Advice to go deep - MTTs on Stars

I have been playing recreationally for 7 or 8 years now and have donated for most of those years.

I am now at a crossroads where I am able to play more than I used to and feel that MTTs are the way to go.

I have played at most sites and over time fell out of love with all of them apart from Stars and playing low stakes Limit HE to boost my BR at FT and NoiQ (I suggest anyone needing a bankroll boost go there for a few sessions).

Recently started MTTs on Stars with ROI 31% and finishes as follows (mostly $2 180s and $2 sats)

MTT Avg. Finish%
Early 5% (10%)
EM 18% (20%)
Mid. 40% (40%)
ML 20% (20%)
Late 17% (10%)

I tend to blind myself away by being too tight. I also doubt my holding against others 'potential range' as I seem to always fear an A high flop instead of attacking it.

Is it just a case of playing well and letting luck take you through or out (KK v AA shove pre when short staked etc) and adding volume to make the grade or is there a specific technique to grab hold of such as ICM or using M to target my moves.

I understand and use position, starting hands are no issue so maybe it is just time and patience to hit the big score?

Any advice would be fantastic

In the vast majority of MTTs, you lose.

advice:
1. Make TPTK and get paid.
2. Get it in pre with AK whenever you can.
3. steal in late position
4. resteal from the BB
5. be willing to take more risks as your M gets lower obv.
6. attack the medium stacks who are just trying to survive

One piece of advice to incorporate into your strategy, is that at some point you'll need to win a few hands when your behind. Nobody wins a tournament without getting "lucky" a few times.

baudib1 said:

In the vast majority of MTTs, you lose.

advice:
1. Make TPTK and get paid.
2. Get it in pre with AK whenever you can.
3. steal in late position
4. resteal from the BB
5. be willing to take more risks as your M gets lower obv.
6. attack the medium stacks who are just trying to survive

Click to expand...

Play the suited connectors, small PP's and Ax suited!

Thanks for the help, I think I will try keep better track of M and makes some moves earlier than I do.

No point doing it when it won't hurt anyone I suppose

volpereira said:

Play the suited connectors, small PP's and Ax suited!

Click to expand...

Only do so near the beginning of the tournament when the blinds are low, or if you're bigstacked and you have an M > 20.

Agreed, I now have Tournament Indicator so that I can see my and others M quickly, also shows VPIP and gives an indication of odds, simple in theory to play tight and make moves against the tigher players in position.

Still finding the $2 tourneys ok, but not able to make the money as often as I would like due to plenty of all in monkeys who take serious risks IMO.

Just my 2 cents worth

180 field are to large for a new on line player I started on 1.10 stt and 27 and 45 man ( still play when I'm going througha bad patch) they are a good way to learn what to play. Most players play to many hands... make sure you take note on these players taking notes and colour coding as a NIT LAG TAG etc will help you not only in the game your playing but you will more than lightly come across the same players again.

Personally I play to win... just making the money isn't why I play, most of the cash is divided between the top 3, I prefer to take risks on the bubble than make a min cash

Your a good player and ROI like yours is a real achievment and you should be pleased

try to step outside your comfert zone, gamble a little bit in hands and get a feel off what the odds are and try to use a little more calculation

Thanks guys, I have started opening up more and feel good about my general play. I am still making mistakes and need to concentrate more.

If u start playing a little bit loose .. do not bluff for no reason cose ppl start doing that when they do not hit the flop and they become pot commited.

going deep in a tourney has alot to do with how many times your hands hold up, butother then that you must know how to bluff, stealing pots you werent meant to win is the key to maintaning or uping your chipstack, your not always going to get big hands so what are you going to do when you dont, bluffff.

play position, & stay super tight

Doing ok now, I think 1 thing I have to realise is that MTTs are luckfests at the $1 & $2 levels. I have just played another $1 45 man and did well only to be beaten AK v AQ.

I am looking at an ITM% around 19 at the moment with current profits of around $90 so not doing too bad.

Expectation level of anything more than 20% ITM for now seems aver the top.

What do other players look for?

you wanna try to resteal pots, that is how you go deep into tournaments, restealing is key and when you learn this you will be 2wice as good as anybody else

baudib1 said:

In the vast majority of MTTs, you lose.

advice:
1. Make TPTK and get paid.
2. Get it in pre with AK whenever you can.
3. steal in late position
4. resteal from the BB
5. be willing to take more risks as your M gets lower obv.
6. attack the medium stacks who are just trying to survive

Click to expand...

another good post - concise & informative & on the money

OP, also learn about playing different stack sizes & making necessary adjustments (ie. resteal-sized stack = ~14-22bb's, look to shove over a LP steal or someone's who's been raising wide/often, etc. etc.).

As far as playing SC's & low pp's, not only do you want to have a fairly deepstack (as suggested) but effective stacks must also be deep, otherwise you're not getting the implied odds to play these hands.

For a beginning/intermediate(?) tournament player, the Harrington On Holdem Series (vol.1 & 2 - tournament play) are a good resource to gain a foundation.
Other books to consider after these are 'Kill Everyone' (newest edition) & my personal favourite >> Winning Poker Tournaments - One Hand At A Time. (<< excellent book!).

Thanks guys, will check out those books

baudib1 said:

In the vast majority of MTTs, you lose.

advice:
1. Make TPTK and get paid.
2. Get it in pre with AK whenever you can.
3. steal in late position
4. resteal from the BB
5. be willing to take more risks as your M gets lower obv.
6. attack the medium stacks who are just trying to survive

Click to expand...

Personally I hate re stealing from the BB with any two cards. Late position will not always be stealing. They would have a decent hand. Also if they do, they usually end up calling your raise and then your lost post flop. Strongly protecting your blinds is overrated in my opinion and could cost you . If you have a decent hand, then feel free to re steal, but not with the any two cards fly steal.

Of course many more things would factor into your decision like how often late position is stealing, his stack size, stages, ect. It all comes down to the moment. I'm not a master of MTT, so you'd be better off listening to the other pros here! ; )

Watch your opponents and how they play. Any tracker helps a lot!
Write down how they play, so that you remember them!
And you have to make some moves in leter stages with cards you wouldn´t play in the beginning...
Nobody wins without being lucky, that´s true!
And many times you will not reach the money, so try to play for the victory not reaching the money.

i think that learning the art of restealing is the way to go deep into tournaments, especially when your cards arent going the way you would normally like them to go, learn the art of stealing pots and you will up your game double what it is now

Alot of good info in this thread I also think the Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time by Apestyles, Rizen and PearlJammer is very good reading, only read the first one, dont have the second yet

I have bought both the Winning Poker Tournaments and the Collin Moshman Sng Strategy book which I am reading first while doing 100 $3 sngs. I am doing these in a 2 week period to see if I can make money, instead of just being a recreational player. See thread here https://www.cardschat.com/forum/poker-goals-challenges-wins-46/time-give-go-174015/