hard lessons

Ok let me tell you IM so dam pissed and aggrivated....tell me if this happens to you im sure it has to a alot of you........but ive played the daily dollar everyday for two weeks cashed about 40 percent of the time but cant seem to get to the real cash......i always play tight and agro for 4 hrs solid pooker ..i alwasy have an above avg stack and i always seem to eventually get caught by a full house when i catch a flush or straight or get caught by a set when i have top pair top kiker........its like full tilt wants to me to go nuts..........Now ive been reevaluating my strategy going into this stage of the game and it seems I need to play like a granny and fold to any bets regardless if i have a good hand and only call or raise with the absolute nuts what do you guys think..i really think its time i final table this tourney

From what you're describing, you have to learn how to switch gears. Meaning you're sticking to being a TAG throughout. I usually start playing LAG when the antes kick in. The blinds and antes add up and make nice pots which build up your stack. Also the added activity will get your big hands paid off when you hit.

To show that you have to get busier to final table: the Daily dollar, there's like 5000 or so people in it with 3000 starting chips correct?

So that's 15,000,000 chips out there. Thus the average stack at final table is 1,666,666.

3000..6000...12000..24000...48000...96000...192000 ...384000....768000...1,536,000

So, you have to successfully double up at least 9 times to get to that range. Means you're going to have to get busy and not wait for the best opportunities.

TAG will get you in the money but you need to switch to LAG if you want any hopes of reaching the final table. TAG is not going to get your chip stach from 3,000 to 1,666,666. You have to steal blinds, create activity in order to create opportunities for you to double up. You have to change gears.

I think comparing one's stack to the 'avg.' or predicting what one will need in their stack for final table is completely the wrong way to go about it. Just take your oppurtunities as they present themselves.

I'm never concerned about avg.stack size.. i think it's irrelevant. Much more important is your stack size in relation to the blinds & antes,... and playing according to what 'M' value you're on. To make a concious effort to try to increase stack size to bring it up or beyond average for example... is a bad idea imo.
In some of my best tourney finishes I was actually in very, very rough shape on the bubble. 5mins. later I was sitting with an 'avg.' stack size (lol) and another 5mins. after that I was in 6th of 90 or so remaining players.

A great book to read for playing NLHE poker tournaments, for later stages of MTTs is 'Harrington On Holdem Vol.2'. If you haven't read it already, I strongly recommend it. It'll change your game immensely.

Getting fairly deep but not hitting the big money or the final table is the nature of MTT play. Sometimes you might go without a decent cash for months at a time. It's just the way it is. At least you're making it ITM (although maybe you're focusing too much on this??.. maybe not??).

Patience.... key for playing poker tournaments & for result expectations. I try to put my focus on how I've played the game and leave the results up to something else (power greater than myself). If I'm playing good and am on top of my game... it's all I can ask for,... and if so.. the results will take care of themselves (eventually).

GL in the next one.
(PS.. when we say, "I 'shoulda' made the final table"... that's our ego getting involved in our game.... not a good thing but also hard not to do.)

Whatever is kicking your arrrs.
Watch out and avoid these situations.
They tend to follow you for a bit and then disappear.

Play LAG more then Tag so when you do get a bad beat you have a large enough stack that you are still in the tourney.

Time cures most everything.

Good Luck

questions

1 what does lag stand for?
2 what does tag stand for?

Yeah. what he said ^^^^^^^^

loose aggressive and tight aggressive

basically when the blinds start getting bigger, you have to use the tightish image you've developed to start trying to take more pots, i've found that with a tightish table image, on a board with 2 face cards, i can take it down about 85% of the time with a standard 2/3 c bet as a lot of people start to play scared

i've found that very rarely in a tourny such as the daily dollar will a player slow play anything, i've found that when i'm deep stacked in a tourny, regardless of pre flop action, if i bet the flop and the turn, i can normally take it down, and if i fire another on the river it gets most people, assuming they didnt hit the river, of course some smart players will catch on to this, but i find this to be a decent play with a lot of mediocre hands when you're going on a dry card run

Do the opposite of this. Early on, tight is right. Later, looser--don't play a pot voluntarily if you aren't coming in for a raise, and don't be afraid to risk busting to position yourself for the win. That said, pick good spots, where if you get called, or flop a hand, you aren't going to be dominated or beaten everytime.

That's called bad day. Then just stop playing poker for a while.

I had a same day:
I won a WSOP 1 level coupon on a freeroll days before. I decided to try it:
I lost half of my tokens by an AA holder...then the other half by an other AA guy.
I got angry and payed fot the next tournament: I dropped out fast cos of an other AA...
On the same day it happened twice more on freerolls...I think I collected all my badbeats of the whole month.

T.A.G. Tight Aggresive

L.A.G Loose Aggresive

remember that the people that play here thrive on bad beats dont fall victim waite till u got the nutz like u saud then pund them if at any point you feel yu lost control of han then be smart fold play it like the only people who get fall victim too suck out kingspaid is he top 5 and your game will improve dont fall victim too people who try too suck out

which daily dollar the rebuy in the afternoon or the evening one?
i've played them both and the table is usually loose or tight and i adjust my play accordingly. well i like to think that i do. lol
i really don't like playing these because of the donks i play them mostly when i'm bored. since they're such time consummers if you last.
gl and peace

about your play, one question. are you pas/ag and only bet good hands?
this is what it sounds like to me.

The same thing happens to me on Full Tilt Poker. I'll be playing great poker for a couple of hours and then all of the sudden it's cold deck time. Sets over sets. River boats over straights or flushes. It seems to happen to much on the site for it NOT to be a flaw in the program. My brother and I seem to think that FTP makes adjustments later on in tournaments to cause player attrition. This way tournaments finish in relatively the same amount of time.

some good stuff guys ...thanks for the feedback...ya scince then ive been getting way more bad beats and more lessons...it seems to me ultimate bet is jam packed with those bad beat chasers ..i mean rediculous when people call big bets on the flopp and turn and only have middle or bottom pair with weak kikers at that to suk out on the river ..then turn around and call you a donk...to answer ur ?Paum...i used to play only strong hands like ace ten and up aces kings and queens of course but im starting to play more suited conectors and im u can say tight semi lose agressive...if i read weak ness i pounce and somtimes just lead out chances are if their drawing they didnt hit im still learnign i dont just sit and wait for hands and limp like i used to i raise raise and raise some more and i have a stack every tourney i ve been playing lately and run deep and won a tourney this wekend........and yo try to avoid calling all ins without aces kings and maybe queens and jacks i mean you can but not worth the risk especially late in a tourney

I guess you should change poker room then. If I have bad luck, I go to an other one. For a few days I was very unlucky in Everest: I took my money and went to Full Tilt.
Never get too cautious, because poker needs guts too.