Being outplayed at new tournament

[fortunesknave]

Game: NL hold'em, tournament. Start with 20x BB. Usually 80 players a night. Blinds increase every 20 minutes. Free game = costs nothing to play, win points for bar giveaways.

This is a league that lasts 10 weeks, and then starts over for another 10 weeks. Most of the players are regulars who play at a different bar host every night. I have been playing once a week.

When I first started, I finished consistently in the top 30, usually somewhere between 5-15th. Now, after participating for about 12 weeks, I am consistently one of the first 20-30 or so to be knocked out.

The players are a mix of calling stations, novices, and smart, aggressive players.

My question is, a lot of the tougher players are fearless. From the get go they are raising every pot with big raises, picking up uncontested chips, then using their big stacks. They seem to particularly like to raise preflop with small suited connectors or one-gappers. When these hands hit, the calling stations pay them off.

I've tried tightening up. I've tried loosening up. I've tried limping in position with small suited cards. I've tried check-raising when I actually make a hand to slow the aggression. I've tried everything I've read about or seen other players do.

No matter what I do, my timing seems to be just the worst. There's no use describing the beats I've taken, but how do I shake this combination of:

cold cards
bad timing
being paranoid about bad beats and
having a sense of fatality

Just take a long break????

[correia]

Don't sink to their level raising huge amounts with suited connectors and whatnot from the getgo. The blinds are small at the beginning, so let them risk a large amount of chips to win a small pot. Also, don't turn into a calling station against these players. Force them to make uncomfortable decisions for their stack when you pick up a strong hand.

[andre006]

when the action is that crazy wait for a strong hand and value bet till it hurts!

[Grunch]

[ QUOTE ]
Start with 20x BB.

[/ QUOTE ]

This game is a crapshoot.

[SheridanCat]

No kidding. Your starting M = 13.33. If the blinds double - which is likely - you'll be in serious trouble after 20 minutes. May as well just push all-in every hand that has showdown value (aces and pairs).

[fortunesknave]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Start with 20x BB.

[/ QUOTE ]

This game is a crapshoot.

[/ QUOTE ]


Believe it or not, I started going here because the game I was playing had a starting stack of 30x BB, but blinds double every 10 minutes. In this tournament, at least the blinds don't double.

I feel a little demoralized (just played last night--lost most of my chips calling when I knew I was beat by a runner runner baby straight when I was pot-invested and getting good odds for a huge pot--this happened on 3 consecutive hands that I played).

I don't want to blame my lack of success on other people's play because what I really want to do it get better. But I can't seem to make my own success at the poker table like others can.

(sigh) Sounds like I should move my pity over to the beats/brags/varience forum. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[flatline]

Dude, this is a bar freeroll. Grab a couple drinks and have a good time. If you are thinking at all you are one of the top players there. Don't worry about a lack of results in a super-fast shortstacked freeroll.