Middle Tournament Issues

I think the biggest problem with my tournaments (2-5 table SNG's, but probably MTT's too) is with my play in the middle of tournaments. I'm generally a tight player and somewhere between a rock and a mouse. Once I have chips I generally don't lose them with losing hands but from time and blinds chipping away at me. I understand to be going after medium stacks as the bubble is approaching and picking up chips during that time, but between the beginning and that point in a tournament I think is wen I'm not playing enough hands. I hate getting re raised at this stage of SNG's because folding a raise trying to pick up blinds is a significant % loss of chips. I've been limping with more hands than normal form the button and CO to try and correct this issue and picking up the pots after the flop if the blinds check. Any other things I should be trying?

I used to have the same problem.

What I started to do? When the antes comes, I started to play suited connectors, low pocket pairs and Ax, always raising then.

The results were fabulous.

Stop being a nit. Limping first in from the button or CO is just so weak. If it's folded to you in late position you should be raising a fairly wide range to steal blinds especially when there are antes as well. How wide depends on your table image and the players in the blinds.

Remember that fold equity relies on aggression. Letting the blinds see a flop cheap and betting when they check is not good poker. Any competent player will see what you are doing and will check his good made hands to you and donk a % of the rest as a bluff.

You don't have to get ridiculous about raising from late position but if the blinds are tight you can steal a lot of blinds. If they 3 bet light or seem to then you must tighten up or even 4 bet them light if they are really getting out of line.

Also squeezing a bunch of players that flat call a raise can get you quite a few chips as well as just plain abusing players that limp call too much. Abusing limp callers is worth a lot of chips especially if they play strictly fit/fold and don't give you much of a hard time.

Against overly aggro players the light 3 bet can get you a few chips as well as getting your premium hands paid more often because people will give you less credit.

popowich said:

I think the biggest problem with my tournaments (2-5 table SNG's, but probably MTT's too) is with my play in the middle of tournaments. I'm generally a tight player and somewhere between a rock and a mouse. Once I have chips I generally don't lose them with losing hands but from time and blinds chipping away at me. I understand to be going after medium stacks as the bubble is approaching and picking up chips during that time, but between the beginning and that point in a tournament I think is wen I'm not playing enough hands. I hate getting re raised at this stage of SNG's because folding a raise trying to pick up blinds is a significant % loss of chips. I've been limping with more hands than normal form the button and CO to try and correct this issue and picking up the pots after the flop if the blinds check. Any other things I should be trying?

Click to expand...

Do you ever try and come back over the top of the re raiser? I know you think this sounds like a risky move, but I find this to work quite often. Your imagine should be of a tight player based on your own description of your style of play. Don't try it all the time, but it should work enough times to keep your stack up more often. Your worried about the amount of chips you lose to folding to a re raise, but think of the amount you pick up by getting a re raiser to fold.

volpereira said:

I used to have the same problem.

What I started to do? When the antes comes, I started to play suited connectors, low pocket pairs and Ax, always raising then.

The results were fabulous.

Click to expand...

Suited connectors and low pockets are also good to play early on with small blinds as well since they make strong hands when they hit and are easily discarded when they don't. Even from early position on a table where there isn't much 3 betting going on they can be played profitably. Once the blinds get higher generally just play them from late position.

When you are the chip-leader it is necessary to use a situation and to try to steal blinds as it is possible is more often, especially when you in a position. Other players should respect your stack and be afraid of you. On button and CO you must reise as it is possible is more often, also you should play reise in an average position with wider range than usually

popowich said:

I think the biggest problem with my tournaments (2-5 table SNG's, but probably MTT's too) is with my play in the middle of tournaments. I'm generally a tight player and somewhere between a rock and a mouse. Once I have chips I generally don't lose them with losing hands but from time and blinds chipping away at me. I understand to be going after medium stacks as the bubble is approaching and picking up chips during that time, but between the beginning and that point in a tournament I think is wen I'm not playing enough hands. I hate getting re raised at this stage of SNG's because folding a raise trying to pick up blinds is a significant % loss of chips. I've been limping with more hands than normal form the button and CO to try and correct this issue and picking up the pots after the flop if the blinds check. Any other things I should be trying?

Click to expand...

Stack sizes & player reads are very important. ALSO.. never limp!!! (but also, when on a stack size of ~14-20bb.. depending upon how late it is.. (cuz reallly late in the 45's.. pretty much nobody is on 20bb but am referring to mid stage).. you for sure don't want to be raise/folding. So look to the size of the stacks on your left.. if they're perfect re-steal sized stacks.. & players are 'capable'.. then you typically need to tighten up on your preflop hand selection.(don't raise with hands ur not willing to go all the way with... < in most cases)
Also, as blinds go up.. try raising smaller preflop... ie. 2.2-2.5x bb. This will be big enough to steal the blinds & in some spots keeps it from having you $'d in to call the resteal stack's shove(&..when you have a monster it'll give villain the belief that they might still have some fold equity with their shove... so it's win win...& you lose less when the steal doesn't work). Also, by raising smaller amounts it keeps the pot smaller & makes postflop decision easier (& less costly). You know how when you're on say 20bb's in these.. and you raise pre.. then cbet what appears to be a good flop to do so.. but then get called or check-raised or whatever.. it's quite costly. If the pot had been smaller it'll cost you less to do the same thing.
(note.. 2.2-2.5x raises are not 'girly raises' <<.. as I've heard you refer to them as. Instead they are very commonly used by the present online (& now live) Top ranked MTT players in the world).

In mid-levels... .play according to stack size... look for spots to resteal shove over overly aggress LP steals. Don't worry about it appearing as if it's a bit of an overshove. Villain will be hard pressed to make the call (although again.. 'player read dependent'). If they're a reg., it's quite likely that they won't be stealing light if they themselves are on say a 16-20bb stack size so keep that in mind.

I tend to open up my game and get the feel for the table and how they are reacting. Then I pick out the spots that to take advatage of. Playing low connectors is a good dicission are raising with them is the best option. I'm usually not a fan of limping in and letting the blinds hit some wierd cards. If there is alot of action still at the table in this stage though I plan to play tight and pick my spots well.

This thread is really old, not sure why it was brought back to life today, but I have some insight anyways. I used to have huge trouble in the mid stages of tourneys, and eventually I realized that I wasn't stealing the blinds nearly enough with a 30-50 bb stack. Especially when antes are in play, you want to be taking down a ton of pots without showdown when possible, as you obviously don't need the best hand to win an uncontested pot. Focus on raising often 2.2-2.5x in position and usually cbetting postflop when the other players are equally as deep as you are (when they cant' just check shove they are much less likely to check with the intention of bluff-raising). Many MTT players are highly skilled at playing with a stack below 30 bbs, but playing with a bigger stack than that is where the true poker skill comes into play rather than just restealing and pushbotting.

It's not that old, and Poker Orifice is one of my favorite posters, so always happy to have some feedback. I've been working on it. What tends to happen is I put the pressure on in the wrong spots and end up getting myself into a donk situation. I have trouble with making small bets. For whatever reason I'm geared toward all-in or fold decisions (which cost me in my thread from last Sunday). At least it's clicking in my head more often and think if I can call and see a flop or make a small bet from position but now and then I still have the tendency to snap shove when I shouldn't be. The next great feature from Full Tilt would be the option to enable (default: disabled) an "Are you sure?" box every time you go all-in. Make me think twice before doing it.

Stick to small ball poker when you have the chips to do it. If you find yourself in the push/fold mentality too early, perhaps a good way to practice small ball and deep stacked play would be to come out to Vegas and take a crack at one of the $350 Venetian Deep Stacked events. Caeser's Palace also has a similar series. For some reason, the slow pace and long blind levels of live deepstacked tourney play makes you see that you need to be opening often and getting involved. You don't have to jump right into advanced plays like 3bet bluffing with the intention of folding or 4bet bluff shoving 40 bb stacks (knowing when to do these plays is much more important than just knowing how to click the buttons), but if you look at your stats and you are winning like 5% of hands at a 9 handed table in the middle of a tourney, you are just bleeding off chips and throwing away your chance at a final table.

omg why would you limp then bet when they check, why not raise with a wider range on the Button or CO and take the blinds down without them seeing a flop...you're giving them a chance to hit a lucky hand aka BB special

Once you find out who at the table you can bully, execute but dont make it an easily read pattern

btw i am not trying to sound like i want to make you look like an idiot its just how i talk lol

LOL @ the "Are You Sure" warning... <--- great idea, lol.
I tell a friend (often)... 'take your time'... think it through... make use of your extra time button... take a bit of time with all of your decisions (even the simpler ones) as it'll get you in practise for doing it regularly.