Hello all, just joined this forum, looks very friendly so am hoping for some good advice!

Anyways, I play a lot of SnGs and MTTs on Pokerstars and most of the time finish just outside the money. Say if its a 180 ppl tourney, I finish 22nd. Its not like I am short-stack as I generally play tight/aggressive but towards the bubble I know people either tighten up, or the short-stacks go all-in with crap to try to steal blinds. A lot of the time I could have JJ or QQ with say $7,000 and a short stack with say $1200 goes all in with TT or a lower pair. Guaranteed, they will hit their set on the flop. As my chips go down my psyche seems to mess up and I go on tilt, losing all my chips.

Same thing happened last week - I played the EPT Ladies event, came 18th, the pay was at 16. Very frustrating. My stack wasn't too bad but the game was quick and the blinds got so big. I had no calling hands for about the last 20 hands so got blinded out. Went all-in with Q2 suited (crap I know), caller had 67 offsuit. Flopped 345.

It seems to be the 100+ tourneys that get me, I played a 18-ppl one last night and got 2nd, but thats 18. These big MTT stump me. I follow basic strategy (start tight/agressive, loosen up in middle, tight at the bubble) but a lot of the time I will have a winning pre-flop hand but lose cos short-stacks get lucky.

This happens to me nearly every or every other game, so I must be doing something wrong. Sorry for the long post, any advice would be great. Thanks.

Pam

Welcome to the forum. Just one brief point here (cuz it's 3am and I'm still up)... I noticed you wrote.. 'tight at the bubble'. Ideally you want to be taking advantage of those who have tightened up at the bubble as this is a great time to add to your stack (you must be willing to die in order to live).
GL on the tables!

Welcome to the forum!

Add this to your reading here on CC.

http://www.cardschat.com/f11/my-mtt-strategies-161649/



Snow

Originally Posted by Poker Orifice

Welcome to the forum. Just one brief point here (cuz it's 3am and I'm still up)... I noticed you wrote.. 'tight at the bubble'. Ideally you want to be taking advantage of those who have tightened up at the bubble as this is a great time to add to your stack (you must be willing to die in order to live).
GL on the tables!

Good Morning (even tho its lunchtime here across the pond)! I do like to take advantage of those who have tightened up but maybe its just that I am not reading them right as when I do attack them they beat me. Previous example being I have JJ, they have K10, or 66 for example and go all in, of course I call. They hit their K, or get their set on the flop. Sometimes I know ppl are going on tilt or limping with an A and lower kicker, and I'll win but more often than not, they double up due to a lucky flop.

Hi Snow, thanks, I'll give that a read now

Continuously going out on the bubble seems to be my specialty, however unlike you, I view this as a strength in my game, not a weakness.

To clarify - I go super LAG in and around the shorthanded tables and bubble situations. Usually drag my stack from the dregs to a power stack on final table (if I make it).

This strategy means I am usually going on to win a huge percentage of tournaments when I make it to the bubble. Indeed my stats for the last month are 25% ITM and 17% win (usually 45man 27man SNG).

I think you should really look to dominate the tables in and around the bubble and those times you get sucked out on - have a laugh and try again.

It happens to everyone. I've been on a bubble rampage lately. Last night I played a $3.30 90 man knockout on FTP and went out on the bubble. Had A7, went to steal the blinds, was called with A5 and he hit a 5. Another tourney I just did I flopped a set of A's and the other guy chased runner runner clubs to knock me out. I like to think I've been playing really well but have been getting dominated lately, it's very frustrated at times.

Originally Posted by pamrleader

Hi Snow, thanks, I'll give that a read now

Hi Pam, welcome to the forum! I think you'll be happy to know that you are definitely not alone in bubbling a lot. It goes along with the territory when playing SNGs and MTTs. The key is not to change your game up if you are playing your hands well near the bubble. Eventually things will turn around for you, and you'll build up a nice stack on the bubble!! Hang in there, and welcome again.

Hi
Welcome to CC, we all get our JJ beat sometimes

However there are things to have in mind like Position and you don't have to call unless you have very good hands.

Avoid calling go for raising and go for position play, always think that if a player shoves on the bubble he have AK(unless you have very good read on him) now with JJ you're on a flip there, so unless you're SS you just fold JJ you can even fold QQ unless he's SS the tricky cards to fold are the KK and AA ... be the raiser or the one who shove not the caller.

Your not the only one out there, every poker player finishes outside the bubble, but the tide will turn and you will start hitting your cards. You say bottom pair always outdraws you, the tide will turn and you will win those races. Good luck.

Thank you everyone for your comments...glad to know I'm not alone! This week I have had a bad run. Within the last couple of weeks I have cashed 15% of the time, so pretty poor even though one of the cashes was quite substantial. I have decided to give myself a week off playing, just to regroup. But it does make me feel better not being the only bubbler.

My most frustrating loss was on Saturday...there were 42 ppl left out of a 360 start, pay was at 36. I had AT suited and had a low to mid stack. Some guy kept raising it up every hand and most times he had a high card with a weak kicker. So in typical fashion he re-raised the blind, I went all in, he called with AJ off-suit. Two Jacks flopped so that was that. I am not losing with bad hands so that is something but recently I always lose with a decent hand. I have a decent stack and think that the short-stacks are taking chances. So I raise them up but it is ALWAYS when they have a better starting hand than me (even though mine is not too bad). Maybe its just unluck but afterwards I always think, why did I just not wait a bit longer??

Originally Posted by pamrleader

Maybe its just unluck but afterwards I always think, why did I just not wait a bit longer??

You would need to work on that results-oriented mentality. Pushing AT against that guy's range is definitely the right play. He happens to have a better hand than yours that time, **** happens.

The variance in MTTs are high. For example, the 180man sngs, 18 gets paid, so you'd expect to be ITM slightly more than 10% of the time. MTTs need a huge sample size and 100buy-in downswing is very common.

I don't know what stakes you play, but I'm assuming it's $10 or lower. People get insanely tight towards the bubble and that's the time you need to be the most active. There are situations you can exploit and just push close to ATC. The regulars at the lower stakes push very loose but I have not seen one that calls loose. If you play the higher stakes, the regulars in those games push very loose and calls pushes very loose.

We don't play MTTs to mincash. So take advantage of the bubble, steal, steal, steal! And build a nice chip stack to give you the best shot at winning.