Hey Grunch (No strat. content)

[jaxUp]

How is rebuilding your BR going? Did u make it past .5/1 yet?

[GrunchCan]

Yea, I moved to 2/4 a while ago. Its going really well. Fortunately I'm running pretty well. My winrate exceeds my abilities, and I'm just fine with that. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Right now my BR is back to about 1300. I'm going to sit back and grind 2/4 for now, since that's what I was doing before the tax thing. I'm headed up to 5/10, but I'm not in a hurry to get there. I was in a big hurry to get back to 2/4, so I reduced my BR requirements to the minimum. I'll wait for 300 BBs before moving to 3/6. Then I'll want at least 300 BBs before moving to 5/10, and I'll want to do some bigtime data mining before I move too. We'll see what happens then.

Meanwhile, I think I'm going to start taking shots at the 100+9's again pretty soon. I'll probably just do what I did before - skim the profits from a 2/4 session to pay for the buyin. If it goes well, the MTTs should start funding themselves, and I'll be back on the trail.

An interesting thing happened during my rebuild period. My PT icon changed for the first time since it became a moneybag. Now I'm a smiley face. Even if I filter out everything but 2/4, my stats are still smileyface stats. And you know what? I'm fine with that.

[SCfuji]

i like my fish icon.

[jaxUp]

[ QUOTE ]
Yea, I moved to 2/4 a while ago. Its going really well. Fortunately I'm running pretty well. My winrate exceeds my abilities, and I'm just fine with that. /images/graemlins/smile.gif



[/ QUOTE ]

This describes my last 2 weeks. I am on a 300BB upswing at 2/4 and loving it /images/graemlins/grin.gif.

Are you planning on moving to 5/10 full, or 6max? If 5/10 full, what site do you plan on playing at?

[ QUOTE ]
Meanwhile, I think I'm going to start taking shots at the 100+9's again pretty soon.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't have this kind of balls. Or tourney skills to go along with them.

[ QUOTE ]
An interesting thing happened during my rebuild period. My PT icon changed for the first time since it became a moneybag.

[/ QUOTE ]

I lost my PT d-base, and now that I've restarted, I'm a smiley face too, and I couldn't be happier. I love being a loosey.

Good luck in the MTTs and getting up to 5/10.

[GrunchCan]

[ QUOTE ]
Are you planning on moving to 5/10 full, or 6max? If 5/10 full, what site do you plan on playing at?

[/ QUOTE ]

Both, but full to start. Empire.

[gvibes]

I must have about zero confidence in my ability. My BR is at ~1600 or so, and I'm still grinding 1/2 (or at least I was, until my motherboard crapped out on me three days after my 2001fp was delivered).

[tiltaholic]

hey- don't worry about your BR vs what level you are playing. my BR >5k and i am "still" basically grinding at 1/2 and getting comfortable at 2/4. the "level" that one plays at is irrelevant. the other day, i saw a 60% asf table at 5/10 on absolute, so i played 3 orbits - woot. nobody "plays at" a certain limit...it's all psychological.

[MrWookie47]

60% ASF? Dang. I'm going to have to keep my eyes on the higher tables, I guess, since the lower limits are less than half that typically.

Oh, and I guess there's also the requirement to, you know, grow some stones to play at the higher limit. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[kenberman]

[ QUOTE ]
Even if I filter out everything but 2/4, my stats are still smileyface stats.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've been a /images/graemlins/smile.gif ever since I got Pokertracker - even back in the fall when it wasn't cool!

[GrunchCan]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Even if I filter out everything but 2/4, my stats are still smileyface stats.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've been a /images/graemlins/smile.gif ever since I got Pokertracker - even back in the fall when it wasn't cool!

[/ QUOTE ]

/images/graemlins/smile.gif is the new $

[kenberman]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Even if I filter out everything but 2/4, my stats are still smileyface stats.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've been a /images/graemlins/smile.gif ever since I got Pokertracker - even back in the fall when it wasn't cool!

[/ QUOTE ]

/images/graemlins/smile.gif is the new $

[/ QUOTE ]

I know...the funny thing is that back then, I had to preface all my posts with "I'm looser than almost all of you guys, but..."

now I'm tighter than everyone /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[KingOtter]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Even if I filter out everything but 2/4, my stats are still smileyface stats.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've been a /images/graemlins/smile.gif ever since I got Pokertracker - even back in the fall when it wasn't cool!

[/ QUOTE ]

/images/graemlins/smile.gif is the new $

[/ QUOTE ]

I know...the funny thing is that back then, I had to preface all my posts with "I'm looser than almost all of you guys, but..."

now I'm tighter than everyone /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Is this true up in small stakes, too?

Wonder why people are moving looser. I'm still pretty solid in the TA range (eagle), and stay there, although for a while when I started 1/2 I was /images/graemlins/smile.gif, too.

KO

[GrunchCan]

I was a $ for a long, long time. Then for various reasons I made a concerted effort to loosen up a bit PF. I'm now at 22, and I think that's my natural level.

Playing 6m had a big effect on my PF game.

[Entity]

[ QUOTE ]

Playing 6m had a big effect on my PF game.


[/ QUOTE ]

Yup.

[kenberman]

[ QUOTE ]
Is this true up in small stakes, too?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know, since I basically only play 6 max these days, and the community of 1/2, 2/4, or 3/6 6max players who post in HUSH (or here) isn't nearly as large as the millions of Party .50/1 players. So, it's more difficult, for better or worse, to come to a 'consensus' on what is right. Also, it seens there is much less stat talk that goes on in HUSH than here, particulary small stakes stats.

[Redd]

[ QUOTE ]
Meanwhile, I think I'm going to start taking shots at the 100+9's again pretty soon. I'll probably just do what I did before - skim the profits from a 2/4 session to pay for the buyin. If it goes well, the MTTs should start funding themselves, and I'll be back on the trail.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey GrunchCan, how did you get started in NL tournaments (I presume the $100+9s are NL?)?

I'm gonna pick on Grunch because of his incriminating quote, but this is more of an open question to any microers who are learning NL tourneys. Did you start with books? Observation of skilled players? Just by playing and eating the losses?

Sorry, I know this probably belongs in STT or MTTs, but I'm especially interested in the microer's perspective on this.

[Duerig]

Good lord that was fast. How many hands do you play / day?

[GrunchCan]

[ QUOTE ]
how did you get started in NL tournaments

[/ QUOTE ]

The most important thing that ever happened to my NL MTT game was HoH.

After just putzing around for fun, probably like everyone else, I decided I was going to take it serious. I had played a bunch of NL ring games - not as much as limit. I had read the Ciaffone/Rubin book. Then I read TPFAP and HoH. HoH was the big watershed book for me. Not only did I feel like I got tourneys, but I also felt like I got NL play in general. I mean, I'm no expert. But I think HoH changed me from the type of player I usually destroy in limit games to a solid advanced-beginner.

I got it in to my head that I was better than most of the dead money that goes to the WSOP. This was probably 90% unjustified ego and 10% justified ability. But it made me set a tangible goal for myself: win a seat at the 2k5 WSOP ME.

I had been winning a bunch of money at the 2/4 tables, so I skimmed some off and as soon as the satellites started, I went over to stars and started entering tourneys. At first I started playing 3-table $10 sit & gos and scheduled low-buyin rebuy tourneys. I did OK, but I needed study. I reread HoH, ToP and HPFAP during my annual ski trip. On one of the last days of the trip, I entered a WSOP satellite (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=micro&Number=1957227&Forum =All_Forums&Words=-re%3A&Searchpage=0&Limit=50&Main=1957227&Search=tr ue&where=bodysub&Name=16000&daterange=1&newerval=1 &newertype=y&olderval=&oldertype=&bodyprev=#Post19 57227) on stars. It was $33+rebuys, and paid seats to the WSOP. I came in 11th out of something like 1200. I got nothing - only the top 7 got paid.

THat tourney was a pretty signifigant one for me, for a couple reasons. For one thing, I felt that I played pretty well. I busted out of the tournament not becasue of a bad beat or getting blinded away - I busted becasue I made a mistake. I deserved to lose. But I did learn from my mistake, and I know what I did wrong.

For another thing, I realized that if this had been a regular cash tournament, I would have been paid about $600 for my 11th place finish. I decided then and there that I would never play in an other satellite - only cash tournies for me.

With rebuys, addons & the buyin, I paid $100 for that tourney. Probably some of the best $100 I ever spent. Becasue I spent $100 and it didn't really hurt too much (bankroll wise), $100 buyins were about right for me. I also knew that I prefered no-rebuy tourneys to rebuy tournies, so I started playing the $100+9 MTTs exclusively. My goal now was to go to the WSOP ME, but pay cash when I got there. I'd get that cash exclusively from MTTs. I would not tap in to my limit roll to pay the 10k entry.

The rest, as they say, is history. I entered 4 big MTTs, and cashed in 3. 2 of the cashs were huge - 1500 and 3000. There was not a small number of entrants - over 1000 in one case. That was it, I was hooked.

I almost made my goal. I came within 2 more big cashs of going to the WSOP, and then my tax fiasco (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=micro&Number=2048814&Forum =All_Forums&Words=-re%3A&Searchpage=0&Limit=50&Main=2048814&Search=tr ue&where=bodysub&Name=16000&daterange=1&newerval=1 &newertype=y&olderval=&oldertype=&bodyprev=#Post20 48814) happened. That's ok - at least I could pay the bill. My wife was very happy when I transferred all that money to the house account, and so its all good.

Now I've build my bankroll back up to where I'm very comfortably grinding the 2/4 limit games, and I'm ready to get back to the 100+9's. I've only got a few weeks left. But if my lucky streak continues (I'm feeling very lucky right now and my winrate is showing that luck), I have a remote chance of going to the WSOP.

[GrunchCan]

[ QUOTE ]
Good lord that was fast. How many hands do you play / day?

[/ QUOTE ]

Not many. My winrate has far exceeded my ability. It took me only about 7k hands to go from .5/1 to 2/4.

[droolie]

This is very inspiring dude.

Do you frequent the MTT forum? (I know all my questions should be asked there but I don't know what happens there and would rather not get flamed for asking total noob questions)


How many 3-table sng's did you play before graduating to the 100+9? I've read HoH and dabbled in them lately (perhaps 20 tourneys so far) and am currently in the green but don't have the balls to step up to that level yet. I started playing HE with the idea that some day I could play NL at a high level but found the easy $$ at limit has distracted me from that goal. My current plan is to continue playing $5 and $10 MTT's and keep reading HOH repeatedly until I have the same familiarity with that that I have with SSH. I'm not leaving limit yet (I need the income) I'm just planning on continuing to have one table of NL going from time to time as I grind away bonuses. Should I be hanging out at the MTT forum or is HoH good enough? (I found it weird the few times I checked it out previously) What kind of a track record should I be looking for before stepping up or is it just a confidence thing (I have the bankroll)?

Any advice you could give me is very much appreciated.

Good luck at the WSOP!

[mosuavea]

Good questions and I await Grunch's respone, most of that was pretty much exactly what I was going to ask.

I too have read HoH and played quite a few sit and go's to break the mundane world of grinding limit. I do well int eh SnG's, dont have my ROI right now, but I have been winnign money. I dabble in the small buy in multi's on party every once in awhile, but a lot of it is a crap shoot. How worth it is it to be playing those 5 and 10+1 multis party and the likes run? With the donks playing in those tourneys, it makes for an entertaining ride, but I don't know how much real value there is other than the experience of a massive array of styles you encounter. I think I am going to continue grinding limit, reread HoH on my plane ride to Vegas next Tuesday and coem back and hammer sit n go's and roll the winnings over to a couple higher buy in multi's. If I wasnt taking a trip to vegas very soon, I would have roll over 3K, but its going to take a little hit, but hopefully I do some winning in Vegas to dampen the blow.

This post has no real questions, just some random thoughts on playing multi's. Droolie pretty much covered anything I was going to ask. Appreciate all the things you do for us in the micros here, and great job on the rebuilding.

[mosuavea]

One more thing droolie about the MTT forum. I frequent it while I am at work and I really do find there to be little content anymore, most of it is toruney play by play that gets any responses. Defintiely not as much good content in comparison to the other forums on the board. Thats just my take as I find it weird as well.

[GrunchCan]

This turned out to be random & rambling...

I played in maybe 50 cash SnGs and about 10 WSOP sats and supersats before moving to cash MTTs. My ROI on the WSOP sats was low, and then when I started playing the cash MTTs it shot way way up. I attribute this to 3 things: luck, study, and the difference in the games. I explain.

In micro limit cash games, you see a prepondance of very bad players - and they are a special breed of bad. They are very loose and very passive. There are others too, but the LP-Ps dominate and give the micros games thier flavor. But once you start going up, the flavor of the games change. There are more (but still few) good players at 2/4, but the bad players are a different kind of bad. There are a lot of weak-tights, a lot of maniacs, and other sorts too. The difference in mix in my opinion makes 2/4 very beatable.

The same kind of thing happens in NL tournies. The lower buyins sport the LPs, and the higher buyins have a similar mix as the 2/4 games. This is even true at the 100+9 level. Rebuy tournaments attract the LPs too, propbably b/c they like the idea that if they screw up and bust, they can reinvest so all thier effort isn't wasted. These people are dead money, and only help to bloat the prize pool. But a problem for me is that I can't really start playing poker until after the first break when the rebuy ends. Before then, its a lot like a crap shoot.

Where was I going with this? I dunno.

I lurk the MTT forum, and post the occasional post. But I spend a lot of time in the MTT archives. There is gold in them thar hills. linky (http://archiveserver.twoplustwo.com/ubbthreads.php)

When I watched Fossilman win the WSOP on TV last year, I frankly wasn't very impressed. He seemed to get lucky on coin flips a lot. Its like he never lost a race, and that was the biggest reason why he won the bracelet.

After scouring the MTT archives for a while, I have come to realize that my assesement of Fossilman was as far from the truth as possible. He is truly one of the greats of the game. I've spent a lot of time just looking for fossilman posts - there's a ton out there. So that's where most of my MTT forum effort is expended. Going through old posts.

HoH is a key ingredient, but there are other ingredients too. TPFAP is a must-read. The Ciaffone NL book is a must-read. THe MTT archives are a must-read. And a deep understanding of ToP is critical to success.

I actually think that a successful limit player has the basic knowledge they need to be successful at NL & tourney play. After all, NLHE is HE, just like limit. The same concepts apply - pot odds, equity, outs, etc. Its just that in NL, b/c the bets are larger, some concepts are amplified while others are diminished. For example, I frequently read things like "getting 1:4 is really great," which as a limit player seems strange. I mean, if you're getting 4:1 in limit on a draw, you need to throw most hands away. But in NL implied odds play a much bigger role than in limit. I'm still getting used to this.

I never had the nerve to just jump in the deep end and play the big 100+9 games either. That is a big chunk of change. I know that the chances that I wouldmake that money back from any one tourney is very slim. If I sat down with that attitude, I'd play scared money.

But I wanted to play as high as possible, becasue I like money. So then I got the idea of playing the 100+9 on a freeroll. I'd play a 2/4 session with the specific goal in mind of earning the 109 I needed to sit at the MTT. This I felt was easily accomplished. If I had a down session, I'd try the next day. Once I got the 109, I registered for the MTT. It didn't matter if I went out of the tourney out of the money, becasue it was a freeroll for me. This gave me the right attitude to play a NL MTT, it gave me the $ to buyin, and it had no impact on my main bankroll. Doing it this way works really really well for me. It might work for you too, if you can look at it as a freeroll. If you played in a 100+9, I think you would be shocked at the quality of the typical opponent. Its a lot like 2/4. Every table isn't filled with Doyles, Howards, Fossilmans and other pros. There are many many very bad players. I don't know how they got the buyin. Its a real mystery to me. Oh well!

[droolie]

Thanks dude.

I've read all ther books you are referring to with the exception Ciaffone. I have his Middle Limit book but what NL book are you referring to?

Is it this one?
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0966100719/qid=1114185560/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/103-5803171-8885436?v=glance&s=books

Do you think HoH strategies work better at the larger MTT's? I find that at the 3-table tourneys if I get cold decked in the beginnig or miss flops early I'm short stacked and need to play catchup the rest of the way. Before I know it I'm going all-in on the button with A20 before I get blinded away. (I feel like a noob who wants his raises to be respected LOL. Since your implied odds can be so good against a single player and you can lose your whole stack in NL, I actually think this is much more important than in limit.)

I also find that some of his raising recommendations seem ineffective in these lower $$ tourneys. For instance if I raise 4x the BB in EP with AK or TT and I still get called in 4 places I have to hit the flop to win. If I don't hit the flop I'm short stacked and have only one or two chances to get back in the tourney. It seems to me that these 4X and 5x raises are designed to get us HU (or steal the blinds) more often than they in fact do. I found I was actually doing better before reading HoH when I played it like limit ie. just raising 2X the BB because I was giving myself more chances to enter pots and hit monsters and double up. Does this make sense or am I just too stoopfid to beat bad players let alone good ones?

[GrunchCan]

I haven't read the mid limit book. Do you recommend it?

[ QUOTE ]
what NL book are you referring to?

Is it this one?
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0966100719/qid=1114185560/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/103-5803171-8885436?v=glance&s=books


[/ QUOTE ]

Yep, that's the one.

I find that HoH works ok in low-buyin MTTs too, but the advice needs to be tempered. For one thing, a 3xBB PFR that's designed to get the pot HU often needs to be much larger than 3xBB. It depends on the table - sometimes 5XBB works, sometimes its as high as 10xBB. Every table and every opponent is different. I like using the early rounds to find out what works. Also observe the action in hands you're not involved in.

I pretty much never minraise. There is one exception: AA UTG. Other instances are me just mixing it up.

Something else that has taken a lot of effort for me to really understand: broadway cards (especially offsuit) are much less valuable in NL than they are in Limit. AKo is still a strong hand. But its not nearly as string in NL as in L. It has to be played accordingly.

Overvaluing broadway cards is actually the mistake I made that eliminated me in 11th place in the stars rebuy event. I had about 15xBB in my stack, OTB (I think). An EP player raised about 4xBB, all fold to me, I push. I did this for 2 reasons; first, I thought I could push EP off his hand and second, I thought if he called that I was no worse than 50:50 ish. EP calls & flips over AK. I don't improve, I'm broke. I way overestimated the value of KQ.

Something the Ciaffone book really drives home is that NL is a double-through game. You're looking to play pots where you have a good chance to double through your opponent. That's very not true in limit. In limit, you're trying to grind chips out of your opponent. The same rules of physics still apply. But now instead of building a bridge, you're building a car.

[droolie]

I think his Middle Limit book is quite good. It gets blasted quite a bit around here because it's on the weak tight side if you play against typical piss-poor players but for higher limit games against very good players it is probably dead on. I find much of the advice to be a very good counterpoint to much of the 2+2 literature and it comes in real handy when the table texture changes from loose and wild to a clutser of TAGS. I real good read that I recommend to everyone.

[mosuavea]

Grunch,

How much value do you see in playing in the smaller 3 table multis in comparison to the large scale Multis when someone is starting to dabble more and more in tournies? I havent played many 3 table tournies, but I think I am going to start playing more and more of them.

As you said in a previous post, off suit Broadways and the like were something I was definitely over playing and putting to much value you when I first started playing. After reading HoH, and the Ciaffone book, and getting ticked off after losing a good chunk of my stack taking them too far I realized I needed to change.

On the topic of the MTT archives, a couple posts by eMarkM ( one here (http://archiveserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Number=890506&page=&view=&sb =5&o=&vc=1) ) are truly gold. I think I am going to make a nice binder for my flight to vegas that I can comb through along with my HoH to pass some time.

[McGahee]

Hmm, I guess I have a lot to learn about NL. I thought AK was stronger there than in L.

[GrunchCan]

[ QUOTE ]
Hmm, I guess I have a lot to learn about NL. I thought AK was stronger there than in L.

[/ QUOTE ]

It could well be. Don't think for a moment that I know what I'm talking about.

[GrunchCan]

Well, its a good warm up I guess. I mean, you can quickly & cheaply get used to the mechanics of playing in a tourney & playing NL. And lots of people are SnG specialists. If that's your thing, then that's your thing. But for me, aside from exposure to tourneys and NL play, I see no need to play the SnGs at all any more. The blind levels are so short that it quickly becomes a must-move crapshoot, making it more of a contest of luck than the big MTTs. I also stay away from the turbo MTTs, which have a very quick level structure. I'll play an occasional SnG when my time is short or I just want some cheap fun. But I don't think it does anything for my MTT game, and MTTs are where my focus is now.

[GrunchCan]

Thanks for the link. That looks like a good one I havent seen before.

[mosuavea]

Grunch,

How often do you play in MTTs a week? You even bother with satts into the big One day a week tourneys on Party or just buy straight in?

[GrunchCan]

Since my tax fiasco drained my BR, I haven't played in a single tourney. Before then, I was doing 2 a week. I just buy straight in.

[TomBrooks]

Grunch,

Has playing NL helped, hurt, or had no impact on your limit game?

The way I thought it might hurt is if it could cause confusion between any differences in strategies or tactics. Like if you were playing and studying NL and then jumped into a limit game and make a move that would have been good in a NL game before your realized, opps, you're in the wrong game for that move. I'm just speculating. Have you found anything like that to be a problem?

TomBk

[GrunchCan]

I think its helped b/c it forces me to understand concepts more clearly. Like implied odds, for example. Implied odds are soooo important in NL, but much less so in limit. Playing NL helps me to understand implied odds better, b/c its so prevalant. Then when I switch back to limit, even tho implied odds are less important, I understand thier impact better.

I definitely can't play a NL game and a limit game at the same time, however. I get all screwed up that way. I've tried grinding 2/4 while playing the early levels in a MTT, b/c there's often very little to do but wait. Doesn't work for me. I end up doing bad things on both tables.

[mosuavea]

Here is a follow up to that post I linked to by eMarkM that you should check out if you havent click me (http://archiveserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=903650&page=2&view=collap sed&sb=7&o=all&fpart=1#903650)

[MrWookie47]

I've considered dabbling in tourney and NL play, primarily because it would stand to make me a better poker player in general, and because it might be a fun change of pace. My main question for you, though, is how are the profits relative to grinding out at limit for a player of your caliber, and what about for a player a little lower? Do you find you make more or less per hour in MTT's relative to 2/4? Would a player somewhat less skilled expect to make proportionally less, or significantly less, i.e., does the payout tend to go linearly with skill, or does it reward the top players much more?

[GrunchCan]

I don't know if I can answer that question with any authority, becasue my sample size in NL MTTs is still too small. But my intuition tells me that the money is bigger in NL MTTs than in LHE. That's a double-edged sword, however. You can both make huge money and also lose huge money.

I will say this to anyone reading this who thinks they are comparable to me skill-wise in limit ring games: I think you have the needed skill set to start studying NL MTTs and make money at it. If you want it, you are now ready to go and get it.

[GrunchCan]

[ QUOTE ]
Here is a follow up to that post I linked to by eMarkM that you should check out if you havent click me (http://archiveserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=903650&page=2&view=collap sed&sb=7&o=all&fpart=1#903650)

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks. Any links you have I'd be happy to take. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[deception5]

Here's my favorite mtt post which I often read before playing a tournament (and then I usually tone it back a little /images/graemlins/smile.gif ).

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2030

[mosuavea]

Someone actually made a post in the MTT about good links to posts recently.

I think a few of the biggest areas people struggle with, me included, are getting past the middle point of the tourney link (http://archiveserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=721612&page=17&view=colla psed&sb=7&o=all&fpart=1&vc=1) , when stealing blinds becomes far more important. I am eagerly awaiting Vol 2 of HoH where he covers the middle to late part of tournies and those inflection points where your tourney life is made or broken. Vol 1 really helped to get me to the middle parts of a tourney consitently, but I really have to work more on stealing blinds and defending, which I believe are keeping me from being a much better tourney player.

[KingOtter]

This has been fascinating for me.

I actually started playing online poker in the Sit-N-Go's, and I was pretty successful at it, but was getting frustrated at borderline calls, so wanted to read up and know what to do better.

The first couple weeks I played I was in an MTT on Pacific and finished 3rd or 5th or something like that. It was a $2 tourney, but I won something like $89. I think the next place up was in the $100's.

So I bought books, started reading them, and started playing limit. And my SnG game and MTT game has gone to $#!^.

So I recently got HoH and have been playing on the Party free roll MTT's with party points just to practice what I'm reading and getting free experience at MTT's again.

Because MTT's is really want I want to be doing, too.

KO