Home game tournament strategy?

Hello all....

I am new to the sight and love what I am reading on the message boards. I am fairly new to on-line NL Hold'em, but have been playing NL home ring games for quite some time now. Obviously I have found a lot of good information to help me become a better player on this site and on these message boards, but I am curious to know if I should do anything special, strategy wise, for this home NL tourney? There will be about 20 guys there at $100 buy in each. The payout is to the top 6 with some other things (such as bad beat jackpot, first 4 of a kind or straight flush) that will allow us a chance to win money. So with approximately a $2000 total pot...I would love to get a piece of it....and love to win it even more.

Alot of the guys are the guys I play with in the ring games and feel like I know how they play pretty well. Other people are "invites" by all of the regulars and I will have never played with them before. In this tourney the blinds will be doubled each hour until the tourney is won by someone.

Any advice or strategy you have would be greatly appreciated! Once again, I am glad I stumbled on this site and plan to be here often.

Good pointers here
http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...pic.php?t=5335

Spook, Good thread. Thanks for pointing me there. I am wondering if anyone has any more basic advice as far as the tourney goes? How should I start out...How to make my self last, get to the final table and then win? Do I just play smart and swich gears, and what should I do in respect to the players I am familiar with, and those that I am not?

Well some of it can be the same way like online.

Play tight while early on in the tournament. Limp in if you can in good position w/ suited connectors and push with big hands just as AA KK QQ and such.

During this time get your reads on players. As the blinds get larger hopefully your stack will be good if not then you will have to push.

Any tourney starts the same way like a normal ring game except at first the high card is dealt to see who is dealer. Then the blinds start and the tourney starts. The players that you have played with you should fairly know what cards they play with and dont be afraid to try to push them around with premium hands. If you are in position such as the button (dealer) and are dealt AA, KK and a raise before you then reraise at least 2x there raise. No one likes a min. raiser.

Final table if you a have good chip stack play tight and play your game if you are in position and either everyone has folded to you or limped in and have a hand w/ an ace try a blind steal.

Playing tight the first hour or 2 will make it happen going deeper into the rounds and hopefully you will get some cards.

gl and welcome

Corey,

Thanks for the advice...I appreciate it...as well as your avatar!

Ok, now my next question is this...Of all of the information on this site, which would you say would be the most important for me to follow? Of all the essays I have read on the FTR site....which do I need to concentrate on most in this home tournament? My first instinct is the group hands, position, and pot odds? What would you say?

first of all take it easy.

When you start worrying about everything then that means everything will probably go to shit. take a breath and relax junior.

stare at titties and breath

Starting hands and position are a good start to follow.

Thanks....and yes the titties are nice.

One of the biggest things ive noticed in my home game is that all pot odds go out the window. I use them to help me decide when to call or fold, but its impossible for me to distort the pot odds to get rid of draws because the greener players dont know what they are, so they are more willing to call or go all-in on an open ended or flush draw. Protecting hands becomes a little tougher to do and bad beats are more common. Just last wednesday i had a set of kings, go all in to protect hand, get called by a backdoor Ace High flush draw and get busted out. Nothing you can do really, cause when people see it work out they are more likely to do it again, and the other players see it hit and then they are more likely to call too. It gets frustrating, but what are ya gonna do? They miss that hand 1 out of 10 times, but they see that 1 time and blow their load thinking of it. That's poker.

Originally Posted by keyser5

One of the biggest things ive noticed in my home game is that all pot odds go out the window. I use them to help me decide when to call or fold, but its impossible for me to distort the pot odds to get rid of draws because the greener players dont know what they are, so they are more willing to call or go all-in on an open ended or flush draw. Protecting hands becomes a little tougher to do and bad beats are more common. Just last wednesday i had a set of kings, go all in to protect hand, get called by a backdoor Ace High flush draw and get busted out. Nothing you can do really, cause when people see it work out they are more likely to do it again, and the other players see it hit and then they are more likely to call too. It gets frustrating, but what are ya gonna do? They miss that hand 1 out of 10 times, but they see that 1 time and blow their load thinking of it. That's poker.

Yes, this is how several of the regular players I play with play the game. It is indeed frustrating, but something I have to take into consideration when protecting my hand. The wild card will be these guys I have never played with before. Hopefully they will be at my table early where I can play normal and then worry about the regulars at the final table.

Another question.....

I have been reading this site for the last few days and I have a question about raises on hands in the first couple of groups of cards pre-flop. What type of raises are "standard" and when should you deviate from the "standard" raises? This tourney will start out .25/.50 and double each hour. Is the "standard" so many times the BB?

2.5 to 3 times the BB is the standard raise. You should never deviate from it unless you're trying to be very, very sneaky. And such sneakyness will probably be lost on your opponents.

-'rilla

Originally Posted by silverbullets

Another question.....

I have been reading this site for the last few days and I have a question about raises on hands in the first couple of groups of cards pre-flop. What type of raises are "standard" and when should you deviate from the "standard" raises? This tourney will start out .25/.50 and double each hour. Is the "standard" so many times the BB?

2-3x bb or even up to 5x bb

so if blinds are 15-30 you want to raise 3x the 30 which you will raise up to 90 chips that is called 3x the bb

People in home games seem to be most scared of aggressive players, so if you're tight (only play quality or semi-quality hands) and aggressive (raise if you want to enter a pot) you'll be able to do more with your table image than online, where people call down raises like it's nothing and don't pay as much attention to your style. Raising people out of pots seems to have a lasting effect, like they see you as a bluffer and get just mad enough that when you really do have the nuts, you can make them push. Also, on the other end of it they'll rarely raise enough to make you pay them off big, even trying to limp with AA or KK. This means you have to watch out for any show of strength, because coming back at them with a re-raise can really get you into some trouble.

The above is probably because 1) there are more inexperienced players in home games, and 2) there really is something to having to look someone in the eye when you raise or call that's different from hitting your mouse button.

I prefer home because I win a lot more of the time and because there are no annoying fratboys taking up my screen talking smack to each other (until I check-raise them all-in and say bye-bye).

-NOMAD