KC's Rush Strategy

[bullishwwd]

This is a great read KC ... I have been attempting to refine my own strategy.

Seems the following is most applicable to the Rush Tournaments:

1. Patience is key ... don't rush!

2. Position is even more important playing Rush.

3. Power level (strength) of the hand itself is key from 135-25 (UTAG).

4. More aggression, wider hand range is warranted from 24-16 (LAG).

5. Tighten up hand range 15-6. Once on FT, play normal game (UTAG).

6. Final 5-3, play TAG, but wider hand range.

7. HU, LAG

Request your input and thanks for sharing, Wally

 

[KingCurtis]

KC....Are you using the Quick Fold at all or are you using the time to make notes when possible on tendencies like UTG raises?

Not sure if you went over this in your strategy cause as you know I am not all the way through it.

I usually don't take notes untill the later part of the tournament, but I try to do it as quick as possible if I do, or since we usually see each other again soon I remember the name and mark it when I see them again.

But early on in the tournament, unless I end up in a hand with the players I just quick fold.

 

[kmixer]

Awesome thanks.

I usually don't take notes untill the later part of the tournament, but I try to do it as quick as possible if I do, or since we usually see each other again soon I remember the name and mark it when I see them again.

But early on in the tournament, unless I end up in a hand with the players I just quick fold.

 

[KingCurtis]

A few examples proving that the play in these tourneys are mostly the same. These are hard to beleive for some, but not for me. All from 24+2$ rush mtts.

http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/view.php/id/2168000

http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/view.php/id/2167998

http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/view.php/id/2167999

 

[Hordling]

LOL

Really... sigh. I need a bigger bankroll.

Very nice KC. Very very nice.

 

[KingCurtis]

Whew, not even a good strategy can prevent variance. Been going in with the best hand A LOT lately and losing horribly. Been here before though. What I'm saying is, stick to your guns and don;t tilt from variance. If you are playing these and following this strategy then it's going to happen!

 

[ph_il]

One day, I'll be just like you KC!

...I'll get married and than have a kid.

And then one day, I'll start taking down tournaments!

 

[KingCurtis]

One day, I'll be just like you KC!

...I'll get married and than have a kid.

And then one day, I'll start taking down tournaments!

well if you want a strategy on that, then do the last part first, then have a kid and get married

 

[Bovinity]

Jeez, so frustrating.

I just tried one of the $4.40 ones. Very first hand, I have KK. Board comes down with random cards, turn comes down with a connecting card for a straight, guy bets, I decide to lay it down.

Second hand I get QQ, 2 callers, flop is junk, big raise, one guy folds, other guy raises, money gets in the pot and he has like 94 or some junk, turn is an 8, river is a J, gives him the straight.

Sheesh!

Second try I was drawing totally dead until I got AQh, shoved on the cutoff, button calls and shows AA. Arg. ><

 

[HomeBrewer]

Thanks KC. I finally had my hands hold up and following the strategy got me a 2nd place finish (made a deal). Only decent showing for me in a rush format tournament.

Just some notes...I laid down a few small pairs, and since I was in the top 3 of the chip counts for the majority of the tournament, I was a little more patient about stealing. Got to the FT on a nasty suckout, but even if I had lost the hand I would have been 4 or 5 in chips at the FT.

Thanks again for this great article...you are a prime example of why CC is such a great forum.

 

[KingCurtis]

Thanks KC. I finally had my hands hold up and following the strategy got me a 2nd place finish (made a deal). Only decent showing for me in a rush format tournament.

Just some notes...I laid down a few small pairs, and since I was in the top 3 of the chip counts I was a little more patient about stealing. Got to the FT on a nasty suckout, but even if I had lost the hand I would have been 4 or 5 in chips at the FT.

Thanks again for this great article...you are a prime example of why CC is such a great forum.

That's great news! Exactly what I was hoping for from this!

Thanks for the kind words!

 

[Makwa]

Excellent work KC, txs! :icon_salu

 

[Tonky666]

good strategy,i'm still new to rush and only played it like once but
will try follow this strategy next couple of times i play but ofcoarse
twist it a lil to suit me and my style of play, thanx for the vids

 

[Hordling]

Examples of what to do when your bored and you want to see how well KC's strat works on....

lets say a 5k play chip 135man rush tourney.

LOL

(P.S. or is this something you shouldn't do when your bored)

 

[KingCurtis]

I can't imagine the play in that game lol. Nice job though!

Currently at a FT myself only 4.40$ though.

 

[Hordling]

unreal. LOL. But then again I've seen the same play on the 4 dollar one... so is it that much difference. You know what I mean.

I did have two bad beats, A9o when having my AA all in pre-flop hurt. Hit trip 9's, or the time when I had AA vs 88 all in preflop only to watch the guy hit quad 8's on the flop... hurt again.

But it was interesting to apply the strat and just watch it work and got myself back to a respectable stack twice even within that enviroment was... well insane. And of course a bit of luck on the final table never hurts.

Mainly I was doing some work on the pc and had an itch to play but not total commitment... I noticed that had a play one and thought... yeah i'll give it a try. LOL.

Needless to say all in all it wasn't a bad time for theory practice.

 

[corey87]

1. how many buyins in my bankroll i need to play those tornaments ? 100 is enought ?
2. how many tornaments i need to play to check my ROI ? 1k is enought ?

 

[KingCurtis]

1. how many buyins in my bankroll i need to play those tornaments ? 100 is enought ?
2. how many tornaments i need to play to check my ROI ? 1k is enought ?

for the 4$ 135 man rush sngs, Id say 400$ BR for newer players and around 200$-300$ for more experienced players.

 

[KingCurtis]

another ft.. yay...

 

[Hordling]

Question about defending during the middle stages. I think most of my question was answered by watching your videos thought (thanks btw). But the question I had is if you defend, do you just call the raise with your range and/or re-raise?

 

[Poker Orifice]

Just reading through the first portion now while playing the CC Carbon buyin... so far so good!!
I'm interested in reading the rest along with watching the video clips - - it's always interesting to hear the thought process of a good MTT player so I am looking forward to it!!

You've obviously put alot of time & effort into this and am sure it'll be very much appreciated by many (after I go through it.... am pretty sure I will like it & will likely pass it along to others who ask me for stuff).

PS, I think this should've been the July winner for best thread!!

 

[KingCurtis]

Question about defending during the middle stages. I think most of my question was answered by watching your videos thought (thanks btw). But the question I had is if you defend, do you just call the raise with your range and/or re-raise?

When defending, we almost NEVER call. It's almost always a raise since we are going after his bluff and wanting to take it down right there without seeing a flop.

 

[KingCurtis]

Thanks PO!

 

[Poker Orifice]

Middle Play
Obviously we are changing our hand selection at this point. I’d say around the 80/160 blind level, I believe it is blind level 7; we start to widen our range and start utilizing the later positions to bully the blinds.

What would be the worst hand you would consider to be a part of this play?

Just sifting through the comments (after reading the article & watching all of the vids.)... and after reading a couple of your questions kmixer.. just felt compelled to put in a response to this one.... IT really is so often 'situationally dependent' that you really can't put certain hands 'into a box'.. (ie. I reraise with this where they're this.. & I do this.. when they do this from such & such position).

 

[Poker Orifice]

I am also willing to sweat/talk to anyone about these tournaments. Just shoot me a PM and we can exchange IM sn's.

A great overall post (as I mentioned earlier) and you've obviously put alot of effort into it & am sure it will help out many members.

I actually do have quite a few hands I have questions about (I was actually interested in hearing your thought processes throughout).. and kinda feel differently about a handful of them (hee hee hee... don't get your hair up please). One in particular when we get A4o otb.. and BB is sitting with ~4bb's ... imo we should be getting it in here all day long w BB. THen a hand or two later we're raising A4o into a couple of perfect "resteal-sized" stacks (which runs us into the problem of pricing ourselves in weak here... when imo this is exactly what we don't want to do).
Earlier on, some hands (one was with AK utg I think it was.. I should be more specific when commenting I know... but don't want to go through it all again)... BB on a smallish stack defends BB (flats our raise... personally I refer to 'defending' as flatting our raise... not when they're resteal 3betting or shipping it in back on us)... we hit a perfect flop but then lead out for 3/4 pot which is ~2/3 of villain's stack size [aren't we now folding out most hands we could be getting value from here?... in lieu of effective stack sizes I don't see the cbet here as being the optimal play tbh... I think we can check this back in hopes of villain firing on the turn & then re-raising them allin. I mean what are we afraid of on a board like that.. that would or could be catching up to us & that wouldn't have just 3bet us allin preflop considering their stack size... 2 outs... maybe 3?). < this is hardly the hand I had in question but just one that comes to mind as I write this here now.

Maybe going over a bunch of hands would be a good thing?.. idk.. not sure if you'd be interested or not. Let me know in a pm if you want.