I just returned this afternoon from Kansas City where I was fortunate to play in my 2nd & 3rd weekly tournaments ever. What a blast and an eye-opener too. I played Sunday afternoon at Harrahs where I made the final table but busted out on the last hand and tied for 5th place (out of 8). Unfortunately they only paid the first 4 places! I sure could have used some of Walt's precision betting strategy! My question to the more experienced players is do you adjust your early to mid round strategy in the money round and if so how? At Ameristar on Monday night, I won my table in the first round and advanced to the semis only to bust out trying to catch three successful rabbits who had amassed mounds of chips with only one player advancing from the table. I am now sure that I need a better catch-up strategy when there are multiple successful wild bettors at the table. I'm talking two max bets ahead ($1400 to my $450). This with say 10 hands to go. They were still betting between 100 & 400 with one guy using a split anything strategy (2's against a 10 with a $100 bet on hand 3). The whole table (except for 2 guys and me) was wild and unconventional...pretty fun to watch until they were so darn lucky! Thanks for any advice you can give. GF
It's a funny thing about these tourneys, most players feel they've already won by making it to the final round. Now their goal is to play for position with as little risk as possible. They just don't want to finish last? This is why the better players will get more 1st place finishes than they should. If you can get a half bet, or full bet lead, often you will never be seriously challenged. On two occasions, I was able to make a minimum bet on the final hand with a marginal lead, simply because BR2 didn't want to risk falling to third. In my most recent game at the President (DD, dealt to the bottom), I started making my move on hand 8 based on the count. At this point, I just went for the lead with $200. I lost and bet $500 the next hand and won. I never relinquished the lead, but made another bet of around $700 a few hands later. I won that and maintained about a half bet lead the rest of the way. No one was willing to risk falling out until the final hand.... by then it was too late to seriously challenge me. When one player advances, I'm convinced that you must be a little aggressive. It's rare to sit back and have everyone bust out. I start thinking of making a catch up bet when I fall behind by a full bet, sometimes sooner depending on the player. This is where contrarian strategy is important. Too many players wait until the last five hands to try to catch up. By then, most players are betting big and your chances are slim. If you need to catch up and the leader is betting small, bet big. You are going to have to risk your bank at some point anyway, so you may as well do it when it's meaningful. I'll employ this as far out as 15 hands to go (often based on the count). While counting is of little use in tournaments, I like to use it to my advantage when possible. The intangible factor is your opponents. If you know their habits, you can sometimes vary from optimal betting and gain a bigger edge (some split their money on the final hand, no matter what. Some bet the max or others the min). We've all had the pleasure of competing against the guy who has a two bet lead, but just can't force himself to bet small, and lets you right back in. On the coast, we play against just such a player every week. So when he jumps out, I don't get concerned because I know he'll continue betting. Hope this helps. I'll be in LV Aug 16-30. Hope to see as many of you guys as possible.
Weekly tournaments - Thanks Walt! Everything you said is right on the money. I know that I played the final table too conservatively. Based on the cards I was getting, I should have busted out long before the final hand! Good luck in LV - what a great stretch of tournaments...should be fun...sorry I won't be there! GF
It can be very frustrating when multiple players jump out with big bets from the beginning and start hitting them. It is hard enough running down just one of the early rabbits (I once started a thread on another BJ forum titled "Tired of Chasing Rabbits) but it is much more difficult when you have more than one. It seems like if you try to go contrary with the leader, at least one of the others is going to be betting a similar level as you. While you make up some ground on the one you are contratry to, the other keeps pace with you. I used to play a weekly tournament that you could count on at least two people on your round one table to come out with max bets every week. If I was late to bet on the first hand or two, I would just wait and see before betting but if I was first to bet I would make my bet half of a max bet to try and stay within range if the dealer was cold and not get clobbered completely if the dealer was hot.
