Playing for a tournament

[valden]

I just clocked myself for 15 minutes on Bonus Poker and ended up down 500 points. I only kept anything that would possible lead to a royal or if thee of a kind was dealt to me which gave me one quad. Are you all saying that that is the correct strategy? Has anyone used it and won the tournament?

[shadowman]

Tournaments vary greatly. It all depends on the rules.

[Eduardo]

From what I've read, playing that strategy you can expect to lose a high percentage of the time.  A very high percentage.  But if the winner of a tournament  is going to hit a royal no matter what, you need to take your best shot at it.  You can't expect to hit a royal in 15 minutes no matter what strategy you play, but you're increasing your odds at hitting one. The person who hits the royal and wins needs to get the right cards, so it's mostly luck. But you don't want to miss any chances you could have had to get the lucky draw. That's also why playing very fast is important.
 
But again... the fact that you ended down 500 points is no surprise. By playing a far less than perfect strategy and only holding for royals or quads, you can only expect to come out ahead if you hit those royals or quads, the odds of which are low.
 
That's why this is ONLY a smart strategy in a tournament.