I'm getting differing views on what is the best strategy in the first quartile of a tournament (low blinds, no ante). The two options and way of thinking are:

1) As the blinds are low, play super-tight. Only play JJ+ (except AJ). Bet hard when you hit your hand
2) As the blinds are low and you can see the flop cheaply, limp in often with complete crap. Bet hard when you hit or have a good draw, fold to any bet otherwise.

So which do you think is the best? Discuss (20%)

My tournament play has improved quite a bit in the past 6 months or so. I think option 1 is best. It is wise to conserve chips inorder to maximise your profit when you have a big hand. Once antes and blinds start going up and the bubble is approaching the best way to play is to play situations as well as your cards. Stealing and restealing is successful more often than you might think. This really helps build a stack which you will need as the final table approaches. It really takes practice. Hope this helps GL

Depends entirely on the stakes and the table. If lots of people are limping and/or calling single raises, but no one is 3-betting, then I'm for option (2), with the provision that you're only playing when you have position (or getting a discount because you're in the blinds and there was no raise or only a small raise) and you're only getting your money in post-flop with two pair or better when there are multiple opponents involved in the hand. There are a lot of people who'll pay you off with any form of top pair at low stakes. I'd also play most of my draws pretty passively, rather than semi-bluffing, as when there are multiple opponents in the hand, you're unlikely to make everyone fold, and you'd like to keep marginal hands in, so they might hit something like two pair with the same card that gives you your straight or flush. The exception is if you have a good draw + two overcards, in which case I think you want to cut down on the number of opponents in the pot so that your hand is more likely to be good if you miss the real draw but make top pair with one of your overcards.

If the table is more aggressive, then you go for option 1 and try to get as much money as you can in the pot preflop when you're pretty sure you have the best of it and just stay out of trouble the rest of the time, until the blinds are big enough to be worth stealing.

The key to the lower tournament levels is staying alive and slowly building your stack.

Once you hit a certain level, you have to be able to push people off marginal post-flop hands and represent strength. With a small stack that just isn't going to happen.

So when you play super tight to start, its very difficult to shift to a more loose style since your big pocket pairs may miss the flop or may not get any callers as people will notice your super tight play and avoid pots against you.

E.

But surely giving people the impresion you are a tight player early on and then forcing them out on the flop with marginal hands later on is good play? You could even confuse them early on by playing tight, then showing crap when you have bluffed everyone out (then tighten up again)?

While this may sound like a good strategy, it generally leads to you playing way too few hands and ending up the short stack. Now I'm not saying you want to go crazy right off the bat, but if your sticking with the top ten starting hands you probably not making the profits you could make.

It also depends on position, the players at the table, how loose they are playing etc.

My favorite tables to start on are tight tables where people stick to the top hands.

From the Monday tournament I won, a crucial hand that I doubled up on 2 hours in was me playing pocket 4's, a tight player playing AK. Flop came AK4, he bet big, I pushed and my 4's took down a big pot making me chip leader.

Lots of factors involved, and you develop your own style, but super tight play generally doesn't work out as well as it seems it would.

E.

Originally Posted by Crundy

But surely giving people the impresion you are a tight player early on and then forcing them out on the flop with marginal hands later on is good play? You could even confuse them early on by playing tight, then showing crap when you have bluffed everyone out (then tighten up again)?

I won two multis on Full tilt and made several finals on Stars and tilt. It is not nearly as much as lots of guys on here but one thing I remember on all of these tournaments is I really only needed to get involved in big pots a few times. I think the tight play is the best strategy. I see lots of guys flopping around early and most of the time they bust. If you can double up in the first hour and work on maintaining your stack with the average while you wait for big hands, you will often make the money. If you can adjust to the tournament by paying attention and stealing from players who will let you steal you have a good chance of going deep. I think tight is right in the beginning.

In a STT, there's a good reason to raise a lot in unopened pots with position early on, which is that you get to find out CHEAPLY how the people to your left respond to steal attempts, which is good if they're the type who likes to reraise... getting that info early will help you avoid getting into tough spots later, when the blinds are higher, and also help you get paid for your big hands. If they seem wimpy, on the other hand, then you can lay off of them for a while (so they don't get pissed off and turn into reraisers), but then start hammering them once the blinds get bigger.

In a MTT, though, you're likely to get moved, so it's less of an advantage.