Poker Tournament Advice: Loosening up your play

Here is some really great TOURNAMENT POKER advice from the folks over at Rec.Gambling.Poker. I have left the thread intact in order to credit the posters:

On 2 Feb 2007 06:05:59 -0800, chambersdon@hotmail.com wrote:

>I need some tips for loosening my play.

>For the last few weeks I've been playing the 180 people sit&go's at
>PokerStars. You start with $1,500 in tournament chips, the rounds are
>15 minutes, and blinds start at 10/20. I get about 12 hands a round
>in the early rounds.

>My biggest weakness is pre-flop play. I have trouble deciding which
>hands to get involved with. I'm a tight player by nature and it seems
>that when I loosen up I do much worse. If I play tight I seem to
>finish in the money about 1 in 10 times but I've only made first place
>a couple of times. I think my tight play it too tight for these short
>rounds.

>My problem is that I don't know how to loosen up. Here are some
>examples of what I mean.

>I usually fold hands like A9s and ATo in first position. Perhaps I
>should open with a raise or at least call. I hardly every play Ax
>when x is less than T (unless I'm first-in on the button).

These hands are crap and shouldn't generally be played in early position.
Muck this junk.

>Maybe I should open the pot in mid or late position with lower suited
>connectors or 1 - gap cards. Cards like 65 or T8.

This is better. Don't usually go below 54s. Unsuited connectors and one
gaps are okay for cheaper. I'd rather be drawing at a straight than a flush,
and I'd rather be drawing at a double gutshot. If you hit your flush it kills
your action, but you can easily hit a straight and get paid off. People are
much less likely to credit you with a straight.

>I'm a very tight when there is a raise in front of me. I'll fold AJ
>and pairs less than TT. Should I do more calling/reiraising after a
>raise? Of course, I'll usually re-raise with the big pairs and maybe
>AK.

AJ is junk. This is exactly the kind of stuff that should usually be mucked
to a raise, second rate high card hands that are usually dominated.

>I'll fold high cards like KT and QT if there is a raise in front or
>I'm in early position.

Good move. They're trash. Even suited, but they might be
worth a play then. Just don't get too excited if you flop a pair.
You are looking more for straights and flushes. If you can't
get away from hitting the flop weak in a dominated way, don't
bother.

>When I loosen up I'm not sure what other cards I should play.

When you're looking at a raise you don't want to play cards in the
same neighborhood as what raised. Middle pairs and suited connectors
are more your domain. If you play these cards you have to be willing
to get aggressive after the flop if you hit it big, and hitting it big (unless
you actually flop a monster like trips, two pair, or a made straight or
flush and can just get to work extracting chips) often means you hit
a weak made hand like a pair plus a draw, or multiple draws. Monster
draws are things like a pair plus an open-ended straight flush draw.
Great draws are something like a flush draw plus a straight draw.
Even something like a pair and a gutshot with a backdoor flush
draw may be worth playing. Basically you are playing hands where
if you hit the flop you are ahead of your opponents overpair, overcards,
or top pair type hand. And you want two kinds of opponents, those
who get married to a hand and can't fold it, who you can bust, or
players who are so weak-tight you can push them off a hand after the
flop. You really don't want to play players as good as you are with
junk. Against the one kind of player, your implied odds on the call
are that they pay you off when you hit big, and you go away when
you aren't. Against the other kind of player, your added odds to
balance out your crap cards are that you can push them off a hand
sometimes when you aren't ahead.

Note that you want position with these hands, and you want players
you can control. You want to be able to get it all in when you're a
favorite, back them off if you're drawing, draw for cheap when
you want to do that, and getting paid off when you hit.

And obviously with your middle pairs you want to flop a set and
bust someone.

But you'd rather have cards that AREN'T the same kind of hands
your opponent has (unless you're the one dominating him). That
way you're more likely to hit the flop in a way that doesn't help
your opponent even more.

>After the flop I seem to be pretty good at knowing where I stand. I
>can usually tell if the flop helped anyone else and in many cases I
>can take a pot when the flop didn't help me. Of course, if I saw a
>lot more flops and didn't have the tight image things may be
>different.

I'm not sure how much people are paying attention to your image
in these things. It can really be a pain in the ass to think you have this
tight image and then the first time you steal some dipfuck calls you with
A8.

The best table image to have is the table image of someone who has
a shitload of chips. Easier said than done.

Amen

Peace out

Porkrind