)
*** TURN *** : [ 7h 2c Ah ] [ 3d ]
*** RIVER *** : [ 7h 2c Ah 3d ] [ 4c ]
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: 95,400 | Board: [ 7h 2c Ah 3d 4c ]
gap74 lost 200 (folded)
DEEKAY43 lost 200 (folded)
shark_0714 lost 200 (folded)
kice32 lost 2,200 (folded)
chardrian bet 45,900, collected 95,400, net +49,500 (showed hand) [ Ad Jd ] (a
pair of aces)
Mr. Lobo lost 200 (folded)
jjyehyeh lost 45,900 (showed hand) [ Qh Qs ] (a pair of queens)
trainers lost 200 (folded)
terminatorA lost 200 (folded)
cool0813 lost 200 (folded)
-----------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------
Game #1361746600 - Tournament $80,000 R&A - 4,000/8,000 No Limit Texas Hold'em -
2006/03/20-00:23:59.3 (CST)
Table "$80,000 R&A 93" (MTT) -- Seat 6 is the button
Seat 1: turniptruck (57,900 in chips)
Seat 3: chardrian (173,400 in chips)
Seat 4: R1verV1ctm (220,766 in chips)
Seat 5: BamaEd (52,246 in chips)
Seat 6: afishianado (27,348 in chips)
Seat 7: lulou (310,601 in chips)
Seat 8: dionysus2929 (73,780 in chips)
Seat 9: JacknCoke (205,445 in chips)
Seat 10: Cheese (153,704 in chips)
chardrian: Ante (400)
R1verV1ctm: Ante (400)
BamaEd : Ante (400)
afishianado: Ante (400)
lulou : Ante (400)
dionysus2929: Ante (400)
JacknCoke: Ante (400)
Cheese : Ante (400)
turniptruck: Ante (400)
lulou : Post Small Blind (4,000)
dionysus2929: Post Big Blind (8,000)
Dealing...
Dealt to chardrian [ Ac ]
Dealt to chardrian [ Ad ]
JacknCoke: Call (8,000)
Cheese : Fold
turniptruck: Fold
chardrian: Raise (26,000)
R1verV1ctm: Raise (220,366)
BamaEd : Fold
afishianado: Fold
lulou : Fold
dionysus2929: Fold
JacknCoke: Fold
chardrian: Call All-in (147,000)
R1verV1ctm said, "wow nh"
*** FLOP *** : [ Th 2c Ks ]
*** TURN *** : [ Th 2c Ks ] [ 7h ]
*** RIVER *** : [ Th 2c Ks 7h ] [ 6s ]
chardrian said, "ty"
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: 369,600 | Board: [ Th 2c Ks 7h 6s ]
turniptruck lost 400 (folded)
chardrian bet 173,400, collected 369,600, net +196,200 (showed hand) [ Ac Ad ]
(a pair of aces)
R1verV1ctm bet 220,766, collected 47,366, net -173,400 (showed hand) [ Qs Qc ]
(a pair of queens)
BamaEd lost 400 (folded)
afishianado lost 400 (folded)
lulou lost 4,400 (folded)
dionysus2929 lost 8,400 (folded)
JacknCoke lost 8,400 (folded)
Cheese lost 400 (folded)
-----------------------------------------------------


At this point, that's a rough draft of my strategy. I'll continue to edit it, maybe add some hands, and look forward to comments.