How to win !!!

Hi fellas

Some time ago I started a thread along the same line as this.

After playing a month or 2 since then I have 2 say I don`t believe most of you!!!

The question I asked was how often do you expect to get in the money when playing MTT. A few of you said `most of the time` I can`t believe this just because of the luck element in poker.

If I look at 3 tournys I have played in this week. I will go through the hands that either put me out or effectivly put me out.

• $50 hi stack no limit holdem - Dealt pkt KK. Push 5 times bb (500 chips at time) Called all in by shorter stack (he had about 1000 chips, I had 700 after the raise) I call his all in, he turns over AQs. I hit trips, he catches A hi straight.
• $25 1500 chip no limit freezeout. I`m on bb. K8clubs. Flop shows all clubs. I check, everyone checks. Turn is heart. I raise pot size (600 chips) I get a caller who puts in 1/2 his stack. 600 is almost half my stack also. I now know ther are a max of 8 clubs out there, but I almost certainly know 7 cause the other guy has a club. So he has a 15% chance of hitting. Suprise suprise, club hits.
• $25 1500 chip no limit freezeout. 16 place, pay top 10. (I have about 8000 chips, blinds about 600/ 300 other guy has same chips) Dealt pkt JJ. I call, raised about 1200 chips, I call. Flop J, 8, 3 rainbow. He goes all in, obviously I call. He turns over Q10, and yes, u guessed it, turn A, river K - straight!!!

Now I know it is only a small sample, but if you accept pre flop I think the worst position you can be in is about 30% chance of winning heads up, regardless of cards, luck plays a big part in poker. Therefore I can`t believe the people who say they get in the money `most of the tournys they play in`

I am not saying that there is no skill in poker and I know if you play the cards mathematically u will win more times than lose with the above examples. Other things that happen is u r dealt AA, all fold around to u and u can`t win any cash with the premium starting hand - thats your chance gone with that hand for a while!!!

So, a little bit honesty would be appreciated guys, how often do you make the money in the MTT u play in???

An example of what would help me would be if you could explain it like this - On average for every 50 tournys you play in u reach first place once, top 3 twice, final table 3 times, in money four times, meaning for every 50 tourneys you play in on 10 occasions u at least get in money. This would help a lot of people understand the reallity of poker, regardless of the ability of the player.

Also, if you have comments on my above play and u think I did not do the correct thing tell me. What I do know is that I was a big fav when I went all in in every occassion.

As always guys, thanks for listening and your comments are always appreciated.

Ronaldadio, the unluckiest poker player in the World, bar none !!!

thats looks right to me that has happen more times then I care to count, thats poker for ya, looks like you played them right and got the crap end of the deal, but lets try this you just showed us the bad beats you too lets see the one you gave other should even out I think!

ding ding ding...lol yes theres alot of luck more so I feel online then live play

it all depends on how many people are in the tourny,if I had to avg it out I would say about 45% of the time I will place somewere in the money and sometimes I might bethe first to go all depends

I will say this if you go all in plan on going all out even if you go in with the best hand, thats just the nature of poker

best of luck to you

I played in 6 this week and made the money in 3, hitting 1 final table.

My comments on your play in MTT's is that you are committing too much of your stack to the hand preflop. If you are CALLING and all in, you are likely behind preflop, and then you need to rely on luck rather than skill to bail you out. If you make 4x BB raises preflop and are raised, you have to assess how much of your stack you are committing to the hand and whether the risk is worthwhile. If you choose to call, you need to not only know the ammount of outs that you have, as well as the number of outs that could beat you. Playing aggressive and picking your spots when you are in control of the hand. If you are constantly being re-raised, you are likely beat. You can't win if you play from behind. Aggressive betting preflop and on the flop against non-threatening boards isolate opposition and give you greater success at winning. In the final tourney I feel you made the appropriate bets, and got caught with a bad beat. The first 2, you could have given yourself a chance to get out of the hand after seeing the flop. Hand strength recognition in crucial in being successful in MTT's.

Ronald is correct.
For those of you who say you make the money "most of the time" or "3 out of the last 6 with a final table"
Your sample size is toooooo smallllll!!!!

Notice how I said that I placed in 3 out of 6 THIS WEEK??? By no means did I say that I place that frequently over the course of a year. I frequent the free rolls, and I would say that I placed in approximately 25-30% over the past year. This week I began playing the low buy in MTT's and have had good success thus far. Ask me again in a month and I will be able to give you figures based on a sample size of 50 MTT's.

lol nice topic.

i cannot to save my life win a coin flip.that said of the 5 i played this week i cashed once. but i consider mtt 500 or more ppl 100 or less i place much higher.

also it sounds like you might wanna try the pot limit tourneys, they make everything ace said ez to follow



good luck

less than 40% of the time should be about right...

still too small man.
I'm not trying to put you down, but you need a LARGE sample to really figure out if you are doing well or just running hot.
Quite honestly, to get a large enough sample you would have to play MTTs DAILY for a couple of YEARS.

...Na, I don't believe it's even possible to figure out if you're running hot or not, even if you do it for years. You'll still be quessing. There's too many variables to deal with that will never be constant.

I can agree with that.

Who said they make the money it into the money most of the time? They're probably either exaggerating it or haven't played enough tourneys yet. If anyone is genuinely able to get into the money in tournaments over half the time, they should quit their job immediately.

Sounds completely unrealistic to me.

Anyone who makes it to the money most of the time is exagerating or playing WAY too tight and trying just to make the money and not trying to win the thing.