Tourney Play help

Playing that way does work at micro limits, there you can see a lot of flops for cheap and people generally will pay you off when you hit a big hand.

This is NOT a good habit, and will not work anywhere else, specially against good players.

If you want to learn how to play in MTT's, start by reading the Harrington on Hold'em Vol. 1. You can also post hand histories on this site and believe me, there are some good players around these parts that can give you advice.

Reading the HoH series would be a good start; they are probably the best books written on tournament play out there.

Tournament play differs from cash games in that, obviously, the blinds raise. You need to be very aggressive (not necessarily loose) in order to counter that and keep up with the blinds and antes going up. Limping, as Effexor said, is not the way to go with tournament play. If you're given the perfect opportunity, say with 78h on the button and four limpers ahead of you, then sure try to limp but you have to realize that other players know they have to be aggressive. They will make steals with 77 or even worse (96 as you mentioned yourself) if they sense weakness. Then again, some people just like to gamble.

Search some tournament strategy threads on the site; im just rambling and not really getting anywhere. Basically what I'm trying to say is that people gamble a whole lot more in a tourney when all they have is $5 at risk, so you have to adjust your play accordingly. Play your premium hands very aggressively, and remember to switch gears before the blinds eat you up.

i doubt you have enough tournies played to know how you really stand. good %itm is 20-25%. that's good

20-25% is good? You just made me feel a lot better, I get about 20% in the big tourneys and about 40% in the smaller ones. Why am I always broke? I dont know....

Because you are probably too worried about ITM, when you should be worried about ROI.

There are thousands and thousands of people with a 20% ITM (for MTTs) and a negative ROI. If you are playing for fun, then that is fair enough, but it is much better to have a lower ITM if it means achieving a 70%+ ROI.

You know you're really getting there when you have a 25% ITM AND a ROI above 100%. But that will take several years and high volumes of very regular play. Anyone thinking they can get to be sustainable at that level simply by reading a book and playing a little is sadly mistaken. There is no substitute for large volumes of experience.

To summarize, your problem is almost certainly that you are too cautious late in a tourney. Never tighten up as the money approaches.

Good Luck, oh, and keep accurate records!

ITM = In The Money