Joined: Jun '10
Location: United States
Age: 33 (M)
Posts: 23
Hey there this is my first post in the forums!!
Im just wondering what is the most efficient way to play big tournies. My style tends to be tight at the beginning try to accumulate chips, and then go back to playing semi tight. Is it best to play aggressive at the beginning of the tourney, and then play tight? This really applies to any tournaments ( freerolls too ) - I have not had many successful big tourney cashes, if any. I'm kind of looking to switch up my tourney play, so for all of you out there winning the please share you're strategy
Joined: Feb '08
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 1886
It depends really on the structure of the mtt. Some big tourneys I've played start off turbo and you can't afford to wait around. But then I've also played these large rebuys where the blind increase is quite slow. Lots of players play really loose so I play TAG and usually end up with an average stack by the end of the rebuys but if i'm shortstack it's not the end of the world since the blinds are still small. Usually the best advice is to do the opposite of how the table plays but there are exceptions. If it's a slow tourney there is just no point in playing random hands aggressively or semi-bluffing small pots but in some freerolls for eg there's little point in playing sensible poker.
Joined: Jan '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 33 (M)
Posts: 704
Hi and welcome to BRM Nice first thread
i personally start with tight play untill later on when all the donks are gone then when iv built a chip stack start to use it. but dont go crazy dont go mad and play 69/o. be patient and your win will come. sorry if this is no good to you.
Joined: Jun '10
Location: United States
Age: 33 (M)
Posts: 23
Completely agree with what ya, and freerolls, it seems every freeroll my pocket king's are cracked by j6 or worse thats poker though. I just hate the mentality of "Its just a freeroll, thats why I called." I think a good player should play his game no matter the stakes, buy in, etc.
------------ Thanks p0ck3t. Every bit of advice helps to switch up my play a little bit it's time to get some cashes in tournies
Joined: Jan '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 33 (M)
Posts: 704
Posted by Stalando: Completely agree with what ya, and freerolls, it seems every freeroll my pocket king's are cracked by j6 or worse thats poker though. I just hate the mentality of "Its just a freeroll, thats why I called." I think a good player should play his game no matter the stakes, buy in, etc.
completely agree with u there. no matter what the stake you should play your game an dont be a donk
Joined: Nov '10
Location: Serbia
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 2087
TIGHT! You want play tight big tourneys. A nd when blinds go up avoid playing with big stacks that can bust you and short stack that can go all in on any decent hand. Try to steal from middle stacks. Dont gamble too much and dont take coinflips early. Your play should depend more on your stack and on your opponents then on your cards in late stages. And yes, play to win. First goal in MTT is to survive and when you get to (or close to) money you should start to play to win.
Joined: Jun '10
Location: United States
Age: 33 (M)
Posts: 23
Yes it helps. i think the key to poker is always changing you're strategy and looking for ways to get better. i appreciate the input. Good luck to all at the tables
Joined: Feb '08
Location: Netherlands
Age: 52 (M)
Posts: 818
Hi and welcome to the forum and you're right; you shoud have differen't strategy's, not just play tight and try to finish in the money. If you do so you will have to depend on luck. The key is not to be scared in playing and adapt your strategy to the situaton: what kind of tourney, your stacksize, how high are blinds and ante's, how many people left, your position on the table, potodds, implied potodds and most important: your read on how your oponents are playing based on the info and betpaterns you have on them.(ofcourse also adapted to the situation they are facing at that time) Than choose between you many strategy's while keeping in mind the above. Well that's how i play them, Gl
Joined: Jun '10
Location: United States
Age: 33 (M)
Posts: 23
Very good points Jeff thank you. The key is to stay unpredictable so you can't be read, some people have no strategy and shove with rags, and are rewarded. This game should be 75% skill 25% luck it seems vice versa on some of these sites sometimes, luck will change though eventually and skill will prevail! here's to the players with skill. Good luck as well, bud !!
Joined: Feb '10
Location: Suriname
Age: 47 (M)
Posts: 1189
Well, I play tight in the early phase only pocket pairs TT or above, in the middle and late phas I play tight aggressively and hopefully I don't get a bad beat from someone.
Joined: May '08
Location: Netherlands
Age: 53 (M)
Posts: 6197
Imo there are 2 strategys who are EV+, Play2Cash and Play2Win, both are profitable but Play2Win gives you more money in the long run. With both you start ubertight, with Play2Cash we stay tight also with high blinds and only take low risks, with Play2Win we open up when blinds get high and try to get much chips by taken more risks.
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Portugal
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 4827
My experience in big tourey resumes to big freerolls, or low buy-in tourneys with big fields of players. I believe some more experienced player can say this should be played in different ways, but i tend to go to a game always with the same posture (not talking about turbos). I do my bluffs on some positions, i like to slow play some hands, and i like to try to rob when i am in a specific situation. Not playing "any A goes all in in the first 10 minutes" because i think that is trash poker. Sometimes i finish my tourneys earlier because of guys who play like this, who end up coming out sooner because sometimes run well and others dont
Joined: Mar '11
Location: Germany
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 1242
Hi to you and welcome to this site. I guess you will find a lot of useful advice here. For me I also try to ply it tight at the beginning and the to be more aggressive near the bubble. But it still don´t work everytime (Like yesterday: I went out in the first hand, pushing All In with AK form CO and the guy at SB had AA
please share you're strategy 
