In MTT`s do you bother to check your position throughout game?

Hi all, hope everyone is well.

I`m in the middle of a big MTT and I have decided to see if I can go through the game without checking my position.

The reason I`m trying this is because I`m thinking it might mean you do not change your game as much if you concentrate on the table u r on and not the overall MTT.

I`m sure there is a point where u must check your position (bubble, etc) but you will be made aware of that situation.

Any thoughts guys?

Personally, I feel that position in the tournament is only one of the pieces of information to keep an eye on. Average stack size, your M at the current/next blind level, and time to end of current level are all as important, if not more so.

Yeah, current position is kind of my goal tracker . . . I aim to be at least average if not above. However, sometimes this usually causes me to push when perhaps I shouldn't be . . . makes my patience less patient. Maybe I should try not check it until it gets closer to the bubble . . .

No, if you look, keep an eye on were you are, it will only mess you up.
Only look at how many players are left, you should do better.
Keeping an eye on my position, has only killed me 1 place short of the money.

I don't bother checking until after an hour or so has gone, I don't personally think knowing what posistion i'm in changes my game. Although when I can see the bubble is on the horizon I find this is a good time to make easy blind steals and aggression here is really effective as most players will not want to get involved with anything but premium hands. As above I think it's good to know the average stack size and roughly were you stand, you gotta aim to be around the average stack or better still surpassing it.

I usually have the tournament stats open, rather than looking at the chat. I like to keep an eye on how i'm doing vs the other players, average stacks etc and when the blinds are going up

Ive found that when I least check the tournaments stats then i tend to do better. Maybe its because its the lack of pressure or maybe its because i was already doing so well I didnt need to check.

Like when your on the last table and cant figure out why no one else is joining the table then it kicks in, "im on the last table, yay".

I you feel like I do that it usually will not affect your game then I believe it is another tool which you can use in th tournament. However if it messes up your game then the help isn't worth it. I know I personally don't like site the will not make available to you your placing as the tournament is ongoing except for mabye the top 30 spots so I guess I do rely on that info.

^^^This. I feel the same way. I like to check where I am and feel better when I am below avg. When I am below avg chip stack I just know I have to work a bit harder but I don't really let that affect my game. If you are a person who does, then don't look because it will only harm your game instead of improve it.

concentrate on getting as many chips off of the table as posible dont worry about possition overall just makesure your top dog on your table

I check now and then to see how it progressing who is in lead where I am and how many players left till the money.

It shouldn't matter what position you are in the tournament because the goal should always be to win 1st place, correct? The info you should be paying close attention to is your M for this level and next, the amount of time for each level, and how best to win chips from your opponents - not in any particular order.

I use to check my MTT on a regular basis throughout the game. I now realize that this is flawed as it takes my focus off my game and more on my position (which in turn sometimes is a bad thing). I understand taking a peek now when close to the bubble, but before and after that I keep my eye on the game. Keeps me on track better I think and I've actually made it closer to final table. I say this cuz I'm fairly new to the game of poker, but more so online poker.

I check it all. Where I'm at in the tourney, avg stack, M, you name it. the more info I have the better I like it.

I don't feel this does anything but distract you from the table. Peeking now and then to see how many players are left is fine, but thats it. Looking even once during the first hour is pointless!!! FOCUS ON YOUR TABLE!!! If the tournament has 5000 ppl and its only 30 mins into it, then you can't win it yet, or make the money yet, just focus on playing and doing what you can do to set yourself up for later when those points do come. If you have 4095 in chips and you look and see that the average is 4200, all that is going to do is envoke negative emotion (no matter how little - any negative emotion is bad) because you are technically under average.

A buddy of mine checks his position regulary before making a decision on a hand although he puts more credence on where he stands to average chip stack. If he's at average he plays tight/aggressive if hes below average he's loose/aggressive and if hes way above average he plays tight/conservative. he mainly plays in the FT $26 45 man SnGs and has been quite profitable at it.

Thanks for all your comments guys.

In general ppl are saying what I think - concentrate on the table u r playing first. If you `win` at that table you will be in a decent position come the final table.

i usually pay attention to how many are left and the avg stack, cause if i'm way below that then maybe i think its time to start shoving....or if i suspect i'm in last place...there's a certain pride in that, i'll check for that too...see if i can't hold onto last place as long as i can (in freerolls, i mean, come on right?)

i'm more worried about gettin my hands in though, its often not until late that i'm starting to wonder about who's left and where i stand

^^^ Ditto.

If it hurts you then you probably shouldn't do it, or should modify your reaction to it, but personally the more info I have the better I tend to play. I regularly keep up with where I am in the tourney, but I don't obsess over it or feel pressure if I'm not where I want to be, either.

I disagree somewhat. Early on I don't bother with checking it at all. Who wins in the first 5 mins? However, once I manage to build some momentum and the final table's within my grasp, I'll check it.

At that point the little "average" chip stack you can see at your table's no help, and you can be "average" at your table but little compared to other tables. M's not much help at that point either, because you can be nowhere near short stacked, but the race can be so close that M's semi-useless.

So at that point I check the leaderboard. If I'm within the top 5 I don't wig out at all, and keep playing as usual. However if I'm almost dead even with 4-7 other players for 9th or 10th, I'll turn up the heat.

Really that late, the best help has nothing to do with the leaderboard though. It's to simply not touch your mouse or get your stylus near the pad until it's your turn to act, and even then, think before you act.

If you have K-rag for instance, your instinct will tell you to insta-fold. However with the blinds and antes getting so high, you might be better off calling the blinds, or even raising with that K-rag. It depends on the table though. Don't just insta-fold to a raise though. Some players use min-raise at that point to take advantage of sit-outs and knee-jerk insta-fold reactions. Provided you're not in shove or fold mode(see M's still useful, just not for everything you need), there's a good chance you have to see a flop with less than premium starting hands.

Oh and for the love of felt. Please, online with blinds and antes going up every 5 to 10 minutes, unless you're in a satellite that pays the same for several places(up to 100), act in a timely manner. I'm not super-impatient. Take 5-10 seconds on average, 15-20 when precision matters most, and up to the full timebank for tough decisions. But please, for your sake as well as others', don't perpetually use up the time bank. It's only hurting everyone except for the one player with a mountain of chips, when 3 or more people keep using up the time at the table.

I tend to flip a check every so often. I prefer to know the percentage of hands I am playing, average size and where we are in the blinds and the next scheduled change

I normally check when i get deep in to the tourney, I'll tend to open the box and leave it next to the table when i cash and see how many people are dropping out and getting ready for the move

Information is very important. Keeping track of where you stand in the tournament is just another tool in your poker strategy arsenal.

To those who don't check because they think it adversely affects their game, you need to rethink about why it is adversely affect your game instead of throwing away potentially important information.

If having more information is adversely affecting your game you approaching the information in the wrong way.

ive always had a serious "problem" if you will with this specific issue.
i have a tendancy to over check my status in the over all standings.
i look inbetween almost every hand and i psych myself out sometimes.
if i see im below average i tend to go crazy trying to get back up.
definitly something i need to change in my tourney game. i just add unneeded pressure to the whole thing, and i would think that it isnt too good for one's concentration.

I am going to go ahead and say... ONLY PLAY YOUR TABLE...

If you want to judge your stack size compare it to your table and forget what #1 is doing because 9/10 he doesn't have those chips 1 hour later.

If you focus on trying to be the best stack at your table you will always fall above average, which is where you want to be when blinds start going up higher. Trying to chase down the chip leader is dumb to do if he has more chips then everyone at your table combined.

If you play your table you will get moved to a table with bigger stacks where you can conquer them and be top stack at that table.

"ONLY PLAY YOUR TABLE" is a given. What other table are you going to play?

As I see it the OP's question isn't about play so much as it's about strategy.

While I know you can make a final table and even win by only looking at your table and completely ignoring all the other information at hand, I'm not going to pretend like it's not a perfectly good idea to pay attention to things like how many players are left and how big the top say 15 stacks are at that point.

Most of the entrants only care about that cash bubble. Those are all absolute beginners and losers who are willing to settle for one measly little crumb when there are 9 nice big slices of pie waiting at the final table. Each slice is bigger than the one before it, and I just gotta get the biggest slice I can snag for myself. I did not just spend 2-4+ hours(online, but for live I reckon it's as much as 4-5 days at this point), playing my heart out just to walk away with a sad little crumb. I want my slice dangit. If I gotta slit your mama's throat(figuratively of course, as I'm actually pretty wussy in the physical sense) to get my slice, then consider mama's throat slit.

What this boils down to is my having to enter as much as 100 or so times to make the final table. When I do make the final table(note the lack of "if" it's all when baby), I'll snag at least 10 times what the pitiful crumb snatchers take in total, when they settle for their crumbs.

Don't get me wrong. Crumbs are inevitable. I have to accept them from time to time. But crumbs don't fill me up. They don't leave me satisfied. And they sure as hell don't make it so that I can either A. never have to play above my br again, or B. move up in stakes. I'll take the crumbs, I'll take the "losses"(they're all losses till you take down 1st imho), but I want, no I need the slice.

Great I just got myself all fired up and I'm not even planning to enter any tournaments at the moment.

Anyway, in the quest for my slice I want to see just how big of a lead I need, and how much I have to scrap to really have a chance for the biggest slice. That's not wrong, it's right. Wrong is getting blinded by the stacks at your own table, stacks which can give you a false sense of confidence.

Understand, when it's down to three or four tables, you can be chip leader at one table and completely dwarfed by the short stack of another. It happens. So yeah, take a peek, formulate a plan which you can only use at your table. That plan should include taking as many chips as you can wring out of your current table to the next. But don't assume that having a healthy to big stack at one table guarantees being above average. There are just too many factors that are completely out of your hands.

Factors like, the cards you're dealt(card dead at a heavily aggro table's pure agony and chips away at your stack like crazy), table dynamic(you can't always shift this dynamic with ease, and you don't always get a chance to play with or against it properly), and yes luck. Luck's a funny thing, akin to fate, and it can turn a big stack into a short stack in no time.

Pray for the rush, or as the French say on those saison II episodes of WPT, "Le Super Rush".

Anyway, check, or don't check. Both are correct. Still there are very valid reasons to check late in a tournament.