How the little fish ran over the whole table...(why do big MTTs????)

[for teh win]

I appreciate the advice from both of you and maybe the OP does to. I definitely have a way to go and I think particularly the tricky and sometimes scary postflop play is where I could win the most improving.

I do kind of follow the advice you give already, or at least I try to. As a parenthesis, I think particularly the idea of taking down some pots early if possible, while not "proper poker", is very sound here in this case. You never know who you might be value betting for anyway, not if they are going to call you down no matter what, not in a tournament, not with bets growing exponentially with the pot like they do in NL.

Like I said, tight games can obviously be very tough but that is a different challenge that I try to work on too. Still some really though problems show up in these games I referred to above, where there is plenty of calling stations AND some hyperaggression AND a lack of risk aversion AND then throw in the occasional decent player, who might surprise you by playing some pretty strong hands, so you get all ends of the flop covered by the opponents.

I don't like to risk much of my stack early either, ever. But what to do when a fair raise gets reraised in a huge overbet just as some kind of retaliation for your trying to bully them with a puny 3-5BB raise? My solution in those situations is simply to avoid raising (the other option, I guess, is to gamble early - either grow a stack early or get a quick exit). And so it all turns into a catching game, be it with 87s or AK, where everyone is invited. But then again, good postflop play helps here because often the hyperaggressive types are most aggressive preflop. Not always though, unfortunately, and when hyperaggression or "over-calling" continues into postflop play, then suckouts get awfully expensive and I kind of feel the need to really hit some good cards before I do anything that could be escalated further by some maniac. Sometimes that's enough but I might as well get eaten by the blinds waiting.

Apart from my low buy-ins I also play some freerolls for cheap experience or just for plain fun(?) The freeroll serves as the most extreme example of these games. Even though the low buy-ins are fishy as is, I find it easier to place in the MTT's I pay for, even though the players are on average better and more concerned about playing poker rather than bingo. I have won only one freeroll ever. 6k participants and until I was heads-up I was never even once the chip leader, not even at any of the dozen tables I got shoved around between. So what was the secret behind this one-time success? Apart from the bit of luck you always need, mainly this: For some reason people would actually fold to bets like they were "supposed to" from like lvl 6 and on.

I believe the ultra-fishy games are very hard to beat. It's a shame it can't really be exploited. The maniacs drop like flies too through their super -EV plays (although sometimes your forced passivity works like schooling for them) so emulating them doesn't quite seem like an option. There is just so many of them that wiping one of them won't help you.

Still, just one loony might be all it takes to push you out if you get unlucky, as in the OP's example. And it really sucks when it happens, especially if it happens late. In the superfishy games, at least you know what you're in for from the start.

But... I'd be very interested in hearing more from all who do well in this kind of environment, if there are any. (Not just intended as an "I dare you".)