Be Selective

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Running Nose II

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Want to win more hands? Of course you do, and the answer is quite simple. Do not play any old cards you are dealt and be more selective. Raise the selection of cards you will play from each position, and soon enough you will become a winning player.
 
BubbleWizard

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This sounds great but sometimes after you play for 2 - 3 hours in a tournament you get tired and from the lack of good hands you start playing "some bad hands"

Your advice is great, just hard to actually do it :)
 
shinedown.45

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This sounds great but sometimes after you play for 2 - 3 hours in a tournament you get tired and from the lack of good hands you start playing "some bad hands"

Your advice is great, just hard to actually do it :)
Patience is key in poker, do not enter MTTs if you don't have the patience for them, you'll just lose money.
 
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ph_il

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Patience is key in poker, do not enter MTTs if you don't have the patience for them, you'll just lose money.
Patience only goes so far in MTTs, especially when stacks get shallow as blinds go up.

You can't always wait for big hands and sometimes have to pick spots to steal blinds or even play back at some people with 3bets/3bet shoves. If you're playing the patient game, hopefully your tight image works to your advantage when you make these plays.

I see these 'patient' players all the time in MTTs who let their stack dwindle down to 3 BBs or less, waiting for a big hand. There is such a thing as being too patient and I'm a big believer that it's better to take a risk when you still have a decent stack to shove than it is to wait until its too late.

Lets say you have J7s on the BTN with 13 BBs. 5 players limp in before you. With antes, there are 7.4 BBs in the pot already. J7s isn't a great hand, but i'd shove in this spot.

-I still have decent fold equity with a 13 BB jam. The pot is more than 50% of my stack, which is a huge boost. No one is showing any strength and if Ive been playing tight, I can use that too my advantage.
-If I get called, I have good equity against mid pairs 22-66 and hands that don't share either of my cards. So, going against AK or K10 isn't that bad. If I double up, I'm at 30 BBs.
-If I get coolered and run into AA it doesn't really matter what hand I shove with.

So, taking this risk with J7s is a bit risky, but it's a great spot to get my money in and try to pick up the pot. You could say I have the option to check, but I really dont want to play post flop as Im not hitting the flop strong enough, often enough to make post flop play profitable. Most of the time, I'm check/folding and giving up this great spot.

Now, same scenario as above, but now you have JJ on the BTN, but only 3 BBs. How confident are you going to be shoving 3 BBs into a 7.4 BB pot? How confident are you playing JJ vs 5 opponents?

Probably not very.
 
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ph_il

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Too late to edit.

Can a mod delete my above post?
 
antonis32123

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I know you need to be selective and have patience when you play MTTs , but still I have problem with the hands I select to play , as a result I cannot built (large) stacks , so maybe I play too nit nowadays , I might need to learn to play a bit more loose at the beginning of a tournament and in the middle to raise more and shove when I should and not wait until it's too late (3,4,5 blinds), I don't know , I'm studying these days to improve my gameplay :angel: .
 
CadoARAJ

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Patience is key in poker, do not enter MTTs if you don't have the patience for them, you'll just lose money.

Exact. Do not enter MTT if you are tired or in a hurry or you will may leave the tournament in some hours due to an appoitment. Last week, I become third place in a MTT with almost 1000 players [buy in 0,5$] and receive a 28,75$ prize. In the final table, almost players were tired and sleepy and made too many errors. I was in 9 place chips and finished in 3td,
 
Andrey Smirnov

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Yeah. I once lost ft of big 1.1 like a idiot with and was kicked out 6th and got only 151$ with 998 fo first((
 
Mitchel Roebuck

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I see ppl folding like 30 cards over waiting for that one good hand all the time, you got to play what you get sometimes ad in a lil acting too
 
luiaguila

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That is correct if you want to be a great player be patient and always try to win do not miss the opportunities
 
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karl coakley

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A good rule of thumb for beginning players is play cards that can make a royal flush or pairs. That usually will keep you in a decent range.
 
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dayo777

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I was patient until it happens several badbets.:pcguru:
..then become too aggressive, because I want to get back the lost chips
 
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Alessix3

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A good rule of thumb for beginning players is play cards that can make a royal flush or pairs. That usually will keep you in a decent range.

As long as the ante, Bb and Sb don't eat you before 😑, sometimes you have to be bold 😉
 
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bigjay2007

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I truly think this is the single thing that separates very good from moderate poker players. Being selective doesn't guarantee success but surely improves ones chances of success. Boredom, complaciency and impulsivness will hurt you at the poker table for sure.
 
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dayo777

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of course, but better to hurt the freeroll than on a big tournament :icon_blac
 
LD1977

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You might want to check out my Hand Quality series (link in signature) for individual analysis of various starting hands.
 
allinraw

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play tight and have patience..be more selective on what hands you play and don't play many hands..be more smart on position
 
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karl coakley

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As long as the ante, Bb and Sb don't eat you before 😑, sometimes you have to be bold 😉

While learning, I don't think that is as important.

The range I posted is pretty wide. If you are looking to shove in the 10-15bb range, I think you do okay.

Opening your range wider takes more skill that comes with time and playing. The range I suggested keeps a novice from having to make hard decisions. I think you can cash pretty easy this way also.

A solid range, good aggression, and stay ahead of the blinds is a good start for novice players.
 
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CallmeFloppy

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I think being more selective will cause you to win fewer hands but will greatly reduce the amount you lose.
 
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bstest

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On line MTTs are the worst, but I play them. So many players try to triple up in the beginning. Before you know it your a certified short stack. On line patience just does not work, however the only thing that does is luck in the early game
 
apeedgovi

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While learning, I don't think that is as important.

The range I posted is pretty wide. If you are looking to shove in the 10-15bb range, I think you do okay.

Opening your range wider takes more skill that comes with time and playing. The range I suggested keeps a novice from having to make hard decisions. I think you can cash pretty easy this way also.

A solid range, good aggression, and stay ahead of the blinds is a good start for novice players.

This is really good advice, my game improved significantly once I actually started to keep an eye on my opening range. And position of course.
 
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