Ok well I have about 500 dollars saved up. And my goal has been to enter a tournament at the nearest casino which is about 2 hours away; all other casinos are +4 hours away.
Plan 1: Go big and compete in the 300+30 tournament. I am a normal cash game player, but I want to start opening up my horizons. Tournament is limited to 200 entries, and the competition field is not anything I would be daunted by. I can definitely hang with most of them unless they are "pros". I have invested about 40 hours recently on Lock poker playing a ton of DON's and my tournament strategy would be to TAG it up for most of the time, but ultimately knowing that if I wanna run deep I need a double up.
Plan 2: Go for the weekend and enjoy the 1-2 action.

I thank everyone for their opinion.

DONs are a pretty dreadful way of tuning up for a regular tournament IMO. The correct strategy is completely different.

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So the buy-in would be 60% of your poker bankroll, giving you one "pull" if you go that way.

I recall a tournament last fall in which a gentleman at my table was dealt AA on the very first hand. We got it all in. I flopped a set. His tournament lasted approximately sixty seconds, give or take. He wasn't around to enjoy the soda he'd ordered, as it arrived after he'd vacated the room. For his money, I guess he had a story to tell back home, but no t-shirt to show for it. I can't really think of anything the poor fellow did wrong, though I may have. How okay would you be with that, and how might it affect your play when pushing it in is not just your tournament life, but also may be for your poker life for the forseeable future?

I've come to like playing some tournaments, but I'd be inclined to play some cash games. You'd have a few buy-ins, and cash game poker is usually not quite so feast or famine, bang-bang & thank you for playing, big score or go busto. If it was five $100 buy-ins I might feel differently.

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Tennis,

As in much with poker, the answer is "it depends." If the $500 saved up means anything to you (e.g., losing it would mean limiting your poker playing or especially mean some sort of change in your life), then my opinion is that it would be reckless bordering on REALLY DAMN STUPID!!! to play the tournament. If by "saving up" you mean that you've built up some extra mad money and are completely fine blowing it by taking a shot at something fun an interesting, then playing the tournament could be a good way to test your mettle and expand your horizons. Also, if the "local" casino has a satellite, you might try that instead. It would get you some cheaper live tourney experience and possibly a seat in the bigger show at a lower out of pocket cost. I'm guessing, it would probably cost something like $35 + rake, for a total of around $50-60 so you could fire 2 bullets and then play some $1-2 if that doesn't work. I've done some satellites into events myself and it is a thrill and provided me some nice live practice and experience.

If playing the tourney or satellites is the route you take, then I'd recommend playing some MTTs on Lock poker, reading a bit of tourney strategy and maybe even playing some sit n'gos to get a better feel for shorthanded tourney play.

Dave

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Tennis, successful DON strategy is designed to get you to the half way point of the field, which, in a normal tourny, is very very far away from the money. I strongly suggest you play regular MTTs, even if it is a $5 tourney, to get some practice before playing in a big live tourney.

Aren't there any smaller tournaments at this casino? It may be a better idea to try some smaller tournys, and have enough money to play some cash game if you bust out early.

Good luck and have fun.

If it were me I would stick to cash games for a while and try to build that roll up a bit. Not sure where you are, but I assume the buy in for the 1-2 game you play is something like 100-300? You could give yourself a couple $250 buy-ins to work with, and maybe work yourself up to having a buy-in for the tourney with a few leftover to stay in the action.

Good luck, let us know what you decided and how it went.

I agree with Dave. It depends on what the $500 means to you.

Just like Rock said, a majority of your funds could be gone in one hand. If it becomes scared money because it is most of your roll then I would say no tournament because you can't play a correct strategy with scared money.

I had a similar experience to Local Rock, in a cash game. I had AA very first hand I was dealt. K high flop. I bet, was called. Turn was A. Money got all in on the turn. River brings a 4th club. V had a non club K and the 2 of clubs for the 4 flush. He didn't even realize it until it was pointed out. V ends up all in without even top pair. Down $200 after 1 hand! Luckily after I reloaded I came out ahead over $300 and managed to get a few chips back from the donk before he left.

It can happen in cash games too but at least you can reload and try to gain your losses back.

Oh, and on a side note, if I didn't trip my aces I would have won b/c the A on the turn was a club (assuming the card was another non club). The poker gods can be oh so cruel sometimes....

Agree with what others have said. If this is your big splurge, then go for it.

But if you don't have experience playing multi-table tournaments -- and online DONs don't count at all -- jumping into a $300 tournament is the wrong way to go. It's like trying to learn Hold 'em by playing 5/10 NL.

Start with $30-$60 tournaments. They'll play fast, but at least you'll get a feel for tournament play and strategy. I've been playing tournaments for many years and am not sure I'd buy into a $300 tournament. Too big of an investment for me.

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+1 to what AdRock says.

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