Any Advice??

I have seen some really good advice so far so i figured that i would post my own thread. feel free to comment.

I really enjoy playing the large tournaments(player wise, not buy-in wise) and i consider myself to be a decent player, but i tend to just cash for a little bit and never make a run for the big money. For instance, in 1500 ppl or higher i will finish as high as 50, but mostly around 150-200(200 if playing 2700ppl).

my tendencies in most every game, espically tournaments, is weak-aggressive. I will just call pocket 5's or lower preflop, call mostly with K 10/J
the only raises i make are medium pocket pairs and A/J+. This works out well for me at the beginning. Also, i usually bluff only in good position, and its usually just a semi-bluff at best. When i make my hand, i prefer to trap by min betting or checking.
Any advice on how i can take my game to the next level and make my bankroll a little bigger? thanks for the posts

*typo it should be tight-aggressive not weak-aggressive

Post some HHs in analysis section so the forum members can get a better idea of the hands your having trouble with.
Request a couple HHs from the site you play on and pick out the most troubled hands and put them here.

I seem to have the same results as you. I have two tourneys lately where I made it to 6th place. What I did is when ther is about 50 people left until the money I got real agressive, at that time people tighten up as to not get knocked out and I steal many chips which some cases I triple up. After the money hits more people loosen up so I tighten up. With the stack increase I have more time to wait for good hands or to feel the table and take advantage of weak players. Play your postition more here and you should break that barrier and move up.

Sounds like you're doing fine, 50-200 is a good result in a 2,700 field.

You've got to be realistic, when you sit down in a large MTT chances are you aren't going to win. You can make good plays and get more chips than weaker players would in the same situation, but you also need to catch cards at the right time, win most of your races, avoid suckouts, be sat on the right table etc etc, to actually win the whole thing.

well the 50 was in a 1500 person tourney, but i see what you mean

A couple more comments. The pro's seem to finish in the top finishers consistantly so there must be good stradegy used by them to beat the odds that robwhufc is talking about. Also Pokers Stars has many 10,000 person freerolls nightly to get practice. Use those to fine tune your game and see what works and what doesn't.

You cannot beat the odds: poker is a game of odds and odds are you won't place 1st, or even final table, even if you are by far the best player in the field. If that were to be the case, Helmuth would've already won the WSOP ME since he has more bracelets than any other, and most of them come from NLHE (if not all of them, can't recall). Pros also place higher on a regular basis because we recognize them (not to say their skills don't factor in). Several people probably have made deep runs several times in big MTTs but we don't know of them because they are amateurs.

Only advice that can be given is to play smaller tourneys with a better structure (longer blinds, small increases, etc.) since these two factors reduce the luck factor and put emphasis on skill rather than running hot or running cold. And even then, you cannot win a small MTT without very good cards at the right time (while this is very much false for STTs: you can get by in those with average cards).

Playing freerolls (especially the Stars 10k entrants) is NOT good practice, unless you make it 3 hours deep. People have no buy-in to lose and they are there to gamble: not representative of even the donkiest of small MTTs.

yea it sounds silly, but i have never really thought of loosening up near the bubble. i think with my passive aggressive style, it might really help. to be honest, in big tourneys i try not to focus much on how many people are left and what my postition is, i tend to feel that it alters my play if i feel like i have to gain that extra 1k in chips to get up to the average stack

I've been playing poker for several years and consider myself to be an advanced to semi-pro player. I play in MTT's almost daily, at least once every 2 days. I have only made 3 final tables, and only won one single time. I usually place in the 40 to 50 range in them, but the money does add up to a nice bankroll from consistent high finishes.

wow thanks for the advice. i took the info to a ftp 2700 freeroll(razz), and took 21. much higher and in the free roll money no less. thanks for the bubble advice

Play tight until you have enough chips to loosen up (M of 40+). Then loosen up

Not to be nit picking but Hellmuth did win the ME in 1989. (and all of his bracelets are indeed in hold em)

I should say, play tight agressive, but always with the right mood at the table.
Feel free to like the poker game and the tournament you are in.
Play tight agressive, and I see you at the final table.

don't be afraid playing you cards. a buy-in shall be consider as lost money, that change my fortune.

In addition to loosening up when you are in the money (as players tighten up since they want to go higher up), you should also considering loosening up and becoming aggressive - even to the point of super-aggressive when you're on the 'bubble' or just outside of the money - if the table allows it to happen.

I remember long while ago, I was playing a MTT on PokerRoom (not playing online all that much now). I don't remember the exact placing or # of players (roughly 20th out of 600ish). I do recall though that the players were really tight on the bubble (many hands only had 1 or even no callers outside of the blinds) and it was a nice way to pick up some small pots.

Depending on how fast the blinds go up, you have to keep up with the blinds. Blinding yourself out and not making enough moves or waiting to long to pull the trigger is just dying a slow and painful death in a tournament. I've been victim many times from being uber-tight in tourneys and then when I get a decent enough hand or so low in chips, my stack is worth calling the all-in since it won't make a dent in the larger stacks on the table and then your pockets or high cards get called by unsuited/unconnected cards.

Thus, I've been trying to do better to loosen up at the right times and I hope you do too. Cheers and good luck on the tables!