Multi Table Tournament Advice Please?

[Jonny1723]

Hello,

I wonder if you can help me improve my tournament play please ? I'd appreciate any advice you have.

I do really well at cash games (although only on .10c / .20c), but when I enter the MTTs I seem to struggle.
I seem to get down to the final few hundred (out of about 1500) by playing very tight, but never seem able to kick on from there.

At the start, although the blinds are small (say, 10 / 20) I try to keep to my tight strategy (which I use after reading Lee Jones' book) and I see a lot of people go out early on by hoping to get lucky. This seems ok, but it means that unless I get a lot of really good hands (AA, KK etc), I end up just floating along with an average stack until the blinds slowly eat at my stack.

This leads me to the stage where I have say under 600 chips, and the table high stacks are almost 10000. Therefore I really need to double / triple through soon. So I usually wait until as late as possible before committing all my chips in (most of the time if possible I'll wait until I get a PP > 9 or Ax)

I then find myself going all in when I see a hand like this, getting maybe 1 or 2 callers, then occasionally I'll double through to 1200 - 1500 chips (other times I'll bust out)

However, the big stacks are increasing all the time, so I find myself in the same situation again not long after. Eventually, I'll bust out when down to the last couple of hundred.

What I'd really like to know is how my tactics should change for Tournament Play over Ring Games.

Is my Tight Strategy the way to go ?

Personally, I feel I need to open up more, but not too much. But I suppose it's where the balance lies.

I also see the chip leaders on my table get what I would call lucky a high amount of times. What I mean by that is that they will raise almost all of their chips, or go all in with something like JT, then find themselves called by say AQ, only to spike a T and have their hand hold up.

This leads me to believe that I should maybe play more of those types of hands KQo, JTo etc - However, when I have tried it in the past I seemed to see the best hand holding up a lot more against me.

I also feel I am too negative in places, and I don't really know how to rectify this.
I also don't protect my blinds (I don't think I know how to)

For example, if I'm in the SB with something like Q2o, I won't complete (or call any raises), even though I've already got some money in the pot. Should I or not ?
Again, the reason I ask is that I see a lot of people around the table going in with exactly these sorts of hands and coming out on top. (obviously they may not win the tournament or anything, because I stop watching when I bust out)

I also feel I don't know how to steal blinds (unless I have a good hand of course), but I'm assuming that stealing blinds is when you have not much ?

I also think stealing blinds etc is easier to do if you have a large stack, as I always see the table chip leaders buying pots by putting in bets of about 400 (when the blinds are say 50/100) so everyone folds to them. Obviously their stack of 4000-5000 can withstand losing a couple of these if they do get called (which is very rarely), but I couldn't do this as it is always about half my stack.

I think I really need to improve on these aspects of my game otherwise I will never be able to compete in tournaments properly.

Therefore I would appreciate any advice anyone has on any aspect of the above post.

Thanks in advance.

Jonny.

[Sam T.]

This question comes up a lot.

Start reading the posts here, and keep reading this board.

[Spyder]

How many chips the other guys have should have nothing to do with how you play, unless they're in the pot with you.

I target a 'comfort zone' which is 7x the combined blinds. When I get down to 4x or 5x the combined blinds I begin to gamble a little to try & catch.

Small Big Stack Size
10.......15................175
20.......40................420
25.......50................525
30.......60................630
40.......80................840
50.......100...............1050
75.......150...............1575
100......200...............2100
150......300...............3150
200......400...............4200
300......600...............6300
400......800...............8400
500......1000..............10500
1000.....2000..............21000

I can't help with your other questions because I'm having the exact same problems [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Spyder

[RavenJackson]

You are asking the right questions. I am confident that the right answers are on this board. My MTT play has improved drastically in the last few months thanks to 2+2.

[Shilly]

First of all, tight is right, especially in the early stages of the tournament. Play hands that are monsters (like AA and KK) and try to get all-in preflop, if possible. Play speculative hands like smaller pocket pairs, suited connectors, and possibly hands like Ax suited if you are in good position. Avoid playing marginal hands in early and middle position, as a raise in later position will probably cause you to fold, thus wasting your chips.

Although it seems like you're following that last bit of advice, you're definitely going to have to loosen up as the blinds get higher. Don't be afraid to steal blinds with somewhat decent hands on the button or in the CO. As for blind defense, you shouldn't be calling raises with hands like Q2o, or even completing against most players. However, if you're in the blinds and someone has been raising on the button or in LP with mediocre hands, don't be afraid to play back at them if you have anything decent.

There is a wealth of information on this board--I'm sure you'll be able to find what you're looking for.

[slickterp]

tight is right, but i think not so much early on when the blinds are small in relation to stack size. in other words, it's not so bad to lose 40 chips when you have 1500 trying to make a draw. go aggresively after small pots early, but back off when people show any strength and you are marginal, and avoid big stacks. this had helped me alot in my tourney play.

[Lloyd]

By far the best post I've ever seen on this topic is here