Tournament Strategy - Any Advice Appreciated

[cdd1976 0]

Hi all -Longtime lurker, infrequent poster. I'm playing in the final night of a tourney next Wednesday. It's a freeroll / bar league thing, with starting stacks dependent upon results through 6 weeks of play. Here's the relevant information:My starting stack: 5,800 (I only played 1 of 6 weeks, ending 4th place out of about 18 players).Average stack: 7,781Blinds: 25/50, 15 minute levels, blinds double each level (literally, it goes 50/100, 100/200, 200/400, 400/800, etc. to the end - antes never come into play).27 players starting at 4 tables, so starting 7 handed with one 6 handed table. First place pays $325.00, not sure of remaining payouts though I know only 5 get paid.Starting stacks and seat numbers at my table: Seat 1 (7500); 2 (8000); 3 (8900); 4 (10,300); 5 (Me - 5800); 6 (6600) and 7 (5200).My question is: I'm assuming I need to play tight early, raise 3-4x BB when I get a strong starting hand, maintain major aggression, and hope to get lucky? I'm a relative newbie to the game, especially live, so I know I've got many holes in my game. Any help is greatly appreciated.Thanks- Chris

[TrueAce13 18]

I play in this type of bar tourny and took a few down (brag obv). I sit and play my hands a lot faster when I get them. In these typical tournys, people min raise, limp a ton. Early stages, I try to hit a hand and get my money in. But when you pick up a legit hand, don't play like they do, Make 4x raises and if it the blinds are high, just ship every quality hand that you have

[BeaverStyle 1]

Pretty much what trueace said... Personally, I would tend to limp along w/ people (if the table ends up being passive) w/ suited connectors as low as 45ss, one gappers as low as 7 9ss while the blinds are still low. Dump any aces less than A10 (until later) and like trueace said, play your made hands fast and expect some loose calls. GL!

[cdd1976 0]

Thanks all for the replies. Just a short recap of my night. Fluctuated between 7000 chips and 5000 chips for the first 2.5 levels. Toward the end of level 3, blinds are at 200/400, I look down at AJ off from the button. At this point, there were only 5 players at my table, all folds to me. I raise to 1000, had a starting stack of about 5500 for the hand. SB folds, BB (who is my business partner, and someone I think I can read well) raises me to 2500 total. Looking at him, he seemed to be making a play on me with nothing, so I re-raised all in, and he called (leaving himself about 2000 behind). He turns over AK hearts vs. my AJ off. Board doesn't help, GG me.I probably played the last hand poorly, but we were getting close to the next level (400/800), and the blinds were going to start getting to me. Oh well.If anyone wants, please critique my play on the last hand (though I already know it sucked). Thanks again for the help to the newbie!!Chris

[TrueAce13 18]

I might just straight ship when you open because of your fold equity, but I would play it the same

[cdd1976 0]

I might just straight ship when you open because of your fold equity, but I would play it the same

Just talked to Villain ... he tells me he would have called regardless, so I guess it was a situation of getting cold decked more than anything. Would have preferred him to have KK, because an A hit the flop!! Oh well, it was fun!Thanks again for the responses.Chris