How to behave in crowded pots

Question

I noticed that in small stakes tournments and freerolls, the early stages of pots are very crowded.

What is the best strategy in this kind of situation? Limp in the hope to flop somthing? or what?

Answer 1

In my experience:

• One approach in this spots, is enter the pot only if you have position
• If you don't have position enter the pot only if the rest of players are very passive
• If you have premium then stab the pot strongly, since pot is very small you may want only one player to stay at it.
• Always take in mind the size of your stack, it may help you to take the right decision

Hope this may help you.

Answer 2

If its a free roll I tend to stay clear of any big pots at the beginning unless I have a premium hand. If theres already been action before me then I will probably shove with premium hands as in freerolls you are likely to get a caller no matter what.

With regards to small stakes tournaments I will play my big hands and play in position, sometimes even shove with any two from the button to steal the blinds. With the small stakes there are not many players who think about position etc, they just see the all in and get scared. If you are a knowledgeable player then you "should" be able to win a lot at lower stakes. I say should because a lot of the time you end up running your monster hands into ridiculous hands like 2 7 suited that players think are good enough to call all ins with just because they are suited.

In summary stay away from the pots unless you have a big hand and you will probably go deeper in these tournaments due to not spewing chips too early.