MTT/STT starting hands
 

Hi all,

I have read a lot of posts on the MTT and STT strategy forums and was wondering three things.
1. For the "survivalist" in MTTs, what range of hands do you consider playing in the beginning/early stages?
3. For the "accumulators" in MTTs, what range of hands do you playing in the beginning/early stages?
3. Does your play differ when you play early stages in an STT as opposed to a MTT?

It will help me greatly if you identified your style of play and then answered those questions because I have no idea if I am an accumulator or survivalist and my range of hands is proportional to my range of emotions at the moment
[img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

I understand that everybody plays the table and the players and the buy-ins e.t.c. but I have not read anywhere such an open discussion on particular hand types, each type of player is willing, and will, play. (Can maybe even list in terms of EP, MP or LP). Thanks guys.

Re: MTT/STT starting hands
 

If you're serious about playing tournaments you need to get harrington on hold'em

Re: MTT/STT starting hands
 

[ QUOTE ]
Hi all,

I have read a lot of posts on the MTT and STT strategy forums and was wondering three things.
1. For the "survivalist" in MTTs, what range of hands do you consider playing in the beginning/early stages?
3. For the "accumulators" in MTTs, what range of hands do you playing in the beginning/early stages?
3. Does your play differ when you play early stages in an STT as opposed to a MTT?

It will help me greatly if you identified your style of play and then answered those questions because I have no idea if I am an accumulator or survivalist and my range of hands is proportional to my range of emotions at the moment
[img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

I understand that everybody plays the table and the players and the buy-ins e.t.c. but I have not read anywhere such an open discussion on particular hand types, each type of player is willing, and will, play. (Can maybe even list in terms of EP, MP or LP). Thanks guys.

[/ QUOTE ]

Phil Hellmuth would probably be considered a survivalist, and in one of his books, for MTTs at the early levels he recommends opening with a very small range of starting hands, for example, not playing any pair smaller than eights, no suited connectors, and no non-paired cards except for AK and AQ.

However, everything is situational, and Hellmuth said that just by putting that in a book, he would have to change it up once in a while in case some one sitting across from him at the table had read his book.

And no matter how tight a list of hands you come up with, always keep the big picture. One example: On the button I would certainly call 5 limpers with suited (no gap)connectors.

Re: MTT/STT starting hands
 

Hellmuth's advice (from "Play Poker Like the Pros") is very useful to an absolute beginning poker player, but is not a winning strategy. He's basically teaching a weak/tight style of poker, meaning that you play very few hands & wait for a real monster before getting a lot of chips into the pot. As I said, that's a good strategy for a rank beginner, as it avoids getting him into as many trouble spots & will usually result in him going deeper in a tournament than he would otherwise. The problems are two-fold--first of all, that you so rarely get those great starting hands & even more rarely connect hard with the flop, and second of all, that this is perhaps the easiest playing style for a good opponent to exploit.

You'd do very well to forget most of what Hellmuth said in that book, and instead take a read through the Harrington on Hold'em series (probably the best books available on NLHE tournament play).

Re: MTT/STT starting hands
 

Thanks all for the advice

Re: MTT/STT starting hands
 

[ QUOTE ]
Hellmuth's advice (from "Play Poker Like the Pros") is very useful to an absolute beginning poker player, but is not a winning strategy. He's basically teaching a weak/tight style of poker, meaning that you play very few hands & wait for a real monster before getting a lot of chips into the pot. As I said, that's a good strategy for a rank beginner, as it avoids getting him into as many trouble spots & will usually result in him going deeper in a tournament than he would otherwise. The problems are two-fold--first of all, that you so rarely get those great starting hands & even more rarely connect hard with the flop, and second of all, that this is perhaps the easiest playing style for a good opponent to exploit.

You'd do very well to forget most of what Hellmuth said in that book, and instead take a read through the Harrington on Hold'em series (probably the best books available on NLHE tournament play).

[/ QUOTE ]

Thnaks for the advice. I have read a lot of poker books, including some by Harringon and Sklansky. I am a naturally tight player, but as I get more experience and get more comfortable, I am playing a wider range or hands, so much so that I sometimes get a little too loose.

I guess a lot depends on bankroll. I didn't have a lot of money, and started with a $50 deposit on PokerStars. I couldn't afford to make a lot of mistakes, and I wanted to cash regularly, whether I ever won a tournament or not.

I am sytematically working on different parts of my game, such as changing starting hands when a table is short, when/how to play suited connectors, game theory bluffing, etc.

I was just giving the poster information on of the different poker schools of thought out there, which is what he was asking.

You always have to change and adapt. An MTT is different than a sit-n-go, and online turbo is different than regular speed/blind structure online. A balanced table is different than one with 6 good players and two fish.

I wouldn't recoommend that anyone play weak tight all the time, but in some situations, as with my small starting bankroll, I think it has its place.