How do you adjust your play for the different stages of a MTT?

[whowantwhat]

Eg how loose/tight should you play, how aggressvie/passive should you be, how often to you 3-bet, etc when you first buy-in when everyone is relatively deep stacked vs when you're near the bubble vs when you finally made it ITM but the jumps are peanuts vs when the jumps start getting bigger vs when you're at the final table, etc

Is there an optimal way you should be playing? How should I be adjusting my play?

 

[Collin Moshman]

Good question!

It depends on a lot of factors like how the table is playing, whether you're short/mid/big-stacked, and what style you feel the most comfortable playing.

For example, early on when blinds are low, it's often best to play relatively tight-aggressive particularly in low-stakes games. But if you're good at post-flop play, it's also fine to play a loose-aggressive style.

Near the bubble and at final tables, you do want to make stacks one of the big deciding factors though. For example, if you're mid-stacked at a final table, you're correct to play fairly tight (unless your opponents are all tight). If you're the big stack, loosen up a lot and apply pressure.

 

[7CardKillR]

basically when your deeper you will want to open tighter generally with more suited hands than off suited hands the closer your stackis to 100 BB.. near the bubble and during pay jumps you will also want to play tighter due to ICM implications. Ranges loosen up until around 40 bb and then start tightening again. limping in from late positions start around 30 ish BB and move to the earlier positions as the stacks get smaller. at 17 BB the HJ will start limping with frequency and will also have some all ins.

 

[fundiver199]

As Collin Moshman say, it depends on a lot of factors. Rather than trying to define, that "this is my early phase strategy" or "this is my bubble strategy", it is better to understand, what it actually is, that makes tournaments different from cash games and warrent adjustments. And basically its stack sizes and ICM pressure.

Stack sizes matter, because if there is less stack behind, then factors like implied odds and position will matter less. This mean, that with some sort of middling stack a baby pair often has to be folded, whereas with shallow stacks they can be jammed, and with deep stacks they can be called and played as a setmine.

It also matter, how the table play though. If the table play tight, maybe you can still steal the blinds with a hand like 44 from early position, even your stack is short, because you have a lot of fold equity, and your cards almost dont even matter. But if most EP opens pick up 3 callers, then you dont want to be in that spot with a hand, that needs to check-fold 88% of the time, if you then just burned up 10% of your stack.

As for ICM pressure it is basically the fact, that chips won are worth less than chips lost. But how large that ICM pressure is, will depend on a lot of things. If you are on the bubble, and someone has 2BB left, then its obviously very bad to go broke before that player, so ICM-pressure is higher than, if the shortest stack is 14BB.

Some bubbles are also more important than others. If you are playing a 9 man SnG, then winning the tournament will only pay 2,5 times as much as min-cashing, whereas in a 180 man SnG on Stars winning pays more than 40 times as much as min-cashing. For this reason there is much more ICM-pressure on the bubble of a 9-man than a 180-man, and it makes no sense to talk about a "bubble strategy", which cover both situations.

In fact in the 180 man you might actually want to ramp up your aggression near the bubble to take advantage of players, who are overly concerned with getting a fairly meaningless min-cash, and who might actually be to easy to push around.

 

[tauri103]

at the start of the game, I prefer to play wide but without it costing me too much preflop at the blind level to be able to see a lot of flop at a low price. I don't hesitate to fold when the flop isn't favorable. when I start to have a good stack. I tighten my game and previlege the game of reduced variance. which implies that I avoid playing flips and finding myself in too complicated spots. I try to choose the right spot and the right situation that will allow me to earn more chips. at the end of the game when the blinds are very expensive and I have a good stack. I tighten my game even more to play max hands and hope that the variance will be on my side this time around.

 

[akmost]

Early Stages:
Lately I play MTTs from the beginning , literally level 1 , I think this is the best present you can offer to your EV. No matter what the buy in is , the first levels are always full of ignorant opponents who eager to call of a big bet with a mediocre hand.

At the very first orbits I am very observant and try to accumulate valuable information about the line up at my table. If my HUD is allowed then is more than welcome. I flat a lot with speculative hands in position and most importantly I rarely have a 4bet + range even with monster hands , I find it stupid to play my MTT life in a flip so early(100+bbs) , so I go post flop.There is so much future game there , be patient, it will come a better spot to stack off a weak opponent , trust me.

I don't know why but I trust my post flop game , I have a funny experience in some cash games (the smallest ones!!!) but it is just fine for me as a recreational player.Maybe you should try this one too.

Pick some RFI ranges and go with them , adjust them based on the usual factors(opponents , #bbs , phase of the tournament).If you don't have a good preflop game seriously stop poker right now , kill your time somewhere else.

Middle Stages:
With the stacks become shallower we should narrower a little bit our open raises because if we open with 25bbs and a 20bbs stack 3bet jams then we can't call it off light ,right? In other cases when I have the odds to call a smaller stack then I usually go for it.Try to be aware of your table image as much as you can.

Bubble Phase:
I know I am not good for this phase yet , usually I stick to my standard pre flop game and if I have a reasonable hand then I am not afraid to 3bet jam in the face of the bubble bully. If I have a big stack then I am the bully but I don't open any two like others because you know ^. In blind vs blind situation or CO/BU again I just open jam if I have to do it.Their calling ranges are super narrow and no one , literally , no one will call there correctly.

Shout out to Collin Moshman & Katie Dozier for this:
https://www.cardschat.com/become-a-winning-poker-player/
Very helpful and informative!

Hope I helped

 

[fefibecerra]

Thanks to everyone who posted their response here! It's really useful for those like me who are just starting to study poker more in depth.