I am thinking about playing in a couple of tournaments in the summer, so i have plenty of time to read/practice on tournament strategy. My question is this. The tourns i would take place in would have the format of where the top 3 pass round 1, round 2 is like top 2 etc. down to the final table. I was thinking about practicing for free on UBT, but that format is where the lowest person is eliminated on hands 8, 16, and 25. Is there a big strategy difference between these two formats?? or if I do play for free on UBT and then go play the live tournament this summer will I be ok? I would have to think there is somewhat of a difference, but the practice would be good for me and help me. Can someone confirm this or tell me I'm wrong and to go buy Wong's book? Thanks.
Practicing with any format is helpful if you never played a tournament before. However, since UBT requires some unique strategies you will get only limited help in preparation for the tournament you are planning to enter. Also, you will need to know some strategies for your tournament that are not used in a UBT format. For starting off, I would strongly recommend STUDYING, not just reading, Wong's book. Supplement that study with reviewing the tons of high quality postings on this site. Most everything has been covered here. All is need is the time to dig into the archives. GOOD LUCK.
agree with toolman Wong's book is pretty good, and is the only book available right now - it is definitely worth studying - also - as said - any practice is better than none - but - the ebj tournaments on UBT, UB, Bet21 are a different format - and you will need to be carefull to remember that in the live tourneys you will be playing - the world does not end after 8 hands - you have a much longer period of time before you get into end play tactics - this is very important - as in live tourneys - very often the drunk-all-in-guys will jump out to a big lead - then will lose it back - in ebj - you will have to go after these players early - in regular tbj - you let them come back to you generally - many differences between the formats - in tbj - conservative play is more rewarded than in ebj - be careful about the cheap money games and freerolls on UB/Bet21/UBT - there is much bad play there - very odd play at times - and it can be very hard to maintain good play in that environment - and very frustrating at times - I would say that the $5.00 games and up are much better learning environments than the $1.00 games or freerolls - and the higher the buy-in the better -
