Best strategy for short blind tournamant structure
 

I am trying to fix a leak in my home game performance. I have read many books, played in two $50 buy-in tournaments with fields of 100 and 30 with longer levels and moneyed in both, and I have developed a tight-aggressive game (mostly modeling Dan Harrington’s books) that most professionals teach. I know I don’t have much tournament experience compared to many of you, but I have just as much experience as anyone I typically play with (and probably the most educated regarding poker theory). Last year, most home games I played in were single table tournaments with 10min blinds and fields of 6-9 with 2 or 3 players ITM. I was happy with my performance (Wins 33%, ITM 50%) for 30 games. I consider myself one of the better players in the games I played in. This year things have changed. Our home games have grown from single table to multi-table (typically fields between 13 and 25). My performance has dropped significantly (won only 1 out of 20 tournaments (and it was only a field of 8), and 25% ITM). I know that the larger field will effect my win%, and that there can be a lot of variance in only 20, but the fact I have only made it to the final 3 once with a field greater than 10 bothers me. The other thing is I can only remember once in the 20 events this year where I had a sizeable stack (top 3 or 4) at any point in the tournament. I typically grind to stay at an average stack, and then the blinds creep up on me. The thing that disturbs me is that I typically outlast over half the field, but I am forced to go all-in with 8,7, and 6 to play with coin-flip hands when my M is <5. If I win the coin-flip situation, its not long until the blinds increase a level or two within a few hands and I’m forced again to go all-in. The biggest problem I think is the 10min blinds which only allow about 4 hands per level. This does not allow me the time to wait for premium hands because the blinds creep up too fast. In a 2 hour tournament, I will only play about 10 hands which I estimate to be 16% of hands. I think my situation is similar to Steve Dannemann when he said he was 4th or 5th best in his home game but came 2nd in the 2005 WSOP. I’m fairly certain the problem is that my game does not suit my home game structure. I know the 3hr tournaments I play in aren’t total crap-shoots because several of the other “good” players have 3 wins each, so there has to be an optimal strategy. My question is what do I need to do to increase my chances of winning? Do I gamble early and build a big stack and then tighten up? Do I loosen up my hand requirements a little? Do I start limping into as many cheap posts as possible? What is the best strategy to use in 2 or 3 table tournaments with a short blind structure? Has anyone encountered a similar situation?

Re: Best strategy for short blind tournamant structure
 

1. Giant wall of text is not fun to read.

2. Convince the guy running the tournament to increase the blinds every 30 minutes, with 10 minute blinds in a MTT format, there's a lot of luck involved.

I play in the World Tavern Poker league, where we have 20 minute blinds, and anywhere from 3 to 8 tables (8-9 handed).

I usually play tight, push my good hands, and try to extract as much as I can. It sucks when you have to play behind, because all it takes is one suckout or coin flip loss to knock you out, but I don't have the luxury of waiting for the nuts.

Also, with an MTT structure, with the number of people at the table changing a lot, you have to adjust your play a lot. KJs UTG+1 isn't a raising hard 10 handed, but it is when it's 6 handed.

Re: Best strategy for short blind tournamant structure
 

Spend some time in the STT forum and when you and most of the field have a M below 20, adopt a mid or high blind SNG strategy.

Try to not get below 7-10 BB, when you've got to shove with 78s or another weak hand, you want some FE.