03-31-06, LearnTexasHoldem:

Tournaments With Thousands Of Entrants, Playing In

Question:hello,

first of all, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge - i think you've helped a lot of inexperienced players starting to get a grip on this game...

here goes: i play a lot of online tourneys with play money, since i'm not ready to lose cash yet :) these tourneys start out with somewhere around 3000 players (starting stack 3000 chips). i play very tight in the beginning, unless i get dealt a hand that will justify rolling the punches. after an hour, there are mostly 1000 players left. at that time, the average chip count of all players will always exceed my stack. is there any sense in playing when you are at your starting chip count (plus minus 500) when antes kick in and the blinds go to 400/800?

Top 3 Beginner Rooms

Am i playing too tight in the beginning, or should i risk going out early just to have a reasonable chip count when the big boys play?

cheers for all your thoughts,

thorsten

Answer:

Thanks for the question Thorsten.

The bigger the tournament, the harder it will be for any one player to win because the collective power of the opponents. In a tournament with thousands of players, placing in the money is an accomplishment. For someone to win they have to play well and get some luck their way -- winning some hands they shouldn't have, winning coin flips, etc.

What all great tournament players have is the ability to qualify their hand's strength based on a number of variables that other players don't (or don't do as well). These extra variables are things like chip stack relative to the blinds increasing or the opponents' state-of-mind. Instead of thinking, "this hand isn't a very good one, I'll fold" they might think, "I have x amount of hands until the blinds, it is necessary now to play."

Good tournament players are very in tune with this. And the new breed of tournament player is much more active in seeking out or creating opportunities instead of just trying to survive. As a general rule, you should play tighter when the tourney begins than later on. This prevents you from busting out in a spot that you didn't have to even play in. Also, many other players are busting out left and right (the "dead money").

As you said, after an hour 1000 players are left. At first glance, this seems like a good thing because you are still around and 2000 players are gone. Another way, and the way I suggest looking at it, is to say, "2000 bad players just busted out and I didn't get any of their money." Clearly there was a lot of crazy/bad play happening to have 2k players gone in an hour. You should try to get some of that yourself.

So I think you may be playing a little on the tight side. When you get to the 400/800 blinds with only 3k chips, you're in trouble. What you are doing is limiting your options so that the next hand you play you'll either win or be out. And if you do win that hand, you aren't safe. You've only delayed the inevitable a bit. You would have to double through a number of times to be a threat. Before you get that low on chips, you need to play some. You may still end up losing but at least by playing some hands earlier you'll preserve the chance of winning. You don't want to wait till even winning a pot doesn't have significance.

One technique that helps to keep you afloat is to take little jabs here and there at pots. You come in for a raise a few times the blind and then jab once on the flop. You try to pick up some pots that other player's haven't shown interest in yet. You don't have to wait till you are in late position either or have a good hand. Doing this will help you to also get more action on your big hands.

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