Redington

Where do you draw the line on starting hands?

I am trying to tighten up my tourney play. I tend to do VERY well in no-limit ring games, however I tend to over value alot of starting hands in tourneys and find myself in trouble coming out of the gates.

Especially when the avg stack is 15XBB, I find that I play hands I cant raise, but want to see a flop with. Should I be throwing hands away that I cant put half my stack in on?
(without position)

Such as AQs, KQs, JTs, 22-99. Axs.

How premium of a hand are you playing typically with EP or MP? When the stacks are avg 30X BB

High pockets, AX suited, suited connecters. What about KQ,KJ off? mid connectors 7-T off.
or Naked Ace? Does anyone play these hands MP or EP?

Im talking more about situations where there are 3+ callers, full table 8-10 and you don't have a great read on how hard you could push a raiser.

--o--

Other side of the coin, why I think I am successful in a ring cash game is I can bet any two cards and poke around to find out if there are good. I'll see a flop and raise with about anything with 100BB sitting in front of me. However, if I make a mistake I am not out of the game and have enough respect from my raise or bet that it throws others off.
It is a good EV play for me.

Variance, higher variance and tourneys, no mixing?

Red

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Ofcourse I call, my cards are soooooooted.

Dave Scharf

Sorry... long overdue response.

Quote:

Especially when the avg stack is 15XBB, I find that I play hands I cant raise, but want to see a flop with. Should I be throwing hands away that I cant put half my stack in on? (without position) Such as AQs, KQs, JTs, 22-99. Axs.

Certainly I would consider playing any of these hands in any position with a 15 x BB stack. I am not sure that I am understanding the question.



15xBB has still got some play. You are not pot committed and you can make a standard raise and then fold to a big re-raise. So, for the most part, raise coming in. Limp sometimes to give yourself some zigzag.

Quote:

How premium of a hand are you playing typically with EP or MP? When the stacks are avg 30X BB High pockets, AX suited, suited connecters. What about KQ,KJ off? mid connectors 7-T off. or Naked Ace? Does anyone play these hands MP or EP? Im talking more about situations where there are 3+ callers, full table 8-10 and you don't have a great read on how hard you could push a raiser.

I like hands that do not figure to be dominated if you get action. So, I like connectors and suited aces. I am not fond of “random high cards” after a few limpers since it is very possible that I will find myself facing a tough decision post flop and I am bad at tough decisions. I like to play hands that call for easy decisions.

Quote:

Variance, higher variance and tourneys, no mixing?

Generally, in tournaments you want to lower your variance especially if you have a decent, but not overwhelming stack. Your example of 15xBB calls, I think, for a generally low-variance approach.

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