Weekly tournies at the casino

Miklosik · Weekly tournies at the casino

Every Wednesday, my local casino holds a NLHE tournament. Here are the details.

$150 buy-in
2500 starting chips
20 minute blind levels

25/50
50/100
100/200
200/400
400/800 etc...

How do you play this? With such a horrible blind structure you can't wait long to play I wouldn't think. Should you broaden your starting hand range? Limp alot to see as many flops as possible? Sit back for the first 20 minutes and let everyone else donk it out? If it matters, this is an 80 person field.

HOUSECATS

I would just sit back and watch to try to get a read on the other players.
Only playing strong hands. And then i would loosen up some. Should be able to buy some pots with your tight image

addam00 · hi

well I have played at alot of casinos ins san diego and that is similar but sometimes there are 15 or 10 mins blonds depending on how many people.. the reason the blinds go quick is becasue the dealers dont get tip and alot fo time they want to have cash games afterwards so they they try make the tourneuies 2 to 4 hours... well.. it couild explain whty i play the way I do online becasue io am used to quick games.. i guesss.. here are some of the tournis fromsome of the casnos I go to but there is over 20 casinos and card rooms in san diego

http://viejas.com/images/gaming/poker-calender.pdf
http://www.sycuancasino.com/sycuan_casino/poker.html

this two casions I go to the most for tournies...

harry_lime

is it possible to watch when not playing Mik, you'd probably learn alot by watching one of these for an hour two.

so much will depend on the speed of players.

we play 20 minute blinds in our home games and 20 mins can seem long or last about 5 or 6 hands sometimes depending on the mood and type of hands we end up with.

i've never played in a casino but i guess yours has some rules about "limit of time to act".

looks like HC has it about right - the first two blinds shouldn't worry you much with a 2500 starting stack so it's really at the 100/200 when you're going to have to make some plays.

PoolDemon

another prob early on, is getting a big hand and getting called by rags, even if you raise to 200, it's only 10% of the starting stack, so unless you hit big, watch out...

Miklosik

I don't really have a problem with 20 minute blinds. My problem is the blind levels v. the starting stack. If you decide to play a hand, even early on, you damn well better win or you're crippled.

If most at a table play pretty tight in the beginning, one player paying any kind of attention can rule the table and have enough chips to tighten his play in the middle stages.

In APF tournaments, we may start with 1500 and have 20 minute blinds but the levels are so much more reasonable.

PoolDemon

Miklosik

Watched the tournament until first break today and here is what I noticed.

Each table plays 10-12 hands per blind level. Rarely is there a hand not raised pre-flop. 3-4 players per hand. Many seem to see as many flops as possible from cut off and button during first level. I assume they are looking to catch on the cheap. Second level is extremely T-AG. Last level before break is a free for all as more than half the field find themselves with less than 10bb.

Aggression from the start seems to pay off. Waiting for apremium hand can kill you. Especially if it doesn't come in the first two rounds.

Arjonius

I wouldn't be in any rush to play in a tournament with this kind of structure. At 10 to 12 hands per level and considering how much the blinds rise each level, it's essentially a turbo. And that means the skill factor is decreased while the importance of simply catching cards goes up. Not the kind of situation I go out of my way to play in.