random tips for Multi table tourneys

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Dingodaddy23

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IM PROLLY GONNA RAMBLE A LOT CUZ IM PRETTED F'D UP BUT I THINK THERES GONNA BE SOME GOOD SH*T SOMEWHERE IN HERE LOL


Hey all, just got back from the bar and felt like writing some shit about poker, take it for what its worth, but i got back in the game last night at my buddy's older brothers crib, 30 man tourney, 100 bucks a man, top 3 get paid. I TOOK IT DOWN :) youngest person there by at least 10 years and I didnt lose a hand until i was heads up :) I really really like playing live, i seemed to be able to pick up little things to help make decisions, a lot of them would talk to you when you had a decision and my analyzations were spot on most of the time. This one guy moved in on me on the flop when we were down to 7 ppl, and he had me covered. I had 9/9, before the flop, someone UTG+1 raised, I called in MP, and the button re-raises 3x the orignal raise. the first raiser folds, and I call, I think it was about 15% of my stack. Flop comes AK9. I lead into him for a 3/4 pot size bet, he flat calls me. The turn was a blank, so I check planning a raise, and he bets the pot (which is huge at this point) At this point he starts talking to me, saying things along the line like "this is one of them hands where someone goes broke" he looked so relaxed and as i thought he started saying stuff like "OH so you raising? i have pocket Aces man, be carful" I think long and hard and finally come to an agonzing face up fold. Well, he flipped his cards up and showed me AA, and I felt like a PRO lol-- i mean, i dont like folding sets, especially in a huge pot. If he kept his mouth shut, I probably would have moved in on him. Live play is great, its so easy to create whatever image you want for yourself. I mean, they all thought i was a donkey who just learned how to play until they saw me winning pot after pot and showing 2 pure bluffs in a row.


-Either bust early or get a big stack
-Pay attention to every player at your table, watch for tendencies

shortstack tips

If your stack becomes even a little short compared to blinds, start open-pushing. Like, Say you have 20k with the blinds at 800/1600. Play push or fold before u get 10x BB or below. I'm not saying this is always right, but theres a lot of dead chips to be picked up sometimes, often you can get away with pushing over 2-3 limpers (unless you've been doing this for a while) There's been tourneys that I've started push or fold with 15x BB. Just remember this- unless u have a monster, u always want to be the first person into the pot when you push. You don't want to push a lot from EP or seats 4 and 5. You DO want to push a lot from LP, the hi-jack, and the cutoff. Avoid pushing from the chip too often, I mean, you can do it once or twice but button pushes look blatent, and you WILL get called eventually by one of the blinds with as little as a baby PP or a baby ace. Also, definately try to get a read on the players seated directly behind you. Find out what hands they will call with what odds, i mean like, if you see them call an all-in with A8, look at stack sizes and try to determine their calling ranges and compare it to the blinds, and the % of their stack it took to call. Or if you see them call off 15% of their stack with pocket 4's, know that you are likely to get called by any ace, pocket pair, 2 paint. Never push when if called theres a good shot you're dominated. Try to avoid pushing any ace where your kicker is below 7 unless its folded to you in the cutoff or button. Another thing about push or fold: if you start pushing early with 15 BB's or more, you will most likely get away with it 3-4 times. After that, people will be EAGER to call you. Use this to your advantage. Just open-pushed 3 times last orbit? pocket aces? PUSH. Push your monsters right off the bat if you have already been playing push or fold. Smart players will definatley get suspicious if you play push or fold for 3 orbits then al the sudden make a mini-raise on the button. Theres been times where I've open-pushed AA on the button for 18 BB's and got called by A3.


Deepstack play- Once you get a bigstack, the skill of the game comes in to play. When deepstacked with at least 50x BB or more, you can definately get creative and try to get paid off. Raise a suited connector 3x when UTG. If you hit they'll never put you on it. Re-raise position raise, this is also called re-stealing, and its a huge (AND necessary) weapon for winning MTT's. Example--- aggressive player in the cutoff raises 3x and you're sitting in the BB with 76s, you've seen him raise a lot in position when folded to, so say he pops it up to 2400, you could repop him up to 6k and hopefully take it down right there, and if he does make the call and you hit, you'll stack him-- but be very careful if someone flat calls a resteal. If I have a big stack, I definately like to aggressively re-raise. Use your reads. IF you've got a guy who's barely playing any hands raising from early position, dont try to mess with him, but also if you've got a real aggressive guy raising from MP or LP, re-raise him often with hands like pocket pairs A9-Ak, maybe even suited connectors. Once someone shows a willingeness to fold hands to re-raisies, abuse them until they play back, and hopefully they'll decide to play back at you when you have the goods. Thats how you accumulate, and man, thats your MAIN GOAL in ANY mtt, if you cant accumulate you cant win. Once you get deepstacked, the cards barely even matter. Use your reads, change gears, never become predictable. If you've been playing extremely Aggro, show a nice bluff then completley switch gears and back off until you have the goods. ONce someone has it in their mind that you're maniacal it sticks for as long as they are at your table. There's nothing better than re-raising AA and having someone move in on you with a KQ before the flop just cuz they wanted to play back.


Stages of a MTT-

First hour- try not to commit a lot of chips without the goods, you need to get a feel for how your table plays. keep bluffs to a minimum Never go broke in the first hour with a hand you haven't committed a good % of your stack to. Even with aces on a rag flop, if you only committed 100 chips out of a 3k stack, dont go broke when someone pushes. I believe that the real expert MTT'ers just push flops when they think you have an overpair and they hit 2p or set or something, because weak players will go broke there. When you hit a big hand, you need to be looking for a way to get all your chips in the middle.

Middle stages- The field begins to thin, bigstacks emerge, small stacks are playing push/fold. If you're a bigstack, look for opportunites to call small stack pushes, its a great way to pad your stack. Try to stay away from big confrontations with the stacks that can bust/cripple you, but also dont be scared to put it all on the line with a huge hand against another bigstack. if you have a nice stack, ALWAYS take the good pot odds if a shortstack pushes. Example- you're BB with 7/9. you post for 1600- shorty in Mid-LP pushes for 4k total leaing you to call 2400 to win 5600, you call with basically anything, i mean fold the deuce 7 and such, but dont be scared to call in situations like this with Ax, small PP's, 2 face cards, even suited connectors, and 1-2 gappers. This also shows people that you will not fold when getting odds, and you will not fold to re-raises. The less people play back at you, the better. Oh yeah... DON'T RUN FROM A COINFLIP, unless theres a decent chance you're dominated by a bigger stack. examples: you raise in MP with 7/7 and a shorty with 10x BB moves in on you, you must call here. but say, same hand, and a bigstack repops you for all your chips, you gotta fold because its much more likely he has a big pair

THE BUBBLE- This is when you get serious. If you're a bigstack, become a maniac. raise raise raise. steal those blinds which have become a nice score. Don't be afraid to raise with any 2 if nobody raised before you. If you got shortstacks or even semi-shortstacks who still have 10-15x BB, don't be afraid to put them all in before the flop-- I mean, if you have 50k and nobody behind you has more than 15, just push any 2 decent live cards. the bubble is when u wanna get chips, steal as much as you can, don't stop until you're being played back at a lot. Learn to abuse the bubble and you will final table much more frequently

After the bubble, approaching final table-
You may want to tighten up some when the bubble breaks, because you'll get played back at a lot more. I try not to get too involved right after the bubble bursts without the goods, especially if i have a large stack, but also don't miss opportunites to call shortstack pushes if you're probably ahead with a hand like A-7 or a little pair, because once the bubble breaks, most of the shortstacks are just happy they made it and their chips are up for grabs. If I have aggressive players behind me, I'm not making a lot of position raises at this point, especially if they have comparable stacks. But i WILL raise more often in early and early/mid position. take this for what its worth, but i know a guy who subscribed to cardrunners poker training site, some of the top MTT guys are teachers there, and one of the tips he got from a highly successful, highly ranked MTT'er is the UTG and early position steal. It looks so strong that you're not getting called by a bad hand and often times the table folds. I've done this move with varying degress of success.


Final table- hopefully you've got an above avg stack. If you do, play aggressive, but SMART. You dont wanna get hyper and bust out 8th when you could have EASILY moved into the top 5 and up that pay scale. once all the shorties bust out and you're 5-6 handed, the cards dont even matter. what matters is position, stack sizes, and reads, and BALLS. i mean, you really gotta trust yourself and your reads. If you make a position raise and you get repoppe out of the blinds, and you really think he's just playing back at you, play back yourself. When you're at a FT shorthanded, showing a willingness to fold preflop or to fold big hands on the flop is just not good, good players are gonna run you over. you also gotta be willing to stick your stack in there if you think u are ahead even just a little, and DONT RUN FROM COINFLIPS!!


Look at your play from your opps. point of view. if you were them, what would you think of yourself? what type of plays would you make against YOU if you were THEM. If you understand how they perceive you, you can lure them into a favorable situation. Maybe stop making position raises once you KNOW they KNOW you don't have a hand every time, but become an aggressive re-raiser. always try to figure out what they're thinking and when the time comes, make those same plays that they're reading you for with a totally different hand, try to manipulate them into doing what u want them to do. if you've been c-betting a lot, nexdt time u hit a hand maybe check-call the flop and lead the turn, just vary your play, thats so key When you bluff be creative, maybe check behind a flop instead of c-betting and then raise the turn and bet the riverr. You really have to be fearless to actually win a big MTT.


Random tips-

it is true that you MUST be willing to bluff, but u gotta know when to back off. this was a huge prob of mine. be very wary if you raise the flop and get flat called, or called and then check-raised.

dont let yourself drop below 10x BB before you start playing push/fold

never let the table know that u folded a big hand, thats like asking to get pushed around

if you show your cards, you should be showing with the intention of switching gears. show a bluff then tighten up, if you hit a big hand you may get a double up. NEVER show your cards if u have anything more than a pair, you dont want them to know how u play sets, 2 pairs, draws. i think showing can definately be beneficial but you must have a clear reason and follow up action.

When stealing blinds, I prefer to be in the hi-jack or the cutoff over the button. people seem to always wanna play back at button raises. I really only like to raise hands like A-10+ and 77+ when im on the button but i'll raise a much wider range in the CO or HJ, it just looks stronger.

if you have a big stack, almost ALWAYS take pot odds- very rarely are you more than a 2 to 1 dog in a given hand, so get in there with lots of hands. of course dont play trash like K-9, A-2, 10-3 etc, but theres no reason to fold when u have 30+ BB's and you're getting 3:1 with 7-5 suited. only when your stack is low do you pass up pot odds because you know you're behind. when you got a stack you can splash around a lot, especially if you're catching a lot and running good, ride it out! yes, i know the odds never change, but you gotta admit that sometimes you're just catching. A guy won the stars mill yesterday, bought in off FPP's, never won a damn thing before that, and he literally sucked out every single big hand. u really gotta get really lucky to win a big MTT. im not saying play like him because he was getting his money in as a BIG dog constantly and somehow he kept winning, but when ur catchin cards and hittin flops, u wanna see as many flops as u can reasonably see! But also realize when its time to stop calling off chips and sit on your stack.

a lot of this is prolly incoherent but all replies are welcome
 
ChuckTs

ChuckTs

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IM PROLLY GONNA RAMBLE A LOT CUZ IM PRETTED F'D UP BUT I THINK THERES GONNA BE SOME GOOD SH*T SOMEWHERE IN HERE LOL
hehe - looks like you're taking a page outta my book

can't say that i've read it all yet (couple of white russians went straight to my head...and no I'm not talking about women :(. that and a couple of doobs), but I know there's great advice in there...i'll post a better response tomorrow when ive sobered up and read it :D
 
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hothands19

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there is a strategy that alot of the best players in the world use when they are playing in big tournments. early in the tournament you should play only play the hands that are premium hands. when you have small pocket pairs dont raise because you are probably going to get beat on the flop and lose alot. just call the big blind to see if you can catch a set. once you have donr this you are in dominating posistion and will most likely take down a good pot.
 
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