ITM %

[vox1er]

Hey everyone,

I have been playing poker now for probably a year and have been grinding MTT's and am running pretty even. I know I still have a lot of holes in my game, but for small stakes I feel like I am playing above average and have the potential to be a more profitable player. My questions should I be playing more aggressive and taking more chances to get further in tournaments?
Thanks

 

[FrothyGoodness]

Well ….If you're game is super tight and you're not playing a lot of hands or the hands you play you're not really gaining value out of them then...yes I'd learn to have a little more aggression and take a few chances. Someone people see a flop and because they don't hit a pair or flop the nuts they give up , They aren't looking at future streets they are just seeing the here and now So they get punked out of pots they should normally be winning. Don't Completely change your game , Just Change a few spots

 

[Luvepoker]

Congrats on doing as well as you are after just one year. You are probably correct and need to make changes to your game to become better and a bigger winner at the game. Not necessarily big changes but adjustments to your game and work on the theory of the game. You maybe correct that being more aggressive and taking more chances will help but you did not tell us what type of player you are. Right now you maybe taking to many chances and are being overly aggressive and need to slow down some.

What would help is information like whats your VIP and PRF numbers. How often do you c-bet the flop. Please add some details to the type of player you are and I am sure several of us would be happy to help you on this.

 

[tmfnsanders]

Which site(s) do you play on?

It was once widely accepted that sngs you should be playing to cash and then focus on winning, whereas MTTs you should be playing to win from the offset. This is because of the fact that mincashes in large field mtts are normally not even 2x your buyin so it doesn't really help balance the times you bust out before cashing so you needed to have those really deep runs and top 3 finishes. It was not uncommon at all to see mtt players with 10-15% itm but stupid high profit even though they aren't cashing all that much.

Nowadays though (for US players anyways) it seems like the mtt fields are so small on sites that allow US players that there isn't so much reward at the top so I think you need to treat these as you would like say the 180man sngs on stars because when you are only getting like 20 buyins for shipping it, you're gonna need to be cashing it a much higher percentage of the time in order to break even or make a profit.

 

[gryphon3005]

Aggressive play is definitely required if you want to go deep in a tournament. It's just a matter of where and when. If you plan to start changing your play by adding some aggression I would recommend 3 mini rules to go by for a while. First don't try aggressive moves out of position unless your hand is good enough to disregard position. Second avoid opening with what you think is an aggressive bet. Leave those plays for later. For now look to make a play post flop instead. You've no doubt noticed by now how many players jump into a hand but fold to a bet on the flop. When you have position and your opponents check on the flop an aggressive bet has little to do with your cards and more to do with your assessment of the other players in the pot. Third, if there are big stacks at your table try to avoid plays against them unless you have a premium hand and position.