Getting sick of being almost good

I have been a member for a while but i haven't made much posts. I have been playing poker more often lately and what i have been trying to do is play in freerolls or small buy-in tournies until my game improves. Lately i have been doing rather well but it seems i always run into the same problem. In the beginning of a tournament i play aggressive and usually get towards the top of the leaderboard and then as time progresses everybody catches up and i end the tournament right before the places being paid. If the top ten get money, i will get 11th. If its the top 3 you can count on me being 4 or 5. On Cool Hand Poker they have an ipod freeroll where first gets an ipod, second gets an ipod shuffle, and third gets 20 bucks. I have gotten 4th place twice! Its beginning to piss me off, especially when i have spent hours in some tourny just to end up almost making some cash. I would rather just go all in on my first hand, lose, and make the same as i do if i spend 2 hours and get beat right before the money. I know someone can't really tell me how to improve without knowing anything about my play, but maybe somebody has some suggestions. thanks

Ryan

Hmmm, I am larning to play less hands as it get closer to being ITM. I'm even learning how to fold K's and Q's instead of putting it all on a hand that can be beat.

konawajim said:

Hmmm, I am larning to play less hands as it get closer to being ITM. I'm even learning how to fold K's and Q's instead of putting it all on a hand that can be beat.

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It's impossible to stress how wrong this is.

There's situations where folding QQ can be ok, but if you never fold QQ preflop you'll not be making to many mistakes.

Folding KK preflop in MTTs is suicide.


As for the OP, MTTs are about patience. I've won a fair bit at tournaments but I'm down a bit so far this year. Doesn't matter, stick your game and in the long run (which is very long) it will come good. There's no shortcut to winning tournies.

I would rather just go all in on my first hand, lose, and make the same as i do if i spend 2 hours and get beat right before the money.

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Thats exactly why you need to take some risks EARLY in a tournament. If you get knocked out, theres always another one open for registration.

Dont worry to get busted that much. Just look for opportunities to accumulate chips as fast as possible.. The rising blinds are always there to worry about, so go for it!

On the "bubble" (right before the paid places) there are different strategys that can be very useful. (maybe try to search the forum for "bubble")
You need to find the people who are in the exact same situation you always get busted. In a SCARED one. Look who wants to fold his way to the money and attack their blinds and so on..

Playing on the bubble has been a difficult one for me. Sometimes its about playing how many people are left as opposed to what you have in your hand. A lot of people tighten up around the bubble, so if you have a strong aggro game you can stack up the chips nicely. The other option is to join the crowd and wait for others to tilt themselves out.

I would also suggest posting a few key hands that busted you on here and see if there is a leak in your game.

Keep plugging and you'll start cashing in no time.

It sounds like you need to tighten up as you near the final stack.

While aggression is maybe THE most important factor as you approach ITM, you also need to know when to fold to resistance. It's overly easy to steal blinds on final tables and on the bubble, so make sure you use this to your advantage. At the same time though, don't become so loose that you're stealing blinds with 72o. Make them defendable post flop as well.

Finally, it sounds as though you enter the late stages of the tournament with an above average stack. The biggest problem most people have is learning how to use their large stack to their advantage. The most important thing to learn is that shorter stacks fear you unless they have a really good hand or they have realized how to outplay you. Continue to switch up your game and change gears constantly. Also remember that you can play the exact same game you were playing when you were a shortstack as when you have a large one. Continue being patient and don't let your stack size affect your hand decision if you are desperate to make it ITM.

Gl on the felts.

Did you read this? Just posted a few days ago. Might help. Also, look around in the strategy section-some very good stuff there to help you.


https://www.cardschat.com/forum/tournament-poker-59/


P.S. to whoever-Don't fold KK preflop. At lower limits, if nothing else, just push the bastards. You'll win more times then not.

I think you should play a little tight early on in MTTs. Then get casually aggressive as the tournament progresses. This works great for me. It should help even just a little. I know how you feel about getting busted on the bubble. It really sucks. When it gets close to the money finishes you should play aggressive because most people will play tight and you need to take advantage of that. But be careful for trappers. Mixing up your game is also a good strategy.

sounds like youre doing pretty good if youre getting close to the bubble in a freeroll thats no small accomplishment. keep it up and youll break thru eventually. good luck

Freerolls are always hard to cash in.
People tend to play the 'lotto' style early on.
Since it didn't cost anything they go all-in with mediocre hands.

I tend to play tight for the first few rounds and check what the other players are doing. If you carefully watch them you can usually catch a little bit of their betting trends.

As the tourney progresses start to open up your game. Use your chips to bully the smaller stacks whenever possible. I like to play small pot poker till I build up a stack.

All that being said, I played 5 sit n go's recently and couldn't cash in any of them.
The next day I played 4 more and cashed in three of them.

Hang in there

Good luck out there

Checkout Tournament Shark sortware. You will be suprised how few players are in money won. Maybe 2 or 3 at a 9 player micro sng table. They will be the tag ones at the table.
DuaneK

in the first hour of a tourney specially if it is a freeroll a play tight and let the donks do their all ins only play selected good starting hands, best time to steal blinds in in a tournament is before the bubble cause most of the players are scared to be kicked out , after the bubble you should play more tight, it happened to me that im doing very well til first break then Holdem turns into Foldem and a lot of patience is required, i dont play so many hands then and always watch how many players are left, whats the average chip stack and try to stay in the flow...

Getting sick of being almost good

I have been a member for a while but i haven't made much posts. I have been playing poker more often lately and what i have been trying to do is play in freerolls or small buy-in tournies until my game improves. Lately i have been doing rather well but it seems i always run into the same problem. In the beginning of a tournament i play aggressive and usually get towards the top of the leaderboard and then as time progresses everybody catches up and i end the tournament right before the places being paid. If the top ten get money, i will get 11th. If its the top 3 you can count on me being 4 or 5. On Cool Hand Poker they have an ipod freeroll where first gets an ipod, second gets an ipod shuffle, and third gets 20 bucks. I have gotten 4th place twice! Its beginning to piss me off, especially when i have spent hours in some tourny just to end up almost making some cash. I would rather just go all in on my first hand, lose, and make the same as i do if i spend 2 hours and get beat right before the money. I know someone can't really tell me how to improve without knowing anything about my play, but maybe somebody has some suggestions. thanks
loco
Ryan
Well that means ur playin good poker just be a little more patient when getting close to the money or prizes and u shall get there its terrible to spend hours in the tourney to get nothing but we have all done it . Just got to keep playing ur best hands and if u think about it was there 4 or 5 hands in the tourney that maybe u shouldn’t of played sometimes that’s all it takes to get in to the itm gl.

One thing that has improved my game a bit in MTTs is not bleeding chips as much. Say your the small blind, everyone limps in, you have 29 off....fold. I use to limp any small blind. But after 50 of these thats a good portion of your stack. So I limit my limps to a certain # per tourney, thus I usually limp with mediocure hands instead of bad ones. Save some chips and better odds when I do bleed them.
Mine you, I still bubble alot, but I am doing better than before. Any and every small improvement right?!?!

DogzBestFrnd said:

One thing that has improved my game a bit in MTTs is not bleeding chips as much. Say your the small blind, everyone limps in, you have 29 off....fold. I use to limp any small blind. But after 50 of these thats a good portion of your stack. So I limit my limps to a certain # per tourney, thus I usually limp with mediocure hands instead of bad ones. Save some chips and better odds when I do bleed them.
Mine you, I still bubble alot, but I am doing better than before. Any and every small improvement right?!?!

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Good advice, imo. I try to be pretty selective in the hands I will limp in with. There are just some hands that aren't worth playing. The chip cost of chasing them far outweighs any occassional win.

It would be interesting to see your stats for a normal game. I would bet that you are playing too many hands. When the blinds are low you get away with playing A rag, Q10 etc without a big penalty. But when the blinds go up playing these hands is costly. Adopt a tighter game plan in the latte stages of a game but when you do get the biggies i.e. high pocket pairs or AK you then have to be aggresive. Good luck.