[Wahoo73]

In comparing the structure of the stud tourneys on Poker Stars and the structure you will play at the US Poker Champinoships, here's what I noticed:

1. Proportionally, the antes, bring-ins and bets are pretty similar, i.e., you are starting with 3.33 more chips than you do at PS (5000 vice 1500), but the stakes at each level are all 3-4 times more than their respective levels at PS.

2. The length of each level is three times longer than at PS.

Given these two circumstances, I would say that your tourney should play similar to those at PS but should take considerable longer given the length of each level. I play 3-4 stud tourneys a week at PS and based on that I'd advise you that you need to adopt one of two strategies for the first 4-5 levels. Either play looser and more passively than you do in cash games, or play tight but more aggressively than you do in cash games, especially on your semi-bluffs. (FWIW, I prefer the latter approach, but I know several very successful stud tourney players that use the former strategy.)

I find the middle stages (levels 5-9) of stud tourneys to be the most like cash games. I think playing your standard tight/aggressive game should work just fine.

If you're fortunate to get beyond level 9, when the table is full I think you are better off playing tight but a little more passively than you normally would in a cash game. OTOH, in the later stages if the table is short-handed you need to again revert to more LAG-ish play.

Overall, I think you should expect the play of others to be looser and more passive than what you and I see everyday playing the 3/6 or 5/10 at Crypto sites...probably more like playing the $.50/1 at Poker Stars.

Good luck. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]