My first final table

[aspokerfun1]

Hi all,

I've been playing microstakes cash games (max 0.05/0.10) for little over a month now on and off. Had a dabble in MTT but never took them seriously, and realised turbos and hyper turbos are awful. Had a bad run in cash games this week so thought I'd try take MTTs a bit more seriously (deepstack only). I've played around 9 tournaments now, max buy in £10. Hit the bubble 3 times and today I made the final table, finishing in third. Variance got me, as I lost an all vs the shortest stack when I held A9o and he had A3o. Typical a 3 came on the board.

My question is actually based on final table play. I played super aggressive because it was clear everybody was playing overly tight. I was being very successful stealing blinds. Even when we got to final 3, the chip lead must have had a VPIP of like 10 as I knew he had such a lead he just wanted to get to heads up play. In the end, this aggression cost me with my A9o loss. Do you guys normally tighten up on final table?

Thanks

 

[ph_il]

I tighten up a bit because of ICM and wanting to move up the money later if I'm in middle position (4th-7th). I don't want to bust out before bottom places, but I can also play back at big stacks if I think they're just using their position/stacks to steal blinds and/or apply pressure to mid stack sizes.

If I have a top 3 stack, I can play a little looser and attack middle stacks, especially if they're also playing ICM and looking to hold onto their money spot/not wanting to bust out before a shorter stack, as pay jumps are signficant but I wont clash with big stacks unless I had a big hand myself, and it also really depends on how deep the stacks are. If top stacks are say ~25 BBs, then I'm not folding hands like KK+, AKs, against top 3 stacks. But if it's 100 BBs deep, then there's a lot more risk and I'd rather play post flop poker than get it in pre. But, for the most part, I just try to avoid big stacks unless I have a big hand or we're already in the top 3.

As a short stack, ICM doesn't really matter as I can't get any lower than where I am now. But I still play very fairly tight as, in my experience at micrstakes MTT final tables, ICM isn't always followed and I can see a number of players bust themselves out before I do, allowing me to take advantage of pay jumps without playing a hand. If I do get a hand to play, I'll play it for max value to give myself a better chance to finish higher, other wise, I just fold and wait it out. I've done this a number of times, sitting on 9th with 11-15 BBs, only to finish 2nd because bigger stacks busted each other.

As played, you're 3/3 and a short stack, so I don't think jamming A9 in that spot is bad at all. I think the only change I'd make is if you were short but stacks were still pretty equal. Say, you had 18 BBs, 2nd had 22 BBs, and 1st had 27 BBs. Then I think you still have room to play post flop poker against these sizes. You have a good steal/resteal stack size. But if you were at 6 BBs vs 20+ BBs, then jamming A9o is 100% the correct play.

Overall, very solid run and finish, especially for someone that doesn't play MTTs too often.

 

[Shrops]

Great

Congratulations !

 

[aspokerfun1]

Finished 4th in another MTT today should have been higher but I played stupid last 10 hands. I will win one soon!

 

[Aballinamion]

Hi all,

I've been playing microstakes cash games (max 0.05/0.10) for little over a month now on and off. Had a dabble in MTT but never took them seriously, and realised turbos and hyper turbos are awful. Had a bad run in cash games this week so thought I'd try take MTTs a bit more seriously (deepstack only). I've played around 9 tournaments now, max buy in £10. Hit the bubble 3 times and today I made the final table, finishing in third. Variance got me, as I lost an all vs the shortest stack when I held A9o and he had A3o. Typical a 3 came on the board.

My question is actually based on final table play. I played super aggressive because it was clear everybody was playing overly tight. I was being very successful stealing blinds. Even when we got to final 3, the chip lead must have had a VPIP of like 10 as I knew he had such a lead he just wanted to get to heads up play. In the end, this aggression cost me with my A9o loss. Do you guys normally tighten up on final table?

Thanks

Well congratulations dude, but without being rude, perhaps you should move your post to its correct area, which are tournaments.
Everyone here knows how do I suck at MTT and SNGs but I have something to say: variance is gigantic, monster, and you can play MTT for over an year without making profit, you can play MTT for 3 months in a row without even getting into the FT in any of them, summaziring: MTT are famous for its high variance, and for those who are beginning it is not the best idea.
It is okay when the variance its on our side and we get lucky, but a sample of 10 MTTs means absolutely nothing, when we can lose 100, 200, 300 MTTs in a row, depending on the stakes.

Regards;

Carlos 'Aballinamion' Barbosa

 

[aspokerfun1]

Well congratulations dude, but without being rude, perhaps you should move your post to its correct area, which are tournaments.
Everyone here knows how do I suck at MTT and SNGs but I have something to say: variance is gigantic, monster, and you can play MTT for over an year without making profit, you can play MTT for 3 months in a row without even getting into the FT in any of them, summaziring: MTT are famous for its high variance, and for those who are beginning it is not the best idea.
It is okay when the variance its on our side and we get lucky, but a sample of 10 MTTs means absolutely nothing, when we can lose 100, 200, 300 MTTs in a row, depending on the stakes.

Regards;

Carlos 'Aballinamion' Barbosa

Hi Carlos,

Yeah very true and I'm not getting ahead of myself, but I am enjoying MTT's much more than cash games at the moment so I'll probably stick with those whilst still doing cash games. As I said, still got a lot to learn!

On the other point, I'm pretty sure I posted this in the online poker forum, but it seems to have ended up in cash game hand analysis. I apologise and I'll make sure I check where I'm posting next time.

Thanks!

 

[nikoszwtos93]

is amazing when u hit final table..
wish u more to come

 

[najisami]

Yeah it's a great feeling, but winning is even better. Keep going man, you've done a good job already.
As explained by "ohshootmybad" above, the shoving with A9 was correct, but in my opinion, only if you've shoved 1st. If my opponent pushed ahead of me, I might have folded that hand and wait for a better spot. Of course there are other factors to be considered there like how that guy has been playing for example.
Making 2 final tables within a couple of days says that you are capable of managing your stack for a relatively long period of time which means that you are experienced enough to make more of those and ultimately take them down. Good luck and keep sharing...

 

[Fenix7]

I particularly have a very selective game at the final table. most have enough chips to play. the short stack goes push fold. if I have half a stack I play super selective. it's my way of playing final tables.

 

[c0rnBr34d]

In my opinion you made the correct adjustment and were cruising along. Your aggression did not cost you pre flop. If you barreled off your stack with Ace high post flop that may be different but you can't ask for a much better spot than A9 vs A3. If you got it all in pre flop you just have to be happy that you got it in great and they got lucky. That's what makes tournaments so tough. It's hard enough getting a 67%+ hand to hold up, not to mention winning enough coin flip hands and coming from behind in the clutch. To make the final table you have to do all three. And to win it all you have to continue to run well.

 

[grumblbrumbl]

In my first final table, I ****ed up

 

[gustav197poker]

Congratulations! I really admire all tournament players. I personally have a hard time dealing with the high variance that this form of poker implies. Although I hope to improve as player in tournaments, at the moment this is not a priority for me.
Greetings.

 

[Thefish87]

You can either or but just keep in mind to play abit of icm because playing super tight can latter up in few spots which can give you a extra hundreds to thousands from just lattering...I would say listen to some ideas in how to play just to get a idea...but personally after your start final tabling more you tend to build your own with some icm strategy from losses or mistakes...that is the best way imo everyone has a strategy..but you cant have a strategy until you know what your chip is at the final table...it took me honestly 4 years to final table my second time...and it did not go well...so I looked some certain spots and realized certain screws to tighten up on and it helped...I just like give a opinion on this cuz back when I did not have the useful internet info I had to figure it out on my own...goodluck and i hope this helps