Tips for long MTTs

I play a lot of freerolls and tourneys on fulltilt where there are anywhere from 300 players to 3600. Those are tough odds to beat in terms of coming in the money. Any tips or tricks in terms of aggressive/conservative play in order to extend the average time of stay in these tourney's?? any advice is well appreciated....thanks!

One thing I try to do is point out the donks early. I stay away from themm early, and when I have a big hand and they are in the pot, I make sure that I trounce on them.

its hard cashing in freerolls. you cant give any real good advice on how to cash in them cause well, noone plays properly. everyone has nothing to lose and alot of ppl are purposly looking for donking out ppl.

Patience is probably one of, if not the most, important thing you need when going to a MTT. Consevative or Aggressive play is up to you and your playing styles.

However, I would play more conservatively early on in the tournament b/c of all the maniac players that exit within the first hour. That is not to say that you shouldn't play hands early on, just play more premium ones

Back to patience. When you enter a field size of 2000 or more, making a deep run could take 5-6 hours. As long as you stay patient, and wait for those good hands you should be fine

I hate advocating any "stylistic" approach because I think the best way to play the game is one hand at a time but...

In tournaments with large fields I think you need to choose one of two approaches. Either play super-tight/semi-aggressive or super-loose/aggro.

You're going to be finishing out of the money most of the time which gives you too many opportunities to second guess your play. Picking one of the of the approaches mentioned and sticking to it will keep your confidence up and give you a solid base to work from.

If you don't mind some longer hours with lots of ITM/Bubble finishes then play tight ABC poker. Wait for good hands and play them aggressively. If you catch some cards then you might get lucky and make a few final tables. If not, then it just wasn't meant to be.

I prefer to go the other way and play SLAG, forget about cards. If I'm first in then I'm raising. If some one raises then I'll call and bet/raise any flop. TPTK and I'm all in. The goal being to build a big stack early or bust. If I bust, so what? Next tourney. For me, there's nothing worse than dying on the bubble after 2-4 hours of play. You'll be ITM less but when you do make it you'll have a better shot.

one thing that i had read about over and over and never used myself was trying to double up early

early on alot of people (meaning the bad players) are just giving their chips away. they usually are all gone by the break

for this reason, i will now play alot more pots early (when it is cheap) and try to stack a donk when i catch a good hand

this doesnt mean to shove everything or get into marginal situations with Arags, but to get into some pots with hands that i normally might fold later in the tourneys (10jos, lower pocket pairs with a raise in front of me or oop)

your goal in any tourney is survival, but you also should be playing to win. alot of people just want to survive until they get into the money, then they shove the next hand

knowing that, you can usually start to loosen up and steal alot more, when it is getting closer to the bubble

if you really want to have good success, you have to play without fear
this doesnt mean to get your money in bad, but none of the great tourney players out there are afraid to go out on the bubble either

when it gets to the point where most people are either shoving or folding, your best bet is to already have a big enough stack to be able to lose a hand or two without busting
rest assured that if you are the shortstack even if you wait for monsters, eventually the bigstacks will call your allins and they will bust you

very intresting i have no patience

i disagree with those that say you cant make a move with a short stack after the bubble...if the money is at 150 players left...you figure 20 of them are gonna all-in the next few hands and bust because hey, they spent 3 hours and won 30 cents, and they can go pro it up in a 10 cent tournie now....i spend alot of freerolls going into the money with about 10 k or less chips and find a spot to double or triple up fairly easily adn make a final table push...

i play tight/aggressive throughout....looking for suited connectors or pocket pairs on teh button hoping to catch someone who donked a stack and take it

gl on the felts

Be patient and tight early on... too many donkeys around. And like people said, when you get the monster hands makes the most out of it...

Dont commit do a big pot with average hands.. you dont wanna get low stackes early

the number one thing people will always tell you in a tournament is be patient, but keep people on there toes. It's always good to notice the donks and the good players. always be alert at your table.

aggresive and conservative play is determined by your style
if you could post some ways you play hands or how you play at in tournaments we may could give you more help...

practice much and often and visit the site and you'll get better! i did lol
:]

A larger field means you will need to exercise greater patience and maintain your alertness for longer.

It should make no difference to your hand selection or to the way you play your hand. There are still only 10 players at your table and they are the ones that you have to beat. The number of other players at other tables is immaterial.

So how does one play properly?? Just like you?

well when you start the tourney with 1500 chips you should consider playing slow especially like this in the beginning and when you get good cards and i mean (AJ or better) raise and make other players pay to see the flop. good luck

this may help

The Official KC Strategy

Tight, tight, tight, to start. Play great hands and expect to get sucked out early. Chit happens, but when you get an opportunity with great cards push and be conservative if you need to fold after the flop.

In the big number entrants FR trying to last to the last few hundred when the real poker starts. Prior to that, it's an Ace and race tournment and if you place your bet expect anything. Early, it gets really brutal!