When to start making moves?

[petvan]

I played a live mtt with 130 ppl last night, in a format where blinds moved up pretty fast, but not quite a turbo pace.

In level 6, with ~t3200, I pickup 78o on the button and see the table fold to me with blinds at 300/600. SB and BB have me covered, but only by a 1 or 2 k each, and are themselves medium stacks.

Blinds were about to go to 400/800 and I'm thinking its time to start making some moves. My read on the guys was that they were somewhat tight, and likely would fold A9 and down, and small PP's to me, so I pushed thinking likley I just pickup the blinds hoping that SB/BB don't have a monster.

Is this indicative of the types of moves one needs to make to or is my hand way to weak to take this risk?

I make it deep in a lot of mtt's, but never bring enough chips due to my tight play, and am trying to open up.

(deep is a relative term, which in this case means I close to or into the money, but usually have to start playing all-in / fold too early to have other than lucky shots at final tables)

Thanks

P

[transmitt]

how many people were left and how many get paid? I think if you have been playing your normal for you tight game, its a good line. You have to push since even 3x bb has you committed, but think people are more likely to call w/ softer ranges of hands unless bubble-tightening has set in.

[petvan]

50 odd left, top 10 paid. I figured I need some chips.

I struggle with two mantras which I alternate between "you can't win without chips" which keeps me from being risky, and
"you need chips to win" which makes me try risky things.

In this case, BB has AK and thought some time about it before calling, and I had no help from the board.

P

[MrLob]

I feel your pain as I struggle with this same problem. I think at the point of the tourney you are describing it is time to make a move. The problem is moves from the button are more likely to get called then from other positions. Doesn't mean it's the wrong thing to do just something to think about. No matter what you getting called by AK in this spot and that's not a terrible result as you will win a fair amount of the time.

[Equal]

When you get out of the kiddie pool.

[A_PLUS]

It sounds like you dont steal many blinds. This is an absolute necesity if you are going to win without getting run over by the cards. What I would suggest is trying to avoid getting into the all-in or fold mode without a fight.

Start raising pots that are unopened from MP-button. Especially when the blinds are tight, and there are no maniacs behind you. Think about the situation before the hand is dealt, then if the situation arises, raise without looking at your cards (pretend to look obviously).
I think you will be suprised how often it works.

Another thing you might want to try is buying a pot with limpers. Whatch closely for players that will limp into many pots, but fold when raised. If you have a pot with 1-2 of these players, it is a great time to attempt a steal. Now you can pick up 3.5X BB isntead of 1.5. It also shows more strength from your part, so players need even a better hand to call you (hence more folding equity).

Good luck

[CardSharpCook]

"this point of the tourney" means so much less than the size of your stack. At slightly more than 5BBs, this is exactly the kind of move you should be making. Once you get down to btwn 4-6BBs, you should become widely aggressive from almost any position. You picked a great example hand as it is at the very bottom of the range of hands you should be pushing with here.

CSC

[bestcellar]

[ QUOTE ]
When you get out of the kiddie pool.

[/ QUOTE ]

ROFLMAO nicely played

[petvan]

exactly ;-) I've swam over to the side and am grasping for the rail.