So typically I employ a trapping strategy early in MTT's. Due to the lower buy-ins, they're usually loaded with fish who will call allins with any crap hand on the flop.

So I'm playing in the PartyPoker Sunday Million Guaranteed tournament. It's a $215 event (I won a satellite in a rebuy tourney that cost me $48 total). Last week, 5000+ entrants battled it out for a $220,000 first prize. Making the final table was good for at least $11,000.

Given the larger buy in, I think my quick allin tactics may not work well in this field.

Any thoughts for approaching the tournament? Below is the tournament structure (15 min levels), starting chipstacks are 3000. It's the first structure listed.

http://www.partypoker.com/tournament...structure.html

Here's the payout structure (3rd table from top, titled "Sunday Millions"):
http://www.partypoker.com/tournament...structure.html

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Jason75: Ok, you check and the button bets 400. Now what?
Beavis68: You play poker.
Jason75: Darn, I was really hoping for canasta. Maybe Gin.

where do you think all these folks are getting their buy ins?

There will probably be a large number of donks and nemos early in the game.

I've played in this and a few of the other "big" tournaments on Party and Beav is right there are a lot of satellite fish. The tricky part is telling who they are and more to the point while you make a standard (at low buy-ins) move like pushing an overpair on the flop and have got your eye on the nemo calling your all in with a flush draw there's more likely to be a decent player waiting to pounce with trips, or a cunningly played better pair.

It's been a while but my experience was that I couldn't help but play tighter than normal and as a result I lasted a couple of hours each time but didn't money;

Here's what I posted in my blog last may after I came 613th of 1842

Of course it may have changed but if you have the nerve, then go for it. Of course it's disappointing if you bust out in the first few hands, but then we don't usually worry about that do we?

Best of luck matey

I've blown about $4k on this tourney. I only cashed twice for a total of about$7kand both times I got lucky as hell catching starting hands. In these minefields the blinds are raising faster than the stacks, so you're gonna get pushed around quite a bit and there's no such thing as a small pot in a Party tourney. Get in with the goods. I'd say put together on hand chart by position and never enter a flop being the caller.

Play it like you got there. There are only about 100 real tourney players who are used to the Party structure. The rest in an Exodus from Egypt parting gift.

It's no different from a $1 or a freeroll. Advantage to playing these is only if you play every week, you'll get lucky and catch some cards once in every 5 or 6 weeks and cash. Party has such great cash games that I'd get bored and quit because I wasn't paying attention or wait on Aces, kings, and Queens like a bitch. So, even though the players suck, the more times you're all in PF as a 3:1 fav, the better your chances of falling out, just later than sonner and still not money.

Only being the aggressor when you're playing with the will to stick around will force you to have a strong tight-aggressive game against these donks.

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I guess I was posting at the exact time that Rex was, but he has more experience with the Party structure in minefields and his success is more consistent than mine. I'd comb through his tourney posts.

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I'm a bit more forgiving of the Party structure than Alex, but I do agree you need to get lucky or enter a lot to come out ahead.

(btw the one I was in was a $660 entry hence the smaller field, the play was still not noticeably better than a $33 MTT though it was tighter. And yes I won a sat to get there )

The only thing I've been doing consistently lately is sucking. Hard.

Viva La Variance

I was thinking of playing tight in EP but loose in LP/Blinds.

I'm thinking of playing nothing but AA/KK in EP, but opening pots with a lot of speculative hands in MP (but primarily in LP) in order to cover my tight play in EP and hope to hit a home run if I pick up a monster PF or flop a monster.

With such a large field, (about the same as the 2005 WSOP ME), I'm much more open to taking some big chances early if the overlay is good (maybe even allin with AK). If I can get ahead of the field and get a nice stack, I'm very confident in my ability to outplay the table and adapt to changing table conditions.

Given the daunting field, I'm not going to think twice about busting out early by taking chances. I know my strenghts and weaknesses, and I'm significantly stronger PF than I am after the flop (though I think I'm still fairly strong after the flop, but I can be outmaneuvered - you're not allowed to use that in any PFO tourneys later, BTW!!). Though after reading HOH3, I feel like I've been able to see a lot of leaks in my post-flop game and fix them (including altering some of my PF plays).

Anyway, additional thoughts on this (and my previous ramblings) are encouraged.

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Jason75: Ok, you check and the button bets 400. Now what?
Beavis68: You play poker.
Jason75: Darn, I was really hoping for canasta. Maybe Gin.

Jason not sure if you read 2+2 , if you dont go to their MTT section and find an article about restealing, its the only way you could posibly keep yourself alive nearing the bubble unless you hit an absurd run of cards.

You and me both. I need to reread HoH 1 and 2 and buy 3