Middle Stages of Tournament Play

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Zer0-0uts

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When I first started playing poker I was bad, as I am sure we all were. I read a few books and made some improvements here and there. As I played more and more tournaments I started to see places where I really needed improvement. As I became aware of the areas that needed improvement I got better. Looking back on things, I know my game has come a long way from where it was. Looking at today though, I realize I struggle in the middle stages of tournaments. I do good in the early stages. I chip up enough to sit tight through the middle stages and wait for premium hands. Whenever I get those hands in the middle stages I continue building my stack and by the time the blinds have risen and the tournament is in the later stages I do alright and cash a fairly good amount of times.

The problem happens when I am card dead through the middle stages of a tournament. I just sit and wait for the premium hands and they never come. As a result my stack slowly leaks away. I have accumulated enough chips in the beginning stages of the tournament to make it through the middle stages but by the time I get to the latter stages of the tournament I am short stacked and I am looking for my spot to shove.

How can I improve my play in the middle stages of a tournament? What should I do to make things happen? I have found myself getting out of my comfort zone and trying to make a move or two to pick up some blinds and pots here and there, but I have noticed that many of the low stakes cash games are filled with calling stations who you just can not push off their middle pair hands no matter how much pressure you apply.

What do you do in the middle stages to be sure your stack does not wither away from paying the blinds?
 
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jrx1908

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While there is a chip, there is a game. Playing only hands premiuns is easy, but understand when flat call, 3 bet light, squeeze, bluff. The stack is not only made up of showdown hands. Study more.
 
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HodCohen

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I ran into this exact problem. I came to realize two gaps in my play.

1. Not respecting M zones.


This is a huge one. If you let your stack dwindle to the point that you're losing fold equity, you have to start gambling more. I had my positional ranges cemented in my head for tight, aggressive play, but it was cash oriented. With escalating blinds, I've found it super helpful to develop distinct ranges for each M zone. I bust out in early middle stages more often, but I also make it deeper into the cash enough to cover the difference.


2. Playing by rote instead of evaluating each situation and finding spots to make the right move.


Some of my middle stage chip gains come from exploiting my image against weak players, but a lot more come from betting 2/3 pot for three streets against a station if I hit the flop, and just checking behind with middle pair. Stations aren't exploitive players, so get away from gto poker and play exploitively. Limp behind your calling stations in late position with speculative hands. Over bet with better than tptk. Don't waste chips on your cbet, adjust your implied odds to account for their inability to fold. A lot of moves that are terrible against a normal opponent are massively profitable against stations. Play your opponent, not your hand.
 
This Fish Chums

This Fish Chums

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Fizzling out in middle MTT stages

The first thing you should ask yourself is, do you never experience being card-dead during the early stages of the tournament?
If you don't then you are one lucky player.
If you do, which is more likely, then how do you still build a stack early on? You aren't complaining about being card-dead in early stages so there must be something different going on in early stages that isn't going on in middle stages.

My guess would be the amount of BBs in chips you take in early on when you do have a premium hand is far greater then the amount of BBs you take in later stages. Here's an example, and let me know if this applies or not.
In early stages, say blinds are 10/20 and your stack is 1,000 when you do get a great hand that goes to the river how many chips are you getting in the pot? 250? 500?
Now, let's say it's the middle stages and blinds are 250/500 and your stack is say 25,000. How many chips are you getting into the pot with the same hand in the same situation. is it in the range of 6,000? 12,000?
I know for me when I was starting out I would look at the size of the bet in chips before making my bets. Instead, what I've learned is to look at the size of the bet in BBs. See, in both examples above you're getting between 25-50% of your stack in for 12-25 BBs, it only seems like you're betting way more in the second.
Now I'm learning to bet based on Pot size, but that's a different conversation.

Now, I may be totally wrong. Maybe you are "adjusting for inflation". Another question comes into play. When you do catch a good hand and you are betting the same number of BBs, are you pulling in the same number of callers for those BBs? People in middle stages play a lot tighter so the problem might not be that you are losing BBs faster, it might be that you are gaining fewer BBs when you do have a hand. Have you noticed people calling down to the river or even re-raising your big hands during early stages, but then folding to similar situations in middle stages? That's because the people who last to the middle stages are naturally better players and/or tend to tighten up their play some. You'll have to find ways of luring them in based on their playing style (keep in mind this should only be done when you have a great/monster hand).

  • If someone leads out in betting when you have a great hand, let them do the betting for you. Or, try min-raising them. Usually people will call a min-raise because they are already half in, unless it is a check/raise.
  • If you notice there is someone who always folds to moderate sized bets, then check first and bet on another street. Avoid the check/raise as that would induce a quick fold, which you don't want when trying to leech chips off someone.
  • Things like that (maybe someone else has more ways of getting people to put chips into a pot).
And if none of that applies and you are truly card-dead, then when you get down to about 15-20 BBs you need to open up your range, however wide that means for you, in order to get into hands and just hope you get lucky. If you don't open your range up then you're just going to find yourself in a shove or fold situation. And that's no way to play poker.
 
ruswolfhound

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Middle stage, you should not have AA, but the range of hands should change
 
ruswolfhound

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In the early stage, you put on good pockets, now, in front of you, all your skills
 
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Zer0-0uts

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The first thing you should ask yourself is, do you never experience being card-dead during the early stages of the tournament?
Yes I do, and honestly when it happens I try to find spots where i can steal a few pots. If I am at a table with calling stations, or loose aggresive players who 3 and 4 bet me constantly I ussually loose a bunch of chips and find myself in a shove or fold situation.

It seems harder for me to get into these steal situations in the middle stages of the tournament. I feel like people realize what I have been doing by the middle stages and I get less of a chance to stick my hand in the cookie jar.

My guess would be the amount of BBs in chips you take in early on when you do have a premium hand is far greater then the amount of BBs you take in later stages.

I would say you are right in this aspect. I do get less chips compared to the blinds in the middle stages of the tournaments. Plus I have a tendency to throw a Cbet out. If I get called I tend to shut down on further streets. I am sure others pick up on that and float the flop on me. If I get called, the pot is so fat and bloated that continuing with the hand will have me all in by the river.

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate the time and effort you put into your reply.
 
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