Hi Roller tournament advice

This is more like it! Forget those silly slot tournaments. [emoji23]

Agree with taking the re-buys and add-ons in advance to get into the warm-up tournament.

Main tournament strategy would depend on if everyone else does the same. I would guess there’s probably going to be some people that don’t? Maybe they don’t like poker and don’t want to spend the extra money.
In which case if you have 140k in chips and others at your table only have 25k then bully away!
I would also guess there’s going to be some players that are just looking to punt the chips so I would advise having a fluid strategy based on the players at your table rather than anything pre-determined.

If the field is really as recreational and sticky like you expect, then I would go for gigantic pre-flop sizings when I have good cards. Basically get them to commit as much as possible pre-flop and then value bet them to death when you connect.

Unless you are completely card-dead, playing tight-aggressive and exploitable in tournaments like this should give you a good chance to reach FT. A lot of the players will probably knock themselves out before you even play a hand (just like in Sit & Goes back in the good old days).

it's hard to connect to a flop. if they call pre and then you make really any cbet, typical players will either give up or only call/raise if they know they have you beat.
if they have tons of money they might screw around and try to bluff you around.
there's no one size fits all approach

My opinion is to start slow and determine how the table as a whole, and the individuals as parts, are playing. Once you make that determination then exploit accordingly. Whatever pre-tourney strategy you think you want to play is likely to be rendered useless depending on the playing strategy of your table mates.

More than anything, let me just say that a Leon NLHE report is exciting as all get out, I can't wait to read along!

The only strategic advice I'd offer is that in this format, with this probable field of opponents, is that the value of suited connectors goes WAY down.

You need to play big cards to win. And fold little cards.

The implied odds of hitting a straight or a flush with 76s won't be there, for how often it'll make meh pairs that lose.

Also, hands like A6o become a monster in pushbot situations with a loose, inexperienced field.

Also, this is a DREAM spot for you, to play for big money in a field of exclusively slot whales.

Can't wait to read about it!

Totally agree with all of this, just trying to come in with a general game plan given the expected table make up. My somewhat limited experience playing against whales with nothing to lose, AND little poker experience, are they are just passive and sticky as F all.

Interestingly, my mom playing in my home game the last 2 years is a prime example of this and is probably how I'm going to approach things to start. Stakes don't matter to her at all, obv. She's often clueless and only has the call button on most hands. I've literally shown her a flush, bet, and still had her call with a straight. I've also repeated the mistake, many times, of trying to tell a great story only to punt off chips and belated remind myself if your opponent can't read at all, it's hard to get them to believe a story.

I'm pretty excited to play it- already trying to be realistic and remind myself how much luck is involved, and that I'm likely to bust. Managing expectations.

I remember hearing about one of these years ago from some guy who could play and got invited- according to him, it was a real donkfest. Some people literally didn't know what beat what. He shipped it, obv. I'm prepping to be the first one out.

The bolded is very true. You need to make good hands, and get value out of them. Most of these players will be on level 1--"I've got a pair, I should call."

Like the others, I am looking forward to the TR of this!

I play in an occasional cash game with my mates who have literally no idea how to play poker, get stoned and have a few beers. There is no one catch all style of play to exploit and IMO, you literally have to play each one of them differently - some make ludicrous bluffs, some make huge laydowns, some will call you down with 4th pair or not bet with the nuts.

Also many of them are total tell-boxes, in terms of mannerisms and bet sizes AND telling you/showing you what they had after each hand which can give huge information.

so the value of watching each hand and each player in each hand and talking and listening goes way way up in a game like this and will allow you to play totally exploitative particularly in relation to bet sizing bluffing and folding.

also....I suggest you run really well x

I think you're gonna crush. Friend of mine was a 100/200 LHE reg. When it became clear that LHE was dying (because the better players had "solved" the game), he transitioned to 10/25 and 25/50 NL and crushed from Day 1. What I would do is try to find some tournaments around town and get some practice in. Look for structures that are somewhat similar, particularly in speed of level increase. Look over some push/fold charts because the typical low level player is clueless in that area. I used to hold my own in those WSOP single table satellites even though I'm a TERRIBLE poker player.

These are all turbo structure so the blinds get high fast. Almost everyone buys all the add ons and you get an extra one for adding them all. There are usually several ppl with high stakes poker experience but mostly just gamblers as you said.

1) The most important factor for determining whether you should c-bet bluff or not is the number of players in the hand. I would say to bet liberally if you can get it heads-up, but be very cautious if you raise big and still get 4 callers or similar (and miss).

2) It depends? Maybe be a bit cautious with these in the beginning until you see how the table plays. As the blinds increase, you can probably go more balls-to-the-wall with them.

Generalized advice based on playing more than a few tournaments of this field size/structure vs this general type of opponent. Even a few with high roller freerolls back in the day.

When it's deep early - Play see EVERY flop from the button/HJ/LJ. Position on these types of players is a cheat code.

At every stage in a tournament against this type of opponent 3bets and isolation raises rarely get a fold out of anyone who has already vpip.

These people aren't thinking about stack size, or pot size, SPR, position, ICM. Nobody know what they're thinking about, not even the person having the thoughts.
I've found that small bets=small hands, big bets=strong but vulnerable hands, checks= air or nuts.

Just play LHE against everyone and you should do very well. min raise, min bet.

ETA: obviously buy all the chips you can with rebuys and addons and win the prelim.

If you haven't played much poker recently, check what dailies the Wynn is running the day before the tournament and jump into a $200 just to get yourself re-acclimated with holding chips and cards, counting the pot, not giving off tells, picking up others' tells, etc.

Agree with all of the advice above -- and I'd say with hands like JTs and 88 after a bunch of limps there's no harm in limping behind (if nobody is gonna make a huge raise to your left) and trying to flop a big hand before committing a lot of chips. With hands like AQo/ AKo, I'm raising big.

It also probably wouldn't hurt for you to look at 20bb preflop charts on GTO Wizard just for a refresher since I'm sure the blinds will get big and knowing roughly correct rejam spots will give you a baseline to help you figure out how to deviate depending on how the whales are playing.

Appreciate everyone's thoughts. I realized I'm probably way overthinking it, I just can't recall ever being in a freeroll (essentially) position like this before and want to maximize the opportunity. Have to remember it's still a donkament and prepare myself for the luck roller coaster.

I'm just going to employ a straightforward tight-aggressive ABC strategy and go from there. Let the quality of the cards and the discipline take care of most decisions. Assume most people are droolers until proven otherwise and avoid fancy play syndrome. That should be near optimal.

I'm wishing I had more tourney experience now obv, BUT my overall record is pretty good lol sample size. Played in 4 lifetime (all dailies), shipped 2 of them and cashed a third. Hopefully this one doesn't bring my record down.

Don't they have dailies in your local place? Try a couple, just to knock the rust off.

Overall at the lowest stakes (or people playing like they're at low stakes) your opponents will:

• not 3 (or 4) bet near enough
  
• be too sticky when you raise preflop, and ignore sizing
  
• fold too easily heads-up post flop
  

The exploits are, respectively

• Lower your opening requirements for marginal hands that, if they fit, likely fit big. If you do get 3-bet, seriously consider folding non-AA.
  
• Oversize raise your premium hands preflop (partially disguised by you being in a lot of hands)
  
• Almost auto C-bet heads-up, do not C-bet 3+ way