bad run of cards in torney...what to do

[omahilo]

Tournament play, in my opinion, is about surviving at the beginning so you can be there to win it at the end. I usually do the "survive and thrive" method.

For the 1st hour, like on pokerstars, you start with 1500 chips... my goal is to double my starting chips so I have 3,000+ at the 1st break then keep building up after that.

Later in the tourney, you have to change gears and expand your hand selection since people tighten up when the tourney is nearing the big money. Like if it folds around to me before the cutoff or button and I got like KQ or anything like that, I will usually raise it up since it makes that hand just that much better with all the folds.

Also helps when you do pick up AA you get action on it... Pisses me off when I get AA and it folds around to me on the button or something.

[lightfungus]

I believe the only way to handle bad cards is patience and observing the table. See if you notice anyone who doesnt have the balls to stick around sometimes. Try to get them in heads up while putting them on something that is not top pair after flop, then try and push them out. This however, is risky because you can quickly lose your stack this way if you dont do it right. Otherwise pray for good cards when it counts. Its all about patience in a tourney though. And I agree with others that its all about surviving early to mid and giving yourself an average stack for the late rounds. Its sort of like football, a lot of poker is a position game.

[BrianSwa]

I was haveing patience, thats what killed me 4 orbits even with a average chipsize will kill anyone. The quesiton asked which some answered very well was, Was I being to careful or did I play it right and just get unlucky with the bad run lasting soooooo long.

[omahilo]

if you are looking at K3 or Q2 every hand... no matter how hard you look at them... it will still be the K3 or Q2.

You cant change water into wine so you cant change Q2 into AA.

[BrianSwa]

oh come on there has to be some trick to do it, you can tell me how I wont let anyone else know. Got a laugh out of your statement, thanks. You think after a orbit or 2 I should of pushed with one of those hands and hoped for the best?

[omahilo]

I think its possible if you have enough chips to make people fold... near the money people tighten up and you can take blinds rather easily.