Hi there,

I qualified for a live 1 million guarantee tournament via satellite. The tournament has 3 day 1 flights where the top 12% advance to day 2. 40 minute blind levels which start at 100/200 w/200 BB ante. I looked up the tournament’s history, and day one typically ends around the 3/6 - 4/8K level after receiving around 800 - 1000 entries. The entry cost is 1.1k so I’m expecting some pretty tough competition.

Any advice for a strategy during day one? Unfortunately it’s 10 handed, but I feel like the structure is slow enough to where I don’t have to play aggro. I think I’m happy if I’m going into day 2 with at least 20bbs, and I would prefer to play an ICM strategy from the start, but would love to hear y’all’s thoughts.

Thanks!

With slow, deep structures, the biggest thing to be conscious of is that you are playing hundreds of big blinds deep. If you’re comfortable playing deep stacked and feel like you have an edge, this is an opportunity to accumulate chips against weaker players. If you’re not comfortable playing deep, consider registering when stacks are shallower and the game tree is a little less complex.

Just play good poker, there is no magic advice for something so general. If you have some spare time, check what your opening ranges should be in different positions/stacksizes, what your 3b ranges should be, drill some common postflop spots like BTN vs BB in a trainer like DTO/GTO Wizard. And based on your preferences/skill level compared to the field/value of your time - choose when you want to register.
Your results will come from playing well, not from overthinking the whole tournament.
And playing aggro is good

heard and so true. I had this come to Jesus moment shortly after posting, and realized any cramming I do isn't really going to have much of an impact. Though, I did take one more pass at the tournament section in Modern Poker Theory, which touched on most your recommendations. Hopefully i get a passive table to start with and can also stay dialed in. I'm also going to early register cause deep stack is where i'm most comfortable, and I like getting profiles on live players.

I would recommend the last Day 1 especially if it is on a Saturday. I find the fields are worse for some reason on the last Day 1.

I also always register early so I can play at the start of the tournament but it isn't because of my deep stack ability. It is for two reasons. The first is that the worst players will be there, whereas when you register late many of the worst players are already out or short stacked. The second reason is because I think I have an advantage short handed. At the beginning of tournaments they will start with 3 or 4 players at the table (depending on the room) and most NL tournament players are not used to playing short handed and don't actually change their style of play (so they should be looser but aren't). Now sometimes the tables are full or close to full so it doesn't matter. But many of the tournaments I have played recently have been so short that sometimes the table I am at doesn't start for 3 to 5 minutes after other tables have started.

The other thing to note is that there will be some hyper aggressive players. It would be strange in an $1,100 tournament for there to be none at your table. But there will also be some passive-ish players some of whom will limp preflop. Those would be my targets. Though I am also happy to isolate in position the hyper aggressive players.

Good luck!