Middle to Deep in tournaments....

Hello Guys...I play mostly mtt sng's and some tournies when I have the time...I usually play in the 5.50 to 27.50 sng's whatever my roll is, and when Im deep in a tournament I can never get over the hump. I am pretty patient in the earlier stages or mtt's and sometimes get a nice stack or just try to survive (depending on my cards) but nontheless, I always seem to choke up later in the tournament, For Example: The Other Night I was playing in a later 11.00 tournament on FTP. Only 215 people or so. 3k starting chips. I was patient for the whole 1st hour, only making a coupel good steals and stab at the blinds increaded my roll to 3,400 avg. was about 4100. The 2nd hour I was hanging around 3700 chips until I hit a big rush and got up to like 12k with in 10 mins. Going into the 3rd hour my rush continued until I was at 24k and 2nd in the turnament with 60 players left...it paid 15 places. I then made a HUGE mistake raising with AQo on the button, to the BB who had 16k he than pushed all in pre flop and then I called him likea donk, he of course had AA. Very Next Hand I had KQd, someone went all in preflop with 13k chips I had 16k, I went on TILT and insta called him, he had me dominated with KK. I then was down to 3k and finished the tournament in 45th place, it really buigged me that I played so well, and then liek a donk just wasted my chips. I would be very thankful if someone who is well seasoned could give me some pointers on mtt's and I would even pay them for some strategies, please dont send me a link to a pokerstrategy site because they wont help, I need help from a seasoned mtt player, thank you all for reading this long poast and hope I can find help, GOOD LUCK!!!

Research and practice gap theory.

It takes a better hand to call a bet than it does to make one.

well it seemed as tho u played well to start but lost focus and concentration coming down to the end, then u went on tilt, so all i can say is to try and stay focused and DONT tilt
another thing to add is, that when ur a big stack u dont want to play many pots with other big stacks, especially when ur only going to be racing, what u should try to do is to pick off/ bully the short stacks more and built ur stack up even more. u dont want to be racing against other big stacks

whats gap theory?

I just explained it

It takes a MUCH better hand to call a raise than it takes to make one.

Let's say there's one player left after you and it's been folded to you in the small blind.

The big blind's range is literally everything, because you have no idea what he has. If you have anything better than the midpoint, you can raise anything better than J7o, which beats literally half the hands out there.

But let's say you are the big blind, and the small blind raises you.

Now you expect he has a hand better than the average hand, so his range is the top half of hands. You need a hand in the top quarter of all hands in order to be ahead of that range.

See? You need a much better hand to call a raise than you do to make one. That's gap theory.

I'm often on the bubble. I play well enough, tight enough, to get to or near the money. The problem is, I'm usually short-stacked by then. I know I have to work on my "loose" game; by this I mean, deliberately widening the hands I'm willing to play late in the tourney. It's a delicate balance, and I haven't mastered that yet...

I've been having a similar problem. This past week, I finished at the second-to-last table in MTTs four separate times. It's nice finishing in the money, but there's a frustrating difference between 14th place and even 6th or 5th place. It seems so difficult to get to that next stage.

I'm generally a TAG player. I know I need to adjust when it gets to the late stages, but I think I maybe get too aggressive. I end up trying to steal with Ace-rag suited or King -10 from middle position. I'm starting to think I should continue playing my usual game in the late stages, as it's gotten me pretty far, and it's when I change up that I get busted.

I also think that it's this spot - just before the final table - that you need to win a few coin flips to break through. I've had AK lose to small pairs twice recently, both times deep in tournaments.

Also have the same problem, and also just lost to big stack with AA (I had AK) - guess that's how they get the big stacks.

I usually struggle when its down to a few tables and there are seats empty or people sitting out. Means you're just up against 2 or 3 and feel you have to play and to try to steal the blinds.

The main thing that helped me is the larger tournaments - 180 or 360 versus 27 or 45. At least I get to the paying positions before tables get thin and all the big stacks are there bullying me. (Funny enough, do well once I get to the final table.)

Discipline for extra patience and more folds in your trouble area also needed.

Finally, obvious simple thing is to not simply call the blind (they'll check and could get lucky). If you're near the dealer and want to play or steal the blinds, double the blind and you might get raised less and/or have less flop fisherman with you.

Anything in this make sense?

Yeah, I agree with this too. I find the 18-player SNGs the most difficult, because you spend a good portion of the tourney at a short-handed table. I've won several 45 player SNGs, but feel it's easiest to actually get into the money with the bigger fields. You can also play a tight game while lots of other people knock each other out.

Anybody else in my situation want to like start a little group or something...

Like on AIM or something...we can just get a bunch of people and talk about some new tips we learned, or some things we experienced in tournaments, I think it would be a good idea, to start like a little chat group..Im gonna post a new thread about it.

Depending on the size of your raise and the size of your stacks relative to the blinds, calling there with AQ might be good. The way you describe it, though, it sounds like you and your opponent were both very deep stacked. Then it's a big mistake as you're getting worse pot odds on a call and your opponent's shoving range should be much tighter.

I have some problems in the late pre-final table stages of tourneys as well. Generally what happens is I do build a stack, but then my steal or loose raises start getting picked off over and over. You usually have to win two out of three steals to break even, and I'm sure it's not working that often. I've tried playing tight, but that usually just dwindles my stack down to very little. I've tried raising from earlier positions so that it doesn't look like a steal, but that doesn't seem to work any better. The one thing I have had some success with is trying to be the one picking off the steals rather than stealing in the first place. I like that approach a little better, because you're effectively heads up and your villain has already acted, so you can get a read before deciding. Also, you're the one making the final action, so you can't get bluffed off the hand by a super aggro opponent.

Other than that, getting good hands and winning coin flips is a very good idea. Honestly, every time I've won a >50 player multi, I've gotten a rush of hands heading into the final table. Having a big stack early is pretty much meaningless except it gives you more time to hit your rush.

Well, a big stack early doesn't guarantee a great finish, but it does help you in a few ways, I'd say.

1) It gets you to or close to the money. From my experience, its pretty easy to cash if you can get ahead of the game early as long as you don't donk it all away.

2) It lets you play your game more comfortably. If you want to be conservative, you can afford to wait for premium hands, at least until the Antes kick in. If you want to loosen up, you can afford to try out some unusual hands and maybe take down some big pots.

I really do like the idea, though, of trying to pick off raisers, rather than trying to steal blinds as much. I've been having the same problem with the blinds - my steals almost always meet with resistance, even though I have a pretty tight table image most of the time.