Why I Lose at MTTs (AK ep)

[AlwaysWrong]

I'm a pretty successful limit player, but I haven't had that much luck with MTTs. And by not much luck, I mean I'm bad.

This is a hand that seems to be somewhat typical of where I go wrong in tournaments. This is from a Party 100+9.

I had been discussing AKo with a buddy that is quite good at NL cash games. He told me that he often limps in in ep with AK, sometimes re-raising all-in if someone raises behind. I still usually make a standard raise with it, but this time I decided to limp.


Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t200 (10 handed)

SB (t4305)
BB (t1205)
UTG (t3355)
UTG+1 (t1600)
Hero (t3315)
MP1 (t2370)
MP2 (t7198)
MP3 (t3428)
CO (t5005)
Button (t2834)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+2 with K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, Hero calls t200, MP1 folds, MP2 calls t200, MP3 folds, CO calls t200, Button folds, SB completes, BB checks.

Flop: (t1000) J[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], T[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(5 players)</font>
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks, MP2 checks, CO checks.

Turn: (t1000) A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(5 players)</font>
SB checks, BB checks, <font color="CC3333">Hero bets t800</font>, MP2 folds, CO calls t800, SB folds, BB folds.

River: (t2600) 9[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks, <font color="CC3333">CO bets t1000</font>, Hero calls t1000.

Final Pot: t4600

I decided that the most likely holding for my opponent on the turn was a flush draw.. my opponent is fairly new to the table, a little looser than average. The river doesn't complete the flush draw, but it makes 4 to a straight. I checked because I didn't want to make a weak bet and get bluff-raised out of the pot. I was prepared to lay down to a large bet, but 1000 seemed small enough to call... it probably wasn't.

I'm going to show the results, because they are interesting.

My opponent had JT, no flush draw, for the flopped two pair. I think his play was terrible, given the draw-heavy board.. he slowplayed all the way to the river.

So... how would a good player play this hand?

[GambleAB]

Couple of general words of advice: NL MTTs are a whole different animal than any other form of Texas holdem play. You have to play it differently than you would a limit cash game, and differently than you would a NL cash game. The main reason behind this is than in a NL cash game, you can push small edges and then just reload. In a NL MTT, you cannot, so you need to be more selective early on, and more aggressive later on.

I don't like your play at all, but I am from the school of thought that limping (with anything) is tantamount to death. Very rarely does limping, trying to pull of some chicanery, work, and usually you either let a hand in that would have folded to a bet and improved on the flop, or you induce someone to bluff on a scary board before you get a chance to, forcing you to fold the potentially best hand.
My play? I would put in a normal sized bet preflop, and then if it was checked around to me on the flop, put in a pot sized bet. When the guy check-raises me, I'll know he has better than top pair, so I can fold it away. If he just calls me down, then I could probably get into as much trouble as you did. Remember to put a nice big fat note on this fella.