Winning a tourney....?

[Brad22]

I've read the HoH books, and have studied holdem plenty.

I have been playing alot of tourneys lately, but the people i see winning are all playing questionable cards with bad odds, getting lucky and hitting miracle cards on bad bluffs. I know you have to have a little luck to win a tourney, but it seems that you just have to be reckless and get lucky tons.

I don't know....HoH is seeming to be too tight, b/c reckless players (not all bad, but way too loose at all the wrong times) always end up in 1st place.

Comments? I not being sarcastic here - I really wanna make the best off my MTT game, but it seems like its "beyond good play" a this point - and I'd like to hear some tournament stories/theory from experienced players to discuss what I am talking about, and what you have experienced in your tournament careers.

[LethalRose]

you should post bustout hands, most likely you made a mistake somewhere you cant see. But yes luck is a factor in MTT's. However once you get better at them the you can reduce that factor by quite a bit

[SixgunSam]

You're mistaken. Bad players rarely ever make the final tables. A lot of them will build up early chip leads by aggression and hitting flops with garbage hands, but this will never last for the duration of the tournament. Tight players don't make final tables either. They usually blind out near the money. It's aggressive players who can switch gears that win. You have to adjust your play constantly in relation to the other players at your table, their stack sizes, your stack size, your position and the stage in the tournament. Sometimes it's best to play tight, sometimes it's best to play loose. The more you play tournaments, the easier it will become to recognize those times.

The HoH books are good. The first one is geared toward conservative play at the early stages of a live tournament. As long as you have a good sized stack in relation to the blinds, this is a workable approach for an online tournament too. The second book deals with the later stages of the tournament, which comes sooner online. I found the second book more helpful.

My advice, read this

Figure out who the best online tournament pros are and watch them play tournaments from the beginning until the end.

Read this forum and post specific questions about hands that confuse you.


Play as many tournaments as you can. It takes effort to adapt to tournament play, but once you start to get it, the floodgates open.

[fnurt]

You need to be very lucky to win a big MTT. But if you play well, you need a lot less luck than the other guys.

I play by HOH Strategy for the mostpart, and i'll say that i've had decent ITM%, but no wins yet in a big field.. to win a big tournament you have to have skill of course, but you also somewhere along the way also need to hit that miracle card or two to stay a live, and have a lot of favourable situations.. not to mention maybe win a race or two..

HOH basically keeps you from making a dumb mistake that will knock you out, and with online MTT being so quick, it usually makes you go all-in earlier than you'd like if you're running card dead.. nonetheless I like it because it certainly keeps me out of trouble.. If it's too tight though, just make the necessary adjustments.. or if player is LAG, narrow your requirements for calling/raising hands

[tonypaladino]

[ QUOTE ]
.HoH is seeming to be too tight

[/ QUOTE ]

I sucked at MTTs, and improved dramatically after reading HOH. One of the key areas was that I loosened up dramatically. I'm not sure how you see it it tight, if anything Harrington advises agressiveness.

[Brad22]

[ QUOTE ]

Figure out who the best online tournament pros are and watch them play tournaments from the beginning until the end.



[/ QUOTE ]


How can I do this?
I will read that thread and do all this other stuff. What you are all saying makes complete sense really - I was kinda referring to the small MTTs of like 30 players or so. I guess in bigger MTTs, it's harder for bad players to last a while.