Cash Games to MTTs

[jcl]

Hey guys,

I'm a 200NL/400NL player but I'm looking to turn my attention to tournaments this summer because there's some pretty big live events coming (big for Australia anyway) including APPT Sydney and Aussie Millions. Since most of the qualifiers are also MTTs, I was wondering what transitions I need to make to my game. Currently, I find full-ring very constraining and don't really know what to do in some spots. Some examples:

Early levels when stacks are deep: what do you do you with say 77 utg? As a cash game player, it's against my basic instincts to fold it but I know it's too weak to raise and I hate open limping. How about 55 folded to you in MP?

[TheFoxNL]

to go in on youre example
i rather Raise 55 folded to me in MP then limp 77 UTG

generally just play tight
and aggressive in position

i dont know how long youre playing but if youre a regular on 200/400 and a winning player
best advice i can give you is just tighten bit up OOP

[jcl]

would you nevertheless limp 77 and try to hit a set when deep even though people if they played with you enough would realise you're not doing it with big pairs/AK?

should you double barrel/bluff less as well?

isolate limpers in position with 87s or limp behind?

3bet button opens with AQ or just call from the blinds?

i guess these questions are geared towards whether to be conversative with your stack or not.

[TheFoxNL]

yeah it also depends on the stage of the tournement
early lvls when stacks are deep limping 77 UTG isnt that bad but only if youre deep

btw i dont know the skill of those MTTs youre intrested in playing so just putting up general stuff

double barrerling is no prob if you do it against the right players
just be shure to bet the same with youre monsters and show the monster down 1 time

bluffing less in early stage

isolating i would only do with 2 limpers or less from CO or button but also when deep just limp along

3bet from button thats just a matter of how aggressive you wanna be
certainly when deep i would just call the raise instead of 3betting but if you think youre weaker post flop then you can 3bet more

[levAA]

Transition from cash-game to tournament game and vice versa is not easy, and there are people who say it isn't really possible to be good at both.

That is at least true for me. I started out with cash-games (I was never a very good cash-game player) and made the transition to tournaments about a year ago.

Tournament play is mainly preflop-poker and flop-poker. Most decision are clear on the flop, the later streets are far less involved than in cash games.

Stack-sizes are more relevant in tournament-poker - so regarding your question about 77 UTG this really depends on stack sizes. In tournament play there are situations where you make a standard-raise (when you are deep), situations where you fold (when you are somewhere between 12-20BB) and situations where you push all-in (12BB and less). This of course also depending on table-dynamics bla bla bla.

But it's impossible to answer these kind of general questions in a post - just look around this forum (and of course also the high stakes forum) and you'll get a feeling soon about the differences.

[Pokerfarian]

If you're a good 400NL online player then you should be doing well & having a decent edge in the early, i.e. deepstacked stages of live tourneys. You shouldn't have to do much adapting & just play it the same way UNTIL you stack size gets short. Then you need to learn the tourney-specific stuff which, for example, HOH2 explains well.
You asked a few specific questions when your stack size is deep...just do what you'd do in a cash game! The key point is not to be conservative with your stack. Getting all your $ in as a 55:45 favourite is a good thing on the first hand of an MTT, just as it is on the first hand of a cash game.

[Dunkman]

Don't do it, stay at cash, they're called donkaments for a reason.

[M1cKmAcK]

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But it's impossible to answer these kind of general questions in a post - just look around this forum (and of course also the high stakes forum) and you'll get a feeling soon about the differences.

[/ QUOTE ]

I def agree with lev here (as I usually do). Stay active in the forums. I don't believe there is just one or two big differences, it's an entirely different game. I'd definitely pick up Harrington on Hold Em the next time you're out...

[BrandiFan]

[ QUOTE ]
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But it's impossible to answer these kind of general questions in a post - just look around this forum (and of course also the high stakes forum) and you'll get a feeling soon about the differences.

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I def agree with lev here (as I usually do). Stay active in the forums. I don't believe there is just one or two big differences, it's an entirely different game. I'd definitely pick up TPFAP the next time you're out...

[/ QUOTE ]fyp
F HoH, if you're a winning cash game player at 2/4 nl HoH will be below your level.

[Popped Rod]

[ QUOTE ]
Early levels when stacks are deep: what do you do you with say 77 utg? As a cash game player, it's against my basic instincts to fold it but I know it's too weak to raise and I hate open limping. How about 55 folded to you in MP?

[/ QUOTE ]

What's wrong with open limping small pp when it is early and stacks are deep? As you say, it is too weak to raise in EP, so go ahead and open limp and see what the table does.

If it becomes a family pot, great.

If it is raised, reevaluate if the pot odds are sufficient to play for set value. Or if raised and folded to you, you may want to "stop and go" any ragged flop.

As far as transitioning to tourneys, you sometimes have to play AK/AQ more aggresively than you would in cash games. Because the blinds increase, FE and TPTK hands are very valuable to chip accumulation.