Strategy

Playing Large Tournaments

At least playing large freeroll tournaments will give me some practice in the event I ever do enter a real tournament. But what a place to start, competing against 2699 other players for 1 of the top 27 spots, just for a few bucks.

How am I supposed to approach this?

Here’s my basic strategy:

1. In the beginning take some risks, but don’t be wreckless. The reason is that you need to build your stack up to be able compete in the later hands as everyone else is growing their stack. There is a very fine line between risky and wreckless and I’m still trying to find it. Fortunately, there is no money involved so I can experiment. Playing cautious may get me further in the tournament on average, but I will be up against a wall (of chips) later on.
2. Once I have respectable stack, continue to see a lot of flops but play cautiously. Don’t commit your entire stack unless absolutely certain and play pot odds. It’s at this point I begin to become restless and a bit impatient. It is very hard to hold back when I’ve been playing for an hour or two and the end isn’t in sight.
3. I’ll talk about the end game when I get there…

Here’s an example of a freeroll tournament I just played in.

• Got some good hands and good beats to bring me to 27th of about 1100 with approximately $12,000.
• Continued to slowly grow my stack, but apparently at a slower pace than the rest of the players: 42nd of 788 with $13,965; then 77th of 535 with $15,005.
• Made a couple bad calls, but also got some bad beats on the river, bringing me to: 155th of 438 with $9,885; and then 180th of 293 with $7,765.
• Raised pre-flop with Ace Jack Offsuit. Flopped 2 pair. Went all in. Lost it to 3 Kings on the river. Finished in 255th.

This is going to be tough.

© 2008 Bankroll Challenge.