Strategy for playing live MTT. (vs donks)

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i aint assd

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Ive given everything a go in poker, decent results in SNG grinding, varying results in MTTs but very good results playing cash.

Ive started going to a local casino near me for some live experience, its really quite shocking how terrible literally every single one of them is, and the best ones are just nits that never get anywhere anyway haha

anyway ive played quite a lot of cash there now and seem to know exactly how to play these donks to earn a good amount most times i go, but every time i go theres always tornaments running aswell before the cash starts..they are very tempting but i just HATE live MTTs so much, im prob down overall and played quite a lot, i just have no idea how to play people this bad in them, im not sure wether just being a nit being ABC works the best, as i rely a lot on hand reading skills when i play, which cant really be applied well to these as nothing the players do make any logical sense.

I find once i get a stack in the later stages im much more comfortable, because this time it really does show on thier half playing too many hands/playing them wrong when the blinds are very big and it gets easy. These are the kind of problems i run into towards the start..

So its mainly the first 2/3 of the tornament im really unsure how to go about, i mean for example say i pick up something like AK early on, making a standard 3x raise just is pointless, as 80% of the table will call, and even if my A or K comes im unlikely to have the best hand, and even when i am ahead my huge cbet will be called by a couple, and ANY turn card is bad card for me (except A/K) as they play such a wide fishy range. So making a different kind of raise pre (say 10x), will help thinning the field a bit, but say the flop comes Q92 or something, making any kind of cbet here is SUICIDE, im getting called by any pair, any gutshot, any back door, so ive just maybe surrendered 10 BBs from my 70BB stack or whatever i may have which i cant afford to do so easily.

Im hoping someone with good experience could point in the right direction here? There must be SOME way of going into these things with a good shot :p

Cheers!
 
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omegajoe

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what i always do in those cases is to shove the turn, raise mre pre (5-7bb), bet the pot on the flop and shove turn
 
nc_royals

nc_royals

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what i always do in those cases is to shove the turn, raise mre pre (5-7bb), bet the pot on the flop and shove turn

This strategy sounds like it will work..... all but one time

and youre out
 
dufferdevon

dufferdevon

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Don't fall into their game. Play your own. Raise 3x BB preflop with AK, hopefully someone will re-raise you and you shove and take their chips. Or you get 4 callers. If you miss the flop, don't try to bluff a calling station, you just lose more chips. but when you hit, bet 3/4 to pot, if they call you chasing, well great !! Keep making it a mistake for them to chase by not giving them the right odds to chase.

MTTs have a high variance, most good online players only cash less than one in five times. I'm sure its the same for live MTTs as well.

For me personally, There is a regular monthly game I have been going to for almost a year now (40 players). In the 10 games I have been to, I have cashed in it twice, a 3rd and a 5th. And I have won an 80 player tourney, playing only 6 hands to the river, before the final table. Five of those hands doubled me up.

Stick with it, keep playing solid poker, don't bluff the calling stations and you'll win one before you know it.
 
TEG2300

TEG2300

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I play a fair amount of low buy in MTT live and I a agree the play in general is very poor. The most profitable over all strategy I have found is to increase my pot control and position. Early in a tournament like the ones you have described I am looking to play solid ABC and avoid any huge pots with out almost knowing that I am better than 70/30. It seems to me that having the patients to be more selective pays off big. If the field was tougher I would play more hands because I could get people off of hands and also I would be able to asses range with more accuracy. However when the villain doesn't even know enough to be scarred or might look like they are bluffing when in reality they just think their hand is better than it is, I have become more willing to wait.
In short I try to get in to see flops cheap with hands that I can make better than one pair (ie suited connectors) and then keep in mind that most other players think that top pair is unbeatable. Also I have to tell myself (sometimes outloud) do not tell them a story they can't understand.
 
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groggy44

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if you are playing against donks live, just sit back and play what I call "Catch and Smash" poker. Play your normal hands. suited connectors, pp, Broadway cards, etc. When you hit the flop hard, top 2 or better, just starting betting in relation to stack size. who cares if there's only 300 chips in the pot. you flop a set of 7, stick 1000 chips in there. You get 3 callers. As long as draws don't really come in, stick 35% of your stack in. Don't worry, some fish will still be chasing that gutshot. River is a blank, ship it. One of these donks will pay you off and they will tell you something stupid like, I didn't know you had a set and tell them, of course you didn't, who calls a set with 1 pair. If you are playing suited connectors, and flop the nut straight, take them to value town. I would try and watch as much tom dwan as possible and learn how to get that goofy looking blank stare. These fish are dying to give you there chips. Just be patient and when you get the hammer, whack those moles. The good players will notice so you will have to make mental notes who is staying out of your way and mix it up against them but don't worry about the fish.
If you have AK preflop, and you know some sucker is doing to call you with Ax or Kx, just ship it. Don't get cute. You would be surprised how many people put you on AK and still call with AQ or KQ. It's catch and smash poker.
Now sometimes the fish will suck out on you but more often than not you're going to be absolutely crushing them. Don't get mad at the result. Don't call them a fish regardless if you win. Be pleasant and make sure they keep wanting to stack off against you
 
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matshark

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I honestly have exactly the same problem with live tournaments, especially the the smaller/worse structure ones. I basically stopped all together playing these kind of tournaments because i think when players never fold your edge decreases quite a bit if your a good player a lot more than people seem to realize.

Even when I play Higher buy in live comps with better structures i nearly always late reg after the first few levels on purpose so i avoid that stupid stage at the beginning where no one ever folds. In this first stage the only strategy I feel is correct, is to play like a nit, and to play in position isolating bad players, but making your raise size big enough to get it heads up, which is no easy task lol.

I find it funny though how the opposite is true as you approach the money stages of the tournament, people become much tighter because they realize that they actually have a chance to make some money, so this is the point where you can truly shine and play from my experience.
 
AugustWest

AugustWest

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I play a fair amount of low buy in MTT live and I a agree the play in general is very poor. The most profitable over all strategy I have found is to increase my pot control and position. Early in a tournament like the ones you have described I am looking to play solid ABC and avoid any huge pots with out almost knowing that I am better than 70/30. It seems to me that having the patients to be more selective pays off big. If the field was tougher I would play more hands because I could get people off of hands and also I would be able to asses range with more accuracy. However when the villain doesn't even know enough to be scarred or might look like they are bluffing when in reality they just think their hand is better than it is, I have become more willing to wait.
In short I try to get in to see flops cheap with hands that I can make better than one pair (ie suited connectors) and then keep in mind that most other players think that top pair is unbeatable. Also I have to tell myself (sometimes outloud) do not tell them a story they can't understand.

Excellent answer!! This is also how to handle freerolls as well.
Patience is a virtue in early stage MTT's.
You will see others AIPF and sucking out to get a big stack, but more often then not, they don't cash.....
 
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BigFlop123

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play tight, don't get into big pot, play more hands in position than out of position. Raise 3x BB. Don't 3 or 4 bet unless you have Aces, Kings, or Queens. Once the donks get eliminated and blinds startings going up ,and it more than 5% of the average stack. THen you can loosen up and steal a few small pots here and there. Goodluck !
 
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