Tournament Help

[Favre[4]]

Ok this time i have more information for you guys to work off of. Ussaly these are tournaments of 2000 + players. I can ussaly get to under 100 easily but then i strugle and cant finish it out. I ussaly get my stack up to 30-50k but then i cant do anything. I get cards like AK,AQ but i can nvr hit a flop or win a pot. Im ussaly around average stack and the blinds are ussaly like 800/1600 - 1000/2000. I think that my problem is i stop raise 3X BB and just calling. Also if im holding A/K or A/Q and I miss the flop like say the flop is 3/6/10 should i take a stap at the pot and how much should the stap be? 2X BB / 3X BB ?

Thanks.

[Favre[4]]

Anyone?

[ChipFish]

The answer is always "it depends"
There are several things you can do...
T30-50k with blinds of 1k/2k is between 15-25bbs... a somewhat healthy stack here...
on a non scary board of 3x-6x-10x it is definitely worth taking a stab at...

A helpful hint may be to only think of raises in terms of bbs 'preflop'
Once the betting rounds are in the flop, turn and river area, start thinking about your bets in terms of % of the total pot.

So with your A-K and non scary board above, perhaps a flop bet of 2/3 to full pot size bet is in order here. Be prepared to lay down to aggression, but realize you still have a healthy stack.
Aggression is key in this point of a tourney, Most people will only call or raise if they hit a flop.

Hope that's a good start for you.

[Zybomb]

Oh boy...........

Ok, a few things here that Im sure will help you tremendously in your tournament and overall game play.

1st: Do a search for Continuation Bet. If you can find the post Aequitas58 started, it is one of the best ones around. Learn what a continuation bet is, when it should be used and how... also learn how to analyze the flops to determine if a CB is smart. This will improve your poker game a minimum of 345%

2nd: Stabs at the pot do not involve blinds anymore once it's reached the flop. You don't think in terms of 2x and 3x BB, you think in terms of the size of the pot. In one instance I may bet 3BBs in another it might be 12BBs -- it's the pot size which matters... and when you do a good number is 1/2 - 2/3rds the pot.

3rd: Don't stop raising and start calling! Late in tournament play if a pot is folded to you, you should either open (raise) or fold... in fact I can't think of 1 case I'd prefer limping... (this is LATE in a tournament keep in mind, when just picking up blinds and antes are huge) If someone else has limped first, and there are growing pot odds for you to enter, then limps become ok...but you should never start them...

4th: Don't blind yourself out. Once you are under 10 BBs, any hand you play is an all in...otherwise you are folding... once you steal some blinds and antes to give you a bigger stck, you can begin raising normal amounts again. If you get short stacked, you need a coin toss situation sometimes and want the double up...don't be afraid to gamble.

Hope this helps

PS: Where's my five bucks on pokerstars for the Bears game (TheNextThing)