MTT Help !!!!

Well, I've come looking for some advice from the cardschat pros !!

I haven't been playing for long ( barely 3 months ) and so far i haven't won much, I made my last deposit 2 weeks ago and hve cashed only twice and very little.

I play MTT's, mostly $2, $3, and $5 at Full Tilt Poker. I don't think i'm that bad of a player but i'm not that good either.

Most of the time i play in 300-400 people fields and usually get quite far. I seem to do pretty well in the first stages , but halfway through it's where the problems begin. I keep losing either close to the bubble, or the few times that i've cashed it's been just after the bubble.

I guess i haven't learn to adapt my game as blinds go up, I'm usually above average, but then everybody begins to catch up, and suddenly near the bubble i'm short stacked. NOw, this has been happening almost every single hand.

I think my problem is that as blinds go up, i'm afraid of betting accordingly, i'll keep betting like if i had a much smaller stack..

Another problem I have is that usually after 2-3 hours i lose concentration so much..., I've lost several times with hands that i would not normally play in a specific way, but that after that long i somehow lose my focus.

Anyways, i just wanted to have some suggestions to adapt my play in the middle- later stages of a MTT, because i know i don't play that bad, and i'm always around the bubble, i just need a little bit extra.

Thanks.

hello,

welcome to forum, ok im guessing by your post you are no familier with. Your stack in relation to the blinds or your stack in relation to how many orbits you may have left or your "m". Also im guessing you are not paying much attention to your position and are just way way way too concerned with cashing. Cashing should be the last thing on your mind, building a stack for a run at final table should be. There are plenty of pro's tourney players that go 20-30 tourneys without cashing but one final table wipes that clean. One final table will pay for all the times you dont cash.

so with that in mind lets go through some thing, one stop worrying about cashing that is silly. to calculate your M you need to take the big blind, the small blind and the antes for each player and add them. so 100/200 level with 25 ante costs 550 per orbit if say you have 13000 chips you have a M of about 23. This is ok and with a M of 23 you can make standard raises now lets say you only had a M of 9 at this point you no longer can play normal raises and you are looking to shove or fold. What this means is you need to shove while you still have fold equity. Fold equity means that when you push there is still a chance that people will fold to you with a stack of say 1200 with same blind levels you have no fold equity and will get called very lightly.

also realize as a big stack it is not your job to bust the small stacks. Of course you would be happy to if you had a hand but dont just go calling off 25% of your stack with 22 just because you are a big stack. You double up 2 small stacks and guess what....now you are the small stack. its very important that you maintain a stack that you can still make you opponents fold when you bet. Once you get to that point of danger and lose your fold equity you are going to get called very light and dont be suprised if you are called by 4h6h and lose with your AK and guess what the guys called with 46 is usually correct.

Hi. If you could post a hand history of one of these recent tournaments I am prepared to give you my opinion for what its worth

I used to have the same problem as you. But I seem to have overcome that and have hit loads of final tables just recently.

When I first started I was getting to mid stages just playing solid hands, like you probably are, and busting out before or around the bubble. I tried all sorts of different adjustments to my game to try and improve results, like widening range of starting hands, playing looser on pre-flop play, playing more numbers, bluffing and semi-bluffing more, etc. Mixed results

Eventually, What I have come to realise is that when the blinds get big, it really is less about the cards and all about playing position and pre-flop plays. Here most hands won't even get to a flop let alone a showdown. I imagine you are probably getting a lot of your blinds stolen by people that execute these plays and in return are not stealing any back. This is probably your biggest killer. Once antes become involved these moves become extremely profitable.

I agree with everything stormswa has advised, except that around the bubble you should be aware of your stack size in relation to the field, if you are cruising then sometimes its best not to get involved when people are getting desperate to stay in the tournament, this is where you can get donked and suddenly put yourself in trouble. A lot of times I wait to beat the bubble and then start playing again. Cos there is nothing worse than missing altogether.

Should i post here the whole thing ?

I played the $0.10c REBUY at FTP today and lost the same way. I saved the whole hand history, So, do you want me to upload it somewhere and post a link here or should i copy paste it here ?

Thanks for the responses.

This article may help: http://www.cardschat.com/mtt-guide.php

One thing i havent heard yet is about "bubble" play... meaning players who know their table will tighten way up till the bubble breaks will take advantage and start raising more hands in and out of position on those they know will fold just to make the money and dont want to risk the chance, unless of course its "aces" but even then they still might fold? Since i learned that aspect it has helped my game out knowing what was happening at the table and how i could use it to my advantage... just like t1riel said above

Sounds like you need to do a little studying, being so new. We have a lot of great Articles that address this issue, and I would also suggest going through our Online Poker Guide as well. Post any questions for discussion.

Well thanks all for the replies.

I've been reading a lot the last few days and so far i see some light at the end of the tunnel...., well, actually i've made into the cash 3 times ( 2 of them wins ) in the last 2 days, ( hadn't cashed in for like 3 weeks ).

Although i've been very lucky, with plenty of suckout whre i was the winner.

But yes, I've tried not making that many mistakes and just playing accordingly to the players i sit with, so far it's working. In the mean time i've noticed that i'm not that bad heads up, so i've been playing plenty of them and have won most of them so far.

Today i did apply some of the tips from here. Play for the win, not to just make it into the money. I did it and i lost...., but i know in the long range that's the way to play. ( there were like 20 people to the bubble, my stack was around the average, i get AQ, and someone else with a similar stack went all-in, which he had done a few times with horrible hands, i called and his 1010 prevailed ) Point is that usually i would not have called that, but at least i tried and had i won i would have been in good position to get far.

Thanks and keep the help coming.

That's what is known as a "hero call," and though opinions differ, I wouldn't recommend it. Just because a guy has been going in with crap hands doesn't mean you have to be the one to risk yourself to bust him. With AQ (assuming unsuited), you are going to be getting your money in behind more often than ahead (any pocket pair, plus AK has you behind).

AQ is a hand you make a big bet with more often than call a big bet with.

Well now that i was just talking about how i haven't done many mistakes lately, here's an example of a horrible play, one that i tend to do after a couple of hours of playing...

Well what can i say. I still have a longgg way to go.

If you can't concentrate for the entire tournament maybe you shouldn't even bother playing them. Stick to Sit & Go's for a while to improve on your skills a little.

If your losing focus sitout a few minutes and come back and refocus.