When you stagnate in a MTT Tourney

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Eclipsenz

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Hey all I mainly just lurk been on and off poker for about 5 years now have hit my stride making some good reads and plays..

And my BR is now increasing quite rapidly since I now have decided to stick to one format which is the 9 man SNGs, with 40% ITM and 60% more firsts then anything else.

However now what do I wanna know is how do you maintain your A game through long periods.. I mean hell I was playing close to my optimum for the 6 hours I endured but eventually got fed up and imploded after once being 2k in chips when blinds were getting high, to going no where.. I wasn't hitting flops, wasn't getting cards, wern't even many spots to steal blinds, I however managed to maintain my stack.. on about 90k for 3 hours... and then once I knew people were tightening up I got 2 agro blew half my stack on a bluff the ran into kk a few hands later and blew up.

Do you mentally tell yourself the dos and donts? Cause I am lost as I've noticed its becoming a pattern then I sooner or later eventually implode focused on others rather than myself and made an ill timed bluff which if I decided to refrain myself, who knows coulda gone much much deeper..

So anyone wanna share a few tips, I have no problems with long sessions in general its just when a session is on one game...

Thinking maybe next time don't even look at the lobby, don't even worry about the average stack, nothing. just focus on my chips, people at my table and the cards.
 
tARsh

tARsh

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Ive had months in my preferred SnG (45 mans) where I played at under a 1% ROI whereas Ive had months where I played at a 47% ROI... Just keep grinding assuming you are long run profitable and havent changed your game lately.

One thing to keep in mind, any sample under 1000 of a game is subject to a decent amount of variance interpretation.

Yes dont let anything rock your boat, music helps me or sometimes even background movies. Also having enough tables up to fully occupy me helps as well as I dont have time to dwell on a bad beat etc.
Forces me to keep going and keeps in my mind that I dont have to win them all just more than I lose :D
 
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Shadowman647

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I find that if you have a couple of other tables up (even just freerolls) takes your mind off the stagnant period between good hands. You don't focus completely on the table 100% of the time. Normally I'll play the first 20 hands at a tournament table, get my reads, then pull up a couple cheap tournaments or freerolls and dedicate about 50% of my attention span on them to avoid focusing on the main tournament and succumbing to desperate action playing.
 
tARsh

tARsh

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I find that if you have a couple of other tables up (even just freerolls) takes your mind off the stagnant period between good hands. You don't focus completely on the table 100% of the time. Normally I'll play the first 20 hands at a tournament table, get my reads, then pull up a couple cheap tournaments or freerolls and dedicate about 50% of my attention span on them to avoid focusing on the main tournament and succumbing to desperate action playing.


Ehhh I don't like this.
Every table you have up needs to have the same degree of importance to you imo. If they dont then you are abstractly delegating yourself to play worse at certain tables.
 
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Shadowman647

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Ehhh I don't like this.
Every table you have up needs to have the same degree of importance to you imo. If they dont then you are abstractly delegating yourself to play worse at certain tables.

That's the thing about Freerolls. For a majority of the time, you only need to play your hand due to the fish.
 
PapaC

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You know I have the same happen to me. At the start I hardly catch any call/raise hands and like you none I can steal blinds, but some how I maintain my chip stack until first break and then it seems I start catching a few good hands. All I can say is when your game is going like that and you know it, don't do any bluffing and be a little more patient. And that is a good thing to do not looking in tourny lobby. I do it all the time and it is a distraction. GL anyway with your games
 
suby_rafael

suby_rafael

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To improve your mental game may i suggest a book. It is called "The Mental game of Poker" and is by Jared Tendler.

He also has a podcast called "The mental Game Podcast" - so if you are not a reader you can listen to it. It has poker pros on frequently giving tips. Amateur and professionals call him up and he does a session with them, understands their mental vulnerabilities, does discussions and provides solutions. So i am sure if you do any of the above the mental aspect your game will improve.:icon_thum
 
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AviCKter

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Happens to me a lot too. The only mantra is "FOCUS", some caffeine and small break away from computer (during breaks) should do fine or atleast we hope so. :)
 
romych007

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I usually play tournaments in a relaxed state so I'm less react to a bad game players and not lose my temper
 
Largebalance

Largebalance

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I try to just not allow the dry periods get to me, it does seem at times I go for hours without having a pair of cards I can even call the BB with.. I find whining and complaining to the table helps to get past the dead zone.
 
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mycophile

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I agree with PapaC here in not looking at the tournament lobby. I find I personally play a LOT worse if I know the bubble is close to popping. However knowing when the blinds are going to raise can be beneficial if there's a short stack behind you. Tilting is just a part of the game though- just have to learn to take one hand at a time.
 
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