I throw myself at the mercy of the MTT forum. Help an old pooh-bah

[locutus2002]

Here is my simple advice:

If you want to become a better MTT player you need to focus on your game.

Here is how I would go about focusing.

Only play one site - IMO the sites have a very different feel to them during each phase of the tournament. Party rewards tighter play due to the lack of antes and 10 handed. You will learn the rhythm of the tournament you pick.
I'm not suggesting forever, just for now.

Only play one game at a time - If you have more than one game open you aren't really concentrating on the players and the table. Most of your actions are reflex, some of these reflex actions are preventing you from being a better player.

Tighten the ship - Probably the lowest hanging fruit is bet size. We (most of us) struggle over getting 2-5% advantage in the hand, but don't worry about 1/4XBB in a 20XBB pot when we bet. In cases where you have the best hand, if villain calls you may have bet too little, and if he folds the reverse. Look at all the areas in HOH (I just read the first page of the chapter).

Review your game - Go over your HH no matter how tedious and painful to see where you donked off chips. I'd start by just looking at hands where you won or lost 10% of your stack and look for improvements. If you have questions, post.

Play less not more - I think the above formula can improve any player and has nothing to do with playing alot. I suspect that most online players have a serious addiction problem, and that multitabling MTT is EV-- for all but the best players who have better honed skills, instincts, and MANAGE their multitabling. (although it does reduce variance).

GL.

Excellent post, locutus, really top notch.

[Nepa]

[ QUOTE ]
If you never limped once after level 3, you'd probably come out ahead, too.


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I'll also add, If you never cold called you would probably come out ahead as well.

[gobboboy]

Playing tight aggressive does not mean you have to only play the top 20% of hands. I will open with pure junk sometimes just because I figure my image can handle it and I will only get played back at with the top 10% in hands. When you open raise almost every single time, the amount of hand reading you have to do is reduced to either knowing if they have a pocket pair or knowing if they have high cards.

I've only just started consistently making it deep, but most of the reason that I've been doing that is because I'm building a stack by not allowing my bad hands to make it to showdown. I actually enjoy playing out of position against raises because most people are so timid that they are not willing to bluff people out of the pot. You can scare people out of a LOT of money by calling in the SB or BB against a MP raise,calling the flop and leading the turn on a board you don't think they hit. The key of this is knowing when they will believe you.

[whiskeytown]

I know psychology has a lot to do with it, but most of my latest tourneys I've been in a good mood - off the sauce and just generally looking for a nice 2K win - I don't need $800000, just something so I don't end up pumping $200-300/month into online accounts for $10 tourneys.

RB

[gambelero2]

This may come as a shock to you, but limping off with a4 mp suited or not is extremely loose. I'm amazed at how many people think they play tight, but when you see their play you see why they lose and it's not because they play too tight or not agressive enough.

[jwvdcw]

I couldn't disagree more with some of the "you must be more aggressive" advice in here. Learning to be a better small stack player is much more important. And when you do that, then you don't have to play outside your game and be over-aggressive.

[jwvdcw]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It's all about no fear, because if you play scared, you will continue to barely eeek into the money.

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So true. My first 20 or so MTTs, I felt great because I would finish 140th and get into the money and receive $40.

Now, I am often bust before the 4th break because I'm trying to win it, not make $40.

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I've been to about 9 or 10 final tables in big tourneys(by big I mean buy ins of over $150 and fields of over 1000). In at least 5 of those 10, I was the shortest stack at my table for the majority of the final few hours.

I've also entered the final table as the short stack at least 3 or 4 times, and in each of those times I've made the final 5.

I don't say all this to brag...I say this to debunk the myth that you need to accumulate chips around the bubble stage in order to win big in a tourney.

As long as you can steal the blinds once every round, you can play forever no matter your stack size. If I have 6-10x BB I am perfectly content with that and I feel as if I can stay at 6-10x BB throughout the tourney.

[whiskeytown]

I actually am a great small stack player - (lots of practice) and I can usually nurse one from about the halfway point to the end if needbe -

but what happens is that inevitibly I find myself in a 60/40 postion I can't win - can't win coin flips forever - and it'd be nice to have enough chips to survive one or two -

RB

[Nepa]

[ QUOTE ]
I know psychology has a lot to do with it, but most of my latest tourneys I've been in a good mood - off the sauce and just generally looking for a nice 2K win - I don't need $800000, just something so I don't end up pumping $200-300/month into online accounts for $10 tourneys.

RB

[/ QUOTE ]

When you are busting out of these touraments is there a trend? ie. are you calling off your chips? are you bluffing off your chips? are getting blinded off?

Are you stealing enough? Are you trying to steal too much? Do you take position into account? Do you mix up your play? Do you shift gears? Do you take reveased implied odds into account? Do you ever call bluff? Do you play a random hand every now and then? How well do you defend? Can you put down a good hand? How do you do in single table SNG's? Is NL HE your best game? if not, what is?

Sorry if this is too many questions.