Joined: Oct '09
Location: Sweden
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 46
Hello everyone!
In 28 hours I will be participating in a qualifier in which I must reach the final table. This is the second step and also my one and only chance to reach the final torunament in Feb.
The tournament will have about 400 participants, of which 10 will qualify for the final round. So my main goal will be to get to the final table.
All the qualifiers for this table was freerolls, so I assume there will be the early donks in.
So any tips?
Was thinking something like playing only top15 hands and only if preflop bets doesnt get to high. No shoves whatsoever before all the cards are on the table. Maybee I'll even start by sitting out the first 30 mins, even though this might mean I miss a few nuthands.
All advice on this type of small MTTs are welcome.
Joined: May '08
Location: Germany
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 6786
400 players, 10 prices. So only one out of fourty will make it. You can't play a waiting game here. Sitting out the first 30 minutes is a bad idea. You have to take risks to make it to the FT.
Joined: Oct '09
Location: Sweden
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 46
True. But what kind of range should I be playing?
The blind-structure is quite slow here so many hands will be played on every level. Limp early on trying to hit the nuts and try to double or triple up?
I don't wanna end up the usual way I do, with a big ass bad beat or underestimating a opponents hand
Joined: Feb '08
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 1886
There are bound to be a couple of donks but I wouldn't assume that it will be a complete donk fest early on. These people had to beat the majority of the players in the first freeroll to qualify remember. Whilst some may have been lucky it's unlikely that many qualified on luck alone. There may however likely be some erratic play early on as people don't care as much about freerolls or for some reason feel that they need a big stack asap forgetting that it is not a race. There will also likely be some sit outs. You should play the early stages to take advantage of this. Although it might be boring, some free chips come in handy later on.
I would say to play the MTT as you normally would. There is no point in calculating a strategy beforehand. Simply develop a strategy that suits the play at the table as you are playing. If you decide now that you are going to play tight and everyone at your table decides to play tight, you may find yourself small stack when you reach the last hundred and threatened by huge blinds.
So if your opponents play like madmen you should respond by playing tight and cash in on their aggression. But if everyone is tight and worried about busting out early, take advantage and steal the blinds. Be aware of course of tight players raising and don't overplay your hands.
You seem a bit fixated with qualifying. Of course it is your goal to win and you need to have confidence but it is ridiculous to put so much pressure on going through now. You have to face the fact that sometimes you will bust out doing nothing wrong. So just play your best poker and be logical.
Joined: Oct '08
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 43 (M)
Posts: 1086
Sound advice awood88
Might be easier to just luckbox the whole thing though
There are plenty of satellite tournament strategies on the net, not sure if the play really is that different to a standard tourney but probably worth a look.
Joined: Oct '09
Location: Sweden
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 46
Thanks for the advice!
The reason I ask for advice here is because most strategy-guides is aimed towards bigger MTTs. And I am sure that there is big differences between playing a 400 people MTT and a 4000 people MTT.
I guess I'll play my regular game and just keep adjusting to the tables and stop thinking to much.
Not really fixated about winning, but would be really fun to do so
Joined: Feb '08
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 1886
There is one bit of strategic advice that is specific to these kind of tourneys. You could look up how to play around the bubble in a qualifier. It's very different to playing around the bubble in a normal MTT. The bubble is the last person to be knocked out before the payouts.
I say this because I was playing in a qualifier yesterday where I think the top 100 players go through. There's 102 people left and there are a lot of short stacks at my table. A lot of people have less than three big blinds. But one player has just enough for one small blind and will be big blind next hand. One guy with four and a half big blinds decides to call preflop with KJ. This is completely pointless and stupid. There are four people to the flop which comes J high and he goes all in. He gets instant called by a big stack. Fortunately for him his pair of Jacks holds up but this was stupid play. There is no point in risking your stack, no matter how good your chances, when you are 99.9% guaranteed to make it by folding.
This is not like a normal MTT where the payouts increase gradually. In this case you could take advantage of tight play and try and get more chips to go for the win. In a tourney where all payouts are the same you should play smart, even folding AA to a raise from a bigger stack providing you have enough chips to make it.
Joined: Oct '09
Location: Sweden
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 46
249 of the 524 left.
Won a side pot with two pair (but lost main) putting me up at slightly above 2k chips. Average about 1.9k.
But blinds are increasing, so I actually only have 14 BB atm.
edit: Time to start stealing blinds soon
------------ And I'm out.
Called with 8-10 suited. Flop came, 339.
Small bet from bigstack and I figured that a big-stack shouldn't be holding any of theese cards at this point. So I wen't all-in. Of course big stack calls holding KQ.
None of my million outs hits the table so my semi-bluff bit me in the ass.
Edited by Evilgenius (11 December 2009 @ 02:51 GMT)
Joined: Nov '09
Location: Poland
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 1189
If you want to get to the 10 stops only in 500 freeroll u just can't to play short-stack. U need to play confident and agressive.... I know with short stack u can go to 50-100 but it's really low chance to get to the final 10. Anyway sad u got out maybe next time it will be better.
Joined: Oct '09
Location: Sweden
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 46
So, turns out it wasn't my last chance! I just missread the tournament-info. So a new chance comes up next thursday if I manage to qualify.
I feel pretty good about the game even though I went out around 200. I feel that I made the right decisions through the tourney. Folding hands like AK and top-pairs when I felt I was behind. I actually have the feeling that I have become a better player.
Even though my last hand might have been a bit questionable, I figured he should have folded. And even if he didn't, I had 15 outs and a backdoor straightdraw.
