Hey guys,


I'm playing my first team event on Monday with another guy who has also never played a team event.

The structure is 8k starting stack (4k each) and you alternate each blind level.

I've tried googling and searching previous 2+2 threads, but I haven't really found anything. Could someone point me in the direction of some team tournament strategy posts or websites? Surely, there has to be something out there.

Cheers

You should try posting in a strategy forum. Probably poker theory

Don't lose all your chips; lose almost all of them, so it's your partner who busts out, not you.

There's no separate strategy. Make the right decisions when you're playing. The only strategy is to pick the best available player to partner with.

So should I tackle this like any other tournament. I was thinking it might be better to play a bit more aggressive that usual. People aren't going to want to let their team mate down, so may play a bit tighter. Thoughts?

Hmm. I think there's some merit to this idea. Recently played a tournament where a normally crazy aggro guy was at the same table as his son. I don't think he wanted to bust before his kid did, and he played much, much tighter than usual. My sample size is minuscule, but I think you might be onto something.

Pokerzone cup?

Nice theory but I would think it more comes down to team mate selection, someone who has a complete different style or a simalr style to yours depneding how you want to go. Then just play your own game, no use trying to change to a style you're not comfortable with in a tourney.

my thoughts anyways

I think that's the only thing different about it. People will HAVE to explain their bustout hand, and they won't want it to be on a big bluff or a big call.

Also, I'd expect players to be of similar skill level as their partner. As I understand it, you'll each only see ONE member of the other teams. However, you should still probably exchange notes on the seat numbers. This should work as both a double check on your reads ("I think 4 seat is a total donkey" "really? my 4 seat is a pro who plays in my 10-20 game and is really really good. It'd surprise me if his partner were a fish,") and to give better definition to your reads. ("seat hasn't done much. But I guess that means he is tight and somewhat good?" "Yeah, he's probably getting bad cards. My 3 seat is only showing down reasonable hands and he IS a good player.")

The final way it could effect strategy is if they are of unbalanced skill, and your partner feels that you should attack his stack, because his 3 seat is really dangerous while yours might be folding too much. However, its risky playing poker where you're going after someone like that. Its a nine handed game, and you can only control so much.

Has anybody played something like this? Seems kinda pointless to me, unless it's expected to be fish infested or something. I get the whole camaraderie thing, but wouldn't swapping %'s with a friend in a normal tourney be similar in that regard?

What do you do when it's not your turn to play? Railing would be pretty boring to me at least until the final table...

In terms of strat, I think playing more aggressively is a good idea. Nobody is gonna want to tell their partner they lost their stack calling down with 2nd pair, even if it happens to be a good play.

This is precisely why I made this point:

Thanks for your advice everyone. We came 11th, so a semi-ok run.

I played pretty aggressively, but my partner was a bit passive unfortunately. He seemed a bit nervous, which was understandable.

Railing every second 20 minute blind level wasn't that bad. It went relatively quick.

You see these events all the time in Jack and Jill type events for Valentines and whatnot - where you have to be male/female.

...but the concept works for any pair.

CardSharpCook has some good observations. I wouldn't have suggested them.