Ante Up (Ante Only) MTT Strategy

[jordanbillie]

A few nights ago, I played in a really fun event on BoL. It was a $1 Ante Up (or Ante Only) MTT. The structure is 5/5 blinds with an ante, and the antes increase each level while the blinds remain 5/5 the entire tournament. This structure presents some interesting spots, and totally changes the dynamic of the entire tournament.

Long story short, I finished 6th out of 350ish in a game where I felt like I was card dead. The reason for my deep finish was mostly due to the on the fly strategy I developed in this game, and the inability for my opponents to adjust.

Before I reveal the details on how I played this structure, I'm curious if any CC members play these types of MTTs or have played these in the past; and what (if any) style of play you have found to be most successful.

P.S. This MTT was part of the Micro-Series going on right now on BoL. I love these types of tournament series because the wacky games have big guarantees, which equates to a large fields of clueless players.

 

[Luan]

yes yes i already played a torenio like this at pokerstars for $ 0.55 once and i was in second place i found it interesting because it was the first time i had played strategy and always be aggressive in the final tournament, well i don't know if you think so I used this tactic more and did well in this tournament.

 

[jordanbillie]

yes yes i already played a torenio like this at pokerstars for $ 0.55 once and i was in second place i found it interesting because it was the first time i had played strategy and always be aggressive in the final tournament, well i don't know if you think so I used this tactic more and did well in this tournament.

It certainly would pay to be more aggressive, since the starting size of each pot is so large.

 

[Collin Moshman]

For me, I think the two biggest things to do in this structure are:

* Never fold in an unraised pot once the antes get high enough. For example, with a $5000 ante and $5 big blind, you should call with 32o UTG. You can then sometimes limp-raise players who are attacking you a lot.

* Pay a lot of attention to what raise-size is needed to work. For example, if a raise to $200 is sometimes stealing a pot that has $4000 in the middle at the start, you're getting an amazing risk-reward ratio to try stealing with any two cards in late position.

Congrats on your deep finish!

 

[jordanbillie]

For me, I think the two biggest things to do in this structure are:

* Never fold in an unraised pot once the antes get high enough. For example, with a $5000 ante and $5 big blind, you should call with 32o UTG. You can then sometimes limp-raise players who are attacking you a lot.

* Pay a lot of attention to what raise-size is needed to work. For example, if a raise to $200 is sometimes stealing a pot that has $4000 in the middle at the start, you're getting an amazing risk-reward ratio to try stealing with any two cards in late position.

Congrats on your deep finish!

Colin, thank you for the response. I came to those same two conclusions while I was playing this event! My game quickly turned to raising every pot, to an amount that would still get people to fold. I was surprised by how low I was able to raise, and still get the "respect" of a legitimate raise. Also, I found checking when first to act post flop to be pointless. I would get into the habit of leading about 1/20th of the pot instead of checking. Again, this was shockingly effective. By using this very methodical approach to this game, with very little push back, the game was easily beatable.

I had fun!