I'm new to this format and I don't even have an Hold'em tourney background appart from HUsng, so I don't really know if I am doing it ok:

6 men, 1500 starting stack

10/20 ante 5

20/40 ante 10

30/60 ante 15

40/80 ante 20 etc.


I 3x the 10/20, 2.5 the 20/40 and 2x all the rest till when i push or fold. What do you think as a general line? Should I change something? ty

having railed the 2.1k scoop yesterday for a bit i found that many of the players i consider to be the best 5cd players on stars seem to 2.5x.

i personally 2x a lot too in the later but given that this game is full of fish and one really shouldnt open too many draws 3x ing (or even higher) vs a weak table and 2.5x ing vs more solid opponents seems a good idea. 2x ing makes sense if you play against nits that fold enough. then of course you should open really wide.

By not 2x raising, you'll be giving up on some hands with some slight +cEV even in the early levels, such as JJA from utg ( and a lot of weak one pair hands from the BTN that aren't worth 3x raising ) and you won't be exploiting players in the blinds that don't defend enough or won't be getting full value with minimum opening hands from players that defend with a lot of shorts or rags; however, with most hands that are worth a 3xR given the antes, you should 3xR because you don't want the BB to call with a hand like an open-ended straight draw ( which would have sufficient implied odds versus a 2x or 2.5x raise ) or a pair like TT or JJ ( if you were to minraise ). The large antes make it worthwhile for the BB to defend rather wide versus a minraise.

Near the end of tourneys, there are usually some short stacks around, so it makes sense to often 2xR to either entice a shove or to get off a minimum opener. Also, by minraising, you allow yourself to be in as many hands to outplay your opponents. Because of the wide range the BTN or SB would have for hands with +cEV, it makes sense to minraise quite often when opening from those spots. Of course, things change drastically when getting close to the bubble or with effective short stacks at the table.

The 2.5xR seems fairly common, but I think it's simply carried over from the common raise size in PL cash games and it's okay even if it's suboptimal if one were to do this consistently until close to the bubble or until there are short stacks.