Strategy for period between end of late reg and ITM?

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candide78

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Hi

Title says it all really. I have found myself doing okay early on but as people bust after late reg I find myself whittling away and just scraping min cashes. I'm probably being too risk averse.
What is a good strategy for this period in a large field microstakes mtt?
Thanks,
J.
 
eetenor

eetenor

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candide78 said:
Hi

Title says it all really. I have found myself doing okay early on but as people bust after late reg I find myself whittling away and just scraping min cashes. I'm probably being too risk averse.
What is a good strategy for this period in a large field microstakes mtt?
Thanks,
J.
Click to expand...


Thank you for posting

Usually when we think we are being risk adverse we are

The difficulty is in your card distribution at that point in the tournament. We should not be busting out being aggressive when we are being aggressive for the sake of the right way to play. What I mean is bluffing a calling station or trying to get weak players to fold top pair etc because winners are aggressive

What we want to be doing is recognizing when aggression is warranted and acting on it That requires you to hand review that stage of your tournaments and look to see if you actually had spots to act on or not.

This requires time to do range calculations for these spots. Where we go in depth on the data we have on our Villains and how it indicates a different line than the one we took

If you spend several hours doing the data analysis you will find you will not miss these spots as often in the moment

Hope this helps

:)
 
Poker_Mike

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candide78 said:
Hi

Title says it all really. I have found myself doing okay early on but as people bust after late reg I find myself whittling away and just scraping min cashes. I'm probably being too risk averse.
What is a good strategy for this period in a large field microstakes mtt?
Thanks,
J.
Click to expand...


For me the question is how often do you expect to do better than a min cash? How about a final table?

Because honestly you are entering the tournament as a short stack and don't have the odds in your favor.

Having said that I nit up and am grateful to make the money.

It's difficult to build appropriate ranges when you have not played with the players at the table before.

And sometimes - as soon as I think I have some players down on their ranges - the table breaks - and I'm up against a new set of players.

Good luck !
 
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gryphon3005

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I have seen many players, myself included, doing just 'ok' thru the early and middle stages of an mtt only their stack isn't big enough to give them comfort as the bubble approaches. I think the first step in correcting this is to play a little looser in the early stage. Look to have a bigger stack than you normally do entering the middle stretch. As late reg ends you are in a better position to add some aggression to your game instead of becoming risk averse with a smaller stack. Now you can attack the mid range stacks as the bubble arrives and watch them fold like you used to.
 
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fundiver199

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I dont think, there really is any particular strategy for this part of a tournament other than playing solid tournament poker. The main difference is, that when rebuy or reentry is no longer possible, it tends to be a bit easier to get bad players to fold, so you get a little extra fold equity. And finding those right spots to go on the attack with for instance a light rejam might be one of the keys to your lack of success.

That being said if you play in very large fields as those on pokerstars, then making it to the final table is extremely difficult, so most cashes will be min-cashes or something slightly above that. This is just the nature of those 1.000+ player tournaments. For me this is one of the reasons, why I play tournaments on 888 Poker. The fields there are smaller, which allow me to reach the final table much more frequently, and I also pay less rake.
 
mt2lhd

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MTTs are luck based in many ways, If you play on a loose table after Late reg you have less chance to steal the blinds and make your stack more powerful for deeper stages, If you see yourself on a shallower stack you will need a really good hand for keep the momentum,
but if you are risking your deep stacks and loosing so much:I think the problem here is not the way of playing and it's the mindset, Set your aim on playing just good poker and don't get greedy with this mindset you'll be able to focus on your table and your cards, I suggest don't even look what place you are in and how far you are from the money
 
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candide78

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eetenor said:
Thank you for posting

Usually when we think we are being risk adverse we are

The difficulty is in your card distribution at that point in the tournament. We should not be busting out being aggressive when we are being aggressive for the sake of the right way to play. What I mean is bluffing a calling station or trying to get weak players to fold top pair etc because winners are aggressive

What we want to be doing is recognizing when aggression is warranted and acting on it That requires you to hand review that stage of your tournaments and look to see if you actually had spots to act on or not.

This requires time to do range calculations for these spots. Where we go in depth on the data we have on our Villains and how it indicates a different line than the one we took

If you spend several hours doing the data analysis you will find you will not miss these spots as often in the moment

Hope this helps


:)
Click to expand...

Hi
Thanks for the reply, going through the hand histories and working on the ranges is a great idea thanks.
J.
 
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candide78

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Poker_Mike said:
For me the question is how often do you expect to do better than a min cash? How about a final table?

Because honestly you are entering the tournament as a short stack and don't have the odds in your favor.

Having said that I nit up and am grateful to make the money.

It's difficult to build appropriate ranges when you have not played with the players at the table before.

And sometimes - as soon as I think I have some players down on their ranges - the table breaks - and I'm up against a new set of players.


Good luck !
Click to expand...

Hi I'm starting early in the tournament generally. I can have a large stack after late reg and still just get whittled away.
Thanks J.
 
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candide78

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Thanks everyone for the replies.
J.
 
swerdnase

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If you have a large stack heading into the bubble, then you should think beyond hand ranges and start looking for situations to exploit. It's more about table dynamics and stack management at this point. Look to pick up small pots and pad your stack to give yourself a buffer for the eventual coin flips you'll have to encounter.
 
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